Over the last few weeks, I decided to head to a couple local parks a few minutes down the road from my apartment to enjoy the summer weather in Peoria, IL. I headed to Sommer Park which is a frequent destination of mine since it's conveniently located near my apartment and Jubilee College State Park as well. I was pleased to find some butterflies, dragonflies, and even a squirrel that I photographed at these local parks. I always tend to find an appreciation of nature and wildlife no matter what season is upon us. I spent a few hours taking a few shots of nature and summer wildlife at these local parks and I've added a several photos below:
A photogenic spicebush swallowtail butterfly enjoying some nectar!
An up-close and personal dragonfly!
Another photogenic shot!
A swan enjoying a superb summer late-evening at a nearby pond...
A butterfly pollinating
A squirrel having a snack...
Another cool shot of a dragonfly!
A beautiful shot!
Golden-hour creating some good ambient light for wildlife shots!
Another shot of a butterfly!
One of my favorite insect shots!
"A nutty squirrel"
This dragonfly definitely cooperated allowing me to get a few good shots!
About to take a dip...
A hummingbird hawk-moth chilling on a July afternoon...
"Hanging on"
One of my favorite shots of this particular swan!
A beautiful shot of this butterfly!
I shot all these photos of the swan using my Canon EF 70-300mm f4.0-5.6 IS telephoto-zoom lens...
Hummingbird enjoying some nectar!
Some vibrant color here!
The low-sun angle illuminating the facial features of this swan...
Nature at its finest!
"Hummingbird in-flight"
One more of the hummingbird feeding on this flowering plant at the park(s)...
That wraps up this post. It's always nice to enjoy the dog days of summer and photograph nature and wildlife while enjoying the outdoors. I'll update once again when I venture out for my photography.
