A pair of swans enjoying a swim at sunset on one of the first days of spring in Peoria, IL
On March 21st, I was able to venture out and enjoy the early spring weather in the local area. In doing so, I also found some time for some photography as well. While enjoying the tranquil early spring weather I ended up photographing some wildlife in the area. Last week, I missed out on photographing some spectacular sunsets locally so I was hoping I'd get lucky and also photograph a nice sunset on this evening in Peoria, IL too. I ventured out just about a hour before sunset to a local pond about 2-minutes from my apartment where wildlife usually can be found on a routine-basis. Over the years, I've photographed some swans in this area near Edwards, IL as well. Swans and some geese were out enjoying the mild weather on this evening as expected. I ended up using my Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.0-5.6 II L IS lens that I purchased last month to shoot many photos of the wildlife and the early spring sunset featured in this post. It was a fun evening of photography as I was able to test out my new photography gear and finally shoot a sunset since it has been quite awhile since I had done so and long overdue. I've added several photos of the spring sunset and wildlife below:
The sun setting on one of the first days of spring!
Golden-hour at its finest!
A rather photogenic blue jay I photographed earlier in the week...
A squirrel enjoying an acorn...
Photographing one of the pair of swans at a local pond at sunset...
"Golden rolls"
A cardinal's close-up!
"Tranquility"
The red-bellied woodpecker makes another appearance...
Gorgeous!
Another blue jay close-up!
A white swan enjoying a swim!
Geese were out and about as well...
"A golden reflection"
"Two-of-a-kind"
Some amazing yellow(s), gold(s), and orange(s)!
A goose close-up!
One of the better sunsets I've photographed in quite awhile!
A favorite!
I took several shots at this angle for obvious reasons...
A tufted titmouse hanging out...
Quite a photogenic pond I'd say on this particular evening!
A squirrel striking a pose of some sort...
Golden-hour about to end...
A well-framed shot of a local farm including the colorful sunset!
My favorite!
Quite a photogenic sky!
One last shot of this swan...
A nice variety of colors could be seen on this evening!
Sunset, marking the end of this spring evening...
It was a very productive day of photography as I captured a great sunset along with some photogenic wildlife and I couldn't have hoped for anything better on a March evening. I'll be updating more frequently over the next couple of months as I venture out more and more enjoying the spring weather and at some point storm chasing since spring has officially begun.
