Crabtree Nature Center

On Saturday, I took a soggy and, in some places icy, walk around Crabtree Nature Center. The Visitors Building is still undergoing renovation work and much of the main trail was closed off for maintenance, so I had to make do with what was available.

There are a lot of very old trees in this Cook County Forest Preserve in Barrington and I think they are especially interesting to see without all their summer foliage.

I found some interesting lichen on one of the old fence rails and was pleased to see that the trail was still open to the Children’s Nature Play area. I’m all for encouraging the young ones to explore and learn about nature although, on this particular day, there were no children around to enjoy it.

I’d been wondering where our local nuthatches had gone to. We haven’t seen them for the past couple of weeks. Apparently they are all over at Crabtree. There were hundreds of them, darting among the trees and flying around the bird feeders.

Square Trees At The Morton Arboretum

What more fitting place for my final entry in Becky’s Square Tree Photo Challenge than at the Morton Arboretum. I close this post, as I very often do, with a picture of my dear mum. She was always up for any jaunt that I might suggest and I know she really enjoyed our visits to the Arboretum. Thank you, Becky, for this wonderful challenge.

Square Trees In Lilacia Park

I had intended to include Lombard in my Square Trees in Illinois post but I thought Lilacia Park deserved a spot of its own for Becky’s Square Tree Photo Challenge.

Square Trees In Illinois

Looking for Square Trees for Becky’s Square Tree Photo Challenge, I found these in the photo files. If you are familiar with Illinois you may recognize some of these places. Images were captured in and around:- Arlington Heights, Batavia, Cairo, Des Plaines, Elgin, Long Grove, Marion, Mount Prospect, Oakbrook, Rockford, South Barrington, Starved Rock, West Chicago and Wheaton.

Square Trees At The Chicago Botanic Garden

As you might guess, I couldn’t let Becky’s Square Trees Photo Challenge go by without sharing a few images from the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Square Trees in Utah

I thought I’d travel a little further afield for my third entry in Becky’s Square Tree Photo Challenge and take a look at some square trees in and around Alta, Arches National Park, Guardsman’s Pass, Snowbird and Temple Square in Utah.

Square Trees At Spring Valley

Becky’s Square Photo Challenge is back and this month the topic is Trees. By their very nature, trees are not that easy to capture in a square picture, Most of the tree images in my photo files don’t fit the bill, they’re either too tall or too wide but, by including a bit of scenery or on the odd occasion some wildlife or zooming up close, I think I’ve found a few shots that may work. So to kick off my entries for the Square Trees Photo Challenge, here are some trees at Spring Valley Nature Center in Schaumburg.

A Final Bough

I’d never actually taken a picture of it, although it appeared briefly in some of my images, and I may have complained about it’s late-falling leaves that cluttered up the garden long after our village leaf collection was done for the year, but I do miss the tree that was on the parkway across the street. Things seem very bare without it. Unfortunately it sustained considerable damage during one of our storms a few months ago and they decided that it probably ought to go, so I went outside to capture its last moments as the tree removal company did a very safe, swift and efficient job of cutting it down.

While I was standing there, something on the ground caught my eye; a faded and tattered swallowtail butterfly that could no longer fly had sought refuge among the plants.  Two of nature’s beauties taking a final bow.

Square Tops – Tree Tops At Morton

My second entry for Becky’s Square Tops Photo Challenge features a few tree tops at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – The Icing On The Cake

This week, Ann-Christine has chosen Trees as the subject for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge and there is certainly no shortage of those in my photo files, so in order to select a few for this post I decided to look at the images and choose some of those where I thought the trees added the finishing touch, the icing on the cake, so to speak.  These were taken at Cantigny Park, Chicago Botanic Garden and the Morton Arboretum in Illinois and one in Utah.