FEATURE image: October 2024.
Saturday, November 30, 2025 is the snowiest November day in Chicago’s recorded history, National Weather Service says.
My Nature Photography: FALL II.
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Category Archives: My Photography Nature
My Nature Photography: ANIMAL WORLD.
FEATURE Image: July 2024. deer. St. Joseph Creek. 7.62mb 0479 (1)
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My Nature Photography: 2024 CICADAS! red-eyed insects of 17-year Brood XIII and 13-year Brood XIX emerge together from hibernation for the first time since 1803 in President Thomas Jefferson’s first term.
FEATURE Image: June 8, 2024 6.87mb 8154
Since late May 2024 Illinois has been the epicenter of an historic emergence of two broods of trillions of cicadas whose buzzing presence is expected to continue into July. The Northern Illinois Brood (Brood XIII) came out of the soil on schedule during its 17-year cycle. In 2024 there is an adjacent emergence in the central United States occuring at the same time. It is the emergence of the Great Southern Brood (Brood XIX). It is this dual emergence of the two groups of cicadas that is historic since it has not happened since Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the U.S. in 1803.
Illinois is the epicenter of 2024’s historic cicada invasion.
According to a 2024 publication by the Ohio Biological Survey of “The 2024 Emergence of Periodical Cicada Broods XIII and XIX” by renowned cicada expert Dr. Gene Kritsky, Professor Emeritus of Biology and former Dean of the School of Behavioral and Natural Sciences at Mount St. Joseph University, the Brood XIII emergence extends from the center of the state of Illinois around Springfield and spreads as far north as southern Wisconsin. Brood XIX also extends from around Springfield, Illinois, to points south past Cairo, Illinois. “This is not just a cicada year,” Dr. Kritsky observed, “it’s an historic convergence of Broods XIII and XIX, making it a once-in-a-lifetime experience for enthusiasts and researchers alike” (See- https://www.msj.edu/news/2024/01/dr-gene-kritsky-releases-book-cicada-emergence.html – retrieved June 15, 2024). As trillions of cicadas mate and lay their eggs this year, the buzzing activity will gradually fade and 2024’s broods of adult cicadas die. Their offspring of 2024 will emerge, in the case of Brood XIII, during its next 17 year cycle in 2041.
Ghost Trees.
During May and June 2024, the 17-year Northern Illinois Brood XIII emerged in and around Chicago, across northern Illinois and in portions of northwest Indiana, southern Wisconsin and eastern Iowa.
Egg-Laying in trees
Until 2041…
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My Nature Photography: SPRING II.
FEATURE Image: June 2023 85% 7.86 mb.
“Storm line breaking over the fields as the last light pushes through.”
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The fascination of the Total Eclipse of the Sun.
FEATURE image: Viewers near Chicago, Illinois, of the Total Eclipse of the Sun, April 8, 2024. Author’s photograph. All rights reserved.
On Monday, April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse crossed North America, passing over Mexico, the United States, and Canada. The path of the eclipse first entered into Mexico then into the United States in Texas and into Canada in southern Ontario province. In the U.S., the solar eclipse’s “path of totality” traveled through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. The central event took less than two hours. See – https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/where-when/ – retrieved April 8, 2024. In the U.S. over 30 million people resided in the path of the April 8, 2024 solar eclipse. The next total solar eclipse in the mainland U.S. and Canada won’t be for more than 20 years. See – https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/04/08/science/total-solar-eclipse#what-to-know-about-the-great-north-american-eclipse – retrieved April 9, 2024. The last total solar eclipse across the U.S. was August 21, 2017 and, before that, one must return to the 1970’s for a total solar eclipse in the U.S. though their paths do not begin to match the 2024 event in terms of crossing the center of the country.
Yet, a “total eclipse of the sun” is, if not one of science’s misnomers, clearly one of nature’s optical illusions. If 1.3 million Earths can fit in the sun (https://www.iflscience.com/how-many-earths-can-fit-inside…) and 50 moons can fit in the Earth (https://www.reference.com/…/many-moons-fit-inside-earth…) then 65 MILLION moons would fit in the sun. That science can learn much from the tiny moon “covering” the sun – more akin to a visual pinprick – can only be limited despite the belief (like the ancients) that it signifies more. Yet as Einstein’s Theory of Relativity demonstrates (i.e., that light bends by gravity) even a limited empirical physical footprint’s significance such as a solar eclipse can be outsized to learned points greater than its intrinsic data range – that is when viewed and processed by the universe’s most vast body – the human imagination.
Total eclipse of the sun from the Trouvelot astronomical drawings (1881-1882). “Total eclipse of the sun from the Trouvelot<br />astronomical drawings (1881-1882) by <a href=’https://www.rawpixel.com/search/etienne leopold trouvelot?&page=1′>E. L. Trouvelot</a> (1827-1895)” by Free Public Domain Illustrations by rawpixel is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Solar eclipse watchers near Chicago, April 8, 2024. Author’s photograph. All rights reserved.
In the media, everything is hyped and what’s important is ignored; as if earth’s tiny moon is going to block the solar system’s sun. At best it’s a dim overcast for 5 minutes where, afterwards, many express some disappointment in the drama of expectations. A lunar eclipse (that happened March 25, 2024) is more interesting for the masses of naked-eye low-tech earthlings. As far as a cosmic event, the solar eclipse is eagerly anticipated whatever its scale as it will contribute to science and scientific knowledge based on its rare natural phenomenon and the development of astronomers’ newest tools. Yet humankind’s imagination by itself is the more interesting aspect of the cosmos, starting here on earth, and ascending to the stars and planets.
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My Nature Photography: SPRING I. (101 Photos).
FEATURE image: Downers Grove, Illinois. April 20, 2017 7.31 mb 99%
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My Nature Photography: WINTER. (98 Photos).
FEATURE Image: February 2018. Downers Grove, Illinois. 3.05 mb
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My Nature Photography: FALL I. (93 Photos).
FEATURE image: Downers Grove, Illinois. October 2018.
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My Nature Photography: SUMMER.
FEATURE image: July 2021. Farmer’s market. Downers Grove, Illinois 7.90 mb 79%
“Shoppers pause at the produce stand, comparing squash, beans, and berries under a midmorning canopy.”
“A shaded porch, soft light and a ‘76’ flag stirring above the garden’s early‑summer bloom.”
“Color blocks and bus lines frame the morning market, a grid of tents and movement stitched into the city’s routine.”
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My Nature Photography: MAUI Hawaii, May 1988. (20 Photos).
FEATURE image: West Maui Mountains, Maui, Hawaii, May 13, 1988. Photographs and Text ©John P. Walsh
Ka’anapali Beach, Maui, Hawaii, May 13, 1988.
Road to Hana, Maui, Hawaii, May 13, 1988.
Cockatoo, Hyatt Regency Maui, Maui, Hawaii, May 13, 1988.
Bronze Buddha, Thailand, 19th Century, Maui, Hawaii, May 13, 1988.
Bodhisattva,Hyatt Regency Maui, Maui, Hawaii, May 13, 1988.
Main Pool, Hyatt Regency Maui, Maui, Hawaii, May 13, 1988.
Footpath, Maui, Hawaii, May 13, 1988.
Free Form Pool, Hyatt Regency Maui, Maui, Hawaii, May 13, 1988.
Lahina Roads, Maui, Hawaii, May 13, 1988.
Road to Hana, Maui, Hawaii, May 13, 1988.
Hookipa Beach, Wind Surfing, Maui, Hawaii, May 13, 1988.
Kaʻahumanu Church (1876), Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii, May 13, 1988.
In 1832, Queen Ka’ahumanu (1768-1832), the Kuhina Nui of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and an early convert into Christianity, visited Maui. She came to the site of the then-new Ka’ahumanu Church and witnessed services being presided by the church’s founding pastor, Reverend Jonathan Smith Green (1796-1878). Upon seeing the congregation, Queen Ka’ahumanu asked the Congregationalist mission to name the permanent church structure after her. The current structure, the fourth on the site, was built in 1876. It was built to honor Queen Ka’ahumanu’s earlier request using native materials in the construction in an adaptation of the New England style of Gothic architecture brought to Hawaii. The building was by Edward Bailey with Wailuku Sugar Company. The bell and three clock faces are from American clock-maker Seth Thomas and brought over in 1884 around Cape Horn. The original congregation, under the leadership of the Rev. Green, came into being in 1832 and held their first worship meetings in a shed.
Please visit the church’s website– https://www.kaahumanuchurch.org/ -retrieved March 22, 2020.
Sugar Cane, Maui, Hawaii, May 13, 1988.
West Maui Mountains, Maui, Hawaii, May 13, 1988.
Iao Needle, Iao Valley State Park Monument, Maui, Hawaii, May 13, 1988.
Self Portrait, Wailuku, Maui, Maui, Hawaii, May 13, 1988
West Maui Mountains, Maui, Hawaii, May 13, 1988.
Cambodian Buddha, Maui, Hawaii, May 13, 1988.
Evening, Maui, Hawaii, May 12, 1988.
