Look at this beauty I found out in the forest shade. Fortunately this tiger swallowtail decided to land in a sunspot.
I was able to get a bit close and focus the camera on the main body portion. This one must have hatched recently, both its tails are intact which is rare.
Here he decided to close his wings. You can see the bits of pollen on his body from crawling around on flowers.
He finally decided to fly away from me and land on another sunray leaf. Here you can see the tree blossoms he is feeding on.
While I was taking pictures of the swallowtail this little skipper landed on a leaf right next to me. I have no idea the exact name of this skipper, there are quite a few species of them here in Illinois. They are pretty small and fairly tame especially when they are feeding on a flower.
Later on in the day I found a red admiral on some lilacs. You can see his tongue looking for nectar in the flowers.
Now for a random snake in the forest :-)
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From @sketch.and.jam