In dappled, early morning light, this image of a fledgling Baltimore Oriole takes on the look of a pastel watercolor painting.

A Woodchuck pauses while feeding on blooms of various wildflowers. This individual was particularly tolerant of my presence.

A pair of White-tailed Deer fawns bound across a hay field. Even though these young deer likely are less than two months old they sprint with the ease, grace, and speed of their mom, who was in the lead just out of the image.

This odd-looking bird is called a Sora. Note the lengthy green toes on its rearward extended foot, an adaptation that allows them scoot through wetlands atop matted vegetation. Sora's are common, but highly secretive marsh birds.

A White-tailed Deer doe is enjoying salad for lunch – a mouthful of wild celery. Her fawn remained on the bank. Wild celery is an aquatic plant savored by deer, and waterfowl, too.

It's Throwback Thursday. You have to appreciate the big, bulky head and Roman nose of this massive Minnesota whitetail buck. Those stately traits convey maturity, majesty and wisdom. His antlers are grand, too.

A Gray Treefrog demonstrates remarkable cryptic coloration against the bark of a bur oak. They are Nature’s Masters of Camouflage.

A half dozen Greater Sandhill Cranes march across a recently cut hay field. I assume the mowed field allows the big birds easy access to insects and rodents.

A female Baltimore Oriole posed nicely while perched in a crab apple tree. Overcast conditions provided pleasant, even lighting.

A White-tailed Deer doe and her twin fawns pause while feeding on soybeans. During summer, soybean leaves are a favorite food of whitetails, and in fall, the mature bean pods.

A female Ruby-throated Hummingbird is gathering nectar from a bee balm blossom - a favorite food source for the tiny birds.

A Bald Eagle is about to take flight. Raptors have a fierce look because of the supraorbital ridge, or brow bone, above their eyes. It takes three to five years before a bald eagle attains its distinguishing white head and tail.

Velvet-antlered Whitetail bucks and wild bergamot (the purple flowers) in bloom speak of mid-summer in Minnesota. By early September bergamot flowers will have gone to seed, and whitetail bucks will have shed their velvet, exposing hard antlers.

A Hummingbird Moth (sometimes called Clearwing Moth) is gathering nectar from a White Champion bloom. With a little imagination, one could say the hummingbird moth resembles a flying crawfish – almost prehistoric looking.

Most animals are tormented by insects during summer, and this Black Bear with a face-full of mosquitoes is no exception. But since bears commonly raid bee hives, I’m guessing biting mosquitoes aren’t much of a bother.

This Woodchuck was a regular visitor to my backyard. I tossed out some carrots, and he/she enjoyed them.

Trumpet honeysuckle is in bloom for the second time this summer, and this male Ruby-throated Hummingbird is feeding on the nectar.

A male Eastern Bluebird is perched atop a mullein plant. Since bluebirds are primarily insect eaters, they most often hunt from open perches, which allows them to spot prey more readily.

An orb-weaver spider and its intricate web containing diamond-like dew droplets are backlit on a clear calm morning shortly after sunrise. The webs are extremely delicate and collapse in the slightest breeze.

Do you realize the length of daylight tomorrow in central Minnesota will be roughly two minutes and forty seconds shorter than today? Thus, early migrating birds - like this Ruby-throated Hummingbird - are already building up fat reserves for the trip south.