Crabtree Wildlife & Nature Photography

10/29/2026

November Photography Meetup:
Sunday, Nov 1, 2026; 8:30 am
Crabtree Nature Center, 3 Stover Rd, Barrington, IL

Join us for our monthly photography meetup and enjoy a photography walk on the grounds followed by refreshments and discussion in the building.

Waterfowl migration is beginning and White-tailed Deer rutting season is right around the corner. Leaves are changing and started to fall. Come join us as we look for great nature photo opportunities.

Meet in the parking lot at 8:30am.
Hope to see you there! All experience levels welcome!

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Photo: White-tailed Deer in Phantom Prairie, November 2024 (Vonda Zwick)

09/29/2026

October Photography Meetup:
Sunday, Oct 4, 2026; 8:30 am
Crabtree Nature Center, 3 Stover Rd, Barrington, IL

Join us for our monthly photography meetup and enjoy a photography walk on the grounds followed by refreshments and discussion in the building.

Fall migration continues and the asters and goldenrods are filling the prairie with color. Butterflies, bees, grasshoppers and more are active. Leopard frogs are on the move. Squirrels, chipmunks, and birds are gathering food for the winter. Come join us as we look for great nature photo opportunities.

Meet in the parking lot at 8:30am.
Hope to see you there! All experience levels welcome!

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Upcoming Special Events:
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SUNSET PHOTOGRAPHY WALK
Thursday, October 1, 2026; 5:15 pm
Thursday, October 15, 2026; 5:00 pm
Crabtree Nature Center

**REGISTRATION REQUIRED**

This is a great opportunity to photograph the grounds at golden hour and to see crepuscular wildlife that are not active during the day. Please register at Crabtree Nature Center (847-381-6592) if you would like to attend. All experience levels welcome.
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Photo: Rusty Blackbird feeding on Gray Dogwood Berries at Crabtree Nature Center in October 2025. --Vonda Zwick

09/03/2026

September Photography Meetup:
Sunday, Sept 6, 2026; 8:30 am
Crabtree Nature Center, 3 Stover Rd, Barrington, IL

Join us for our monthly photography meetup and enjoy a photography walk on the grounds followed by refreshments and discussion in the building.

It is a great time to be out at Crabtree. Fall flowers are coming into bloom with pollinators taking advantage of this late season food source and fall migration is starting to kick in. Come join us as we look for birds, bees, butterflies, native wildflowers, white-tailed deer, frogs, chipmunks, and more.

Meet in the parking lot at 8:30am.
Hope to see you there! All experience levels welcome!

*********************
Upcoming Special Events:
*********************

SUNSET PHOTOGRAPHY WALK
Thursday, October 1, 2026; 5:15 pm
Crabtree Nature Center

**REGISTRATION REQUIRED**

This is a great opportunity to photograph the grounds at golden hour and to see crepuscular wildlife that are not active during the day. Please register at Crabtree Nature Center (847-381-6592) if you would like to attend. All experience levels welcome.
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Photo: Belted Kingfisher at Crabtree Nature Center, Sept 10, 2023 (Vonda Zwick)

07/31/2026

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the Sunset Photography Walk at Crabtree Nature Center on Wednesday! We had great weather and a playful encounter with a pair of young Striped Skunks who were confused to find people on the trail so late in the evening.

Photography tip for sunsets: expose low to capture colors in the sun and the sky. When shooting the setting sun, if you want to get a well defined sunburst pattern with pointy spikes, use a narrow aperture (f/16 or lower). The two sun shots below were shot at f/16.

Our next sunset photography walk will be on Thursday, August 27th. This event was originally scheduled for 6:30 pm, but we are considering moving it up to 6 pm to give us more time before the sun goes down. Please call 847-381-6592 to register. We hope to see you there!

07/27/2026

August Photography Meetup:
Sunday, August 2nd, 2026; 8:30 am
Crabtree Nature Center, 3 Stover Rd, Barrington, IL

Join us for our monthly photography meetup and enjoy a photography walk on the grounds followed by refreshments and discussion in the building.

Meet in the parking lot at 8:30am.

Hope to see you there! All experience levels welcome!

*********************
Upcoming Special Events:
*********************

SUNSET PHOTOGRAPHY WALK
Wednesday, July 29, 2026; 7:30 pm
Crabtree Nature Center

**REGISTRATION REQUIRED**

We will be having Sunset Photography Walks at Crabtree this Wednesday, July 29th at 7:30 pm and Thursday, August 27 at 6:30 pm. This is a great opportunity to photograph the grounds at golden hour and to see crepuscular wildlife that are not active during the day. Please register at Crabtree Nature Center (847-381-6592) if you would like to attend. All experience levels welcome.

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Photo: Monarch Visiting Cutleaf Coneflower at Crabtree Nature Center, August 18, 2023 (Vonda Zwick)

07/16/2026

Photos from Phantom Prairie taken during our July Photography Meetup.

If anyone has photos they would like to share, send us a message or comment below and we will reach out!

07/14/2026

Mark your calendars — the 2026 Photo Contest opens on July 31st. This is your chance to see your work featured in the 2027 Forest Preserves of Cook County calendar!

Whether or not your photo makes the final cut, every entry helps support the mission of the preserves. Open to photographers of all experience levels — grab your camera and get outside!

Join us at our monthly meetup for an opportunity to capture some stellar images at the preserves.

We’re looking for your very best photos of Forest Preserves of Cook County landscapes, close-ups of plants, insects, birds and other wildlife, images that highlight […]

06/29/2026

July Photography Meetup:
Sunday, July 5, 2026; 8:30 am
Crabtree Nature Center

We are meeting this Sunday as the summer wildflowers are coming into bloom! We will take a walk to see what is blooming on the grounds and practice photography of prairie landscapes, native wildflowers, and their pollinators. No fancy gear needed - bring your cell phone if you don't have a camera.

Meet in the parking lot at 8:30am for the morning walk while temps are still cool.

Afterwards, we will meet in the building for refreshments and friendly discussion. We will have an informal discussion about shooting fireflies at night, with examples taken from the firefly walk at Crabtree this past week.

Hope to see you there! All experience levels welcome!

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SUNSET PHOTOGRAPHY WALK
Wednesday, July 29, 2026; 7:30 pm
Crabtree Nature Center

**REGISTRATION REQUIRED**

We are having another Sunset Photography Walk at Crabtree on July 29th at 7:30 pm. This is a great opportunity to photograph the grounds at golden hour and to see crepuscular wildlife that are not active during the day. Please register at Crabtree Nature Center (847-381-6592) if you would like to attend. All experience levels welcome.

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Photo Credit: Vonda Zwick (taken at the Butterfly Walk in June).

06/27/2026

Photos taken during Friday's Crabtree Nature Center Firefly Walk 6/27/2026.

Photos were taken with a 50 mm lens using an 8 second shutter speed, f/1.8, using the interval timer set to take a photo every 10 seconds on a tripod, then photos were stacked in Photoshop on Lighten mode to combine. Since we were on the move, there are only a few frames taken/combined per location. This is only my second attempt to photograph fireflies, so I am still figuring this out.

--Vonda Zwick

06/16/2026

Some of the butterflies seen at today's (6/15/2026) Butterfly Walk at Crabtree Nature Center. Each photo contains information about the species. Come out to Crabtree Nature Center this summer for an opportunity to see and photograph these species and more!

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this walk.