Weasel Photo By Romeoville Man Wins Forest Preserve Photo Contest

ROMEOVILLE, IL — A photo of an alert, carnivorous weasel sitting near a tree trunk won May's Will County forest preserve photo contest.

Darek Konopka of Romeoville shot the winning photograph at the Rock Run Preserve in Joliet.

"He looked at me, turned his head a couple of times and vanished," Konopka said in a news release. "I was like, 'Wow!' I never saw them before in the wild."

The self-proclaimed amateur photographer said he loves wildlife and was lucky his camera was poised to snap the weasel's photo.

"I focused on his nose and fired away a few times," he said in the release. "I'm an amateur photographer, I love wildlife and I have been taking photos for about eight years."

Last month's Preserve of the Moment photo contest saw 80 entries from which Konopka's "rare and appealing shot" won for the weasel's alert look in contrast with the brown tree trunk and green background, according to the forest preserve news release.

Honorable mentions from May's contest went out to:

Matt Serafini of Lockport for a great blue heron with outstretched wings at Lockport Prairie Nature Preserve.

Matthew Zook of Plainfield for a cauldron of big brown bats clustered in the corner of a shelter at Laughton Preserve.

Mark Hanna of Romeoville for a mother Canada goose wrapping a wing around her goslings at Four Rivers Environmental Education Center.

Byron Morgan of Crete for a colorful wild geranium at Raccoon Grove Nature Preserve.

All entries in the contest can be viewed on the Forest Preserve District of Will County's Flickr page. The contest will continue monthly through December, and directions for how to enter can be found here.