Romeoville Resident Wins Preserve's December Photo Contest

ROMEOVILLE, IL — Romeoville resident Chad Morsch was selected as the winner of the December portion of the Preserve the Moment photo contest, according to a release from the Forest Preserve District of Will County.

Morsch snapped a photo of a fox squirrel in the parking lot at McKinley Woods in November, the preserve said. Morsch was walking back to his car when he saw the squirrel enjoying a meal of smashed hedge apple from an Osage-orange tree.

The photo was selected by judges as one of the top five photos from submissions, and members of the public chose it as the best shot of the month via Facebook voting, the preserve said.

“The squirrel was so preoccupied with its meal that it allowed me to get relatively close,” Morsch said to the preserve in a news release. “It was quite amusing watching it try to dissect the hedge apple into small enough pieces it could hold on to. I spent several minutes watching it eat and took several shots. When it was finished, it simply ran back to the grass and we both went our way. The squirrel had a full belly, and I had some nice photos.”

Morsch, an avid outdoor and wildlife enthusiast, said he started taking photos in early 2022 to document his forest preserve outings, according to the preserve.

“The contest helped to push me to become a better photographer,” he said. “My goal was to someday make it into a monthly final. I wanted to be as good as some of these great local photographers I’d seen entering the contest and posting on Facebook pages.”

Winning the December contest was the “icing on the cake,” he said.

Morsch receives a $75 MasterCard gift card for his win, the preserve said.

The other finalists were:

• Jennifer Mathews of Joliet for her shot of a curved wooden boardwalk and water illuminated by the sun at Rock Run Rookery Preserve.
• Greg Winkelmann of Romeoville for a yellow warbler with its wings stretched out in flight at McKinley Woods and also for a ring-billed gull snaring a fish in the water at Rock Run Rookery.
• Thomas Hahn of Mokena for clouds reflected in the water at Hickory Creek Preserve.

Monthly voting for the 2022 contest has finished, so all eight monthly photos will now compete for overall contest honors via voting by members of the public on the Forest Preserve's Facebook page. Voting will begin at noon on Jan. 10, and end at 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 13.

The top photos for 2022 will receive gift cards of $500 for first place, $250 for second place and $150 for third place. Three contest participants chosen at random will receive $75 gift cards. All prizes are funded by The Nature Foundation of Will County.

To see all photo entries for the 2022 contest, visit the Forest Preserve's Flickr account.