I got out early this morning to beat the heat. It was a delightful 64 degrees F. when I woke up and I opened the windows for a short period of time while performing the birds’ breakfast service, but the predicted high for today is 91 although we may fall a couple degrees short of it. In any event I wanted to avoid the heat.

It was a very slow walk on my part. I predicted I would be “paying” for my walk and swim yesterday as my right knee is not very happy lately. Back to the drawing board. I will manage.

I took that photograph of all the Milkweed Beetles at the head of the post because I began to realize I was missing them in my yard after I removed all the seed pods early from the Common Milkweed. There’s some kind of symbiotic relationship going here, I suspect. So next year if I want to see these guys I will have to leave the seed pods on the plants until they are gone. I do remember seeing hundreds of little bright orange eggs on the leaves of the plants so I would have had the beetles had I not removed the seed pods. The beetles are harmless to the plant and apparently to monarch eggs or caterpillars, if I had them. as they are only herbivores. They have few natural predators as their consumption of the common milkweed plants makes them toxic except to deer or rabbits. I don’t think I screwed up the ecosystem too much by removing the seed pods early but maybe I will leave them be a while longer next year and just be pulling out as many if not more common milkweed shoots.

I managed to find a few birds this morning. A Nashville Warbler was foraging in the plants by the break in the fence.

I somehow managed a slight photo of a Black-throated Green Warbler.

A distant Blackpoll Warbler was perched out in the wide open.

Maybe my most surprising bird was a juvenile male Indigo Bunting. I had been thinking I somehow missed all the juveniles this year that must have fledged at the Chicago Portage. This one could be a migrant from somewhere else.

One of several busy, noisy American Goldfinches.

Also in those plants by the break in the fence were a few young House Wrens. This one was fine with having its picture taken.

I didn’t realize this butterfly was upside down until I processed the photos…

I zoomed in on a distant Hairy Woodpecker.

And that is it for this morning. Well. If I’m going to be off my feet for a while – just long enough to give my knee the idea that I might let it try to heal a bit if it’s so inclined – I may as well go back to those earlier photos I promised. It’s just been kind of fun and easy to write in real time over the last few days. Sort of a feeling of trying to preserve the moment – in the moment.

P.S. I’ll never make it with AI. I love how when I like what I’ve written, the plugin tells me my content “needs improvement.”

Oh, I almost forgot what seems like the obligatory Gray-cheeked Thrush!

Fall migration seems to have slowed down a bit over the last few days – at least for birds on the ground. The forecast or “birdcast” looks like a lot of birds will be traveling over my area on Tuesday night which might be good for Wednesday morning. In any event, I will keep going out for a look.

These photographs are from the Chicago Portage last Thursday and today. I went out quite late today after spending the earlier quite cloudy morning hours, while it was nicely cool, trying to clean up my backyard to get it ready for repairs. I will be getting estimates on replacing most of the fence, half of which fell into the alley yesterday (I managed to prop it up on an angle hoping it will not fall again) and also removing my beloved but quite dead staghorn sumac tree which is about to fall. The birds and I will miss that tree a lot. I have to figure out where else, if anywhere, to hang the two feeders on it.

So it was around 10:00 AM and I decided to go for a walk at the Chicago Portage anyway even if I expected nothing. The sun was shining. I got to the Portage, then realized I had forgotten the camera, went back home for it and returned. So much for messing with my routine.

Toward the end of my walk this morning, there was the Gray-cheeked Thrush below. The bird at the top of the post is a Swainson’s Thrush from Thursday morning.

There were barely a few warblers this morning. I was following anything that was moving, most at quite a distance, so these are not great photographs.

A fungus on a dead log caught my eye.

For sure one species migrating – Monarch Butterflies. They are everywhere and I think I am seeing a few more than I did last year at this time.

A grasshopper wanted its picture taken,

Now the photos from Thursday. I believe the bird below to be a Philadelphia Vireo. It is more yellow underneath overall and there’s a little darkness around the lores.

Another Monarch Butterfly.

Thursday’s best warbler was a Blackpoll.

There was also a nice-looking Red-eyed Vireo.

Most confusing bird of the year is below. It looks like a warbler but likely one you may never see as it appears to be all wet. I was stumped because the feathers make the bird look all different shades of gray. So I asked Merlin for its opinion and it suggested a Cape May Warbler based on the bill shape. After I looked harder at what appears to be yellow in the throat and the general gizz of the bird, I am going with Cape May. I have no idea how the bird got so wet.

Here are some more shots of the Swainson’s Thrush.

And there was a Gray-cheeked Thrush on Thursday too.

Every now and then I see a Northern Cardinal.

And Black-capped Chickadees are usually up to something.

A little flock of Cedar Waxwings was present.

Here’s what the water looked like on Thursday. It’s still duckweed all the way.

And one more Monarch Butterfly…

I hope to be back with some photos from the Columbus Park walks and more warblers from last month when the migrants were first noticeable… unless something unexpected happens the next day or so.