Baltimore Oriole
I’m feeling the effects of too many trips. I haven’t changed time zones, and I thought going short distances would be a piece of cake, but it seems every time I leave, for all the last-minute preparations, I may as well be leaving the country.
I’m still combing through the photos of the past week, but thought I’d post a couple birds with songs from pictures I took this morning. I visited McLaughry Springs Woods and McGinnis Slough, both in the Palos region of southwest Cook County, Illinois.
Baltimore Oriole – McLaughry Springs
This Oriole was singing at McLaughry Springs, but he was camera-shy. It was a lot easier to take photos of the Oriole near the parking lot at McGinnis, as he was trying to distract me from finding his mate sitting on the nest.
Then, while I was briefly in St. Louis, I took an early morning walk Friday through the park that spans either side of the Arch running along the river.
In the Arch park, there were at least four Warbling Vireos singing, although I saw only one briefly. There were not very many species present. Oddly enough, the only bird I managed to photograph was a female Baltimore Oriole.
Female Baltimore Oriole
In any event, below is the Warbling Vireo who posed for me at McGinnis. I didn’t manage to record his song, but have substituted one from the St. Louis birds. The busy-sounding vireo song is running alongside some chirps from a Robin in the foreground.
Warbling Vireo
And for a last image, here is a real surprise. Just as I got out of my car and got my gear together at McGinnis, I saw a distant Yellow-Billed Cuckoo fly into a tree. The Cuckoo did its best to hide but I managed to get this picture before it gave up its perch to a Robin. This is a bird I rarely see.
Yellow-Billed Cuckoo
I’ll try to manage another post before the Memorial Day weekend. 🙂
It “blows me away”, Lisa, that you have access to so many different birds from what we have. However, we do get the Yellow-billed Cuckoos. I love them, they always have that proud upright stance. They should be arriving here any day now. Your picture of the arch reminds me that many years ago, I and my wife, would drive by there when it was under construction. We were on our way home to visit in Michigan. I believe I have some snapshots somewhere of the two sides of the arch before they were connected at the top.
Thanks for your comment, Bob! I guess we shouldn’t be so surprised we get different birds given the distance between us. It’s hard to imagine ecological niches in the U.S. but they do exist. As for the Arch, it was hard to photo much of it with my big lens, but I figured any photo was better than nothing…
Great images. I have never seen a cuckoo of any kind. Orioles, however, are my favorite songbird. We have had LOTS this spring until it turned warm this past week. We still see them, but not in the same numbers. I love the recording of the song.
Thanks! How lucky for you to get Orioles, they never come near my yard. And I have been literally surrounded by them in Ohio and still found them hard to photograph. That’s when I started thinking this guy wasn’t going to move too far because he didn’t want to tip me off to the nest location.
your photos are delightful once again. and you have marvelous varieties of birds..thanks so much for sharing