Indigo Bunting

I have been thinking about visiting Paul Douglas Forest Preserve, which is way up northwest in Cook County, in Hoffman Estates, to be exact, for quite a while, and I finally managed to get up at 3:15 AM Sunday morning so I could get there before the heat became unbearable. It turned out to be a pleasant, sunny morning with quite a breeze going at times.

Cedar Waxwing

Paul Douglas is a huge preserve, surrounded by one continuous paved trail that extends 7.5 miles – and so it is a destination for runners and bike riders. Not an ideal birding situation, but it’s good for the birds because they can nest there relatively undisturbed. I did not perhaps prepare as I should have, I just figured out how to get there and went. I walked about a mile from the parking lot and at birding pace that took me almost two hours, so I walked back. I’ll see the rest of it some other time.

Tree Swallow nesr

The target bird, if there was one, was Yellow-Headed Blackbird, but either because I didn’t find out specifically where they were located or else they were not present, I did not see or hear any. But I saw some beautiful birds anyway, even if most of them were too far away to get great photos. Often the best birds are when you least expect them, anyway.

My first bird was a Willow Flycatcher. The camera wasn’t ready for him but he cooperated anyway and I managed to get his song as well. His song is the sneezy little “fitz-pew” below the picture.

Willow Flycatcher

It turns out I’ve been trying to put this post together for days but always when I’m falling asleep at the end of the day, so it looks like it might take me at least one more installment. And now that one of the lights that’s on a timer has gone out, my indoor birds are telling me to go to sleep.Of course they’re right. Blogger guilt may be getting to me, but it’s been a busy week.

Common Yellowthroat

I will be back tomorrow with more notes from the field.

Thistle

“Fledgling” Thistle