I’m not quite up to more adventurous birding spots yet, or so I’ve been telling myself, so I went back to the Portage again last Sunday morning. One of my first most delightful encounters was the Sphinx Moth above. It might also be called a Hummingbird Clearwing Moth. I didn’t see any hummingbirds, although I keep looking for them ever since one zipped by one of my feeders a couple weeks ago.

Great Blue Heron

All the herons that have been hanging out were present, if difficult to get close to. The Great Egret in particular has been trying to stay as far from the trails as possible.

Great Egret, at a distance

One of the Green Herons landed in a nearby tree, and then took off for another location. The other one stayed glued to a small stump in the water and was barely visible.

So much for the one Red-Winged Blackbird that was temporarily available.

Even though I know there are many Indigo Buntings on site, I was only able to see the male below who looks like he had just taken a bath, compromising his ability to reflect very much blue. Below him, a well hidden female, who I found only after hearing her persistent chip note.

Summer sun is just what the painted turtles crave. At least I think they were all painted turtles.

Even the robins were hunkered down somewhat. Below, one serious adult and a couple youngsters.

There are several Song Sparrows, I always hear them singing, but it’s been hard to see one. I did manage to glimpse this one at a distance.

It was a day for bathing and rearranging feathers, I think, such as the Baltimore Oriole below.

The biggest surprise was to see two young Hooded Mergansers. I had to look them up as I’ve never seen juveniles of this species before but I recognized that they had to be mergansers from their bill and head shape. Nice of them to stop by the Portage. I’m sure they were touring several bodies of water. I didn’t expect them to stay very long as the water is hardly deep enough for diving.

Even the one Northern Cardinal I could get to pose was having a bad hair day.

I caught the Great Blue Heron as it left for another one of its haunts.

A couple more pictures of the Sphinx Moth. The Common Milkweed is in full bloom everywhere including my front yard, where it has smelled so strong I could detect its scent halfway down the block.

I can’t believe it’s taken me the whole week to finish this post. I’ve been very busy at work and that takes a lot out of me. I graduated physical therapy Tuesday night so I am looking forward to having that night free again. If nothing else the knee is improving ever so incrementally and I look forward to not having its excuse to curtail any activity.

Beyond that, I just got back this morning from another visit to the Portage. I hope to be back much sooner with that report. The heat has taken hold for a few days, so I should relish sitting here in the air conditioning. I hope you are safe and cool wherever you are!