I had planned to write a post before my departure for Big Bend but it didn’t happen. Now I am back from an amazing trip, but even though I have started processing my pictures, it will probably take me a couple of weeks given the busy schedule I am returning to, so I will see if I can manage this post for the moment.
I did a Columbus Park walk on the Saturday before I left, and it was to witness the first hint of migrating birds, but our spring has been anything but spring-like, with snow occurring the next day and from what I hear, another wet, fluffy snowfall the Saturday before my return. Yet I’m planning on putting out the hummingbird feeders tomorrow morning. C’mon, it’s May!
The big wading and diving birds were easiest to spot… It was particularly entertaining to watch the Double-Crested Cormorants drying off in the sun. Maybe the Canada Goose thought I was trying to take its picture.
We had several Wood Ducks, but this was perhaps the closest view I got of a male swimming in front of a female Mallard.
A little army of hungry Golden-Crowned Kinglets appeared on the grass in front of us at one point, reminding me of the very first time I ever saw them years ago doing the same thing on the lawn at Millennium Park.
The female Belted Kingfisher below was pretty far away but nice to see.
This Black-crowned Night-Heron flew by us before landing in a tree.
Swamp Sparrows outnumbered Song Sparrows (4 to 2!) but were hard to photograph.
Eastern Phoebe arrivals are always a sign of spring. The similarly-colored bird below the Eastern Phoebe is a Northern Rough-Winged Swallow.
You know the Red-Winged Blackbirds are ready for business when the girls start arriving.
Northern Flickers put on a show for us but they were hard to capture as well.
Our last “lawn” species was Killdeer.
I got caught up on my sleep last night, but I’m heading into a busy weekend. Saturday morning is the Spring Bird Count, Saturday night is the Spring Music Festival…and with any luck on Sunday, I can start cleaning up my yard, as green things, both wanted and invasive, are starting to emerge. The recommendation to not clear anything until the temperature stays above 50 degrees Fahrenheit will be difficult to adhere to… we are still dropping into the 40’s, albeit the higher 40’s, overnight. I do remember seeing a butterfly or two before I left. I hope to see some insects Sunday and maybe a better forecast.
I hope that the weekend goes to schedule and that better weather arrives and stays.
We’ve gotten to the point where we’re checking the forecast constantly because it keeps changing! But I’m going with the promise of warmer weather at least that seems to be coming our way… 🙂
Good variety of birds. Lisa. I still have the feeling that this spring is going to be very good for birds. Our weather is really getting a good turn and have more birds and plenty of flowers. I hope it continues like that for a while longer. 🙂
Thanks, H.J. I’m glad to hear you are having a good spring. I came home from work this evening and as I was feeding the indoor crowd their evening snack, a male Baltimore Oriole was trying to figure out the suet feeder. I hadn’t put out the new oriole feeder yet in part because it was still raining… It’s out now and I hope to see another oriole soon. 🙂
A belted kingfisher – cool! The Baltimore orioles just started showing up in our garden.
I finally had a Baltimore Oriole show up at my new feeder this morning. Hoping for hummingbirds. I saw another kingfisher yesterday morning but didn’t get a picture. 🙂
Great Spring variety, Lisa!
Oh, Donna, that was barely a preview…I’ve been running around in circles catching up with Texas photos, cold weather and rainy night fallouts now that I’m home. Spring is getting hectic!