It’s another cold, cloudy day with snow in the forecast. The birds have not been flocking to the feeders this morning so much as I expect they are anticipating weather. The thaw was brief and if the ice at the bottom of my back porch stairs is any indication, it’s likely still quite icy at the Portage, so I sat through today’s half-planned walk, sifted through some late summer photographs and will go swimming later.

Late August at the Portage was full of immature birds and a few early fall migrants. These photos are from August 28. Below are two American Redstarts. The paler one could very well be a first-year male, or a female. I tend to forget that some American Redstarts breed in Illinois, they don’t all go farther north, because I have only seen them in migration. But then it’s logical to see them before the other warblers start making their way south. In any event I look forward to seeing them again in the spring.

Juvenile American Robins like the one at the top of the post come in spotty plumage,

August is the time of year for spider webs like the one below.

The deer were a lot younger…

and the Portage was lush and green everywhere…

The Yellow Coneflowers were in full bloom, and the Blue Dancer Damselfly was not in a very photogenic location.

I must have gone to the backyard after I got home to see if I could capture any of the birds there. So I managed a shy female Northern Cardinal, a Mourning Dove and what appears to be a Hairy Woodpecker.

But most frustrating of all was trying to capture a Ruby-throated Hummingbird visiting a feeder from too far away. I look forward to more opportunities this year. It might be a little easier to see them now that I’ve had the trees trimmed, but it also might be a little more difficult to hang the feeders!

I will have to decide in the spring how much of this Tall Ironweed I can handle before it takes over the entire backyard.

I have one more post of photos from late August and then there’s still a lot of fall warbler pictures that I took in September – when I had just begun testing the retirement waters with my toe. The days are getting longer…