It was so cool on Tuesday morning I wore jeans and a sweatshirt to accommodate the clouds and cool breezes. There was just enough light to barely see well enough to photograph anything. For a brief moment my phone weather app predicted rain, but I decided to walk anyway. The rain didn’t occur, but it was still cloudy for quite a while. That changed by the time I left the Chicago Portage for the sun had emerged from behind the clouds and with it came warmth, but I was going to return home after procuring a flu shot anyway so I wasn’t too warm for long.

It is always nice to see Tennessee Warblers at eye level and these seem to be more common this season.

And a few more captures

The “birdcast” from Cornell indicated heavy migration over the last couple days but that has not been reflected on the ground. So although I am finding migrants, it’s a slow, hit-or-miss situation lately. No reason to give up. Actually it makes the number of photographs more manageable.

Palm Warblers have been showing up here and there, if sparsely.

And I managed to barely capture a couple Cape May Warblers.

The light was such a challenge early on, I barely captured this distant Downy Woodpecker.

Later I managed a closer Hairy Woodpecker.

I spotted a perched Ruby-throated Hummingbird but only captured its imminent departure.

Here’s what the Portage looks like lately. A lot of goldenrod is in bloom.

And here’s what the bottomland looks like after all the rain we had last Sunday-Monday.

Here and there, a House Wren.

Robins are generally moving in flocks. Now and then one interests the camera.

I feel a series of very short posts coming on, which could be a bonus for all of us. I will be back with yesterday’s visit to Riverside and this morning at the Portage… and I go back to Riverside tomorrow on my way to the pool. Because you never know what you will see.