I fully intended to go out for a walk at the Chicago Portage Saturday morning before more snow was predicted to fall. I was completely dressed and ready to go out the door when I made the mistake of checking the weather app on my phone: it indicated snow was starting in fifteen minutes. Since the weather app on my phone has been somewhat inaccurate, I went to my laptop to double-check with the Weather Channel and even more snow was predicted, along with confirmation from the radar. I decided not to take the chance.

Then, almost two hours later, I noticed it was not snowing, so I decided to go for a walk at the Portage anyway, come what may. Upon arrival, I noticed the parking lot had several cars, and it wasn’t until I got out of mine that I was soon reminded of the reason why, it being the last Saturday of the month. The volunteers were at work.

Since it takes a while before I find any birds to photograph these days, the landscape takes precedence.

But then, to interrupt the stillness for a moment at least, a Red-tailed Hawk flew over.

After that I had some clear if distant views of a Red-bellied Woodpecker…

and a White-breasted Nuthatch.

From time to time I have heard of seen Black-capped Chickadees lately, and Saturday was no exception, even if this was my only opportunity to capture one.

The sun tried to emerge from the clouds for moment.

A different view but probably of the same nuthatch, who is also represented at the top of the post.

And I’m including this photo of the Red-bellied Woodpecker because even though most of his body is obscured it shows off his red belly.

A peek at the Des Plaines River, and another view of the Portage stream.

Claiming their own place in the snow on the trail, I noticed two burdock seed pods.

The American Tree Sparrows have been hanging out in the middle of the marshy area, a little bit more visible from the inside trail.

Below is a view of nothing but the typical landscape in the marshy area which I suspect hides more birds than I see on any visit.

Also off the inside trail, but on the other side of it, I managed to find an American Goldfinch, and…

a male House Finch. The lack of light didn’t help.

An added bonus lately has been seeing and hearing White-throated Sparrows. I heard one singing for a short spell on Saturday.

Well-hidden but not far from the trail was a young White-tailed Deer.

By the time I got back to my car, it was snowing in earnest, so I decided to take this snowy shot of the back of the statue.

Now that I can no longer use snow as an excuse for staying home, I decided I can’t use single-digit temperatures as an excuse either. I went out yesterday and this morning, and managed to wield the camera and the lens somehow with double-gloved hands.

The hardest thing is going to be acclimating myself to an earlier rise. I have been taking full advantage of winter weather by sleeping in, but as the days grow longer and eventually warmer, I will have to amend my sleepy ways. I have been waking up to some intricately interesting if stupid dreams, but none of them have proved to be memorable beyond the first minute or two.

I will likely be back with more snow, more clouds, more sun, more birds…and an eventual update on the home flocks inside and out.