I didn’t think I’d be back here before next year, but this morning’s late, cold, cloudy visit to the Chicago Portage was a bit of a surprise and I may as well write while my memory of it is still fresh.

No surprise that the volunteers were busy at work. They were the first thing I saw when I got out of my car.

I was resigned to the expectation that I would probably not see much, and that which I did see would be difficult to photograph. But it was good to go for a walk, as long as I had the liner of my new jacket zipped in. The temperature had gone down to freezing overnight and the water had a thin layer of ice on it.

Two woodpeckers, a Downy and a Red-bellied, revealed themselves briefly.

I stopped and talked to a man and a woman walking with their son. They had just seen a large deer, and asked me a woodpecker question. Shortly after they continued on their way, a flock of birds flew in from the north across the tracks and landed in the trees. The birds were flitting about and just far away enough to make them almost impossible to capture with the cloud cover. But what amazed me was the number of Northern Cardinals. Although I could not get them to cooperate for a group photo, there were at least a dozen. Mixed in were White-throated Sparrows and Black-capped Chickadees.

There were a couple Downy Woodpeckers and a White-breasted Nuthatch in the flock.

Then, after not having located them for a week or more, I found the flock of American Tree Sparrows in the goldenrod closer to the newly paved trail.

So that’s about it. I may never see that many Northern Cardinals together again. Just when you’re not expecting anything…

The clearest photo of a White-throated Sparrow this time was of its back. A fitting farewell to 2023, perhaps.

Some things will never change. Water keeps flowing out under the bridge near Harlem.