I went back to the Chicago Portage Tuesday morning and there were already several cars in the parking lot belonging most likely to the dog walkers I encountered as I started walking on the trail. I was curious to see if there had been much flooding other than the entrance to the parking lot.
The water levels looked a bit higher, but nothing all that unusual after a rain.
The wooded area that slopes down from the hill had water in it.
And the marshy area next to the paved trail was quite soggy.
At that point, after seeing very few birds save a few American Robins, I noticed a lot of American Tree Sparrows in the marshy area. I have seen them there, off and on, for several weeks. I can only imagine the rain replenished their foraging source. It was difficult to photograph them in such poor light, and they blended right in.
Red-winged Blackbirds and Song Sparrows were singing, establishing their territories, and turning their backs toward me or hiding behind branches.
My previous visit to the Portage was one week earlier and it was an even cloudier day.
I did find a White-throated Sparrow who seemed content with the camera.
Back to yesterday, when I got home. There were some Sandhill Cranes flying over the house. Not as many as the week before (I will try to be back with those photos soon), but still just so nice to hear and see them.
A Red-tailed Hawk also flew by.
I went to stand by the gate to the backyard and see if I could take a few photos of the birds at the feeders. I had to stay in a corner blocked by the back stairs so as not to disturb them too much.
American Goldfinches are still coming to the feeders. They are becoming more colorful.
I was in Riverside this morning, before swimming a mile at the health club. The warm weather is confusing wildlife: I saw a bumblebee in my front yard yesterday, looking in vain for flowers. Things are starting to grow, but it’s still too early to clean up the yard and that bumblebee will likely have to go back to bed. We will get a lot of rain tomorrow so I won’t be out walking, only running an errand or two…and maybe writing another blog post.
Sorry about the cloudy weather, but I am glad that Portage has reopened. I wonder what caused all that flooding at the gate area? I think a number of rare birds visited Portage during the closure. Welcome back Jose!
Sorry you got blocked by the message police last night – I was going to unblock your comment but got home too late.
I don’t know if all the tree removal and burning had anything to do with the flooding in the entrance to the parking lot but I noted the downward slope with no available drainage so I guess that’s where the runoff from the parking lot had to go. Of course the rare birds were partying while the Portage was closed! 😄
That’s good thinking. Wouldn’t that be something? One step forward to address park issues and one step backward if true.
I was wondering what happened to my first response. I was unaware that the message police are tracking me. Looks like you are going to miss the big snow that is slamming Denver. One of my sons was able to land there last night. He said the place is a Ghost Town.
Your first response got caught for some reason identifying you as “Rober Smith”…I have no idea except that I think maybe the filter didn’t recognize your address.
Glad your son was able to land. The storms that have been moving through look terrifying on the radar, but except for a lot of thunder, lightning and rain in the early morning hours, we have pretty much escaped. The sun even came out. I’ve been collecting rain in containers from the gutter usually attached to a rain barrel, to use in the birdbaths. As warm as it is, I don’t think I can rule out freezing temperatures just yet.