Tuesday it was the Chicago Portage. Wednesday morning, Riverside. We were in a cold, cloudy, windy situation that is soon to change drastically, or so we have been promised. Last night we dipped toward freezing. Today was actually quite nice with the sun shining and the wind subsiding, and it seemed to warm up quickly enough. I hope to be back with today’s photos later, maybe tomorrow.

Alas, I have been preoccupied with system challenges. I will elaborate on those further toward the end of the post. Right now I just want to share a few photos from emergent spring.

I hung out with a Hermit Thrush for a moment or two.

And then I spotted a Red-tailed Hawk. A walker coming from the other direction flushed it and I followed it somewhat as it flew to the bridge near Harlem.

I met Bob at some point after that and we spotted one of many American Robins on a nest…

Just when it seemed like there were no birds, we experienced a flurry of activity in the trees directly above us. There were Yellow-rumped Warblers…

a White-breasted Nuthatch…

Pine Warblers…

and Chipping Sparrows.

I saw only the male Blue-winged Teal of the pair that has been hanging out the past week or two.

Then, in Riverside yesterday, not much was happening, but from the outset there were a lot of swallows feeding close to the river over by the Hofmann Tower. Although they were at quite a distance I managed to get some photos.

Barn Swallows and one Tree Swallow below.

I saw a few Palm Warblers close to the paved trail in Riverside.

In Riverside Lawn, there was a deer fairly close. But I didn’t see many birds.

For a perfect ending to my chilly walk, a Turkey Vulture flew low overhead.

All these photos were taken with my older Mark III 5D. Although I’ve gotten used to the newer model and it’s easier to focus, the newer camera requires software that only resided on my little MacBook Pro, which suffered some terrible damage as I sat here maybe three weeks ago, falling asleep processing photos, and spilled coffee all over myself, the futon, and, of course, the laptop. I managed to dry out the laptop and it resumed function. The cover for the futon is already coffee-colored so that was not an issue.

Alas, I managed to repeat this terrible scenario again. Although the laptop came back to life the second time, it didn’t last too long. It died a terrible death Monday night. I lost sleep reimagining solutions. Tuesday morning I ordered a new MacBook Pro from Best Buy where I purchased the one I’m using at this moment in 2013. It was my first Mac and it’s still working. Needless to say, I have never spilled coffee on it. It’s too big to be ignored. I stopped updating it, however, so that I could use the original Adobe Lightroom software which I purchased. Remember those days, when you could buy software, use it and update it from time to time without paying a monthly fee? I know, I risk sounding like a relic here… Same thing goes for my copy of Microsoft Word on this machine. It has never asked for more money.

There is more to this saga but it’s getting late and I have a very busy weekend to prepare for. So as much as I hate to leave you in suspense, I promise to be back soon with the rest of the story.