I would have gone to the Chicago Portage this morning if it hadn’t started raining. The rain stopped early, however, and did not amount to much. I am tired of living under the threat of heat and rain, but the humidity is certainly real. In cooler weather, these decisions would not consume so much of my mental energy. Suffice it to say after I refilled the birdbaths and one of the hummingbird feeders, I decided to devote myself to grocery shopping. I need to get over feeling guilty for not taking a walk, so I will try to do a blog post instead.
My last visit to the Portage was on Tuesday morning. In spite of the fact that I encountered perhaps 10 cyclists on the paved parts of the trail, it was otherwise relatively quiet and I saw quite a lot in a little over an hour of a slow summer morning.
Pearl Crescent butterflies were prevalent.
I have been following a snail’s progress for a few visits. The photos below are from July 23, July 25 and then on July 30.
A Chipmunk appeared on a branch close to the trail and insisted I take its photograph.
I did manage to capture a couple Indigo Buntings. First, a juvenile, and later, Tadziu on his latest favorite perch off his bridge.
There were a couple Red Spotted Purple butterflies. The one in the third photo unfortunately had some chunks taken out of its wings.
The Northern Flicker below blends so well into the tree stump, it’s a challenge to see it.
I haven’t seen or even heard too many Red-bellied Woodpeckers lately but I did find this young-looking one.
The challenge this time of year is often with identifying some juvenile birds. This Baltimore Oriole wasn’t hard to identify but it was quite far away.
American Goldfinches have been attracted to the duckweed.
When I went back to check the bridge near Harlem before I left, I saw two ducks I quickly assumed were Mallards but later when I cropped the photo, I realized they were actually Blue-winged Teal. Could be a pair, with the male in eclipse plumage looking just like the female.
This is the same Blue Jay at the top of the post. It looks like a young bird to me.
This Red Admiral butterfly on some blooming burdock was not shy. For as much burdock as the volunteers have removed, it still persists in a few spots.
I was done then, I was sure, but I decided to walk back along the paved trail and out the other side. My extra walk was rewarded by a look at a Ruby-throated Hummingbird.
Not too easy from this distance, but I managed to get a few images before another pair of cyclists came through. You have to use your imagination on the last photo.
My last reward was a Tiger Swallowtail on the paved trail, attracted to one of several piles of dog poop. I have cropped out as much as I could so you could see the butterfly. I had seen someone coming out from the trail walking three dogs when I first arrived. But I have never seen this much mess left on the trail. I’m hoping for enough rain to at least wash it away.
So that’s it for my last visit. Next, I will backtrack through some others that proved interesting. The forecast for tomorrow morning is again for rain, but I’ll believe it when I see it.
The dog poop is distressing, but otherwise there were a lot of lovely pictures in this post.
Thanks. I tend to give the creatures credit for selecting interesting and beautiful backgrounds, usually I can count completely on their aesthetic sense, butterflies’ attraction to excrement has never intrigued me.
Thanks for sharing a little bit of one of your other interests….butterflies. Maybe I will even learn to recognize one in the field that is not a Monarch.
Loved the multiple shots of the hummingbird. Also some nice pictures of the immatures who are getting bigger and developing there traveling feathers.
Perhaps other butterflies are that much more noticeable for lack of Monarchs. But summer has always felt like butterflies are the more prevalent flying creatures.
The hummingbird was pure luck. I found myself wondering if there would be any jewelweed at all this year, a main draw in early fall for the hummingbirds.
My favorite photo was the intermediate snail. I don’t think I’ve ever photographed a snail before.
I am glad you have a camera that won’t blur the snail as it speeds along the leaf. Have you never seen one or just did not stopped to take a photo? As snails go it does look pretty cool. You did capture its impressive (antenna) or what ever the correct term is as it zoomed by on the branch.
I don’t think I had ever seen a snail before at the Portage, and this one seemed to be in the same location through 3 visits. But yesterday I didn’t see it so maybe it’s finally moved on. I just was so intrigued by its artistic sense of composition and color arrangement. The creatures do their thing and I merely observe.