Here’s something a bit more current, even though I hardly went out for walks last week. I have started to get back into my regular routine. Anyway, here are some photos in reverse chronological order for a change. First are some from October 21st. A grey squirrel seemed to have perfected a walnut chin grip.

I managed to get a few barely passable photos of a rather cooperative Golden-crowned Kinglet. This is the same individual at the top of the post.

After that, I got some better views of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

Then I noticed a young Cooper’s Hawk in the distance.

On October 16, there were some American Goldfinches.

I saw a Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

The moon made an appearance.

A Golden-crowned Kinglet emerged, this one being a little easier to capture.

And I encountered a deer on the way out past the little bridge.

The camera caught a distant Tennessee Warbler.

Then back on October 14, I first saw a Hermit Thrush on the chain-link fence that separates the Chicago Portage from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District property, and then agan later on a branch.

I found a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

I caught a glimpse of a White-throated Sparrow.

A Red-winged Blackbird flew overhead.

It was still easy to get a few looks at Yellow-rumped Warblers.

I took note of a pensive-looking American Goldfinch.

A female Downy Woodpecker was mining a large tree trunk, and then I saw a male Downy Woodpecker closer.

I found a Nashville Warbler irresistible.

And I also found a lingering Tennessee Warbler.

With my house guest gone Thursday, I have been trying to get my life back together. I wonder if it has been a bit more challenging as the days grow shorter and temperatures cooler. Luckily my indoor birds are here to remind me what needs to be done every day at a minimum.

For what it’s worth, on Saturday morning, I picked up and then unloaded a total of 510 pounds of birdseed, my annual stock-up-for-winter from the Chicago Bird Alliance (formerly Chicago Audubon Society) Annual Birdseed Sale. I began to muse, as I always do, about how much longer I will be physically able to do this task, but then, as if an immediate answer to my question, I soon discovered that all the lifting and carrying had somehow provided me with a rush of energy that was enough to continue doing the physical tasks of two big cleanups, first of the dining room, and then the living room, removing the indoor birds’ dirty curtains and huts and replacing with clean ones. In essence, I accomplished in one day what I would normally have scheduled to do in three, and I am none the worse for wear. Indoors, the birds seem to have accepted their fate of having to start all over again building nests in the huts, too. Now, if we can all just get used to the “earlier” evenings descending into darkness. The birds yelled at me last night when the dining room light, which is on a timer, went off. I had been napping after dinner on the futon. Their message was clear: It’s late and we want to go to sleep. Turn off the radio and the living room light and say goodnight.