Several days ago, before the -20 F. windchills – it was possible to go for a walk and see a few birds or other creatures at the Chicago Portage. I returned this morning when it was a balmy 10 degrees. The sun was shining brightly and there was less wind than yesterday, but it was still awfully cold. Somehow the cold is making everything else worse, as difficult as that might be to comprehend. But here we are.
January 6 was the last time I saw a number of sparrows. Below: a Song Sparrow and an American Tree Sparrow.
I was delighted to see – and hear – a Winter Wren. Although the wren was quite far away, I managed to get a couple reasonable photos of such a small bird.
The Red-shouldered Hawk was around that day.
At least Northern Cardinals have been pretty consistent.
A muskrat made an appearance.
On the same day, the sun hid behind the clouds at one point.
American Goldfinches were about. As happy as I am to see them in my yard, I’m glad they were at the Portage too.
Two days later, no birds to photograph, but a muskrat and an opossum. I haven’t seen an opossum here before,
Then on January 11, only one bird stood out, however distantly, for a photograph: a male Belted Kingfisher.
On January 13, I photographed only a Dark-eyed Junco. But I was attracted to the water runoff underneath the bridge closer to Harlem. That day was particularly warm.
After that we started to get cold. And this morning, I heard and saw only a few species, and was able to capture just one male Northern Cardinal while I was wearing heavier gloves. We had some snow two nights ago. We are promised some more, and temperatures will be even colder this weekend.
So now we are warming up enough to fulfill tne snowy forecast overnight and into tomorrow morning. I will at least be getting some exercise shoveling my walks. I’m also starting to write a little music inspired by my indoor birds. Anything to take my mind off…
There is a lot to take your mind off at the moment, I agree.
It’s that much more challenging when I can’t go for a walk. But I can still swim and play music.
A nice collection. The lack of activity makes every find more precious. Kingfischers have a special place in my heart going back to childhood at the mouth of a creek on Lake Michigan shore in Wisconsin. The coloring of the Goldfinches and the ‘winter intrigue’ complementing/blending with each other is stunning.
Thanks so much, John! Sounds like Kingfishers could have been “spark” birds for you.
I too love the way the Goldfinches blend in with their winter sources of food. I also think birds have a deep aesthetic sense of their surroundings and sometimes they just pose so I will take notice. 🙂
I love all your posts. I have been a birder for over 50 years. Growing up in Brookfield and attending RBHS and belonging to their bird watching club ooooooooooooooo so many years ago. I have a vast amount of videos and pictures of numerous birds in my backyard where I have close to 20 different types of feeders. I also have a great video of a Great Horned Owl landing in my backyard, looking around a bit then taking a running start past my video camera to take off that I would love to share. I just don’t know where to post any of them. Have you any suggestions? Keep posting and I’ll keep reading.
Thanks for your comments, Bill and welcome. I’m honored by your inspiration and experience.
I think there are so many media platforms now, it’s really just a matter of choice as to which one you want to use. Although my posts go to Facebook, I really haven’t explored expanding them elsewhere. I did have a YouTube channel and it probably still exists, but I haven’t posted anything there for a long, long time.
Having said all that, I do know that there are several Facebook groups devoted to bird sightings and local organizations are among them. There is also the list-serve, IBET, or Illinois Birders Exchange Thoughts, that is a network for sharing sightings and media. Whichever way you decide to go, I wish you a lot of fun.
Frigid cold weather still offers things to see along the trail. Sometimes it can be challenging to push yourself to get up and out. But we thank you for doing that and posting a few cute mammals and winter birds, Stay warm this weekend.
I’m treasuring the one-day (is it?) warmup before we plunge again. At least we didn’t get much snow…yet. The birds weren’t even in the yard until mid-afternoon yesterday, but that was probably more because of predators than the cold. I will continue to go out and try to find whatever creatures have more sense than we do. They have so much to teach us. Stay warm likewise.