Trying to Wake from a Long Winter’s Nap

Posted on December 15, 2013 by Lisa Rest

Fermilab Christmas Count 12-14-13

Yesterday I participated in the Fermilab annual Christmas Bird Count, as I have for the past however many years now. I admit to being a bit wary about doing it, as it has only been a week since my trip, but I decided it was one way to make sure I got out to see a few birds and I reminded myself that it is always a fun, if sometimes grueling, experience.

The weather was everywhere. It had been snowing steadily overnight and kept on snowing, making the driving conditions at 5:30 a.m. practically prohibitive. I almost turned around two or three times, the first when I encountered a roadblock set up by police, but I decided to continue.

If I was beginning to get over the culture shock accompanying my return from Africa, hiking around in deep snow tipped it right in for me. Our team slogged on for at least an hour or two before we saw hardly any birds at all, and then it was suddenly something like over 100 American Tree Sparrows.

Our last discovery before meeting the other teams for a lunch break was a yellow-headed woodpecker which got us excited for a while; it looked like a possible Golden-Fronted, which would have been pretty rare. I had only my point-and-shoot with me which hardly did the bird justice but even one of the team leader’s better camera was unable to find enough white in the tail to confirm a vagrant species. It turns out that juvenile Red-Bellied Woodpeckers can resemble Golden-Fronted in this way, except that they lack a large white area of the tail. Still it was fun to see something unusual and I am now reminded that no matter what, the Christmas Count always yields a surprise of one kind or another. In the same location we also had a Brown Creeper which is pretty uncommon this time of year.

“Yellow” Red-Bellied Woodpecker

So unlike last year when we had rain and balmy temperatures, this has been definitely winter weather. During the work week I managed to get out to see my crows one or two times. Below are a few pictures.

Rock Pigeon Flight Drills

Returning to the Christmas Count, I had lunch with everyone and then decided to return home while I was still able. Still exhausted from getting over jet lag and going back to work, I barely made it home after a few grocery store stops. I took a nap, got up to feed the birds their evening snack, and went back to crash on the futon. Every time I got up my legs complained about the strain of climbing around in the snowpack. I gave up and went to bed, sleeping at least 10 hours, refusing to get up before daylight. When I finally woke up this morning it took a while before I felt like I could ever do anything but sleep. But by the time I went out to fill the feeders and had breakfast, I felt a sudden burst of energy. It occurred to me later that I got caught up on all my dreams last night, sort of like getting caught up on all my movies on those long transatlantic flights.

I probably would not have gotten all that much-needed sleep if I had not exhausted myself doing the count. Funny how that works.

This is my first post from the new laptop, but the pictures were processed on my old desktop. I am waiting for the delivery of a DVD drive so I can install Lightroom and then start learning all over again how to process my pictures. It’s going to be a bit of a learning curve what with the new OS and all but I am motivated and so very happy to have a new computer.

I leave you for the moment with a slightly blood-stained Cooper’s Hawk I found resting in a tree in Millennium Park last Tuesday or Wednesday. I’m certain the blood was from its devoured prey.

Cooper’s Hawk, Millennium Park

Bye, Bye Birdies

Posted on November 16, 2013 by Lisa Rest

Cooper’s Hawk

It’s so hard to leave, but preparation for it has also made it hard to do anything else. I’m leaving for the airport in less than 3 hours and I still have to buy fresh veggies for the indoor crowd and finish packing. So this will be a very, very quick post. The Cooper’s was in Grant Park last Friday when I managed to go down early before work.

Crows in Millennium Park

These pictures were taken over the last few days on my way to work or on a very brief lunch break. I managed to say goodbye to my crows in Millennium (there were about 20 overall) and on the way in to work, to my little friend Lincoln’s Sparrow who was still there as of yesterday. But I fully expect everyone at 155 N. Wacker to disappear over the next three weeks when I don’t show up to shower them with birdseed.

Crows with peanuts

The Hermit Thrush below was last seen a few days ago, but there were still some in Millennium Park as of Thursday.

Hermit Thrush, 155 N. Wacker Drive

Goodbye, little Lincoln’s. He’s been such a good friend. And he gave me an excuse to try out and learn how to use the flash attachment, bless his heart.

Lincoln’s Sparrow

The crows in Millennium have settled in as the crowds are dissipating. I hope I haven’t made them too tame.

I know the crows will be there for me when I return. I look forward to posting all about my trip when I get back.

Thanks to everyone for reading and following my blog!! I’m off on safari…!

A Midweek Visit to Millennium Park

Posted on June 8, 2013 by Lisa Rest

North Sculpture Garden IMG_8297_1

Nicer weather and the tourist influx makes Millennium Park challenging for birdwatching on my lunch hour, but it’s closer to where I work so when I don’t have a lot of time, the park beats sitting in the office. Sometimes having lower expectations brings surprises. One thing is certain: my beloved crows are not hanging out there too much. They are shy of most people and even avoid interacting with me in crowded situations. It’s certainly beneath them to beg along with the park’s summer residents that include Common Grackles and Ring-Billed Gulls in addition to Rock Pigeons and House Sparrows.

Park Birds IMG_8306_1

On Thursday I made my way over to the Lurie Garden at the south end of Millennium Park, which is in its first glorious phase of a full bloom cycle.

Lurie Garden

I am particularly fond of Prairie Smoke, which reminds me of cotton candy in its air-blown wispiness. It’s not in the photo above – the plants on the bottom right are Bergamot – but was elsewhere in the garden, and close up below. It’s one of the first flowers to bloom.

Prairie Smoke

Prairie Smoke IMG_8282_1

On the way back I ran into a couple young Grackles,who had just fledged, by the appearance of their pin feathers.

Common Grackle Fledglings

Grackle Fledges Talking IMG_8293_1

And the Ring-Billed Gulls were still trying to drum up business. My friend Karen once called them “prima donnas.”

RB Gull Aerialist IMG_8310_1

Ring-Billed Gull, begging

More to come from the City Parks. I was planning on birding the Portage this morning early, sort of doing a self-styled breeding bird survey, but one of my brake lines failed last night when I moved my car back to my side of the street, and my car is in the shop. It’s old and rusty, like its owner. 🙂

Crow Post – Spring 2013

Posted on June 5, 2013 by Lisa Rest

Fledgling Crow with Parent

No longer distracted by passerine migration, it’s time to get caught up with the crows. Available territories downtown have shrunk considerably and with it the resident crow population. But a couple weeks ago, on May 20, to be exact, I caught my first glimpse of two fledgling crows at Lake Shore East Park.

Fledgling Crow IMG_7721_1

Every year the breeding season seems to start earlier, and this is by far the earliest I have seen crow kids. So young their eyes hadn’t turned brown yet.

Juvenile CrowIMG_7744_1

Fledgling Crow IMG_7735_1

Then I went down to the lakefront parks before work on May 29, and while individual crows were not following me, I witnessed a joyous celebration of fifty to sixty crows (a true “murder”) out on their Spring Fling. I never know how they organize these group flight events, whether they all came from a communal roost or if there was an invitation to fly en masse over Michigan Avenue to crows up and down the lakefront, but whatever brought them together that morning to fly repeatedly overhead, it was a sight to behold. I couldn’t shoot pictures of them in the air fast enough.

Crows IMG_2044_1

But at one point they all descended upon a fire escape, so I could capture some of the group.

Crow Escape IMG_2046_1

Fire Escape Crows IMG_2056_1

Yesterday at Lake Shore East Park I snuck a few peanuts to the parent crow and waited to see if this was going to be a peanut-cracking lesson.

But it looks like it was more like a Start-to-Wean-You event.

Begging IMG_8242_1

Weaning IMG_8255_1

Not as many opportunities this year, without the bigger, continuous park space, to spoil the kids early and teach them bad habits. I suspect they will be going on more field trips with the larger community. That’s good, in a way. They will learn first to be wild.

Fledgling Crow IMG_8034_1

Skulkers and Flycatchers

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Lisa Rest

Tennessee Warbler, Millennium Park

Still coming down from a weekend of intense but wonderful birding in Michigan. I might have managed a post Tuesday night were it not for a power outage around 8:00 p.m. that lasted three-plus hours. But it turned out to be an unexpected opportunity to catch up on some sleep, after whispering admonitions to the house birds to stay perched and sleep through the thunder and lightning.

Least Flycatcher, Millennium Park

So I got up early yesterday morning and went to Millennium Park, dodging the imminent rain drops. Flycatchers were abundant, as reported from other lakefront locations.

Alder Flycatcher?

Anyway here are some birds I encountered yesterday morning and later in the afternoon at Lake Shore East Park. I think the bird above is an Alder Flycatcher, but he didn’t say anything, so technically I should call him “Empidonax Species.”

The real surprises, or I suppose you could say wish-list possibilities, appeared in Lake Shore East Park yesterday afternoon. I went back this morning and could not find them… One was the prized Connecticut Warbler, skulking around in dark places: I guess the photograph below will have to do for now.

Connecticut Warbler, Lake Shore East Park

Add a female Common Yellowthroat. Perhaps she is the mate of the male who was singing yesterday and again this morning. She is the least uncommon of the three birds here, but lovely nonetheless, and easy to confuse with the other two.

Female Common Yellowthroat

The female Mourning Warbler below…

Female Mourning Warbler

and again here… is another less-commonly seen “skulker.”

Female Mourning Warbler

Thus we have three skulkers who all look quite a bit alike, and in most field guides they’re not far from each other, so you can make the comparisons and note the differences or throw up your hands in total confusion.

Eastern Wood Pewee, Lake Shore East Park

Not to skimp on flycatchers, the one above is at least recognizable as a Pewee. He sang a bit, too – always nice to hear. If I run into a Pewee song soon I’ll update this post.

Crow with Bat

On my way out, I walked through the back of the Aon Building where I have seen birds on occasion, and encountered this crow with its prey: I suspect it’s a little brown bat.

Crow with Bat IMG_2273_1

The crow took off with its bat soon after I shot a few more photos. I’m sure it didn’t want me to draw attention to its prize.

My last momentary offering is a recording of Beniamino, one of my Zebra Finch males, singing his heart out from atop a microphone while I’m practicing the prelude to the F major English Suite by Bach (it may take me a year, but I’ll get through these suites – 2 more to go after this one). Travel time has taken its toll on playing for the birds but I plan to stay put for a few months and get some more music in my fingers.

Endless thanks to all who follow me and to those I follow – I have some catching up to do! I’ll be back soon with reports from Michigan and the Kirtland’s Warbler.

City Visitors…Part One

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Lisa Rest

Field Sparrow

While wading through weekend photos and recordings, I’m overdue getting caught up with the workday bird visitors who have proved so astonishingly cooperative. Whatever is this Field Sparrow doing hanging out with House Sparrows in the nicotine-stained bushes of the Thompson Center?

Field Sparrow Thompson Center IMG_5823_1

As I recall, he flew away when I first noticed him, and then after I stood there awhile, he came back and started finding excuses to forage close to me. I had to step back a bit to get these pictures.

The Chicago Loop/Lakefront welcome mat isn’t out like it used to be. The former Daley Bicentennial Plaza now looks like this:

Daley destruction

Millennium Park is under heavy maintenance, particularly in the bird-friendly areas, so that’s not a destination anymore. Northerly Island was designated habitat for a while, but the “temporary” Charter One pavilion is now being expanded to a concert arena for crowds of 22,000 people. Where’s a migrating bird to go, let alone a birder?

This Ring-Billed Gull was faring pretty well the last warm day I walked through Millennium.

RB Gull IMG_6286_1

There are other areas along the lakefront north and south of the city, of course, but they’re no longer part of the stretch that included downtown.

So on the way in to work I still stop by 155 North Wacker Drive. It has not been incredibly birdy lately, but there have been a few migrants, like this eager-to-please Common Yellowthroat (his initial reaction was the same as the Field Sparrow’s, and then he got curious, I guess).

Common Yellowthroat

Common Yellowthroat IMG_6215_1

Common Yellowthroat IMG_6228_1

Directly outside Union Station a few days ago, I saw this Wood Thrush.

Wood Thrush

I didn’t get to go out today for lunch, giving in to the threat of thunderstorms which have not occurred, a sudden burst of activity at work, and the need to leave early (thunderstorms be damned) to attend a DuPage Birding Club meeting. So I’ve spent my lunch finishing this post.

More to come from Lake Shore East Park, which has become my lunchtime refuge (and that of a couple crows I know as well).

Crow IMG_5896_1

The Joy of Cookie

Posted on March 2, 2013 by Lisa Rest

Joy of Cookie IMG_1700_1

I’ve been making the “Birdz Cookies” for years, but the night before the Starved Rock trip two weekends back (still going through those photos), I decided to improve the recipe some more by using less sugar. The original recipe calls for equal amounts of brown and white sugar; I substituted a tablespoon of molasses for half of the white sugar. Then when it came to adding the peanut butter, there was extra left in the jar, and it seemed silly not to use it up. Whole wheat flour, oatmeal, raisins, cinnamon, what’s not to like? The cookies went over well with the people who tried them. The crows have been going crazy for the leftover cookies since. Now they are truly The Birdz Cookies.

Where can I stash this…?

I’m claiming one piece of cookie and one peanut.

Caution: wide load.

Ah, the joy of cookie…

Crow IMG_1950_1

Crow IMG_1951_1

Crow's Cookies IMG_1685_1

Crow Cookies IMG_1413_1

Snow rhymes with…

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Lisa Rest

CROW!!

In case you’ve been wondering what the crows have been up to lately… when they’re not chasing owls…

Peanut Crows IMG_0089_1

they’re following me. In Millennium I have up to six crows that hang out at either end of the east side. At least three of them are White-Wing’s siblings. Sometimes I see her too, but it’s harder to tell because she has outgrown a lot of her melanistic feathers.

Peanut Crow IMG_0008_1

And just when I think I’m tired of photographing them, the crows find new ways to please the camera. Even on days with little light and nothing but stark contrasts, the crows catch my eye.

Crow IMG_0154_1

Although I’m glad we have snow, it was snowing when I took most of these pictures so there are blotches of precipitation in the images.

Smiling Crow2 IMG_0091_1

I always dream of the perfect Snow Crow picture, and it never quite works out that way.

But the picture below looks to me as if this crow is floating in space.

Snow Crow IMG_0041_1

First January Thaw

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Lisa Rest

Gulls on the ice by the lighthouse, Monroe Harbor

It almost seems impossible that we went from 50 degrees Fahrenheit to freezing and back out again last week. Especially as I sit inside today avoiding a wind-chill of 7 degrees F. below zero. I visited the lakefront almost every workday this past week, monitoring the thaw. Although the weather in Chicago is still a primary topic of conversation, it is clouded by the perception that with climate change, anything could happen and whatever it is, it will most likely be weird.

Here is a Ring-Billed Gull testing the ice closer to the shoreline.

A little piece of ice made for two Canada Geese.

And here’s the same Ring-Billed Gull joined by a Herring Gull (yawning in this picture), who was kind enough to stand close enough to offer a credible size comparison.

A couple days later, the ice had melted enough to accommodate Red-Breasted Mergansers closer in.

Male Red-Breasted Mergansers

Friday morning I went down early before work, and I always see the sun just starting to come up over the lake before I get to it. For the heck of it I stopped in the breaking dawn to see if I could get a picture of the sun coming up through the trees. Without a tripod this shot was never meant to happen, but I kind of like the surreal effect anyway.

A Common Goldeneye male…

The picture I did finally get of the sunrise…

A crow over the water…

and several Common and Red-Breasted Mergansers in flight.

These three Herring Gulls in various stages of plumage complement the ice in various stages of thaw. That’s a female Red-Breasted Merganser in the background.

And here’s the White-Throated Sparrow who hangs out in the hedges by the yacht club.

Goldbird Variations

Why Birds Sing in Key with Music, or how I finally put perfect pitch to use.

Category Archives: Crows