Back to Ecuador…in Pictures

Posted on February 2, 2018 by Lisa Rest

Crested Quetzal

How I wish I could be in Ecuador today! We are in the single digits which presents a challenge even for hardy Midwesterners. Revisiting the trip through these photographs is only a little bit more frustrating than trying to take the pictures themselves, but I am grateful for the escape on a day like today.

The two pix immediately below represent two frequent quandaries: one, a lot of vegetation, but where was the bird, and two, we can see the birds but they are far away and have their backs to us. The Crested Quetzal at the head of this post was the only one that ventured to turn around.

Black-Crested Warbler San Isidro 11-23-17-0716

Black-Crested Warbler San Isidro 11-23-17-0708

Above, three views of a Black-Crested Warbler. Below, a Scarlet-Rumped Cacique.

I think the best looks I got at the Mountain Wren below were outside my back porch.

Also in the “yard”, an Azara’s Spinetail. And a Cinnamon Flycatcher.

Cinnamon Flycatcher San Isidro 11-23-17-0697

The Green Jays are…also yellow and blue and black.

Green Jay 11-23-2017-0613 Sometimes I got a good picture in a less-than-attractive setting, like the Chestnut-Bellied Seedeater below.

Chestnut-bellied Seedeater 11-22-2017-0433

Chestnut-bellied Seedeater 11-22-2017-0430

Southern Lapwings…

A Strong-Billed Woodcreeper…

Strong-billed Woodcreeper 11-23-2017-0600

Strong-billed Woodcreeper 11-23-2017-0601

Strong-billed Woodcreeper 11-23-2017-0572

While we were grateful for sunshine, sometimes its intensity interfered with images. Below, a Streaked Xenops, Squirrel Cuckoo and Red-headed Barbet.

Anytime we encountered rushing water we were looking for Torrent Ducks. We did finally find this male.

A Tropical Kingbird on the left, a Short-crested Flycatcher on the right.

Short-crested Flycatcher 11-22-2017-0359

Woodpeckers were seen infrequently. Below, the best I could manage of a Yellow-Vented Woodpecker.

Yellow-vented Woodpecker 11-23-2017-0771

Yellow-vented Woodpecker 11-23-2017-0773

I am grateful for any Mountain-Tanagers I managed to capture. Below is the Blue-Winged.

Blue-winged Mountain Tanager 11-23-2017-0798

Blue-winged Mountain Tanager 11-23-2017-0793

Blue-winged Mountain Tanager 11-23-2017-0795

Also directly around the room, a beautiful butterfly and a hairy but flashy-looking fly.

Of course the ubiquitous Chestnut-Breasted Coronets insisted I pay attention to them…

Chestnut-breasted Coronets 11-23-2017-0476

Chestnut-breasted Coronets 11-23-2017-0477

Chestnut-breasted Coronet 11-23-2017-0629 And this Green Jay was reminding me he too can be camouflaged. Somewhat.

Green Jay in palm 11-23-2017-0479

Spider in web 11-22-2017-0270 As hard as it is to sit inside with the sun shining brightly today, I know that clarity comes at a price… We are due for a slight warm-up tomorrow, just enough to turn cloudy and start snowing. Hey. The days are getting longer. Spring is coming. Keep thinking Spring. It will happen. Have faith. And I have yet more tropical diversions in store for this page.

More Birds from Ecuador

Posted on January 20, 2018 by Lisa Rest

Emerald Toucanet

The days are getting ever-so-slightly longer and the angle of the sunlight is inspiring spring longings (my Black-Capped Chickadee burst into song a couple frozen mornings ago as I was filling the bird bath with clean water). But green is still a couple months away. And I still have many more memories of Ecuador to share.

Andean Motmot

After traveling over the continental divide we finally arrived at Cabanas San Isidro and spent the rest of our time there. Surrounded by birds on the grounds, we had several trails to explore on the property and beyond, as San Isidro is situated between two national parks.

Green Jays were predictably around the dining hall making raucous comments.

The Black-eared Hemispingus above was seen only once. Just barely.

We likely would never have seen the White-bellied Antbird above if we had not visited a location where insects have been collected for its consumption. This is becoming a more common practice as more people travel to see these birds. Every bird loves a free meal.

Russet-backed Oropendola 11-21-2017-9580

Frequently seen birds above: Montane Woodcreeper, Russet-backed Oropendola and Mountain Wren, were still challenging to capture.

Marble-faced Bristle-tyrant 11-21-2017-0034

Identifying flycatchers is always challenging, but I love the variety and the personalities of each individual. On the left is a Pale-edged Flycatcher, and the bird on the right is a Marble-faced Bristle-tyrant, which is a lot of name for a small bird.

Invariably there were Rufous-Collared Sparrows everywhere, which made them nearly ignorable, except for the fact that their marvelous Towhee-like song which I have recorded and inserted right under the pictures made me think that if House Sparrows had an equally beautiful vocalization maybe we would tolerate their numbers better. Rufous-Collared Sparrows are not an invasive species in Ecuador but their numbers are reminiscent of House Sparrows in my neighborhood. Come to think of it, even when we were in the cities, I don’t think we had one House Sparrow the entire trip.

Masked Trogon

It was wonderful to see this Masked Trogon well, although I did not want to startle him by trying to move to a better angle so his image wouldn’t be bisected by the wire he was sitting on.

Crested Quetzal female

It was even harder to get a Crested Quetzal, let alone one that would turn around all the way and face me. Still, she sat there long enough, I really can’t complain.

Blue-Gray Tanager

Not a lot of tanagers from this day, but I was able to capture this Blue-Gray.

The Bluish Flowerpiercer above was another species we added to this group. I’m sure there are times it looks bluer in better light.

The Cinnamon Flycatcher above was looking for insects outside my back porch. My cabin was amazing. A few photos below.

Sparkling Violetear

There were plenty of hummers around the dining hall where several feeders hung from the veranda. I will likely have more feeder pictures to post but for the time being I cannot resist sharing this Sparkling Violetear in a moment of repose.

Emerald Toucanet

I will be back again with more from Ecuador. It’s hard to go back to my normal life even after sitting here composing a blog post about this place.

Humming into 2018

Posted on January 1, 2018 by Lisa Rest

Bronzy Inca

Happy New Year. Here we are, 2018, we made it out of 2017. I made bread last night and I’m making quinoa pumpkin soup today. Some things never change. Beyond that, almost all my resolutions are on ice until I feel like I’ve thawed out enough. I’ve had my long underwear on all day to deal with the sub-zero wind chills every time I visit the backyard. Perhaps due to the severe cold, it’s been a fairly relaxing weekend, mostly indoors, with time to revisit the pictures from Ecuador, and when reflection or identification becomes too cumbersome, I happily doze off under the comforter.

Sword-billed Hummingbird

I’ve decided to devote this post to some hummingbirds seen on the trip. The Chestnut-breasted Coronets were everywhere and often bullies at the feeders, which made it easy to try to ignore them, but on the other hand they made themselves available for a lot of pictures, so I obliged.

Chestnut-breasted Coronet 11-21-2017-9406

Chestnut-Breasted Coronet 11-21-2017-9887

Chestnut-breasted Coronet 11-21-2017-9844

The Fawn-Breasted Brilliants were not so easy to intimidate, like the one in the top left picture of the mosaic above.

I had almost forgotten the Buff-tailed Coronets but was happy to find pictures of them from the beginning of the trip, several of which are below.

Collared Incas were common and holding up their own at the feeders too.

The White-Bellied Woodstar is just plain cute, and I think he knows it.

The female of the species is charming as well.

Female White-Bellied Woodstar

Not all the hummers were at feeders, like the next three below.

Viridian Metaltail

Shining Sunbeam, not so shining in the rain

Sparkling Violetear

I love the Speckled Hummingbird too. Its facial markings make it easy to recognize.

Speckled Hummingbird

I can’t figure this guy out unless it’s a Long-tailed Sylph without the long tail.

Black-tailed Trainbearer

Buff-tailed Coronet

Two Buff-tailed Coronets getting feisty

Two more feeder shots with a nice flower that was also hard to ignore.

Sword-billed Hummingbird 11-19-2017-8469

More colorful photographs from Ecuador to come. This is turning into the perfect antidote to a harsh winter.

Flowers 11-21-2017-0152 I hope you are safe and warm wherever you are and may your year be off to a good start.

Home At Last

Posted on December 20, 2017 by Lisa Rest

Chestnut-Breasted Coronet

I’ve been home in body for almost three weeks, but my soul remains in Ecuador. Paramo 11-19-17-0434 Paramo 11-19-17-0437

Cotopaxi Volcano

Coming back to a busy work schedule, holiday pressures, choir commitments has made it challenging to get through the photographs. I still have to ferret out most of the bird pictures, although I have been reviewing them every chance I get to put up on Field Guides’ webpage, since I feel an obligation to the group as I was the primary picture-taker. On top of that pressure is the reality that it takes twice as long to process the pictures on my newer MacBook Pro, designated the “travel laptop,” which is where the bulk of the pictures reside. We’ll be visiting those pictures soon, I hope. In the meantime, here is a sampling of what I downloaded to my older laptop after I got home.

Paramo 11-19-17-0422 The irresistible landscape is part of Cayambe-Coca National Park, which we visited on our way from Quito to our first night’s stay at Guango Lodge in Papallacta. Guango was the magical place I stayed at for one night last year on the way down to the Amazon.

I could easily return to this part of the world just to explore the plant life.

Paramo 11-19-17-0461 In this quick post I am adding a few bird photos of species we saw practically every day. Below on the left is a Speckled Hummingbird.

Not a hummingbird, but an irresistible flycatcher, the Cinnamon Flycatcher was also on the list almost every day.

Below is a tiny leaf-colored insect on a large leaf to give you an idea of scale, and a closer crop of the creature itself.

More amazing plant life from the paramo and montane cloud forest. According to Wikipedia there are over 100 species of endemic plants here.

A couple more hummer photos…

Chestnut-Breasted Coronet

Fawn-Breasted Brilliant

Bronzy Inca

Below, a Chestnut-Breasted Coronet emerging from the flowers. Chestnut-Breasted Coronet 11-21-17-0501 And a Fawn-Breasted Brilliant, Chestnut-Breasted Coronet and a mystery bird with its back to us at the feeder. 3 Hummers 11-21-17-0473 I will be back soon, the three-day weekend will offer more time to get caught up here and try to visit everyone else’s blogs I have not managed to see. I wish you all a joyous and peaceful holiday.

Where to Start? The Panama Pictures

Posted on April 18, 2017 by Lisa Rest

Keel-Billed Toucan

Finally getting around to those Panama Pictures! Life keeps getting in the way, and of course with spring migration just starting there have been other distractions. But I keep thinking there’s a better solution to my madness somewhere. Maybe that’s what keeps me going. The madness, I mean. If I find the solution, it might all come to a halt.

Crimson-Backed Tanager

Male Crimson-Backed Tanager

Female Crimson-Backed Tanager

Ah the Tanagers. Above, probably one of the most common we saw, the Crimson-Backed Tanager, with the male lower left and the female on the right, showing her crimson back. Lucky for me there were only a few possibilities to worry about. The tanagers in some places, especially if they are traveling in a flock, can be confounding.

From gaudy to drab – below, the Plain-Colored Tanager on the left and the Palm Tanager on the right. But I think they have their own subtle beauty.

And below, a White-Shouldered Tanager and the ubiquitous Blue-Gray Tanager which always makes me have to decide whether to spell it Gray or Grey.

White-Shouldered Tanager

Blue-Gray Tanager

All these photos were from the first full day of the trip. Which means there are more days to come (and for me, more pictures to process). We did not travel far from either lodging location, spending four nights at the Canopy Tower and another two nights at the Canopy Lodge in El Valle, the days and locales having blended into a continuum in my head by now, so I won’t have a lot of commentary to contribute. Now that I’ve decided to leave the monster lens at home next time I travel, maybe my dream companion would be a scribe instead of a sherpa.

Both locations had feeders which made it easier to see some of the birds, particularly hummingbirds. White-Necked Jacobins dominated the feeders but you don’t always see the white neck they were named for, so there it is in the picture below. The hummingbird on the lower right is a White-Vented Plumeleteer. Unfortunately the white vent isn’t very easily distinguishable but I like the illumination on the throat.

White-Necked Jacobin

White-Vented Plumeleteer

Elusive antbirds are always a challenge to see. We got lucky with the two below. A Fasciated Antshrike and a Dot-Winged Antwren.

Fasciated Antshrike

Dot-Winged Antwren

Black-Crowned Antshrike

The two puffbirds below look almost identical except on very close inspection, which likely kept me poring over the field guide for several minutes. On the left is the Pied Puffbird which I saw last year in the Amazon in Ecuador, and on the right, Black-Breasted Puffbird.

Pied Puffbird

Black-Breasted Puffbird

Two flycatchers, the Black-Headed Tody Flycatcher, which is a new one for me, and the Dusky-Capped Flycatcher.

Black-Headed Tody Flycatcher

Dusky-Capped Flycatcher

Below is a Streaked Flycatcher, not usually seen from the back, but after 20 or more shots he still wouldn’t turn around so I gave up.

Streaked Flycatcher

The Rusty-Margined Flycatcher below can be confused with Greater Kiskadee, Social Flycatcher, until you get the hang of telling them apart.

Rusty-Margined Flycatcher

Back to the elusive with a fairly common but hard-to-get-a-good-photo Squirrel Cuckoo. The picture on the lower right gives you more of an idea of how far away it was.

Green Honeycreepers below.

Green Honeycreeper

Green Honeycreeper Female

Below, a Red-Legged Honeycreeper is the bright blue guy, and the green bird is a Blue Dacnis female. I’m starting to get these guys confused!

Red-Legged Honeycreeper

Blue Dacnis Female

Below, a Pale-Vented Pigeon and a Gray-Headed Chachalaca. Click on the pictures if you want a better view, especially of pigeon colors. I love this pigeon. You will see it again in a later post.

Pale-Vented Pigeon

Gray-Headed Chachalaca

Two more for the trying-to-be-elusive list. Cocoa Woodcreeper on the left and Cinnamon Woodpecker on the right.

Cocoa Woodcreeper

Cinnamon Woodpecker

There’s a lot more but I think I better give us all a break. Which means I can be back that much sooner! Thanks for stopping by!

Night Monkey

A Riot of Color

Posted on August 8, 2016 by Lisa Rest

Long-Billed Woodcreeper

I have finally managed to get through all the Sacha Lodge/Amazon photographs, with only a few stragglers left, so as I comb back through them day by day I will try to share the best with you.

Finally settling down into these pictures has buoyed my spirit too, which was broken somewhat by a combination of events. I got sick the last two days of my second trip, which were travel days, basically, off the boat and back to the mainland (I wonder if it was reverse seasickness?), and it took me a week or so after I returned home before I felt like I could eat again. Zapped, everything became more of a chore than usual. And diving back into a cartoonish political sphere didn’t help my mood either. But I think I’m beginning to find some sort of balance again, at least for a while.

Maybe the best medicine was planning to take two short trips next year..something to look forward to.

We visited two clay/salt licks on July 4, where we saw lots of Dusky-Headed Parakeets (above, top) and Cobalt-Winged Parakeets (above, bottom). The Cobalt-Wingeds come to a lick in Yasuni National Park where there is a blind so you can wait for them to gather and witness the pandemonium. Click on the pictures for a better view.

Below, some parrots, which are notoriously difficult to see when in the trees.The Blue-Headed Parrots are in the top of the first picture, but I was lucky enough to get a better shot of two of them below. The Orange-Winged are the two in the lower right and the Mealy has its back to us. I am surprised I managed to get some color off the Chestnut-Fronted Macaws.

Blue-Headed, Orange-Winged and Mealy Parrots

Blue-Headed Parrots

Chestnut-Fronted Macaws

By the second day I was using the flash attachment… And it wasn’t all psittacines.

Scarlet-Crowned Barbet

I don’t know if I ever saw the part of the bird below for which it was named, but Woodpeckers have a way of being named for miscellaneous field marks. There’s enough to identify the Spot-Breasted without seeing the spots on its breast.

Spot-Breasted Woodpecker

A female Hook-Billed Kite on the left and a Gray-Headed Kite on the right, below.

A tarantula on someone’s door back at the lodge later…and a glimpse of an Oriole Blackbird, below.

Let us not forget the black birds. Yellow-Rumped Cacique and Black-Fronted Nunbird…

The picture below was shot from the boat, which is always a challenge for clarity. I begin to wonder how much of the image-stabilization really takes over for me.

Black Caracara

Short-Crested Flycatcher and Gray-Breasted Sabrewing…

I think we had eight species of Woodcreeper on this trip and I added three to my life list. but I haven’t begun to figure out that yet.

Black-Banded Woodcreeper

What a wonderful owl, to be awake and visible during the day…There were actually two of them, but the other one was obscured by vegetation.

Crested Owl

I’ll be back very soon with more from the tropics and beyond.

Side Trip on the Way to the Amazon

Posted on July 24, 2016 by Lisa Rest

Collared Inca

I got back from my trip later than planned Tuesday night and went back to work Wednesday, so I find myself catching up with my home birds, having to postpone cleaning up the predictable big mess until yesterday and today. But in between I managed to clear off my hard drive and upload all the pictures from 17 days of picture-taking in Ecuador.

Guango Lodge's Hummers and Flowerpiercers 7-2-2016-3750

These images are a few taken at the feeders at Guango Lodge in San Isidro, Ecuador. The stop at San Isidro was not a planned part of the trip, but after my flight to Miami was canceled and I spent the night in the O’Hare Airport, by the time I managed to get a flight to Quito I met with two other participants for the Amazon trip whose flights had also been delayed. We were given the option of either staying in a hotel and then taking the internal flights and boats that would get us to the rest of our group, or we could drive to Coca, staying in San Isidro one night, birding along the way so to speak, and take the boat to Sacha Lodge. We opted for the car trip and the night in San Isidro as the better option, and so we got to see some birds along the way. The lodge at San Isidro was beautiful and I hope to return someday.

White-Bellied Woodstar (female)

I have not managed to begin going through the rest of the photos yet. I apologize if this is in any way confusing. Basically I had combined two trips, the first to Sacha Lodge in the Amazon, and the second to the Galapagos Islands. If I had to miss a flight it’s just as well it was for the first part of the trip because it would have been impossible to catch up with the Galapagos tour. In addition, to streamline packing for two trips, the second with a lot of connections, I decided not to take my laptop with me, so I have a lot of work to do after the futility of editing through photos on the camera!

Above, Tourmaline Sunangel. Light and focus are so important when trying to capture hummingbirds in particular as their gorgets change rapidly. I wish I could have gotten better shots of this bird.

Below, a Chestnut-Breasted Coronet.

I hope to be back soon with many more photos and even a couple videos. Although I plan to do the posts chronologically I may get distracted and go back and forth between the two trips. Please bear with me.

Below, a female Glowing Puffleg and a Sword-Billed Hummingbird. I had much better pictures of the Sword-Billed last year in Colombia but it’s always worth mentioning this incredible species.

There were a couple Flowerpiercers at the Guango Lodge feeders but I only managed to capture the Masked Flowerpiercer halfway decently.

Below, Buff-Winged Starfrontlet.

Buff-Winged Starfrontlet (female)

It was wonderful to go away. I hope I can go back to Ecuador, there is so much more to see. It was also blissful to be away from the entire political mania and I find myself reluctant to dip back into that fray. I may have to access the desert island in my head for a while yet.

Tourmaline Sunangel (Female)

I hope you are staying cool somewhere this summer!

LaBagh Woods

Posted on May 27, 2016 by Lisa Rest

NAWA LaBagh 5-15-2016-1000 I try to get to LaBagh Woods Forest Preserve a couple times a year if not more, at least during migration season. These pictures are from two weeks ago when I went with my friend Susan. It was extremely muddy after recent rains which made some of the trails impassible. Number of species and photographs were not as forthcoming as I might have hoped but we had a good time Disclaimer: I’m presently suffering from a horrible head cold that started yesterday morning so I will keep this short and sweet.

It was a photo contest between Nashville Warbler (above) and Magnolia (again, show-offs that they are) but it was wonderful to see the elusive and scarce Golden-Winged Warbler. Below are two separate individuals of this species. At least I think they are different birds, we saw them quite a distance from each other.

Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks are always welcome. Below, male and female.

RBGR LaBagh 5-15-2016-0654 RBGR LaBagh 5-15-2016-0676 I don’t think I stopped bothering to take pictures of American Redstarts and Yellow Warblers (below) but there weren’t many volunteers.

And yes, the Magnolias, posing even when they aren’t.

Below, a Cooper’s Hawk sitting quietly in a tree.

COHA LaBagh 5-15-2016-0822 After hearing Northern Parulas in several locations it was gratifying to finally be able to see one or two well and photograph below.

The migrants that likely aren’t going any farther are House Wren and Eastern Phoebe, below.

Also a Swamp Sparrow who could stay in the area.

SWSPLaBagh 5-15-2016-0809 The bird below is a male Ruby-Throated Hummingbird – and the lighting is so intense and back-lit there is just no way to show off his ruby throat. But it was nice to see him perched. Welcome back, little fella. Still waiting to see a hummer in my yard…

RTHU LaBagh 5-15-2016-0855

A few more athletic poses by the Nashville Warblers.

If you look closely at the top of the bird’s head below you can see a little rufous in the feathers of a male Nashville Warbler. I don’t know if I have ever seen this with binoculars but the camera lens makes it easier to believe.

NAWA LaBagh 5-15-2016-0964 I will be back with more of spring migration. This weekend is probably going to be the last we will see of the warblers that keep going north.

Hummingbirds!!

Posted on November 29, 2014 by Lisa Rest

Crowned Woodnymph

I have barely managed to process four days’ worth of photographs from Costa Rica, and have three more to go. And this was not a birding trip! But I find myself with a surfeit of hummingbird photos, so maybe it’s time to look at a few before I discover any more treasures.

Volcano Hummingbird

Perhaps the most unusual sighting was of the Volcano Hummingbird. Although conditions were not perfect for photographing this bird, it was cooperative and loyal to its perch on top of a short tree hugging a crater of the Irazu volcano.

White-Necked Jacobin

Even if White-Necked Jacobins were not widespread in Central and South America, they would be easily recognizable for their distinctive colors.

Green Hermit

In the middle of our work week we took a day off from banding and one feature of that day was visiting Rancho Naturalista for lunch and observing their hummingbirds at the feeders, like the Green Hermit above and the Green-Breasted Mango below.

Green-Breasted Mango

Rufous-Tailed Hummingbirds were numerous everywhere, and we were releasing them daily from the nets in the chayote fields. They appeared exotic again feeding in the vervain.

Rufous-Tailed Hummingbird

Black-Crested Coquettes are distinctive-looking little birds. Going through the pictures I wondered how I could have missed the fancy striping on their bellies, but I guess I was paying more attention to the black crest and the white posterior band that I guess makes them coquettish.

Black-Crested Coquette

Crowned Woodnymphs used to be called Violet-Crowned Woodnymphs. I kind of like the old name better but they’re spectacular-looking little birds, whatever they’re called.

Crowned Woodnymph

Of course we saw Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds outside of the nets too.

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

It’s been nice to have a four-day weekend to spend at home observing my new live-in birds. I hope to be back soon with reports from the home front as well as more from Costa Rica.

Crowned Woodnymph

Lakefront Parks Fall Recap

Posted on October 12, 2014 by Lisa Rest

Ring-Billed Gull, Grant Park

I don’t get out as often as I’d like to during the week, and there are fewer places to go, which should make it easier, I suppose, but it doesn’t. I have been spending most of my mid-afternoons in Lake Shore East Park. Although one morning a couple weeks ago I did get up an hour early and trekked before work through the north part of Jackson Park, Butler Field, and then Lurie Garden in Millennium Park, where the day before Dave Johnson had reported Cape May Warblers in droves. I was lucky to find them still there, foraging in the hazelnut trees.

Cape May Warbler, Lurie Garden, Millennium Park 9-25-14

There were also American Goldfinches plucking seeds from the grasses.

American Goldfinch, Lurie Garden

And an Orange-Crowned Warbler, which at first glance confused me, since I haven’t seem them for a while.

Orange-Crowned Warbler, Lurie Garden

Later that day, I saw a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird at Lake Shore East Park.

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, Lake Shore East Park, 9-25-14

And Red-Winged Blackbirds enjoying someone’s discarded rice.

Red-Winged Blackbird Takeout, Lake Shore East Park

And a beautiful juvenile White-Crowned Sparrow.

Juvenile White-Crowned Sparrow, Lake Shore East Park

The day before, at Lake Shore East Park, there were several Ruby-Crowned Kinglets.

Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, Lake Shore East Park

And a Brown Thrasher trying to hide behind the branches and almost succeeding.

Brown Thrasher, Lake Shore East Park

This was the last Common Yellowthroat I found this fall.

Common Yellowthroat, Lake Shore East Park

And one of a few Dark-Eyed Juncos that arrived on September 22.

Dark-Eyed Junco, Lake Shore East Park

Also on September 22, the photographs below.

Adult White-Crowned Sparrow

A lingering Blackpoll Warbler.

As the days grow shorter and the weather gets cooler, a new crop of crows has emerged to entertain me with their peanut antics. A short Crow Post is on the way.

Goldbird Variations

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

Category Archives: Hummingbirds

Back to Ecuador…in Pictures

More Birds from Ecuador

Humming into 2018

Home At Last

Where to Start? The Panama Pictures

A Riot of Color

Side Trip on the Way to the Amazon

LaBagh Woods

Hummingbirds!!

Lakefront Parks Fall Recap