Category Archives: Chicago Portage Woods

Springing Forward at the Portage

Posted on by
6

We were in the midst of a warm spell, which always comes as a welcome surprise this time of year. I needed a morning walk before singing with the choir Saturday afternoon in a memorial service for a beloved choir member. It was cloudy but not too windy, and warm enough for turtles to emerge.

I saw only a few of the usual suspects, but everybody was singing, like this Song Sparrow.

Red-winged Blackbirds have been about for over a month now, but they still fulfill their purpose as official spring arrivals.

Red-winged Blackbird

I was delighted to see a Brown Creeper. I never tire of seeing this bird.

And there were a couple White-tailed Deer, one of which posed nicely

Then on Sunday morning, with a promise of sunshine and continued warmth, I went out again, although it was extremely windy and passerines were simply not available. But I hedged my bets, so to speak, and after walking the trail without seeing much of anything, I decided to sit on the picnic table bench by the water and wait a few minutes to see what might occur. After a moment or two, I saw my first Turkey Vulture of the season, albeit at a distance.

A moment or two later, a male Belted Kingfisher dropped in and back out again.

I had checked the wind direction on my cell phone weather app and it seemed that I had a good chance to see some Sandhill Cranes. Sure enough, a group of eight Sandhills flew over, in silence, but low enough for the camera to record them.

I am still recuperating from the sudden loss of my internet connection which occurred yesterday afternoon. After figuring out that my router had died, I was lucky enough to call tech support and visit a store to exchange the dead device for a new one. Everything is working fine again, but it was just such an exhausting spell of adrenaline, I never got around to eating anything substantial until dinner. But what a lovely meal it was.

Our brief flirtation with spring weather is over and we are anticipating stormy weather as the temperature drops. I did go out for a brisk walk this morning to clear my head for attending to some boring-but-important tasks ranging from vacuuming to passport renewal… To be continued.

More Portage Bits and Pieces

Posted on by
2

A few days ago it was warmer, however briefly, and the birds took notice. There was a lot of singing, including this Song Sparrow at the top of the post who flew in and gave me a little recital when he wasn’t posing.

Below is a Red-winged Blackbird from a previous visit.

With the warmup last week, a pair of Canada Geese and a pair of Mallards came by to enjoy the small amount of open water. Since there was plenty of open water available in the nearby river, I can’t help but wonder if perhaps the couples were looking for breeding habitat.

A Downy Woodpecker made an appearance.

And I got brief, distant view of a Red-shouldered Hawk.

Five days later, we were frozen again.

I was not seeing birds, but a Foix Squirrel was enjoying something edible close to the trail.

I was about to leave without any bird photos, when I noticed a Red-tailed Hawk flying far across the pond, close to the trees.

There was someone else in the tree where it landed. On closer inspection I realized it was the Red-shouldered Hawk.

Going through the hawk flight photos again, I noticed something else in the sky. Is that a drone “airplane” in the upper left? Google suggested it might be a Tomahawk cruise missile. That would certainly be unusual…

So even on days when you don’t see much at all, the camera sees more… Water dripping out under the bridge near Harlem, like beads on a necklace.

The days are longer and longer, I’m hearing more birdsong, and spring’s inevitability suggests there is still a reason to fill in the blank.

Putzing Around the Portage

Posted on by
6

The winter cold is back and even though it’s not quite as frigid as before, I can’t say I am getting used to it. So even if I have not been out for as many walks lately, looking back at photos I took a few weeks ago doesn’t seem too out of place. If anything, there seemed to be more birds.

Here are a few glimpses I got of coyotes at the Chicago Portage on January 29th and February 3rd. I haven’t seen them since, but I’m sure they are still around. I saw two on the 3rd but didn’t manage to get them into one photo.

Also on the 3rd, a nice visit from the Red-shouldered Hawk.

The light was beautiful that day for this American Tree Sparrow.

Since I nearly always see an American Robin if not a whole flock of them, I don’t always take the time to photograph them, but they are certainly good subjects. If nothing else, they are used to us.

I think the White-tailed Deer have had a hard time of it this winter. I haven’t seem them much, but have seen and heard of remains of them after falling through ice. I saw the young doe below on January 29.

Here are a couple more shots from February 3. An American Robin and female Northern Cardinal.

After letting several days of cold, windy, gloomy conditions keep me off the trail, I returned to the Chicago Portage this morning. The sun was shining at the time, which made it somewhat easier to keep moving. I will be back soon.

Poking Around the Portage

Posted on by
8

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…

January Two, Three and Four

Posted on by
4

Three more days into the year, I embraced walking on icy trails, struggling to focus a heavy lens with gloves on. It wasn’t all bad. There were still birds.

On January 2, I was in Riverside. and I found myself attracted to an Ice chandelier hanging low over the water.

A Red-shouldered Hawk was sitting in a tree.

Northern Cardinals brightened up the bare branches.

And then that evening, I found the moon irresistible so I stepped outside to take a few photos.

On January 3, I went to the Chicago Portage. It was intensely quiet on the trail walking in, so I decided to check out the Des Plaines River and I found some Common Mergansers there.

I walked around to the train tracks and the railroad bridge to see if I could get a better look at the Mergansers, but the only photos I took were of the tracks themselves and of what looked like some burdock seedpods wedged in the rocks between the ballasts on the tracks.

On my way back to the trail, I saw two Bald Eagles flying in the distance.

Then, I started to find the birds, among them this Downy Woodpecker and a Red-winged Blackbird.

I have seen White-throated Sparrows fairly often this winter.

I spotted a Red-bellied Woodpecker. I’ve heard these birds more often than I’ve seen them. There were also an American Tree Sparrow and two American Goldfinches that were not in my backyard.

Here’s a White-breasted Nuthatch.

And there were also several Dark-eyed Juncos. I imagine it’s a good time of year to be a black and white or gray bird.

Jan 4 was.a Sunday that I didn’t have to sing, so I decided to do something a little different and visit the Little Red Schoolhouse Forest Preserve. I was delighted to see three Eastern Tufted Titmouse at the feeders, or Titmice if “three mouse” hurts your ears. One of these is also at the top of the post. I was so thrilled to see them, I didn’t manage to record their lovely vocalizations, some of which I don’t recall hearing before. I will have to try to go back again and record them.

Blue Jays were everywhere and not a bit shy about it. I guess the feeder birds in these locations are just used to the extra attention.

I walked the Black Oak Trail which is about a mile and three-quarters. The adjacent slough was frozen over, so there were no waterfowl. But in the woods, there were two, maybe three Red-headed Woodpeckers. The first one I saw still had a little juvenile plumage.

Just as I was finishing the trail, I spotted an Eastern Bluebird in the distance, and the Red-tailed Hawk that I had heard earlier.

I’ll finish with a handsome White-throated Sparrow.

I’ll try to be back soon. I had some nice surprises the past week, before the weather rolled the dice.

November Leftovers and Yesterday

Posted on by
8

With only a day left in the year, I thought I could at least get back to what was left from November, starting on 11-5 in Riverside. A view of the swinging bridge, a Belted Kingfisher in flight over the Des Plaines River, and an American Robin near the shore.

Looking in the other direction on 11-7 in Riverside, when the leaves finally got around to changing on the trees, they turned mostly yellow. It was a sunny day for a Great Blue Heron and some Mallards.

Still in Riverside on 11-12, I saw a Red-tailed Hawk perched on a branch overlooking the river, and a lone Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

On 11-18 at the Chicago Portage, I found a young-looking Red-shouldered Hawk. I just noticed the House Finches directly behind it in the first photo.

A European Starling caught my eye. It was a very overcast day and I had to lighten these photos up considerably.

On 11-19 in Riverside, the bird of note was a Golden-crowned Kinglet.

Back at the Chicago Portage on 11-20, more fall-colored birds: an American Tree Sparrow, a Fox Sparrow and a Red-shouldered Hawk.

Then on 11-22 at the Chicago Portage, I had better light but obscured views of the Red-shouldered Hawk who also appears at the top of the post.

And another look at an American Tree Sparrow. I am accustomed to seeing greater numbers of these birds in the winter than I have so far.

On 11-24 in Riverside, I found a friendly White-throated Sparrow.

And yesterday morning, 12-30 at the Chicago Portage, I first watched the water trickling off the ice melt under the bridge near Harlem, walked all the way around the dirt trail to enjoy the distant view of the other bridge which always invites me to reflect on how it is totally obscured by vegetation from this distance in the summer months… and then as I approached that bridge, I found two Northern Cardinals, a Dark-eyed Junco and a White-throated Sparrow sampling grit on that bridge.

And then it seemed like American Robins were coming in from everywhere. Here are two of about 30 that I counted.

We had snow overnight, so I got up and did a little shoveling this morning, hung feeders in the backyard, came in to feed the indoor crowd, and then went for my Wednesday swim before the pool closed early. More snow is in the forecast this afternoon and early evening, although I don’t think we will have a lot of it. I haven’t decided yet whether I will go out for a walk on New Year’s Day. The forecast is for very cold and cloudy. But if the wind isn’t too awful, a walk might be just the thing to start another year.

And now, for something more completely different… it occurs to me that I haven’t posted any music in quite a while, so here is yesterday’s Evening Snack Music, warts and all, which, for all its flubs was at least a rather enthusiastic version, complete with participation from the birds who have now grown so used to it as they know their evening snack will soon follow. It’s a dressed-up or taken-down, depending on your point of view, version of the Prelude to J.S. Bach’s A Minor English Suite. Suffice it to say that it changes every day.

Evening Snack Music 12-30-25

Winding Down with the Holidays

Posted on by
6

It’s been a long week or two, or so it seems, with this end of the year business. I have been obsessed with baking enough Cinnamon Oatmeal Raisin Breads to give to people who make me happy all year long, and after all the baking was done and most of the breads delivered, it’s kind of a letdown to not have any more to bake, although now that I am making progress eating my own loaf and receiving appreciative reviews, I look forward to doing it all over again next year.

Here’s the rest of what the end of December has been looking like, when I have managed to get out and walk. There are still a few days left in the year, but so far the weather forecast is not too promising. We are drenched in rain and fog today and anticipate a sprinkling of snow and a lot of wind tomorrow.

Going back to 12-16 at the Chicago Portage, when the snow was still on the ground…

A pair of Northern Cardinals can always light up the gloom.

An American Goldfinch and a Dark-eyed Junco, two birds I expect to see, and a Fox Sparrow which is a less-frequent visitor.

The camera spotted an American Robin flying away over the snow.

On 12-17 in Riverside, two Mallards were fighting over what I will never know.

I found another American Robin in flight by the edge of the water, and then European Starlings bathing.

Here’s another view of a Dark-eyed Junco that pretty much gives away its identity this time of year: the splash of white in the tail.

And I saw a Muskrat on the river near the swinging bridge, which makes me think I may have mistaken it for a beaver the week before.

I joined Steve and Joann for the Christmas Bird Count on 12/21 in Columbus Park. There weren’t a lot of birds to photograph by the time I got there, but right before we left, four crows drew our attention to a Red-tailed Hawk. I managed the photos below and the one at the top of the post just as we got close enough to confirm the hawk’s identity.

The next morning in Riverside I encountered a rather large flock of House Finches buried in the bushy growth by the river bank. They soon took off after I managed to zoom in on a couple.

Downy Woodpeckers have been pretty consistent.

The two Mallards below were peaceful enough.

I am always drawn to Common Milkweed seedpods in winter.

And yesterday at the Portage, the snow was gone, but ice was returning.

I was pleased to see a Brown Creeper, even though I couldn’t get a very good picture of it,

I thought this little scene sums it up: an American Robin looking on as I was looking at two Downy Woodpeckers.

I am evaluating my options for a stuck-inside day. I’m thinking of cooking if my indoor crowd will let me monopolize the kitchen. They seemed to be rather active earlier, in between downpours, but it just got very dark in here and we’ve had a burst of thunder and lightning. I will reluctantly turn on the lights after receiving my latest electric bill this morning. I hope your holidays are going well, and I wish you a calm and loving start to the New Year.

More Winter Weather, Briefly

Posted on by
9

Poking around in the snow, Monday morning in Riverside, Tuesday morning at the Chicago Portage, back to Riverside on Thursday and Friday back at the Chicago Portage…enveloped in silence with very few humans and hardly any birds… so every individual stood out as extraordinary. Before I take us further back in time to when everything was livelier, I am reporting the week’s creatures.

Downy Woodpecker

This is always a good time of year to see woodpeckers, when they stand out against the stark tree trunks and branches. Red-bellied Woodpeckers are quite consistent. Here’s a few more photos of the individual at the top of the post.

Tuesday at the Chicago Portage, I decided to only walk the paved trail as the snow and ice was too much of a slog. In spite of the short distance, I managed to see a few birds.

American Tree Sparrow

I saw a couple White-throated Sparrows.

A Red Squirrel and two White-tailed Deer were available.

And I managed to get a distant view of the Red-shouldered Hawk that I’ve seen here lately.

Wednesday’s forecast for a walk was prohibitive, so I only went swimming. Then on Thursday, I decided to visit Riverside, where the only creature of note was a beaver I saw swimming in the river while I was standing on the swinging bridge. It swam to the shore line and had a bite to eat before swimming back out again. For what it’s worth, there have been some Mallards and Canada Geese in the river, but no other ducks yet, and the water level is still rather low.

On Friday at the Chicago Portage, I saw a few American Robins.

An American Tree Sparrow perched over the trail.

I saw a Fox Sparrow, but it stayed well-hidden from my lens.

This time of year is also a great opportunity to see Northern Cardinals in the snow.

And there were three deer down the trail.

After going out in the yard yesterday morning to fill and hang feeders, I determined it was too cold and gloomy to go for a walk. While I missed taking the walk for mental and physical clarity, I had enough things to do indoors to keep me busy. I’m now gearing up for this morning’s challenge of getting to choir at 0 degrees Fahrenheit. I just came in from hanging feeders in the backyard. There is no noticeable wind, but the forecast says it feels like -18.

Tomorrow I will likely start baking loaves of Cinnamon Oatmeal Raisin Bread, which I can easily store on the porch. I can bake four loaves at a time, and between the inclement weather and a growing bread list, I can’t think of a finer way to close out the year.

November at the Chicago Portage – Part I

Posted on by
4

While I have a big project restoring posts from 2016 – more about that later – I may as well get caught up a bit with the morning walks in November before the month is gone. These are a few observations from the Chicago Portage on November 4, 6 and 13.

There were still plenty of leaves on the trees on November 4, and the colors were muted at best. But I like to see how this view from the bridge near Harlem changes over the seasons.

Dark-eyed Juncos had definitely arrived for the winter.

It was still possible to see Red-winged Blackbirds.

European Starlings were starting to gather in numbers.

Black-capped Chickadees are with us all year round.

A Downy Woodpecker took off.

A White-throated Sparrow posed nicely.

On November 6, I first saw an American Goldfinch.

Then I encountered the Golden-crowned Kinglet at the top of the post.

The only other bird I managed to photograph that morning was a backlit White-breasted Nuthatch.

On November 13, this American Robin made me smile.

I took photos of some far-away birds and discovered later they were Rusty Blackbirds.

A couple Fox Sparrows showed up.

And a female Northern Cardinal negotiated the baring branches.

I am starting to see Fox Squirrels more this year. It seems to me that it’s been a while.

And the last bird I tried to see better was a distant American Tree Sparrow.

So now I am beginning to understand what happened to all those “Unattached” photos. They weren’t exactly unattached, but because I uploaded them all to my media library first and then put them into posts, they apparently assumed some kind of neither-here-nor-there and thus “unattached” limbo status. Suffice it to say that I enthusiastically removed way too many photos, rendering several posts from 2016 totally empty, except for a little text here and there. So my project is to locate the original attachments and replace them by uploading them directly into those posts using the newer software, of course, that I suspect caused this whole fiasco. I have determined what’s on my external hard drives. It’s sort of fun to revisit the photos, especially those I took in my more far-flung birding travels. After I’m done with reconstituting older posts, the space problem and the remaining unattached items will have to be addressed as well. A sobering thought, but maybe better to deal with during the winter months. Another good excuse for not writing my book.

Winter Weather at the Chicago Portage

Posted on by
4

Tuesday morning, I went for a walk at the Chicago Portage because I needed the walk more than anything else. For a while it was so quiet, I was content to think I might be just looking at the emptiness in full. We had just experienced our first snowfall and the trees were looking less leafy.

As I started to walk past the bridge at Harlem, an influx of sparrows flew across the path over the fence from the corner. I managed to capture a White-throated Sparrow.

A Dark-eyed Junco sat still for a moment.

Two sparrows, a Fox Sparrow and a White-throated Sparrow, were in the same bare tree.

An American Robin stood out against the greying sky.

I spotted a Black-capped Chickadee.

I went through the opening in the fence and found Red-winged Blackbirds and some European Starlings foraging in the leaves on the path. They weren’t too easy to see.

I also saw a snow-covered American Robin.

I took a look at the Des Plaines River which is still quite low.

A Downy Woodpecker was busy at work on some interesting tree bark.

A flock of 30 or more European Starlings flew into the bare trees.

There were at least 40 American Robins, so it was difficult to ignore them all.

On my way out, I had to take notice of the dramatic looking oak trees.

I hope to be back with more soon. I’ve been inconvenienced recently by some technical issues and spam: it’s exhausting. But I suppose I should expect no less in these surreal times.

One more of the bird at the top of the post. I always look forward to seeing Fox Sparrows, so this day was a special treat.