It’s getting colder. Winter’s last gasp, I hope. But the sunshine returned this afternoon and gave me some well-desired energy that has been lacking the past couple days. This is a little collection of photos from the Chicago Portage earlier this month (and a couple I snuck in from yesterday) – with the exception of some Eastern Towhee photos which I took way back in November. It was to be a reminder to look for their return this spring.

As it turns out, when I visited the Portage yesterday morning in cloudy gloom, I did catch a glimpse of a male Eastern Towhee with the blur of Juncos, White-throats and Song Sparrows. It was impossible to capture a decent image of the bird but I did have proof that it was indeed what I and the camera barely saw.

Below are more photos of the Towhees in early November. The female has her back to us in the top left photo. There were still a few leaves on the trees.

Back to the reality of March 2 and 4.

I spent time staring down a White-throated Sparrow.

The American Tree Sparrows have been faithful to this location all winter.

Downy Woodpeckers are more visible lately chasing around with the sparrow flock, closer to the ground.

On March 4, I encountered a Downy Woodpecker on the paved part of the trail who seemed to be interested in something undetectable by me.

A male Northern Cardinal tolerated my attention briefly, at a distance.

Deer were present earlier this month but I haven’t seen any lately.

Below, the Mallard couple I continue to encounter when the water isn’t frozen.

Sometimes Black-capped Chickadees seem glad to see me.

March 2 was a day for an observing male Belted Kingfisher.

More recently, as in yesterday morning, I briefly saw the female or immature Belted Kingfisher below. It’s definitely a different bird from the one above. As if to prove spring is indeed on the way, more birds are coming through.

I have been seeing House Sparrows a lot more lately, albeit around the parking lot. Even their comings and goings are no doubt affected by the longer days.

Also never far from the parking lot, American Robins hunting in the grass,

I spent a pensive moment on the trail with a Song Sparrow.

The bottomlands were completely flooded on March 4.

Two more long shots of obliging birds perched over the marsh background.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all those celebrating. The forecast is for wind chills around zero tomorrow morning, mostly cloudy and windy. It doesn’t sound too promising, but I will probably go for a walk around the Portage anyway and see what happens.

I have way too many photographs taking up space on my hard drive, so I decided to do a brief post with just a few of them that were probably more effort to take than they were worth. Yesterday I was totally rained out and I thought that would make me more productive indoors, but after swimming I took too many naps to accomplish anything.

So here’s a small but select group of photos taken on September 4 of last year. It looks like it was overcast. Below, a Swainson’s Thrush, a barely visible back end of a Pine Warbler, and a Tennessee Warbler. Ah yes, remember those birds?

I had the bird below tagged as a juvenile Swainson’s Thrush.

The Portage was in late-summer-stage green and yellow.

And two more – a Bay-breasted Warbler and a Gray-cheeked Thrush,

How about a tree full of backlit Cedar Waxwings?

I didn’t seem to be able to capture any better photos of an American Goldfinch or a young American Robin in that light.

More recently, a low-light day on February 25 – just this past Saturday morning.

There was still a little snow left and we hadn’t received so much rain yet.

A few more Red-winged Blackbirds were hanging out.

I discovered this thoroughly chilly-looking male House Finch in my photos while I was trying to focus on someone else.

I have heard a Song Sparrow singing on my last two visits, so it could have been this one.

So sunshine should make a difference, right? I went out this sunny morning to the Chicago Portage. It started out a bit nippy but soon warmed up enough for me to start loosening my layers. Outside of a few robins that did not pose for any length of time, I saw very few birds and heard only a few more. Talked with some humans.

For the first bird beside the robins, right off the parking lot as I started to walk, I saw a Red-tailed Hawk fly and land to perch on a very distant branch obscured by a lot more trees.

One Red-winged Blackbird did offer himself up to me but he was backlit and obscured by twigs.

Then suddenly in the distance, an unmistakable adult Bald Eagle flew, going southeast.

I stopped to glimpse at the bottomlands and the Des Plaines River beyond, which was still in flood stage from yesterday’s rain. It could be too soggy for me to walk in Riverside Lawn tomorrow.

Maybe it was the light, maybe it was the lack of birds, you never know, but I was attracted to the design of this cherry bark.

When I first came in, I saw only one Mallard in the water, but on the way out, I noticed there were two napping in what looks like it could be a possible nest location.

And the young deer were back.

I have now made some more room on my laptop hard drive in anticipation of the coming days ahead. There are still a lot more recent photos to share from other places. As for my motivation to get anything done, sunshine makes all the difference. I hope you are enjoying some sunshine soon, wherever you are.

I fully intended to go out for a walk at the Chicago Portage Saturday morning before more snow was predicted to fall. I was completely dressed and ready to go out the door when I made the mistake of checking the weather app on my phone: it indicated snow was starting in fifteen minutes. Since the weather app on my phone has been somewhat inaccurate, I went to my laptop to double-check with the Weather Channel and even more snow was predicted, along with confirmation from the radar. I decided not to take the chance.

Then, almost two hours later, I noticed it was not snowing, so I decided to go for a walk at the Portage anyway, come what may. Upon arrival, I noticed the parking lot had several cars, and it wasn’t until I got out of mine that I was soon reminded of the reason why, it being the last Saturday of the month. The volunteers were at work.

Since it takes a while before I find any birds to photograph these days, the landscape takes precedence.

But then, to interrupt the stillness for a moment at least, a Red-tailed Hawk flew over.

After that I had some clear if distant views of a Red-bellied Woodpecker…

and a White-breasted Nuthatch.

From time to time I have heard of seen Black-capped Chickadees lately, and Saturday was no exception, even if this was my only opportunity to capture one.

The sun tried to emerge from the clouds for moment.

A different view but probably of the same nuthatch, who is also represented at the top of the post.

And I’m including this photo of the Red-bellied Woodpecker because even though most of his body is obscured it shows off his red belly.

A peek at the Des Plaines River, and another view of the Portage stream.

Claiming their own place in the snow on the trail, I noticed two burdock seed pods.

The American Tree Sparrows have been hanging out in the middle of the marshy area, a little bit more visible from the inside trail.

Below is a view of nothing but the typical landscape in the marshy area which I suspect hides more birds than I see on any visit.

Also off the inside trail, but on the other side of it, I managed to find an American Goldfinch, and…

a male House Finch. The lack of light didn’t help.

An added bonus lately has been seeing and hearing White-throated Sparrows. I heard one singing for a short spell on Saturday.

Well-hidden but not far from the trail was a young White-tailed Deer.

By the time I got back to my car, it was snowing in earnest, so I decided to take this snowy shot of the back of the statue.

Now that I can no longer use snow as an excuse for staying home, I decided I can’t use single-digit temperatures as an excuse either. I went out yesterday and this morning, and managed to wield the camera and the lens somehow with double-gloved hands.

The hardest thing is going to be acclimating myself to an earlier rise. I have been taking full advantage of winter weather by sleeping in, but as the days grow longer and eventually warmer, I will have to amend my sleepy ways. I have been waking up to some intricately interesting if stupid dreams, but none of them have proved to be memorable beyond the first minute or two.

I will likely be back with more snow, more clouds, more sun, more birds…and an eventual update on the home flocks inside and out.