Hold that peanut!
I haven’t been able to honor the Crows with a post for quite a while. My present work location doesn’t afford likely encounters as the Crows in downtown Chicago tend to favor the lakefront parks. There are likely a couple nesting pairs on LaSalle Street and Franklin, but I can’t seem to find them in the colder weather. So these are Crows from Sunday morning’s outing. They have temporarily edged out my planned post about the Gull Frolic two weeks ago.
Unlike photographing a bird I’ll likely never see again, the Crows always offer themselves up as subjects and I am so caught up by their behavior I forget what I’m doing until I look at the photos later. Sunday was a nice day that started out a bit cloudy, as in the shots above, but there was some sunshine a little later which helped show off these shiny black birds at their best.
These peanut parties are always fun.
I managed to walk down to the Columbia Yacht Club to see if there were any close waterfowl and a couple Red-Breasted Mergansers obliged.
Then it was back up by the south end of Maggie Daley where a wrought-iron fence still encompasses what used to be a miniature golf course and restaurant but seems to have remained a maintenance area after the construction.
I found my way to Lake Shore East Park where I used to spend many a lunch hour. Although it was a nice day, the wind was a chilly reminder that spring has a way to go yet. I got out of the cold and visited with my friend Tess. When we went back outside, the Crows were there to greet us, and we obliged with peanuts, of course.
Someone had left corn cobs on the lawn for the wildlife and the Crow on the left, below, had something to say about it.
I’m looking forward to visiting the lakefront Crows again soon, as the days get longer and warmer.
In the neighborhood, birds are starting to sing again. I have hope.
We are in for a foot or more of snow starting tomorrow night, which will present challenges for everyone, including the birds. Maybe I’ll get a chance to take pictures this time.
Sometimes I got a good picture in a less-than-attractive setting, like the Chestnut-Bellied Seedeater below.
And this Green Jay was reminding me he too can be camouflaged. Somewhat.
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.
It took a while to capture the goldfinches on the thistle socks but I was determined since I never know when they might disappear again. But they seem to be happy for the moment. This was the scene in the yard on Saturday. Try counting how many goldfinches are in the picture above. I get 17, but there could be a couple more on the other side of the socks that were not visible.
There was a starling.
And a nice male House Finch.
But I really wanted to see how many goldfinches I could capture on the thistle socks before they dispersed, so I walked back slowly toward the yard and snuck up on them, hanging by the gate.
