Birding the Hood

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Lisa Rest

A combination of unpredictable weekend weather and outright curiosity caused me to spend some time in the last few weeks walking around the block, so to speak, to see what birds were present. Other factors also pushed me over the edge: reading John Marzluff’s Welcome to Subirdia (still reading it but like three or four other books I’ve started who knows when I’ll finish it), hearing Red-Eyed Vireos singing on my way to work, seeing Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks at my feeder, and not wanting particularly to get up in the middle of the night so I could arrive somewhere farther by daybreak.

American Robin, 5-24-15

Of course the Robins have been on territory for quite a while, and they pretty much act like they own the place, but they’re still fun to watch.

Wood Ducks, April 27, 2015

One evening I got home from work and saw the two Wood Ducks in the picture above when they landed on top of a chimney across the street. They looked as surprised to be there as I was to see them.

Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks on the feeder 5-10-15

The three Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks sampling sunflower seeds above appeared to be an adult male, a female and a somewhat immature male (the guy sitting on top of the feeder in the first picture). Maybe the pair were showing junior his first trip north.

Male Rose-Breasted Grosbeak 5-16-15

A week later there was still a male in the neighborhood. Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks breed in this area, but I think they still prefer the forest preserves.

On May 16 I found two Red-Eyed Vireos but they wouldn’t pose for pictures. However I did manage to engage the cooperative, hungry female Black-and-White Warbler below. She was just down the street from my house.

Black and White Warbler Berwyn 5-16-15-1993

Black-and-White Warbler, 5-16-15

Also not far away was the Yellow Warbler below. These are not unusual species but to see them not far from the house is unusual for me, since it never occurred to me that if I was just patient and looked a little harder, I could likely find some warblers in the neighborhood.

Yellow Warbler, 5-16-15

Blue Jays tend to be heard and rarely seen, but I did get good looks at this one. He probably thought I was a curious sight, walking around with binoculars and a camera.

Blue Jay, 5-16-15

Maybe most surprising was seeing a Hermit Thrush dash out from underneath a parked car. I had been seeing one in my neighbor’s yard, so it’s likely the same individual.

Hermit Thrush, 5-16-15

The flowers are all gone now from my Horse Chestnut but that day the bees were enjoying the bounty.

Now I’m looking forward to fall migration to see if I can repeat the experiment on those iffy mornings when I don’t necessarily feel like going “somewhere.” It’s certainly easier to take a stroll around the block, and I don’t have to worry about finding my way back to where I started.

Spring migration is pretty much over, although late-comers and late-leavers are still surfacing here and there. Now my focus will turn to breeding birds and, whenever possible, finishing my review of photographs from trips I’ve already taken before I set off for somewhere else…

City Visitors, or Where the Birds Are

Posted on May 20, 2015 by Lisa Rest

Black-and-White Warbler, Lake Shore East Park

Apologies to all my followers for not posting sooner (and all those I follow for not showing up), but I have been busy with work and trying to spend every free moment paying attention to birds indoors and out, so by the time I get around to reviewing photos I fall asleep. So there have been about 10 potential blog posts running out of my head over the last two weeks before I could hang onto them.

American Redstart, 155 N. Wacker Drive

So before I fell asleep again last night as it was past my bed time, I decided to simply share with you some of my favorite subjects over the past week from a couple city parks and green spaces. Except for the Least Flycatcher, I have limited this post to warbler species.

Black-Throated Green Warbler, Union Station

The first day I found the Black-Throated Green Warbler at Union Station, there was also a Black-Throated Blue Warbler singing and a Baltimore Oriole singing as well. Actually it was the Baltimore Oriole’s song that drew my attention to the now-fenced-in-for-no-obvious-reason garden area. The fact that the garden area was inaccessible to me and the smokers who like to sit on the benches probably made it more attractive to the bugs and the birds who were eating them. I did not get a great picture of the Black-Throated Blue, but was glad to see him. The Oriole was coy but uncooperative.

Male Common Yellowthroat, Lake Shore East Park

Lake Shore East Park has been my most constant afternoon destination, and there were a couple good days, but it doesn’t seem as birdy as last year or the year before. The weather has been a factor all spring too, with alternating warm fronts and cold fronts confusing everything. We are presently about thirty degrees cooler than we were on Monday. Monday was hot.

Least Flycatcher, Lake Shore East Park

Least Flycatchers were fairly common for a couple days. Catbirds have been regular sightings in every nook and cranny.

Gray Catbird, Lake Shore East Park

Male American Redstarts come in two plumages. The first-year males still look a bit like the females, only orangey instead of a paler yellow. The after-first-year males are black and orange-red.

American Redstart

American Redstart, first-year male

Hardly a day has gone by that I have not seen or heard a Northern Waterthrush. I usually see them on the lawn, so it was nice to catch one resting on a branch.

Northern Waterthrush, Lake Shore East Park

Ovenbirds are still around, too.

Ovenbird, Millennium Park

Spring would not be spring without male Magnolia Warblers.

Magnolia Warbler, Millennium Park

Redstarts are everywhere now. The adult males seem to like to show off.

Below is a first-year male, looking eager to start his first breeding season.

I hope to get another post or two in order over the Memorial Day weekend (thunderstorms are predicted for Memorial Day). As always I think I will be able to conquer my entire to-do list because I have an extra day. So far Saturday’s weather looks best, so that will be a birding day. Passerine migration is nearly over, but I need proof.

Fall Frustrations

Posted on September 23, 2014 by Lisa Rest

Nashville Warbler, Columbus Park

The days are getting shorter, there are still fall migrants coming through, the weather has been beautiful the last day or two and I feel like I’m running around in circles just trying to get normal things accomplished, and then I’m out of time for everything. Everything being the moment to sit still, observe, reflect, be…

Magnolia Warbler, Columbus Park

Palm Warbler

Northern Waterthrush

Black-and-White Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

Truth be told I did not stay in last Sunday because the rain was threatening but not really materializing, so I managed to visit the Portage and almost envisioned doing a post about what surprises were there, but I keep succumbing to that temptation (“What’s your favorite photograph?” “The one I just took”) and then I never get back to documenting previous outings. So while I have been recalcitrant catching up with other bloggers I am going to try at least to catch up a bit with myself.

American Redstart

Whatever my obsession to try to hold on to the last experience, these pictures are more from the 13th trip to Columbus Park, which is a park on the west side of Chicago, making it barely a stone’s throw away. There’s a nice water feature going on at the park, and perhaps the star was a juvenile Black Crowned Night Heron contemplating how to make a living.

Black-Crowned Night Heron

Columbus Park

Also present, a Pied-Billed Grebe and a Great Blue Heron. I don’t recall if I realized the Blue-Winged Teal was eating a crabapple when I took the picture but it seems a little odd.

Pied-Billed Grebe

Great Blue Heron

Blue-Winged Teal eating crabapple

There were two young Cooper’s Hawks present.

Cooper’s Hawk

A fellow participant pointed out the caterpillar to me. I did not have my macro lens handy so it’s not a great picture, but I think it looks like a sphinx moth. I confess to being very lazy and I have not tried to look it up.

Caterpillar

I must leave this page, it’s getting late and I have to get up and go to work. I hope to return in a better mood. Tomorrow night is the first rehearsal for the choir I have signed up for. I have received the first email from Bill Hilton about November’s Costa Rica trip. There’s room for more participants: he didn’t say how many we were but the optimum number is 12. Time for me to start thinking about this trip. I’m looking forward to contributing to Bill’s research for a week.

Fall Migration in the Chicago Loop

Posted on September 6, 2014 by Lisa Rest

Wilson’s Warbler, Lake Shore East Park

I haven’t hit any hot spots yet, but have started seeing a few migrant birds downtown. Tuesday morning I rescued a young Wood Thrush on my way to work. I visited Lake Shore East Park on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons. At that location I have perhaps seen only seven warbler species so far, American Redstart, Yellow-Rumped Warbler, Ovenbird, Chestnut-Sided Warbler, Black-and-White Warbler, Tennessee Warbler and Wilson’s Warbler, with the Wilson’s being the most frequent. On Tuesday there were a few flycatchers, the most cooperative being a young Yellow-Bellied.

Yellow-Bellied Flycatcher

Below, a couple photos of the Black-and-White Warbler from Wednesday.

Black-and-White Warbler

Also on Wednesday, a Nashville Warbler, most completely seen on the sidewalk.

Tennessee Warbler

A couple more pictures of the Wilson’s Warbler below.

The Common Grackles have been congregating all week, eating acorns and bathing in the water features.

At least it appears they are trying to eat the acorns.

I will be back soon. I’ve been busy, and the weather has been hot and muggy. The longer days must be getting to me, I’ve been feeling overwhelmed. But we are fortunate enough to have some cooler, drier weather this weekend and I plan to take advantage of it Sunday morning.

Right in My Own Backyard

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Lisa Rest

Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, LaBagh Woods

Thanks to all for the good wishes as I set out for Texas with the rest of the Four Elles. I am back, but still succumbing to Migration Madness.

The weather was too good this weekend to sit around in front of the computer, so I paid attention to spring migration and went birding Saturday and Sunday…only to spend hours Sunday evening clearing space on my hard drive so I could download the weekend’s pictures. I will get back to the pictures from the Texas trip which will fill several posts, but it will take a little while longer.

Chicago Portage 5-3-14

In this brief post I am featuring what seem to be the most numerous species this spring. Every year is different, and you never know which species will seem omnipresent. So I began Saturday morning at the Chicago Portage.

Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, Chicago Portage

Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers seemed to be everywhere. There were also numerous Ruby-Crowned Kinglets, Palm Warblers and more predictably, Yellow-Rumped Warblers. I then moved on to Ottawa Trail Woods. (More about that experience in a subsequent post.)

Ottawa Trail Woods

Very much the same situation there bird-wise, at least with Palm Warblers and American Goldfinches. These pictures are individuals from the Portage, but the two areas are right next to each other, and I had plenty of these birds at Ottawa Trail too. More about that experience in a later post, perhaps.

Palm Warbler

American Goldfinch

Yesterday morning I went to LaBagh Woods, which is a little over half an hour away. I am determined to drive more now that I have the new car, in part because the car needs its exercise too. Noticed yesterday that it is so quiet I have to be sure squirrels in the road see me…

LaBagh Woods

LaBagh was covered with little yellow flowers underfoot. I have to figure these out as I have some in my backyard too. Whatever it is, this year’s crazy weather seems to have provided perfect conditions for it.

Black-Throated Green Warbler

In addition to scores of Ruby-Crowned Kinglets and Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers, LaBagh had incredible numbers of Black-Throated Green and Black-and-White Warblers.

Black-and-White Warbler

There was a Clay-Colored Sparrow at LaBagh hanging out with three Chipping Sparrows, but I did not get the camera on it. Then later in the afternoon I looked out the kitchen window and saw a Clay-Colored Sparrow foraging in my not-yet-planted vegetable patch. I grabbed the camera and took some awful pictures through the windows, then went outside a few moments later and sat for half an hour or so, until I managed to get a few clearer photos, like the one below. This is a new bird for my yard!

Clay-Colored Sparrow

The week promises to be insane but I will try to be back soon. More to come from destinations both near and far.

A Bird in the Hand…

Posted on March 19, 2014 by Lisa Rest

White-Eyed Vireo

If anyone knows how much birds hate to be handled, it’s me. My indoor birds remind me of this constantly, and I don’t pick them up unless I absolutely have to. I’m not trying to offend anyone by posting these pictures.

Ovenbird

But before I get on to writing in a future post about the primary reason for why I was in Belize–which was to be part of a group of 7 volunteers that helped Operation Rubythroat set up mist nets to catch and band Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds and transcribe banding data…and all the reasons why they are doing this…

Black-and-White Warbler

I wanted to share some pictures of other birds banded that I never could have seen so closely.

Hooded Warbler

Suffice it to say I learned a lot in 8 days.

Northern Parula

For those of you still uncomfortable with the handling of the birds, we checked the nets constantly, moving birds still captive and waiting to be banded or shown out of the sunlight, and they survived well. I believe there was one casualty in a net on our last day, which was cut short due to inclement weather. I suppose the biggest testimonial to survival was the birds, already banded, recaptured from previous years.

Northern Waterthrush

Louisiana Waterthrush

The Northern Waterthrush was one of perhaps three or more we banded, but the Louisiana Waterthrush was the first one ever seen at Crooked Tree in Belize. See if you can tell the difference this close up. The distinguishing features are still subtle, but the Northern looks more “yellow” than the Louisiana and has denser streaking.

Tennessee Warbler banded 3-9-14

Tennessee Warbler banded 3-10-14

Compare the difference between these two Tennessee Warbler individuals. The one above is a male not finished with his molt and the one below is most likely a female. Banders can consult The Identification Guide to North American Birds: Part 1 and Part 2 by Peter Pyle to help distinguish between the sexes by length of the wing and tail feathers.

Male Yellow Warbler

You may have noticed that all the migrant warblers are not quite as decked out as they will be by the time they reach us. This Yellow Warbler was just developing his rufous streaks.

Clay-Colored Thrush, National Bird of Costa Rica

The last bird on this post is not a neotropical migrant and therefore was not banded. But I thought it best expressed any indignation at being handled, for all the other birds banded on this page. And I probably never would have seen the beautiful streaking on its throat, in the field.

Brief Warbler Interruption

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Lisa Rest

Black-and-White Warbler, Millennium Park

Please pardon this brief interruption.While I’ve been trying to get through other pictures for another post, I’ve been birding as usual on my infrequent lunch hours, interrupted by rain… (lots of it – maybe I should not have danced so hard through the drought?).

Chicago Loop in the rain

Yesterday on the way back from Millennium Park where I had basically seen nothing “new” and it started to rain again…I was carrying my 40D, an umbrella and the peanut bag, I had forgotten I had the camera on another setting for the rain pictures on the way in… and who should show up but my first-of-year Black-and-White Warbler, looking very bedraggled and wet, behaving like a Brown Creeper scaling the tree trunks, but definitely not a Brown Creeper.

B&W Warbler Millennium IMG_4934_1

In spite of the umbrella and the wrong setting a got a picture or two of the warbler anyway.

B&W Warbler Millennium IMG_4950_1

And here are a couple other volunteers from the park.

Common Grackle with nesting material

American Robin

Warbler One on One

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Lisa Rest

Black and White Warbler

Fall warbler migration seems to be early this year, just as summerlike weather hit us in March and seemed to drive an early spring migration as well. I’ve been hunting for the brightly colored gems of the bird world and it’s been a fairly good week in spite of limits on my time.

But then I end up with too many pictures to go through and no time to do that. They’ll be dribbling in eventually.

I had my closest encounter yesterday morning with a Black-and-White Warbler that flew in to the green area at 155 North Wacker. He foraged in and out of the shade of the plantings, giving me several opportunities to appreciate his dapper plumage.

Southern Illinois paradise

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Lisa Rest

Sandstone cliff

I have been in the southernmost part of my state the past few days and I may as well have been in another country. I had no Internet access but did not miss it. The pristine habitat of the Shawnee region is so remarkable, it is easy to slip into a sense of timelessness. And there is no limit to the discoveries one can make. Our stay was much too short.

Summer Tanager

Warbling Vireo

There were birds everywhere.

Black and White Warbler

Eastern Phoebe

Great Crested Flycatcher

The most elusive birds periodically became cooperative.

Prothonotary Warbler

This Prothonotary Warbler has staked out his territory in the wonderful Heron Pond portion of the Cache River Basin.

A boardwalk invites us into the thick of it all.

It was hard to leave.

We heard Kentucky Warblers everywhere we went, but did not see one until the morning of our departure.

This Kentucky serenaded us from his digs in Giant City.

Kentucky Warbler

Kentucky Warblers spend a lot of time furtively foraging on the ground which makes them hard to see, but this one was nice enough to fly up and perch just above our heads almost at eye level. What a beautiful bird.

Goldbird Variations

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

Tag Archives: Black and White Warbler

Birding the Hood

City Visitors, or Where the Birds Are

Fall Frustrations

Fall Migration in the Chicago Loop

Right in My Own Backyard

A Bird in the Hand…

Brief Warbler Interruption

Warbler One on One

Southern Illinois paradise