#CrowPost

Hold That Peanut! 02-25-2018-6348

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.

RBME 02-25-2018-6411RBME 02-25-2018-6422Then 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.

Crow 02-25-2018-6343In the neighborhood, birds are starting to sing again. I have hope.

Warmup to a Merry Christmas

noca-12-9-16-5033In the mad rush to the end of the year there hasn’t been much time for birding or posting but I am here to wish you all happy, good-cheer holidays, whatever you are celebrating. Last night I sang with the Unity Temple Choir for their Christmas Eve service and today I am catching up on bread gifts to distribute around the neighborhood. So while the house smells of cinnamon and yeast, Handel’s Messiah playing on the radio, and snow still on the ground even though we’ve warmed up quite a bit, I will try to compile a brief photographic history of the last few weeks.

Most of the wild birds I have seen lately have been downtown on infrequent visits to the parks. The light hasn’t been anything to celebrate but the Black-Capped Chickadees, White-Throated Sparrows, House Sparrows and Northern Cardinals are all happy to partake of the treats I bring them.

wtsp-12-9-16-5091

White-Throated Sparrow

And although I haven’t had many crows, I am usually able to find at least two, sometimes four. I don’t know where they’ve gone this year. Maybe the polar vortex has caused them to congregate elsewhere. Too bad, because I’m baking Birdz Cookies now, and I’ve perfected the recipe.

Sometimes there are a few American Robins about, although not as much now that the trees and bushes are running out of fruit.

There was that one horribly cold week and I managed to document the temperature and the steam on the river, if nothing else. I didn’t go out that day.

Two days later it had warmed up a bit, for which I was grateful, as I participated in the Fermilab Christmas Bird Count, but it was a brutal experience slogging through packed snow and seeing not many birds at all. Not surprisingly, overall, the number of species and individuals were down from previous years.

The Canada Geese flying overhead seemed to be the only ones having a good time.

I couldn’t even get the pair of Northern Cardinals below to come out from the thicket long enough to photograph them.

northern-cardinals-fermilab-12-17-16-5561

What’s been really shocking to me is the lack of birds in my yard. While I don’t see them most of the time because I’m at work anyway, at least I have an idea that they’re showing up by the emptiness of the feeders. Oddly enough, just as we started the warmup this past week, my feeders remained full. You would think just the opposite would occur. I began to wonder if the sub-zero temperatures had taken more casualties than a more normal winter. I hope this isn’t a warning for the future.

crows-12-16-16-5362wtsp-12-12-16-5180I have seen birds in the yard today now that I’m home, and I’m starting to think that a good deal of the absences probably have to do with the local raptors’ hunger more than the weather. We shall see. The birds come, but they don’t stay long. I’ll try to do a census tomorrow in the yard since I would like to see my favorites beyond the inevitable House Sparrows. I may even go out to the Portage for a walk-around early in the morning. We’re supposed to have relatively balmy temperatures tomorrow morning before we go back to normal. A seesaw December. And only one week left of it.

Wishing you all love and peace!

Post-pourri

Comma  7-23-15-7983Apologies for the bad pun. It’s been a busy, fragmented, hot week and a half or so. Also, the past weekend was one long party, with no birds in attendance. I am not used to being much of a social butterfly.

Moth Lurie Millennium 7-15-15-7580

A moth casts a shadow at Lurie Garden

I haven’t been out much during the day either. If I didn’t know better I might think the crows have given up on me, but I suspect it’s lack of the quiet shady spots we used to have, where we could convene without a steady stream of human beings. Pigeons are much less picky about habitat but definitely not used to having their pictures taken.

Crow  7-27-15-8012

ROPI 7-14-15-7441ROPI 7-24-15-8001On the days I have gone out, I have managed to keep amused. One bright spot, for instance, was finding some Monarch Butterflies in Lurie Garden.

Monarch Lurie Millennium 7-15-15-7570

There are other interesting pollinators too. I think the wasp below was more black than blue, but lightening it up made it interesting.

Lurie Millennium 7-15-15-7549One afternoon last week standing outside the northern entrance to Lurie, I heard some earnest chirping and determined it was coming out of the small oak tree before me. There were a couple security guards talking to each other totally oblivious to the Robin’s nest I soon located.

AMRO Nest Millennium 7-15-15-7528

American Robin nestlings

I suspect the Northern Cardinal below is a young bird as well because it seemed to know the peanut was for eating but was perplexed by it anyway.

NOCA 7-14-15-7468NOCA 7-14-15-7460On hot, boring days at Lake Shore East Park, as long as I could find a bench to sit on, I took to photographing the fountains.

Fountain LSE 7-07-15-6698Fountain LSE 7-15-15-7502Then a few days ago I was sitting in the shade across from the east side of the Pritzker Pavilion, waiting for crows, and the little bird below darted out of the yews. The shade was so dense it was hard to get a decent picture, but this is the first time I have seen a juvenile Ovenbird at Millennium Park at the end of July. I was so surprised I thought I was going to get a rare bird alert but Ovenbirds breed in this part of the continent so even though I think it was rare for Millennium Park it’s not unlikely. This is the same spot I heard a White-Throated Sparrow singing a couple weeks ago, which is rare, so maybe just going to sit in this spot isn’t such a bad idea. Crows or no crows.

OVEN 7-27-15-8035

Ovenbird, Millennium Park, 7-27-15

OVEN 7-27-15-8022The greatest reward perhaps is still seeing Monarch Butterflies. I have seen fewer than 20 individuals this summer, at least two of them flying around the cement canyons of LaSalle Street. I hope the Swamp Milkweed is making them feel welcome.

Monarch on Swamp Milkweed Lurie Millennium 7-22-15-7930Swamp Milkweed Lurie Millennium 7-22-15-7918

Baby, It’s Cold Outside

Gray Catbird, Thompson Center 12-30-2014

Gray Catbird, Thompson Center 12-30-2014

2014 goes out with a shiver for us. Yesterday the temperature dropped to 20 degrees Fahrenheit (that was the high), and today it’s even colder with a wind chill of minus 15 below. I am blessed to have the day off from work, which turns out to be that much more fortuitous since the trains were not running this morning due to mechanical failure and I would have been shivering at the station shelter trying to figure out the next best way to get to work.

Chicago River Fog

Chicago River Fog

There was ample sunshine yesterday which is often the way with extra cold temperatures, so I stopped by the Thompson Center on the way in with the camera already assembled this time to see if the Gray Catbird was available for a photograph. I found it first shivering under a bush and looking not too happy.

Gray Catbird Thompson Center 12-30-14-9549

Then when a woman asked me for directions, it gave the Catbird a chance to perch on a twig while I wasn’t looking, and when I turned back to see, it posed for several photos before taking off for the top of one of the small trees planted in the sidewalk by the curb. The next time to check on this bird’s status will be Friday, the second day of the new year.

Gray Catbird Thompson Center 12-30-14-9563Gray Catbird Thompson Center 12-30-14-9570

Later, after noon when the sun was shining full blast, I set out for the lakefront parks to see if I could visit some crows before next year. It’s been weeks. I decided to check out Maggie Daley Park first as it is partially open in time for ice skaters to use the skating ribbon.

Skating Ribbon Maggie Daley 12-30-14-9578 Skating Ribbon Maggie Daley 12-30-14-9577

While a lot of trees have been planted and there is sod and whatever else, the immediate lack of green space and preponderance of human kitsch is disappointing to me.

Another View Maggie Daley 12-30-14-9584

I suspect this is the “Climbing Wall”…?

Another View Maggie Daley 12-30-14-9581

I have no idea what this bodes for hungry migrants along the lakefront come spring, but I suspect I will continue to find more migrants at Lake Shore East Park than at Maggie Daley for quite a while.

Another view - the lakefront is beyond. Are those wooden trunks recycled trees "planted" upside down?

Another view – the lakefront is beyond. Are those wooden trunks recycled trees “planted” upside down?

I hated Millennium Park when it was first built, but after I started seeing things like a flock of Golden-Crowned Kinglets on the lawn and the crows adopting the Pritzker Pavilion for a nesting site, not to mention the birds that visit Lurie Garden, it has become bird friendlier with time. So maybe in 5-10 years Maggie Daley will be okay for birds too. But I feel as if the more improvements being made lately to the lakefront, the less friendly they are to any species other than humans. Which in the long run means they’re not really human-friendly improvements either.

"Howdy, Stranger"

“Howdy, Stranger”

It wasn’t until I was practically on my way out of Millennium that I found my crows.

Peanuts Millennium 12-30-14-9630

There were some adjustments to be made. Has it been so long since we had peanuts that we can’t remember how to carry more than one at a time to a cache location?

Peanuts Millennium 12-30-14-9622 Peanuts Millennium 12-30-14-9619 Peanuts Millennium 12-30-14-9615

Peanuts Millennium 12-30-14-9624Eventually I was joined by a few Black-Capped Chickadees, and almost out of the park I located the Northern Cardinals I heard earlier but they were not interested in becoming visible. Maybe they’re waiting for snow because they know it makes a better picture.

BC Chickadee Millennium 12-30-14-9640N Cardinal Millennium 12-30-14-9647

I think I will stay inside most of today. The sunshine does a good job on the indoor crowd, we all feel a bit more possible. Maybe I can post an update of the indoor birds’ status for the new year.

Happy New Year and Thank You to All Who Visit, Read, Follow, Comment, and Fly By my blog – Who ever thought we’d see a year called 2015? This is pretty amazing. 🙂

Peanuts Millennium 12-30-14-9623

Lakefront Parks Fall Recap

Ring-Billed Gull, Grant Park

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

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

CMWA Lurie Grant Park 9-25-14-6767 CMWA Lurie Grant Park 9-25-14-6752

There were also American Goldfinches plucking seeds from the grasses.

American Goldfinch, Lurie Garden

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

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

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

Red-Winged Blackbird Takeout, Lake Shore East Park

And a beautiful juvenile White-Crowned Sparrow.

Juvenile White-Crowned Sparrow, Lake Shore East Park

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

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

Brown Thrasher, Lake Shore East Park

This was the last Common Yellowthroat I found this fall.

Common Yellowthroat, Lake Shore East Park

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

Dark-Eyed Junco, Lake Shore East Park

Also on September 22, the photographs below.

WCSP LSE Park 9-22-14-6185

Adult White-Crowned Sparrow

BPWA LSE Park 9-22-14-6140

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.

Crows LSE 9-23-14-6580