Two Walks at Columbus Park

Posted on May 13, 2024 by Lisa Rest

This is a little roundup of two Saturday walks at Columbus Park in which I participated. At the beginning of the walk on April 27th, first we saw Goslings.

But that was nothing compared to this past Saturday, May 11.

On April 27, there were still several Palm Warblers.

We also had a Black-and-White Warbler.

It was really difficult to capture a Nashville Warbler adequately as it was quite far away, but I tried anyway.

Yellow Warblers are everywhere.

And it may have been the last of the Yellow-rumped Warblers.

We had an American Robin on a nest.

And a beautiful Northern Rough-winged Swallow posed for us in the cloud cover. I don’t know how, but at first I mistook it for an Eastern Phoebe. I was off my game that morning, which was also the day of the Spring Music Festival. Or at least that’s my excuse.

I got a good look at a Red-tailed Hawk flying over us that day.

And I was happy to find a Savannah Sparrow later in my photos.

Here’s a Song Sparrow for comparison. The heavy malar stripe on the throat is sometimes the best clue to determine a Song Sparrow quickly.

On May 11, we saw a couple Black-and-White Warblers again.

And a Black-throated Green Warbler

Now that it was two weeks later, the Palm Warblers appeared to be females.

There were Yellow Warblers again, if not necessarily in the best light.

I had close views of a Warbling Vireo.

And not so close views of a Red-eyed Vireo.

When someone said they saw a Great-crested Flycatcher, I thought I did too but it turned out to be an Olive-sided Flycatcher which is a bird I have seen only twice (in my photos) and now I will never mistake it for any other flycatcher ever again. The yellow on the belly and the crested look threw me off, but that dark vest is unmistakable, as is the white throat and a shorter tail (not at all rufous in color) than the Great-crested.

The icing on the cake last Saturday was the appearance of a Black-crowned Night-heron just as we were walking toward our cars.

Other birds stopping long enough for photos were a Gray Catbird and a couple Baltimore Orioles.

It’s been kind of a slow start with warbler migration, as far as it goes on the ground, anyway. A lot of birds have been flying over at night. I also wondered if the solar flares producing northern lights would throw off the birds. I found a reference to a study suggesting that could be a factor, although I haven’t read it yet.

But just as things were terribly slow-going yesterday at the Chicago Portage, this morning in Riverside was promising. I will be back soon. Even without a lot of activity I have catching up to do.

First Spring Bird Walk in Columbus Park

Posted on April 14, 2024 by Lisa Rest

With beautiful weather in our favor, 15 enthusiastic souls gathered yesterday morning for the first spring migration bird walk of the Oak Park Bird Walkers in Columbus Park.

I had somehow missed Golden-crowned Kinglets in the last couple of weeks so I took too many photographs of those that I could get to stay still for a fraction of a second.

We located one Ruby-crowned Kinglet later but I barely captured it.

There were not very many birds on the water, and we were a bit dismayed that we didn’t have a Great Blue Heron yet. But we had a few Wood Ducks and Blue-winged Teal.

It was hard to resist a shiny green Mallard drake.

Canada Geese were overhead and in the water.

On land we had two pairs of Northern Flickers but they were too distant to capture well. Here’s a token photo.

There may have been more than one Yellow-rumped Warbler but the one I captured was not close. I kept the photo for the list.

I think we had two enterprising Brown Creepers, one of which I photographed.

A male Downy Woodpecker made a brief appearance.

A couple Gray Squirrels were enjoying the sunshine.

We had a preening Red-tailed Hawk and a flying Cooper’s Hawk.

We had Red-winged Blackbirds in both sexes.

At one point a Belted Kingfisher flew past us. I barely captured it as it left its next perch.

I think I had the most fun with the Tree Swallows.

Next Saturday we will be at Thatcher Woods and with the warm, southerly winds we have had lately, I hope there will be more species to document.

I am pretty worn out from singing this morning. I think the choir did well. After I fell in deep love with the piece, Sacred Place, while practicing and listening to it over the last few days and finding the second movement evocative of a dawn chorus, I was holding back tears through much of the performance. Driving home, I felt a deep sense of loss that it was over, never to be repeated. I managed to assuage that feeling by tuning in later to watch the video and reassuring myself that we had done justice to the work.

I will be back soon with whatever screams to be expelled from one hard drive or another.

Columbus Park: 2 Extracurricular Visits

Posted on October 31, 2022 by Lisa Rest

We Oak Park bird walk people got together twice more to visit Columbus Park on October 15 and 29 respectively. The 15th was definitely birdier with plenty of Golden-crowned Kinglets showing off.

A rather familiar sight in the pond at Columbus Park is a gaggle of Canada Geese and that day was no exception.

You may remember the Great Blue Heron at the back door of the Refectory from the last time we were there. It was back in the same spot again.

The leaf color was a factor on that sunny morning, making nice backgrounds for the birds.

I was delighted to find this series of photos of a Golden-crowned Kinglet.

We had several sparrow species that day too. Unfortunately they weren’t always that easy to see. Below is a Swamp Sparrow and then beneath it, a Clay-colored Sparrow.

I got several photos of a Song Sparrow in a thicket trying hard not to be seen.

And I nearly missed photographing this Fox Sparrow.

There were Dark-eyed Juncos, with this one being the only one I managed to capture. Sometimes all you see of a Junco is its white tail feathers flashing.

We also had a Brown Creeper. I think it’s the last one I have seen this fall.

At some point perhaps over 200 Canada Geese flew overhead and then landed in the water.

Here are some more photos of the Golden-crowned Kinglet at the top of the post.

A Palm Warbler was present in the wildflower garden.

Sometimes an American Robin can be interesting, as I found this one flying over the water.

The next time we met on October 29, the water looked like this. It’s a beautiful reflecting pool. Notice there were no birds in it.

We saw hardly any birds at all that morning after covering our usual bases. However, a Great Blue Heron did us a favor and landed right in front of us.

It was only around 9:15 AM when we decided to call it quits. I had an errand to run and then decided to go over to the Chicago Portage to see what was happening there. Being the last Saturday of the month, the volunteer crew was on hand, noisily sawing trees somewhere off the inside trail. So that part of the preserve was off limits. But logic told me the birds might be somewhere else and I did find quite a few on the outside trail.

There were White-throated Sparrows.

And a few American Goldfinches.

And some House Finches were present too.

One of several busy Downy Woodpeckers.

A Dark-eyed Junco was foraging on the second bridge.

Milkweed seed pods caught my eye.

I found another late Nashville Warbler.

Of course there were some Golden-crowned Kinglets. This was the only one I managed to capture in a pensive moment. There were other species as well, but the photos aren’t worthy of your attention.

The weather kept me reluctant to walk the trails the last two mornings. This morning was a study in fog and drizzle. I look forward to going a bit farther tomorrow. We are promised sunshine. And we are still well above freezing. I will be back.

Colorful Fall Birds at Columbus Park

Posted on October 3, 2022 by Lisa Rest

The spell was finally broken at Columbus Park on Saturday. We actually saw some migrants. It began with a couple Cape May Warblers that I simply could not take my lens off of.

Another individual almost looked like a different species altogether, he was so stripey.

They were both busy in the center of the same tree with a Yellow-rumped Warbler or two. A Yellow-rumped is in the first three photos below and the last photograph in the series shows a Cape May Warbler and a Yellow-rumped Warbler together on the same branch.

There was a Nashville Warbler later on.

A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was in the same area as the Cape May Warblers but it was moving so quickly from tree to tree, I barely captured the image below.

When we first arrived, there were Mallards tooling around in the shallow water by the Refectory.

Later across the pond on the other side we spotted a juvenile Great Blue Heron standing at the back door of the Refectory.

I made a quick visit to the Chicago Portage after our walk to see if there was any extra activity there. I was going to include those photos in this post but I think I will just do a separate post as I went back there again Sunday morning and found more birds sort of in the same spot.

And actually I simply have way too many photographs of the Cape Mays at Columbus to make room for anything else. I couldn’t help myself. I was surprised to see the bug also making an escape in the first photo below.

I managed to capture a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. There were Golden-crowned Kinglets too but they were elusive this time around.

At one point someone noticed a hawk in the middle of a bare tree with grackles and robins perched all around keeping an eye on it. It turned out to be a Red-tailed Hawk. None of the photos were good with all the branches in the way.

However many Yellow-rumped Warblers were present, they weren’t always easy to photograph. But I kind of like how this one blended into the background in these two shots. The bird was fairly distant so these have been cropped considerably.

Of course I have a few more of the Cape Mays. I will be back very soon with the last two visits to the Portage – before I try to get caught up again with the other visits that preceded them.

We have been blessed with the gift of beautiful fall weather the past few days. That makes it easier to get up and out earlier. With the days getting shorter and the nights getting colder, the time to observe fall migration seems precious and limited. I am grateful.

Weather or Not

Posted on September 12, 2022 by Lisa Rest

A busy weekend sort of slid into place. Our delightful choir party/rehearsal late Saturday afternoon precluded my usual Saturday early evening activity of cleaning the living room and swapping out the dirty cages for clean ones. Then there was getting up early Sunday morning to sing. Any thought of being outside on Sunday was drowned out by steady rain. In spite of the flood warnings, my trees and native plants rose to the occasion again and kept the basement dry. It might have been a good day to write, but after a long nap – which indicates it was a good day to sleep – I spent much of the afternoon and evening in motion, cleaning the living room and dining room, swapping out the dirty curtains and huts for clean, turning the fans off and leaving the windows open a couple inches as the temperature dropped, keeping me cool in all my effort.

(My dryer doesn’t heat, and I am somewhere between repair and replacement, so the curtains are dry but will have to hang out their wrinkles, or not: I’m not ironing them!)

I woke up to a cool 70 degrees F. inside, closed all the windows and hoped for a little sunshine later to keep us comfortable as the temperatures remain quite low today. I went swimming and the pool temperature, at 80 degrees F., felt warm enough. it will be a good day for baking bread and making soup.

I’m posting pictures today from September 3 which was the first Oak Park fall migration bird walk of 2022 for which I was responsible. We met at Columbus Park, and will be visiting there again this coming Saturday morning. I went on to the Chicago Portage afterward and there are a few photos from there mixed in as well. I will visit the Chicago Portage tomorrow and see what if anything came in with yesterday’s weather.

That lovely Red-eyed Vireo at the top of the post had a lot of company.

More Red-eyed Vireos. Easily the most visible bird of the day.

Except for American Goldfinches. They were in abundance at Columbus Park. I was delighted to see them feeding off the Cupplant which they have also been visiting in my backyard.

We have had a lot of Swainson’s Thrushes this fall and this day was no exception, making it easier to spot this one.

And it’s been a good year for Gray-cheeked Thrushes as well.

Warbling Vireos were still abundant. But I won’t be surprised if I don’t hear one tomorrow. They might have grabbed that southward wind yesterday.

Warbler-wise, not much, but a few haphazard captures.

This was the last Common Whitetail dragonfly I saw, at Columbus Park.

And likely my last Spotted Sandpiper was there too, at the beginning of our walk as we looked out over the water.

That’s it for now. Fall migration continues. Fall-like temperatures for another day or so, too. One more of the Red-eyed Vireo at the top. This bird had a great sense for presentation.

Three Visits to Columbus Park

Posted on June 6, 2022 by Lisa Rest

Two weeks after the last formal walk at Columbus Park on May 14, I joined the two Eds from those walks to see what was up after it seemed all the warblers were gone. Suffice it to say that the water birds made up for the lack of passerine diversity. In spite of an event going on at the park, two Great Blue Herons and two Black-crowned Night Herons tolerated all the noise and our attention and gave us some great looks.

There’s invariably a Great Blue Heron here but I’ve never seen one up in a tree like the one in the series below.

These photos are from April 16, May 14 and May 28 so the vegetation keeps changing.

On April 16 we were lucky to see an early Northern Parula.

Although I saw this species on a few other occasions these were the best looks I had all spring.

Also in the old reeds left over from last year was an American Tree Sparrow.

A Northern Rough-winged Swallow posed over the water

There was one little Field Sparrow back on the April visit.

There’s usually at least a pair of Wood Ducks but they don’t always offer such great photo opportunities.

Below from the last visit, a Wood Duck hen with six ducklings.

Once the Red-winged Blackbirds show up, they stay for the summer.

On the last visit there were some more grown up goslings than an on earlier visit.

Back in April, two Double-crested Cormorants swimming together.

The Black-crowned Night Herons are sometimes so well camouflaged.

Back in April I followed this Great Blue Heron in flight.

On May 14, there was a visible Red-eyed Vireo.

And on the last visit two weeks later, a Warbling Vireo made itself known.

Here’s an earlier photo of a Great Blue Heron.

The Black-crowned Night Herons are simply photogenic.

But I’ll let the Wood Duck have the last word.

A rainy forecast for today gave me the time to sit here and put this together. I’ll be back out on the trail tomorrow morning. There will likely be more photographs of dragonflies coming, like the female Eastern Forktail Damselfly below – if that is indeed what this is. I noticed it at Columbus Park on the last visit.

What? Winter? Left Overs

Posted on March 20, 2022 by Lisa Rest

My windshield looked like this, this morning, when I went out to start the car so I could sing with the choir for our first choir Sunday in two years.

It fits this post, which is a little collection of wintertime visits that I never managed to mention. The first was a visit to Columbus Park on 12-30-21.

I had gone to see if a Greater White-fronted Goose was still visible after it had been reported for several days. But by this time the water had frozen and so many Canada Geese were sitting on the ice it was too hard to tell.

Still, it was a beautiful, sunny day with lots of virgin snow.

Another beautiful sunny day a month later, on January 30, 2022, I decided to visit the Little Red Schoolhouse after another snowfall. Below is a view of Longjohn Slough which borders the trail starting at the Nature Center.

A few birds were visible.

As I walked the trail, I came across a sign denoting the original location of the school for which the forest preserve is named.

Then in my yard on February 15, a Cooper’s Hawk sat for a long time in the redbud tree right outside the porch windows. I could not resist taking too many pictures. Here are a few.

I miss a lot of beautiful sunsets and can barely see hints of them through my kitchen or porch windows, but I tried to commemorate the winter clouds anyway.

I am full of music from singing at the service which was devoted to the Spring Equinox. What began as a cold morning has turned into a beautiful day. The sun is shining brightly. I hope this is my last windshield ice for a while.

Another Crow Post

Posted on March 6, 2022 by Lisa Rest

When it occurred to me that nearly the entire month of February had gone by without another visit to the lakefront, I took advantage of last weekend’s beautiful weather on Sunday morning and went down to see the Crows and whatever else I could find.

In anticipation of however many Crows I could encounter and the chilly temperatures, I made a batch of Birdz Cookies to offer along with the peanuts in the shell. I was curious to see whether the Crows would remember the Birdz Cookies, which started out years ago as peanut butter-oatmeal-raisin and have gone through many healthier – and more delicious, I might add – modifications, while still remaining true to those three ingredients.

I didn’t see any Crows until I had walked past all of this.

Train tracks looking south from Jackson Street bridge

I was nearly at the corner where I would cross Monroe and then Lake Shore Drive when the first Crow found me. I perhaps should mention that until I see a Crow, I don’t stop to take the offering out of my backpack. So the Crows recognize me before they see the food. Either they have x-ray vision (which I wouldn’t doubt), or I fit the description of Crow Feeder, or both.

It wasn’t long before there were three more Crows.

And then the Birdz Cookies became the preferred snack. I was thrilled.

I mean, really, is there anything more beautiful than a glossy black Crow with a Birdz Cookie? Yeah, maybe one who has figured out how to grab a piece of cookie and a peanut at the same time.

When it was time to cross Lake Shore Drive and continue north along the lake, the Crows followed me, of course.

Down to the last Snow Crow…

Unlike my previous visit at the beginning of January, however, the Crows did not follow me along the lakefront. Then one singular Crow apart from the group of four appeared. Peanuts were an acceptable offering.

This Crow did not seem so comfortable with me. Checking me out, so to speak. So I kept my distance and did not risk offering cookies that were likely unfamiliar to him or her.

That was it with the Crows. I speculated later that perhaps the longer days and sunshine were already distracting the Crows with thoughts of spring and many of them were elsewhere. So I turned my eyes to the birds on the water. They were far off and there was still plenty of ice. Most of the ducks were Greater Scaup. And there were the expected Canada Geese, Mallards and Herring and Ring-billed Gulls.

Ice in the harbor that caught my eye.

The gulls reminded me of the Gull Frolic two weeks earlier. That’s a whole other blog post – to come.

I managed to blow up a few individual duck photos.

The Mallard below was quite close.

Greater Scaup on the lake.

In all, it was gratifying to see Crows again on a beautiful day. But I had the problem of some leftover Birdz Cookies and there were yet more at home. I thought I would be trying to give them away, but after a few missed opportunities, I decided to simply eat them myself. I have managed, by devouring two a day, to enjoy them and not gain any appreciable weight in the process. But I likely won’t be making another batch once the weather warms up.

We had one very warm and later quite windy day yesterday. I met my dear friend Hannah for a walk at Columbus Park where we spent most of the time beginning to catch up on each other’s lives. It was still chilly enough for the water to be frozen. There also seemed to be a runners’ race of some sort going on. The songs of scores of Red-Winged Blackbirds filled the air.

When I got home I saw one male House Finch showing off the buds on the flowering crab.

I keep resisting temptation to revisit photos from last year before I archive them into perpetuity on an external hard drive, but even after missing a few morning walks this week or next, the immediacy of spring will tempt me back into the present. So either way, I will be back. We’ll see what happens next.

Leading Myself

Posted on October 3, 2021 by Lisa Rest

I had been envisioning all week what it would be like, yesterday, to get out of bed at 4:00 a.m. and go through my normal routine of waking up my body, preparing and serving breakfast to my indoor flock, filling the feeders and changing water in the bird baths for the outdoor flock, and then getting ready to leave in time to arrive at Columbus Park and lead a walk that was to start at 7:00 a.m. I don’t organize the walks. I have been asked to “lead” this and other Saturday walks that alternatively go to Thatcher Woods in River Forest through the first Saturday in November. Leading basically means showing up, in case the organizer can’t make it. That will be the end of the “fall migration walks” and the same schedule will restart in April for spring migration.

I made several discoveries yesterday. Perhaps most important was the conclusion that I managed to arrive on time after the organizer had already advised me he couldn’t make it, I had a few moments to spare, which means I might be able to sleep maybe 20 more minutes before Saturday morning’s visit to Thatcher Woods.

So I arrived on time. And started talking to one of the golfers who use the same parking lot for access to the adjacent golf course. And I waited. I watched for cars with people getting out of them bearing binoculars. But all the cars arriving produced golf clubs. I soon came to the conclusion that I was the only person showing up for the walk. Below is a picture of what the sky looked like at that time. Maybe with the combination of clouds and no organizer, I was not enough of a draw.

Those little black dots in the clouds are Chimney Swifts.

I figured I may as well check out the park for birds anyway, all dressed up with my gear as I was, so I started walking across the lawn to the water where there were only a few Mallards. It was still quite cloudy and beyond my desire to compensate for the lack of light.

I confess I was a little leery of walking through the park so early alone. Although it has always been a safe place with others, I was not familiar enough with the spot to feel entirely confident. But then it started to lighten up, and I was hearing birds, and I figured well, I could see what was there. And I’m glad I did, because instead of following a group around – some “leader” I am – I now feel like I actually could lead a walk through Columbus Park.

Below is a video I took with my phone of Chimney Swifts flying over – it starts out mainly hearing them but then when I realized I could zoom in a bit you can actually see them. There’s also a Red-winged Blackbird singing in the beginning, for good measure.

Chimney Swifts

It began to brighten up a little, which helped the photo taking situation. It was difficult capturing the Blackpoll Warbler below in the shady portion of the park, however, but I kept trying.

I agonized over the pictures below as I was sure it was a Bay-breasted Warbler but for some reason ebird insisted it was a rare sighting for this date. I submitted my photographs and so far they have not challenged me.

I wasn’t seeing a lot of birds in the water, so I looked forward to going to the native plant garden next to a portion of it where I would likely see more birds, and I did.

Palm Warblers like the one below were expected.

I haven’t seen a lot of Tennessee Warblers this year – so it was nice to find this one.

And below, a very young-looking American Goldfinch.

On the way out I managed to capture a sneaky picture of a Wood Duck drake through some tangled branches. Also saw the resident Great Blue Heron in a well-camouflaged spot.

At 8:30 a.m. I felt as if I had covered the area – even though I missed a raptor I barely saw flying over. I encountered a birder who was waiting on someone to start her walk through, and we exchanged notes. Columbus Park is her go-to spot, like the Portage is mine. She may join us at Thatcher next week. I am no longer dreading these early Saturday morning rises.

I was tired, especially after having gone swimming the night before, so I took a long nap when I got home. But I am glad I managed the early start and stayed for the birds. I’m sure I would have seen more birds if I had company, but I encountered some nice, smiling runners and walkers and felt more connected to Columbus Park, which is really a beautiful place.

A Few Fall Warblers

Posted on September 28, 2019 by Lisa Rest

I’ve been trying to get back to this page for a long time, but between busy weekends and even more hectic workdays, it’s been difficult to even imagine a blog post. Good intentions being what they may, I am resurfacing briefly here with some pictures from last Saturday morning in Columbus Park – before it rained on that day.

No less surprising, I suppose, is the fact that I cancelled my walk that was supposed to take place at Thatcher Woods this morning because it was thunderstorming off and on all night and with Thatcher Woods being in a flood plain, even though the rain has stopped, it would still be too challenging to slosh around in the soggy grass looking for bedraggled, wet migrants. Indeed the entire weekend promises to be raining or cloudy. Maybe I can get caught up with some overdue blogging, as it is definitely an indoor pursuit.

Not a warbler, but practically hiding like one.

Fall warblers look a lot less flashy in general than they do in the spring, and it can be a bit challenging to determine who’s who. Luckily I got a lot of observation time with Blackpolls a few years ago when I used to go to Lake Shore East Park so they’re kind of stamped on my brain.

Below is a little video I took with my phone on Tuesday morning, which was beautiful and sunny. I had just stepped out the front door to walk to the train when I heard, and then saw, about six Tennessee Warblers foraging in my front yard which is small but full of native vegetation. They’re not easy to see – watch for movement and then you will see the birds her and there eventually, albeit they are very small! I put this up on Facebook Tuesday but wanted to share again for those who didn’t see it there. I feel like this is a testament to my native plant experiment that seem to get better every year. It’s almost as if the warblers got out their GPS and found “Certified Wildlife Habitat”. 🙂

Goldbird Variations

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

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