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.
And very early on we had a solitary back-lit Downy Woodpecker trying to preen in the wind…
Then here are a couple more birds from 311 South Wacker … a Hermit Thrush, finally! They inevitably seem to engage with me, as if to say, “May I help you find something?”
And then when I did eventually find a bird and tried to enlarge the photograph enough for identification purposes…
and a couple days earlier, from the park at 311 South Wacker, a block away from my office. Notice all the sap-holes in the bark!
Even though Red-Winged Blackbirds don’t migrate far, I think we’ve seen the last of them in these parts until they return to nest in the spring.
Another off-site but maybe not off-topic bird is the Ovenbird below. One or two of these have been hanging out at 311 South Wacker. I think I had eight of them at one time in the spring.
And the large pond that attracts so much waterfowl…
Then I was intrigued by the fungus that had adopted a tree stump.
We saw the Great Blue Heron early on and then later when it was trying to negotiate a slippery fish.
I am going to Thatcher Woods tomorrow morning for the last walk there, and I have absolutely no idea what to expect. We are currently experiencing cold, cloudy weather. The forecast for tomorrow is sunny and moderately cool. I plan to get in as much birding as possible before I tend to my weekend chores because Sunday is going to be challenging. The choir sings in the morning, and in the afternoon I’m attending a “Soul Connections” group I joined several months ago, then directly after that, my first attendance at a writer’s workshop, led by one of the SC group’s participants – an activity I haven’t attempted in many, many years. I think I’ve come to the conclusion that we have to connect with each other on multiple levels if we’re going to get through this. 🙂
