Tag Archives: Columbus Park

Fall Frustrations

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NAWA Columbus Park 9-13-14-5655

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

Magnolia Warbler, Columbus Park

Palm Warbler

Palm Warbler

Northern Waterthrush

Northern Waterthrush

Black-and-White Warbler

Black-and-White Warbler

Tennessee 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.

AMRE Columbus Park 9-13-14-5645

American Redstart

AMRE Columbus Park 9-13-14-5638AMRE Columbus Park 9-13-14-5640

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

Black-Crowned Night Heron

Columbus Park

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

Pied-Billed Grebe

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Blue-Winged Teal eating crabapple

Blue-Winged Teal eating crabapple

There were two young Cooper’s Hawks present.

Cooper's Hawk

Cooper’s Hawk

COHA Columbus Park 9-13-14-5836

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

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.

Juv BCNH Columbus Park 9-13-14-5547

One Species at a Time

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Blackpoll Warbler, Columbus Park

Blackpoll Warbler, Columbus Park

I have been trying to catch up with my blog and everyone else’s to no avail, so this is a quick one-species-post offering in the meantime. Over the weekend I attended the Chicago Ornithological Society walk through Columbus Park on Saturday and then went to LaBagh Woods on Sunday. Two bird species outnumbered all the others. In the warbler category, the most prominent was the Blackpoll.

Blackpoll Warbler, LaBagh Woods

Blackpoll Warbler, LaBagh Woods

This is the time of year when Blackpoll Warblers don’t look like Blackpoll Warblers do in the springtime. They are often confused with Bay-Breasted Warblers. Sadly I don’t have any recent Bay-Breasted photographs to compare these with. Overall, they appear more yellow than they do black and white (as in spring).

BPWA LaBagh Woods

BPWA LaBagh Woods

BPWA LaBagh

BPWA LaBagh Woods

B{WA Columbus Park

B{WA Columbus Park

BPWA Columbus Park

BPWA Columbus Park

The cool thing about going through so many shots in different settings is that I learn more about the “gizz” of the species through the constant review. So that next time I see a Blackpoll Warbler walking down the street in a crowd I will be able to pick it out immediately!

BPWA Columbus Park

BPWA Columbus Park

I will be back as soon as possible with photos of the Most Prominent Species (not a warbler) from last weekend.

A South American flycatcher’s Earth Day in Chicago

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Elaenia Species

This little bird has attracted a lot of attention in Chicago recently. It’s about 7,000 miles away from home. It’s part of the Elaenia genus, that much we know. Elaenias are flycatchers from South America; or at least this one is most likely from that far away. There has been a lot of discussion as far as trying to determine which Elaenia it is. The bird has likely been observed by over 100 people, maybe it’s more like 200 by now, as people are flying in from out of state. I don’t make a habit of chasing birds, but I live maybe 20 minutes away from the park where it is being seen.

I contacted my friend Lesa (by now we felt like the only two birders on the planet that had not gone to see the Elaenia, with work, other commitments and the need to get a good night’s sleep getting in the way) and we went to Douglas Park on the west side of Chicago to look for the bird and see some other, more expected migrants.

Hermit Thrush

I got pictures of some of the more predictable species. There were several Hermit Thrushes. There was a Swainson’s Thrush right at the beginning of our walk but I did not manage to capture him.

another Hermit Thrush

Pied-Billed Grebe

There’s a water feature which had some Blue-Winged Teal, this Pied-Billed Grebe and several species of swallow. I managed to get on a Northern Rough-Winged Swallow.

Northern Rough-Winged Swallow

The Elaenia was likely catching some of the same bugs with several Ruby-Crowned Kinglets, so it was perhaps inevitable I would manage to get a picture of one of them.

Ruby-Crowned Kinglet

After walking around the perimeter of Douglas Park, trying to stay warm on a chilly if sunny day, we went to Columbus Park, another beautiful park on the west side of Chicago, and here is where my memory blurs on what birds we saw where. I think I got most of the next photographs here.

Palm Warbler

Palm Warblers are in town. I usually see them on the ground foraging, pumping their tails as they poke around, but this one was in the trees until he flew.

Palm Warbler

At one point we came upon a convention of Chipping Sparrows, there must have been at least 20 of them. But I couldn’t get close enough to take a group shot of such small birds so you’ll have to settle for one of many.

Chipping Sparrow

Predictably, Yellow-Rumped Warblers were out in force. Even one showing his yellow rump.

Yellow-Rumped Warbler

and another

Y _ _ l _ w-Rumped Warbler

Making it easy for you.