Winter By the Yard

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Lisa Rest

I’ve been reading numerous posts on the local list-serve of exotic species to be found with some driving distance. There have been treats such as Sedge Wren, Ivory Gull, and a handful of Snowy Owls. Since I am not presently inclined to go far from home, I have so far spent the new year at home except for going to work on Friday, and things are back to work-normal starting today. Here and there I have managed to take a few photographs of the birds that visit my yard. Predominant are House Sparrows and they come in flocks of up to 40 or more. Often with them are House Finches. It seems all the other species sneak in when there’s a lull in the traffic.

I did manage to get outside a bit yesterday and on New Year’s Day, but yesterday I stood for the most part on the porch and shot through the windows while my neighbor was making some repairs to my porch door, and that is when the Downy Woodpecker, Northern Cardinals and American Goldfinches showed up. Not very clear pictures but you can get an idea of the wintry weather we just started having.

The wind was pretty awful yesterday too, and this morning with the outside temperature around 3 degrees when I left the house, I don’t think I want to know what the wind chill was.

House Finches with Northern Cardinal

Female House Finch

Male House Finch

It’s nice to see the Chickadees again, and hear them too. They always have a comment when it comes to food.

I’m always glad to see a Dark-Eyed Junco in the yard. I never know exactly what they’re eating as they tend to stay away from the feeders, so either they’re eating what’s dropped on the ground or they are health fanatics eating only what nature provides.

This Black-Capped Chickadee ate a little snow.

I may be eating snow myself on the way to work tomorrow. We’re supposed to get 1-5 inches sometime after midnight but ending by 5:00 a.m. That means I’ll have to get up even earlier to shovel my walks. That’s okay. Cold as it is, I like being outside before people start their cars and when the birds start waking up.

Meanwhile Back at the Portage

Posted on December 5, 2014 by Lisa Rest

Fox Sparrow, Chicago Portage

I am nearly finished going through all the Costa Rica photographs, I think, but in between it seemed like time to check in with the local birds over the holiday. The weather was still warm and pleasant last Sunday, so I visited the Chicago Portage. I was the only human for the first forty minutes or so. I had no expectations, which is my general approach to the Portage – that way I can always be pleasantly surprised. It turned out to be a nice visit, with Fox Sparrows predominant of the 19 total species I encountered.

Fox Sparrow

Dark-Eyed Juncos were present, and they have been in my backyard regularly since the beginning of November. I don’t know if I’ve seen American Tree Sparrows at the Portage before but they were certainly well-represented. And White-Throated Sparrows, a little harder to see here than they are in the city but I got at least one to cooperate.

Dark-Eyed Junco

American Tree Sparrow

White-Throated Sparrow

On the way out, I couldn’t help but notice the growth below.

Shelf Fungus?

Downy Woodpeckers are always present at the Portage. Sometimes they are easy to see, other times not, but somehow the camera managed to capture this one in flight.

Female Downy Woodpecker

Perhaps my biggest surprise was to discover pictures of a Red-Bellied Woodpecker feeding on dried berries, entangled enough to show off its red belly. I honestly don’t remember taking these pictures but I must have. Unless now the camera has completely taken over my brain (beware the warnings about artificial intelligence).

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

Red-Bellied Woodpecker, in a more likely pose

The Portage itself is always in a state of flux and it looks like this now.

Also on the way out, about when I thought I would never see a chickadee, this Black-Capped Chickadee and a few of his buddies were foraging in dried stalks that complement their coloring perfectly.

Black-Capped Chickadee with a worm

Another view of the Portage and its low water levels. No birds in the water at all. There was one Canada Goose on the lawn by the parking lot and five flew over but nobody came down to hang out in the creek.

One last photo of the Fox Sparrow who is at the top of the page. Fox Sparrows come in different races across the country (Sibley identifies four subspecies and says they’re sometimes considered separate species). The one we get here is the “red” Taiga race and this guy certainly fits the description. I just checked the Cornell website and they mention 18 subspecies within 3 or 4 groups. They are not always so easy to see, so I suppose you could spend a lot of time and effort trying to track down different types of Fox Sparrows across the continent.

More to come from Costa Rica, and eventually a report from the home front.

Lakefront Parks Fall Recap

Posted on October 12, 2014 by Lisa Rest

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

There were also American Goldfinches plucking seeds from the grasses.

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

Later that day, I saw a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird at Lake Shore East Park.

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

And a beautiful juvenile White-Crowned Sparrow.

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

And a Brown Thrasher trying to hide behind the branches and almost succeeding.

Brown Thrasher, Lake Shore East Park

This was the last Common Yellowthroat I found this fall.

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

Also on September 22, the photographs below.

Adult White-Crowned Sparrow

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.

Alone on the Wilderness Trail

Posted on February 2, 2014 by Lisa Rest

It turned out to be not quite as cold as predicted today, and the sun was shining brightly. I was already thinking of going to Brookfield Zoo to see if there were any birds around the Wilderness Trail. I was not sure whether the Wilderness Trail would be closed off, but I knew the Zoo would be open. Their motto is “Open 365 Days a Year.” It was almost a shock a couple weeks ago when they closed with that first big snowfall that took us deep into our lasting arctic plunge. By the way, did anybody even pay attention to The Groundhog today? Sunny day, I knew he’d see his shadow. I’m afraid he was already eclipsed by the weather forecasters and the Super Bowl. You know it’s getting bad when even The Groundhog becomes obsolete.

Icicles on the trees at Brookfield Zoo

The Zoo doesn’t open until 10:00 a.m., so I had the early morning to feed the birds, unbury the car from yesterday’s snowfall which seemed more like 6 inches accumulation instead of 10, eat my oatmeal and play piano before I went. When I arrived around 10:30, there were perhaps a dozen cars in the parking lot at the North Gate. Admission was free today. I’m sure they did not want to pay the ticket takers if they expected few visitors.

The Wilderness Trail is out behind the Great Bear Wilderness exhibit and borders the Salt Creek. It has been built around a small lake. The trail is never very crowded, but today it was totally empty, although someone had carved a trail in the snow before me.

Bactrian Camel

Not very many animals outside today. I had no intention of going inside, since I only wanted to walk the Wilderness Trail and the camera would not appreciate the transition from 14 degrees to 78 degrees. But on the way to the Wilderness Trail I encountered two camels in their outside pen, and while it seemed strange to see camels in the snow, these are Bactrian Camels, native to Mongolia, so I guess snow and cold are nothing new to them. They certainly seemed well-protected.

In warmer winters past, the shallow little lake attracts Northern Shovelers and Hooded Mergansers, but this year with only a small area of open water, there were only Canada Geese and Mallards. And the resident Trumpeter Swan put in an appearance standing on one foot on the ice at the edge of the water.

Trumpeter Swan

The rest of the small lake was frozen and covered with snow.

The feeders, on the Salt Creek side of the trail, attacked the usual suspects.

Black-Capped Chickadee

White-Breasted Nuthatch

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

Dark-Eyed Junco

On the other side of the fence by the Salt Creek there were a couple young White-Tailed Deer. While the birds did not mind my presence, the deer were upset with my camera and kept moving ahead.

White-Tailed Deer

Overall my visit to the zoo was nothing spectacular, but it was good to be outside in the sunshine, and the pristine snow, as sick and tired as I may be of shoveling it, is still beautiful. Meanwhile, back in the birding world, there have been many White Winged Scoters reported on the lakefront. Tomorrow will be only slightly warmer than today, but sunny again. I will try to get out to Monroe Harbor tomorrow afternoon and see if I can find a White-Winged Scoter or two; while I’ve seen them before, it’s always been at a distance too far away to photograph. Anyway it’s something to look forward to.

Feeder Birds at Brookfield Zoo

Cabin Fever Blues

Posted on January 26, 2014 by Lisa Rest

Female Cardinal at Home 1-25-14 3437.jpg-3437

Female Northern Cardinal on the sunflower seed feeder

I’ve got the Cabin Fever Blues. Don’t bother watching the news. (Random thoughts after shoveling…)

Chicago Lakefront thru the Office Window 1-24-14 3358.jpg-3358

Chicago Lakefront view from the office

It’s the same old thing. Still snowing.

Snowtracks in the Cancer Survivor’s Garden

I’ve got the Too Blues too.

House Sparrows at Cancer Survivor 1-21-14 3290.jpg-3290

House Sparrows at the Cancer Survivor’s Garden

Too cold, too windy.

Snow-capped Dirt Pile 1-21-14 3320.jpg-3320

Snow-capped temporary hill made from dirt removed from Daley Bicentennial Plaza

Too many Toos to handle.

Dark-Eyed Junco at the Cancer Survivors’ Garden

(I did manage to get down to the lakefront once last week, but after that, it wasn’t possible.)

Sub-zero has many faces.

American Robin, yews, Cancer Survivors’ Garden

Ice and hard, sculpted snow.

Slipping and sliding, or crunching and sinking.

The sun looks like the moon

And the clouds like an ocean.

I guess this red hedge sculpture by the yacht club is designed to brighten up the place. This was a couple weeks ago after the thaw…

White-winged Crow 1-22-14 3323.jpg-3323

There’s even a little white in the left wing of this cold snow-crow…

Looking back, not forward: New Year’s Day 2014…

Posted on January 1, 2014 by Lisa Rest

House Finches

The weather exerted such force today it was hard to sit still, although I think without the help of a pot of coffee I might have given in to a long nap just in hope everything would be back to normal when I woke up.

Male Northern Cardinal, through the window

Part of what kept me going was hoping my male cardinal would give me a picture in the snow, not that he ever has. So after I filled the feeders I hung out with the House Finches and Dark-Eyed Juncos for a while, and the Fox Squirrel too, until I could stay outside no longer.

House Finches at the feeder

Dark-Eyed Junco

Fox Squirrel

Later I went upstairs to get more winter work clothes (yes, it’s January and I’ve been in denial this long) and decided to look out the back to see if there were any birds other than those I had already calculated–only to find the snow falling steadily and squalling miserably.

Yard view from the attic

As the available light deteriorated even further I finally settled down to the task of going through my pictures from the East Africa trip. As of today I have gone through only three days worth of photos from a trip that lasted three weeks! And I thought I’d be done by now!

One more through the porch windows

But I must say after looking at enough birds like these Bee-Eaters, I wanted to stay with the photos, not face the reality of trudging off to the train in the snow and cold tomorrow morning.

Cinnamon-Chested Bee-Eater

Click on any of the photos for a better view..

Little Bee-Eater with bug

Hope to return soon with more photos and less snow! …Happy New Year!!

A Backyard Visitor

Posted on February 9, 2013 by Lisa Rest

American Tree Sparrow

I certainly don’t have anything as exotic as a Varied Thrush visiting my yard, but last weekend before I took off on the owl excursion, I managed to get pictures of an American Tree Sparrow who seemed not only to know he was the only one of his species foraging in my space but also recognized my awareness of him, and did not disappear on account of it.

Tree Sparrow IMG_0034_1

I first thought I spotted him out the back window, which, between the screens and the frames, is a pretty lousy view, so I decided to go out with the camera to test the light for my later adventure and maybe get a photo of whoever was out there.

(The yard was blissfully free of the Gray Squirrels who are aggressive feeder-raiders. I love my Fox Squirrels, that have better manners.)

Fox Squirrel

Dark-Eyed Junco

One of many Juncos…

and a female Cardinal…

Female Northern Cardinal

Lo and behold, it was indeed an American Tree Sparrow and after a few minutes of clicking away watching him forage, I got the picture below.

“You lookin’ at me?”

Then he flew into a tree and “challenged” me again.

Tree Sparrow IMG_0090_1

I don’t think this is a new species for my yard, but I am almost reluctant to check, because then I tend to wonder what else I might have been missing while I’m away at work. I’m just glad to have had this encounter with the visiting American Tree Sparrow.

Tree Sparrow IMG_9983_1

2013 off to a lazy start…

Posted on January 1, 2013 by Lisa Rest

BC Chickadee IMG_8460_1

I confess, I didn’t get up at the crack of dawn to welcome my First Bird of 2013…but I filled the feeders and the birdbaths last night and hope that was welcome enough. As it turned out, it was a beautiful day: bright sunshine, hardly any wind. Cold, but clear. As much as we need precipitation, I cannot complain about the year starting out sunny.

I did finally manage to get through the rest of my Brazil pictures on flickr anyway and edit them so they have the correct date taken. Of course doing this pulled me back into South America and its birds and renewed my resolve to spend time on the rest of the identification challenges that remain.

In keeping with the Brazilian theme, I celebrated the new year by making farofa to have with my New Year’s dinner. I am pleased with the results and looking forward to further experimentation.

Around two this afternoon, after playing Bach for the birds, I donned long underwear and warm outerwear and went out in the yard to wait for birds to come back to the feeders. Two in the afternoon is not prime time, but I wanted to have the sun behind me since my yard faces west.

Black-Capped Chickadee

The Black-Capped Chickadees were the first to return. I’m always happy to see them, and Dark-Eyed Juncos…

Dark-Eyed Junco

Perhaps best of all was to witness two White-Breasted Nuthatches in the yard simultaneously. I wasn’t sure until today that there were still two, since I never see more than one at a time hanging on the peanut feeder…

White-Breasted Nuthatch

on the peanut feeder

…unlike the House Sparrows.

House Sparrows IMG_8491_1

The House Finches were more challenging to capture today.

Female House Finch

Male House Finch

And it was definitely the wrong time of day to see either the Cardinals or the Downy Woodpeckers: they tend to show up early and late.

But here’s a photo of the male Northern Cardinal through the window last weekend.

Northern Cardinal

Back inside, I was happy to read in The New York Times “Science Times” section that researchers have discovered birds react emotionally to music like we do. This is something I observed from the very beginning when I started playing music for birds: I was most attracted to them because they seemed to be listening to music much like I do, and that is where our conversation began. Now we have scientific proof. Always a good idea.

It has been a deliciously lazy day and it will be hard to go back to work tomorrow.

White-Breasted Nuthatch IMG_8609_1

Fall Sparrow-rama

Posted on October 28, 2012 by Lisa Rest

Swamp Sparrow, McGinnis Slough

Now that the fall sparrows are all but gone, I’ve decided to pay tribute to them. Although I wasn’t lucky enough to photograph some less common species that made the front pages of the local list-serve, one or two which I even managed to see, I had some cooperative models nonetheless, and they’re all compelling to me in their subtle variety.

Dark-Eyed Junco

And for me, anyway, I need a break from the evening news.

White-Crowned Sparrow

I hope you are all safe and secure, wherever you are, as storms seem to be raging across the planet.

Lincoln’s Sparrow, Lurie Garden

As you might notice from the locations, the sparrows were plentiful in the Chicago lakefront parks and also in the marsh area of McGinnis Slough, a Cook County suburban forest preserve.

Clay-Colored Sparrow, Daley Bicentennial Plaza

When I first photographed the Clay-Colored above, it was such a cloudy, or as my mother used to say, “glismal” day that I thought perhaps he was a Chipping Sparrow. Imagine my delight upon developing the image to discover he was a Clay-Colored Sparrow! They are a bit similar but Clay-Colored are rather more unusual and I haven’t seen one in a while. The grayness of the day certainly contributes to his clay color!

Song Sparrow, McGinnis Slough

As common as Song Sparrows are when they breed here, they seem less so in migration.

White-Throated Sparrow, Daley

So many White-Throated Sparrows come through, often you can hear one or two singing, although usually they’re first-year tryouts.

Juvenile White-Crowned Sparrow, Daley

I like pictures that sometimes show just enough of the bird for identification…

Swamp Sparrow, Daley

Sometimes that’s all a bird’s going to show you.

Dark-Eyed Junco, Daley

Or in Daley, there are lots of sparrows in the grass but all too often the grass overshadows them.

Fox Sparrow, Daley

Fox Sparrows are another favorite of mine. There are four subspecies in North America; we get the red guys.

Savannah Sparrow, McGinnis

There’s more plumage variation among Savannah Sparrows.

White-Throated Sparrow, Daley

And even White-Throated Sparrows have two subspecies that intermingle. The bird above is the tan-striped variation, the earlier one is the white-striped.

House Sparrows, Daley

And then of course there are the House Sparrows. They aren’t really sparrows, they’re weaver finches. But don’t tell them that: they like to think they pass for sparrows and the city HOSPs, at least, don’t mingle with the other finches.

Fall park visitors

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Lisa Rest

Crow flying through Daley Bicentennial Plaza

I’ve been looking for sparrows, but the crows distract me and I forget to ask them to help me find migrants. I’m sure they’re capable of leading me to visitors. Haven’t they done it before?

White-Throated Sparrows, Lurie Garden

I did eventually find a few sparrows who chose to ignore me long enough to take their pictures…

White-Crowned Sparrow

and the crows hammed it up too.

Crow landing for a peanut.

Crow devotion.

The gardeners were out early yesterday morning and that might have had something to do with the sparrows not being very visible. When I worked at a different location I walked through the park every morning on my way in and regularly had flocks of sparrows covering the lawns. I must have picked the wrong day to get up an hour early.

Four days ago on my lunch hour I saw a Black-Throated Blue Warbler trying to pass himself off as a Junco, foraging in the gutter by one of the tennis courts. I didn’t have my camera, of course.

Dark-Eyed Junco

But today I found him again, in the same general area, although the light wasn’t as good. He must be waiting for a cold front to ride to his next stop. Maybe I’ll see him again before he leaves, this warm spell will continue for a few more days.

Black-Throated Blue Daley Bicentennial 048_1

Black-Throated Blue Warbler

Goldbird Variations

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

Tag Archives: Dark-Eyed Junco

Winter By the Yard

Meanwhile Back at the Portage

Lakefront Parks Fall Recap

Alone on the Wilderness Trail

Cabin Fever Blues

Looking back, not forward: New Year’s Day 2014…

A Backyard Visitor

2013 off to a lazy start…

Fall Sparrow-rama

Fall park visitors