Tuesday morning, I went for a walk at the Chicago Portage because I needed the walk more than anything else. For a while it was so quiet, I was content to think I might be just looking at the emptiness in full. We had just experienced our first snowfall and the trees were looking less leafy.
As I started to walk past the bridge at Harlem, an influx of sparrows flew across the path over the fence from the corner. I managed to capture a White-throated Sparrow.
A Dark-eyed Junco sat still for a moment.
Two sparrows, a Fox Sparrow and a White-throated Sparrow, were in the same bare tree.
An American Robin stood out against the greying sky.
I spotted a Black-capped Chickadee.
I went through the opening in the fence and found Red-winged Blackbirds and some European Starlings foraging in the leaves on the path. They weren’t too easy to see.
I also saw a snow-covered American Robin.
I took a look at the Des Plaines River which is still quite low.
A Downy Woodpecker was busy at work on some interesting tree bark.
A flock of 30 or more European Starlings flew into the bare trees.
There were at least 40 American Robins, so it was difficult to ignore them all.
On my way out, I had to take notice of the dramatic looking oak trees.
I hope to be back with more soon. I’ve been inconvenienced recently by some technical issues and spam: it’s exhausting. But I suppose I should expect no less in these surreal times.
One more of the bird at the top of the post. I always look forward to seeing Fox Sparrows, so this day was a special treat.
The first few days of November that I managed to visit the Chicago Portage were varied, while the weather turns colder and windier, leaves swirl across the paths and crunch underfoot, and the birds manage to hide in spite of barer branches. Some birds have also adopted fall colors as their own. Here are photos from three visits with varying results as the fall story of the Chicago Portage twists and turns.
On November 2, not a lot was happening, but it was a beautiful morning. I barely saw a White-throated Sparrow.
I did see some deer. They seem to be more frequent visitors lately, or it could just be easier to see them.
I saw a Fox Sparrow. They have been showing up more regularly.
That morning, I could still find a Golden-crowned Kinglet.
Among the more frequent visitors lately, Canada Geese and Mallards have taken to the still-mosly-duckweed-covered water.
I didn’t get back to the Portage again until November 7. I took a fall photo of the statue.
I stopped by the bridge near Harlem and looked out onto the water where the duckweed is starting to disperse. I noticed a small pile of twigs in the middle just past the big log crossing it.
The Red-shouldered Hawk that has claimed the Chicago Portage as its hangout flew in.
A female House Finch perched close by.
Then I saw a beautiful Fox Sparrow, also closer. The same individual is at the top of this post.
And another Fox Sparrow was present.
I found a Black-capped Chickadee in a busy moment.
Then a White-throated Sparrow decided to engage with the lens.
American Goldfinches blend in perfectly with their surroundings these days.
I took a look at the view from the trail of the stream running through, before the climb up the hill.
There’s a favorite bathing spot down below the incline on the path and a couple White-throated Sparrows were taking advantage of it.
A Downy Woodpecker was nearby.
I barely saw an Orange-crowned Warbler.
And a Red-bellied Woodpecker flew out from where it had been foraging above.
Then I found a Song Sparrow.
On Saturday, November 9, I took a look at the view from the bridge closest to Harlem Avenue again, and this time, there was more than a few scattered twigs: it had grown into a nest. I wondered if it belonged to the muskrat we have seen infrequently. My suspicion was confirmed immediately when I searched the Internet. I wonder if the drought and low water levels have made this an attractive place for the muskrats. It will be interesting to see what happens.
For good measure, early on, I had a Dark-eyed Junco and a Northern Cardinal.
After that, a male House Finch showed up.
I met Bob on the trail, and he spotted a male Wood Duck mixed in with the Canada Geese.
And later I saw it next to a Mallard as well.
There was a bit of a feeding frenzy. A couple American Goldfinches were still finding plenty to eat.
Then I spotted a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.
And another American Goldfinch, this one in repose.
I only caught an American Tree Sparrow leaving.
Then our new friend, the Red-shouldered Hawk, flew in. And left shortly thereafter.
One more expectant look at the Muskrat Den. We will be keeping an eye on it.
And here’s one more of the Red-shouldered Hawk as it flew out of the frame.
As the days grow shorter and shorter, we are beginning to feel the cold a bit more as well, although it’s still relatively mild for November. Perhaps inertia is more than a little tempting when one doesn’t know whether to look forward or backward. Photo-wise I will probably be doing some of both, as the laptop is still storing a backlog of photographs to go through.
I didn’t go for a walk today. It’s been snowing off and on since last night, and although there isn’t a lot of accumulation, I still decided to stay in. I messed up my right knee pushing off the wall in the pool Wednesday, and it will take a while to heal. Prior to this episode, I’ve been on a roll since last spring when I think I quit wearing a brace on my knee to hike around. Inevitably this means I get overconfident, think I am invincible and then I screw it up again. Back to earth.
So I have a few photos from visiting the Portage on Tuesday and Thursday. But first, a look at the yard this afternoon. These photos are from my phone, I didn’t feel like scaring off the birds with the big lens.
First, a look at the snow through the kitchen window. Then, on the back porch, realizing the squirrel was on the new feeder. It’s a flimsy feeder but the birds really like it. Advertised as squirrel proof, it’s not, no matter where I have put it. My yard is a squirrel playground with all the trees. So I move the feeders around to cause the squirrel to change its strategy for a while.
The feeders were full this morning. But the birds have been very busy emptying them, except for a few moments when a Cooper’s Hawk flew into the yard, under my radar. I was out shoveling a little snow in front when it swiftly passed in the corner of my eye and flew over the roof.
And now for the Chicago Portage. There was sunshine but little else at the Portage on Tuesday.
Milkweed
I managed to capture three familiar sights: a Black-capped Chickadee, Canada Geese flying over, and a flying White-breasted Nuthatch (just barely),
The last thing that caught my eye was some very still fungus.
On Thursday the 4th, there was more sunshine.
Red-bellied Woodpecker
The American Goldfinches were foraging near the fence that separates the Portage from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District and the Des Plaines River.
There were no flocks of Northern Cardinals, only a pair or two.
Even Dark-eyed Juncos are not always available. This one was kind enough to sit for a moment.
But then, the last bird I could get excited about turned out to be a Fox Sparrow.
I may go for a walk tomorrow depending on how I feel. We are supposed to get more snow on Tuesday and beyond. And the temperatures will be plummeting toward the end of the week. Looks like winter is here for now. But I still have plenty of leftover photos from last year’s warmer months to cheer us up in the not-too-distant future.
Apparently I lied in my last post, because as far as I can tell from these pictures, January 10 was sunny as well. At least it was sunny early when I was at the Chicago Portage, and although I did not see very many birds, the visit was still fairly interesting.
Here’s how everything looked when I walked in. It was very quiet.
And then, not too far along the trail, I spotted a Red-tailed Hawk sitting in a tree on the other side of the stream. Its presence could have explained at least some of the quiet.
On closer inspection, I noticed it had prey – and that turned out to be a Gray Squirrel.
I think the hawk was flushed from its perch by the man I think of as Mr. Peanut (I think our friend George once referred to him as Peanut Pete, but I don’t know his real name) who was walking the inside trail behind it, because when I encountered “Mr. Peanut” walking in the opposite direction he asked me if I saw “that big hawk”. But I’m sure the hawk hadn’t been too happy with me paying such close attention to it either.
Below is one more photo from the previous series – perhaps you can see the squirrel in the hawk’s talons a little easier.
After that, everything else was less exciting. However, the moss and lichen caught my interest in the sunshine.
A female Downy Woodpecker was busy in the deeply furrowed bark of a cottonwood.
I was trying to follow some movement on the ground for a while before I finally saw the face of a Fox Sparrow. Then the sparrow flew up and perched – and sat and stared at me, as they seem to like to do – but it was too backlit for a great photo.
The Northern Cardinals have not been terribly shy lately. I qualify that, though, by noting these photos were taken at some distance.
It appears it was cold enough that morning for the shallower water to be frozen over, eliminating the possibility of waterfowl. However, looking back on the weather for that day, we got up to 51 degrees at some point and the next day, although totally cloudy, was even a bit warmer. All that is over now, however. We are due for some cold weather in addition to snow.
Waking up to light snow this morning, I’m taking a day off from birding, but there were a few birds in the yard that I managed to capture after I swept off the walks, and I’ll keep the camera loaded for any future opportunities. It’s not snowing heavily yet but it looks like that could change. I like the snow. It’s pretty. It feels warmer because of the humidity. And it’s a little brighter than the constant cloud cover.
I’ll be back later with a few images I coaxed out from the gloom.
I have been hanging out at the Chicago Portage lately and just when it seems like nothing is happening something almost always does. This post covers two visits: November 26 and November 29. And I’ve been trying to write it for several days, so this is It.
The surprise on the 26th was an American Kestrel sitting way atop a tree overlooking the stream. This is a small falcon, quite a bit smaller than a Peregrine, but because it was so far away I wasn’t sure what it was until it started to fly away and I could see the reddish coloring in its feathers. I was very happy to see all these photos blown up. Kestrels are less common here than they were several years ago.
There was an abundance of sunshine that day.
So sunny, in fact, that shadows were a bit of a problem in the photos below, but this was still a beautiful Fox Sparrow.
The Northern Cardinals were up to their old tricks of hiding in plain sight.
And it proved to be a great day to capture an oriole nest.
Then, three days later, by the bridge closest to Harlem Avenue, I was surprised to see a muskrat. When there was more water years ago, there were beavers too, but I have not seen either rodent for quite some time. This muskrat made up for it.
It was quite cloudy early on.
View from the bridge
Below is what I first saw after crossing the bridge, looking back at the water behind me.
But later that morning the muskrat decided to put on quite a show.
I met Bob at the bridge after going around the trails, and we stood and watched the muskrat herding Mallards away from its territory.
Below is what one Mallard looked like when goosed by the muskrat from below,
There were some peaceful moments before and after all that.
It was cloudy earlier as I approached the second bridge and I was not seeing any birds. It took me quite a while to find the passerine flock.
American Tree SparrowBlack-capped Chickadee
I encountered a group of House Finches.
Perhaps my best subject was a White-breasted Nuthatch.
I have been back to the Portage the last two mornings, after taking a break from the weather on November 30. It’s a big decision around here not to go out for a walk in the morning.
I have this thing about extreme wind: I don’t know if I can ever get used to it, but I think it is the most constant reminder of climate change. It seems we have a lot more windy days all year around than we used to. And the winds, depending on what direction they are coming from, bring other weather events with them.
I will try to be back soon. I am singing in the choir Sunday morning so I can’t go out for a walk then, but I will be going to the Portage tomorrow morning for which the forecast is to be cold but sunny, to see if I can manage to capture a clear photograph of a Wilson’s Snipe that Bob found late Thursday morning. (Thanks, Bob! I will elaborate on this event in a future post.) I figured the bird would still be there this morning, which it was, but between cloud cover and missed opportunity I simply could not photograph anything but a blur. I hope to manage something better than this tomorrow.
The snipe is rare for this time of year, and generally rare at this location altogether, I think. They are just difficult birds to see under the best of conditions. So even if I don’t get a good photograph, it’s still exciting to know it’s there. And I give myself permission to “chase” a bird that’s only a few minutes away.
After two days of inclement weather earlier in the week, I couldn’t stand the thought of not walking, so I put on my long underwear and all the other necessary layers to endure a very cold walk Thursday morning at the Chicago Portage. I didn’t see a lot of birds, but I was happy to catch up with the flock, such as it was, eventually. Most of the birds were quite far away and the cloud cover made it that much harder to capture their images.
The last time I was there before that was last Sunday, the 13th, when at first the sky proved more interesting than anything on the ground.
But then I saw a deer.
The sun came out and made it quite pleasant.
American Robin
House Finches have been more noticeable lately as they move around with the sparrow and cardinal groups. For the most part, any birds I am seeing lately have been part of a larger mixed flock.
I managed to capture a Fox Sparrow that day. They are larger than other sparrows and they tend to sit still for a while, making the only challenge how far away they have decided to perch.
I have been seeing American Tree Sparrows at the Portage for weeks now. I don’t think I have seen any in Riverside yet although there are likely some there. Their arrival always verifies winter. Although the bird below had its back to me I think I found the feather pattern attractive.
Of course Dark-eyed Juncos spend their winters here too.
And Black-capped Chickadees are a year-round delight.
So this was how the Portage looked on the 13th.
Some more American Tree Sparrow photos from that day. This bird was perched at quite a distance.
Below might be the same bird in the earlier photos. I just found it interesting to see how well it blended in with the foliage, especially in the middle photo below. Hard to tell where the bird begins and the brush ends.
It was much colder on Thursday, but at least there was sunshine for a while.
Here’s how the sky looked when I stepped out my front door.
But by the time I got to the Portage, the scene was much gloomier.
I see Mourning Doves more often in my backyard lately, but this one was present at the Portage on Thursday morning.
The Northern Cardinals stand out now that all the leaves are gone.
As long as there is open water, there will be Mallards. This water is pretty shallow though. I suspect it could be frozen over by now after the second day of extreme cold.
I heard a Fox Sparrow chirp – which the Merlin App confirmed – but didn’t realize I had probably seen it until I found this barely captured bird in my photos later.
Fox Sparrow
Here are a few more images from Thursday’s outing. There weren’t many. But I’m glad I went. Yesterday and today have proved too cold, blowy and somewhat snowy for my taste. Maybe I’ll reacquaint myself with the mirrorless camera as it would be a lot less to carry around and manipulate with gloved fingers.
House FinchGray SquirrelAmerican Robin
Going for a walk every morning has become an integral part of my daily routine, so I don’t intend to stay inside for long. I did go swimming yesterday and it was rejuvenating. My greatest joy every day is to play piano for the birds when they join in with such enthusiasm. I hope to manage posting a few recordings in the not-too-distant future. After all, that’s how this whole thing started.
I may spend a little time in the yard this morning. If I had been outside long enough yesterday I might have caught the sound and sight of tens of thousands of Sandhill Cranes flying over. Of course they were. They always take advantage of that push from the north, and we certainly have had that. I am sorry I missed them, and I haven’t traveled far enough lately to see them up close. Oh well. Tomorrow will be sunny, if cold, but I will be in the choir and with any luck doing the line dance with others at the end of the service. I look forward to being back on the trail Monday.
On this first day of a four-day warm up not to be missed, I visited the Chicago Portage. I have been there several times in the past few weeks, alternating between the Portage and Riverside, but have not had a chance to do another post for over a week and I apologize. Things have just suddenly gotten so busy I have gone out in the morning when the weather has been tolerable, but have not been able to catch up with my photographs. I apologize for my temporary abandonment of this blog, but this is just a short post before I have to re-immerse myself into figuring out how to play and sing a somewhat complicated arrangement of a song for the Spring Music Festival next week. I spent hours and hours writing out the score just so I could identify where and what chord changes occur. It’s been about 40 years since I last did this sort of thing…
It started out a bit cloudy and cool but the sun emerged and with its warmth came the beautiful bright blue sky which I could not ignore.
Somewhat surprisingly, there was not a lot of new bird activity this morning. I heard far more birds than I saw. But we had some rain yesterday and there are likely storms ahead tomorrow, which just might encourage more birds to visit. I was most thrilled to see a Great Egret at the far end of the stream as I was walking in its direction. I proceeded as slowly as possible but knew that I would eventually be closer than it could tolerate, especially on such a quiet morning this early in the season. But this is the first Great Egret I have seen this year, which makes it likely to expect numbers of them on the Des Plaines River at Riverside where I have been looking out for them. And it’s so special to have a heron on the water at the Portage after last year’s drought made them so scarce. I am hoping for Green Herons to return.
As can be expected, Red-winged Blackbirds were going about their business.
Also on the water, there have been Blue-winged Teal for the past couple weeks. I counted 14 on April 19. Today there were two pair. I didn’t get great photos through the vegetation but at least this couple perched conveniently on a log. I promise more Blue-winged Teal photos when I start getting caught up with previous visits.
In the sparrow department I heard Song Sparrows but didn’t get on them with the camera. I did manage to record a couple Fox Sparrows though.
The Northern Flickers are doing everything they can right now to avoid my lens. It should be easier to capture them later.
With the sunshine, turtles emerged.
For what it’s worth I found some interesting white foliose lichen growing on a dead log.
For the most part there were a heck of a lot of American Robins. Everywhere. So I have to give them some credit, even if none of it is terribly interesting.
American Robin in flight
So, that’s it for my short post today. I hope to be back sooner than I think I can make it. If it rains as predicted tomorrow, maybe I can catch up a bit with some photos from other locations as some warblers are starting to arrive. Indeed I was a bit surprised I didn’t have any warblers this morning as I had several individuals yesterday in Riverside. So I guess I know what my next post should be!
I went to the Chicago Portage on Monday morning, the last time we had full sunshine, and I met a lot of birds and some people too. It was cold, but the sunshine gave a little bit more than the illusion of warmth. In all it was good to go slowly and watch the birds, but I took way too many photographs. I wonder how I will manage to get through warbler migration at this rate.
After stopping and talking to some people on the trail and mentioning that Golden-crowned Kinglets had started showing up when they asked me if there was anything new, I encountered about half a dozen of the birds and managed to capture one who volunteered for a lot of clicks.
It was almost worth it to memorialize the blue sky background.
Somewhere next to the trail by some spindly young hackberry trees I saw this very thorny plant that had the only green leaves in the entire preserve. I am not familiar with this at all. I welcome identification from any botanists out there.
I kept waiting for this Northern Flicker to fly so I might capture its golden shafts but it was definitely not going anywhere.
I never know when I will see a pair of Northern Cardinals. In this case I think she was waiting for him.
I spent the longest time behind this bird photographing it without identifying it. Backlit and alone on the path in front of me, it seemed unfamiliar. I have now decided it’s a Brown-headed Cowbird. I think I have never seen one in the cold before – in other words, it was so fluffed up I couldn’t recognize it.
There are a few American Goldfinches at the Portage. Here’s one, early on in my walk, looking rather cold.
If you stood in the right spot on the trail where I suspect asphalt will be going in, it was possible to see American Tree Sparrows everywhere. At some point one sat and started singing, and I tried to record him over a lot of noise. I did manage to get a couple recordings, as faint as they are, and they are below this photograph. I heard one singing earlier this year and compared it to the recording on my Sibley cell phone app which was made in Alaska, where they breed.
I did manage to take too many pictures of American Tree Sparrows fading into their surroundings.
I almost forgot, a Killdeer landed in the marsh and this was the best I could do through the vegetation.
I was delighted to find a Fox Sparrow in my photographs. I don’t remember taking these pictures. My camera remembered well, though.
I couldn’t help but notice the duckweed staging a comeback.
Messing around in the marshy area were a few female Red-winged Blackbirds.
And I was taken with this pretty little Song Sparrow.
On the way out, I saw the pair of Eastern Bluebirds again, only this time there was better light. They were quite far away for the most part but I tried to at least capture some of that blue.
The closer photos were of the female who is drabber in plumage but I think she is lovely nonetheless.
Perhaps the birds of the day were the American Tree Sparrows. I suspect that with the warmer winds we are now experiencing, they will be moving up north and this could have been the last time to see them.
I was going to add some photographs from March 15 – but other than the fact that it was not a sunny day, which clashes with the theme, this seems like quite enough for now. It’s rainy today and we have one more rainy day tomorrow, so I am going to try to finish taking care of some things that I keep putting off and I will be back as soon as I can get it together.
I will be short on narration with this post – the day after Christmas at the Portage was somewhat more of the same as two days before. There were a couple species of birds I did not see on the previous visit. The Fox Sparrow below, for instance, unfortunately did not give me a better view but it had been weeks since I’d seen one so it was nice to see anyway.
And then months perhaps since I saw my last Kinglet – there was a Golden-crowned Kinglet, not captured very well at all, below.
This was the first time I saw a Red-bellied Woodpecker at the bottom of a tree.
Somewhat obscured but not bothered by my attention to it, a White-throated Sparrow.
More Red-bellied Woodpecker shots through the trees…
I haven’t run into large flocks of House Finches lately but there were a few around.
Always nice to see a Brown Creeper.
American Goldfinches seem to be matching the golden-hued Portage lately.
Some common birds trying to escape attention…
European Starlings in a gnarly oakAn American Robin behind bars
This female Northern Cardinal blends right in.
Often moving quickly in flocks, Dark-eyed Juncos aren’t as easy to capture as they ought to be.
It’s still nice to see Northern Cardinals and Black-capped Chickadees. I see them more often than not.
I will be back with a little New Year’s Eve visit this morning that was short on birds but good to do anyway seeing as how we are under a winter storm watch that starts early tomorrow morning. Predictions are for a lot of snow, and I have no intention of driving anywhere in it. Maybe I can capture some of the birds in the yard in between snow shoveling shifts.
Best wishes and hopes to all for 2022. I will be celebrating by taking down all my 2021 calendars…
I’ve been to the Portage several times lately, and that includes a few times since these photographs which were taken November 26 and 28. I managed to get a few pictures of an American Tree Sparrow, which was my main motivation to go out into the cold the second day. I will likely see more of this species in the coming weeks.In fact I saw three this morning. But it’s also been relatively quiet at the Portage lately.
For whatever reason it was harder to get the bird posing below in focus than the one mired in the stalks.
The usual cast of characters were present on one or both days. I was fortunate enough to have four woodpecker species on the first day: Red-bellied, Downy, Northern Flicker and Hairy.
What’s really interesting about the photos below is that I didn’t realize until I started processing them that next to the Flicker on a separate branch was an Orange-Crowned Warbler. I enlarged the image of the warbler below.
This is Dark-eyed Junco season. I have been encountering flocks usually foraging on the path, along with Northern Cardinals.
There are still some American Goldfinches about all though not as many as I was seeing a couple weeks ago.
It’s always a nice surprise to see a Brown Creeper.
Here’s what the Portage was looking like on those cold, cloudy days.
I think the Fox Sparrow below is the last one I have seen.
There have been one or two Red-tailed Hawks every time I have gone to this location. Sometimes I only hear the hawk, but usually if I am still around by 10:00 I get to see one. This is a particularly dark-colored individual.
More washed-out Portage pics.
Black-capped Chickadee
I usually see or hear at least one White-breasted Nuthatch.
Canada Geese on the Des Plaines RiverDark-eyed Junco
I hope to be back sooner than later. It’s getting harder and harder to pack a full day into the space of reduced daylight. I have been living with birds for a long time, but now that I spend even more time with them, the consequence could be thinking more and more like a bird!
