More Sunshine?

Posted on January 22, 2023 by Lisa Rest

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.

Probing the Portage

Posted on December 2, 2022 by Lisa Rest

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.

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.

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.

Portage Recently

Posted on November 19, 2022 by Lisa Rest

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.

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.

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.

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.

Thanks to all for checking in.

Warming Up … Two Steps Forward

Posted on April 21, 2022 by Lisa Rest

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.

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!

Feeling Warmer in the Sun

Posted on March 30, 2022 by Lisa Rest

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.

Christmas Week at the Portage, Part II

Posted on December 31, 2021 by Lisa Rest

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…

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…

Two Chilly Portage Mornings

Posted on December 4, 2021 by Lisa Rest

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.

I usually see or hear at least one White-breasted Nuthatch.

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!

October at the Portage

Posted on November 14, 2021 by Lisa Rest

A brief but driving squall of freezing rain in the yard yesterday morning supported my decision to not go for a walk. More snow and wind on the way today. A good day to take stock of my indoor life.

Yesterday morning also produced a brief sighting of a Cooper’s Hawk and the appearance of the large gray tomcat I scolded out of the yard as I was refilling the birdbaths before the rain started. I have perhaps 30 or more gallons of water stored in the basement and my rain barrels are still quite full. But we are due for more serious overnight freezing temperatures so I have made this my outdoor project for the weekend, draining the rest of the water and covering up the rain barrels for the winter. If predictions prove correct, we will be getting a little preliminary snow that won’t accumulate but will get us in the mood for winter.

These photographs are from October 17. I was not too surprised to discover I hadn’t processed many of them. I did find another confusing fall warbler which I didn’t report. It appears to be a first-year likely female Black-throated Blue Warbler (below).