Busy Breeding Birds

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Lisa Rest

Eastern Bluebird

Sunday morning I got up early before the predicted heat ensued and went to the Dorothy and Sam Dean Nature Sanctuary in Oak Brook…

because I felt like I hadn’t had a proper Eastern Bluebird yet this year. I found only one Bluebird but he did not let me down. He even chirped a slight song but it was not strong enough to beat out the surrounding chorus.

There were a few other birds on the wire…

Song Sparrow

Juvenile Barn Swallow

The first bird, the parking lot bird, if you will, was a Great Blue Heron flying over.

Great Blue Heron

There was a flock of Cedar Waxwings moving through. I caught one laggard.

Cedar Waxwing

But the dominant species overall was Red-Winged Blackbird.

Red-Winged Blackbird

And the Blackbirds were no less shy taking on Turkey Vultures than they had been the Red-Tailed Hawks at McGinnis a couple weeks ago.

Turkey Vulture chased by Red-Winged Blackbirds

Indeed it was a little dicey walking around the paths. Being the height of breeding season, the Red-Wingeds were not in the mood to tolerate my presence. Click on the picture below to see the spider in this female Red-Winged Blackbird’s bill.

Female Red-Winged Blackbird

The Sanctuary is a small place, but it managed to make the House Sparrow below look exotic.

House Sparrow

After about an hour in Oak Brook, I decided it was time to head back east and check in at the Portage.

The water levels are high, in large part, I suspect, to the felling of so many trees. There were puddles directly in front of me on the path, visited by a Killdeer…

Killdeer

and a Song Sparrow…

Song Sparrow

There were Warbling Vireos singing up a storm here, as they had been at Dorothy and Sam’s place too. In the sample below, the Warbling Vireo is the very busy-sounding song going on behind all the other noises.

Warbling Vireo

Juvenile Wood Duck

The Portage was full of juvenile birds, like the Wood Duck above. I was glad to see a Green Heron fly over and another, albeit far away, ensconced foraging over the water. I am glad the Green Herons are back.

Green Heron

And after not seeing any Mallards the last two or three times I visited, now there is an entire family.

Mallards

Also ubiquitous at the Portage are House Wrens. There were at least four males singing on territories. Here’s one of them.

House Wren

Juvenile American Robin

There are always loads of American Robins at the Portage, and now there will be even more as the youngsters start figuring things out.

The big surprise, perhaps, was on the other side of the fence. I followed the path that leads down to the train tracks and the Des Plaines River. I stopped halfway to peer into the bottomlands and saw a Great Egret. I think this is the first time I have seen a Great Egret at the Portage.

Behind the Portage looking down to the Des Plaines River

Changes in habitat create subtle changes in the creatures that use it. It will no doubt continue to be an interesting year at the Chicago Portage.

Great Egret

When I went back to my car, I met Adrian and Stella, whom I have seen walking their dogs at the Portage. We had a delightful visit and I look forward to seeing them again.

And now I must get back to work, looking for my old car title, and going through more photographs. The weather forecast is for rain and thunderstorms much of the week so there may be hope for inside endeavors.

Fermilab Shorebirds

Posted on August 25, 2013 by Lisa Rest

Coyote, Dusaf Pond, Fermilab

I met my friend Leslie at Fermilab’s Dusaf Pond Saturday morning on another shorebird quest. A variety of birds had been seen in the last week or so and we were hopeful. The moment I got out of my car I saw a coyote, who seemed to be virtually ignored by the herons. As soon as I started taking his picture, though, he moved on.

Pectoral Sandpipers

I hadn’t been to Fermilab since the Christmas Count and felt like I owed it at least one visit this year. Click on the pictures for larger images, but for the most part, the birds were too far away to get much detail. And again, we did not see anything unusual. The only thing predictable was the lack of rain would likely produce good shorebird habitat. The rest was up to the birds. Other than the species depicted here, we saw Semipalmated Sandpiper, Semipalmated Plover, Solitary Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper and Greater Yellowlegs, and one Black-Bellied Plover.

Lesser Yellowlegs and Least Sandpiper

The lack of water has done something else, too. There has been a large fish kill. We drove down to one end to walk through plowed stubble where the smell of rotting fish was not welcoming.

Fish Skeleton

Here’s a Great Egret with a fish and a Lesser Yellowlegs maybe waiting for the egret to drop a piece of it. This picture was taken on the other side of the A&E Sea, another Fermilab body of water.

Invariably there were Killdeer and maybe since we don’t pay inordinate attention to them they don’t seem to mind the occasional photograph.

Killdeer

Great Egret

Summer is winding down. It’s hard to believe all these birds will be gone soon.

And the butterflies too…

Orange Suplhur Butterfly

Blending In: The Camouflaged Life

Posted on August 8, 2013 by Lisa Rest

Great Blue Heron, Fullersburg Woods

Sunday morning I was still too worn out from the Friday and Saturday to go very far, so I made a trip to Fullersburg Woods in DuPage County, closer to home. Fullersburg has a range of habitats and the trails are easy to navigate, but the focal point for me in summertime has to be the Salt Creek running through it. It’s a beautiful setting.

I did not expect to see very many species, but I thought perhaps I could get a little closer to a heron or two. My first discovery was not a bird but a Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly. Butterflies are rarer sights this year.

Tiger Swallowtail

The herons did not disappoint. A few steps along the Salt Creek and I found a Great Egret who was more concerned about its catch than me taking its picture.

Same goes for a juvenile Solitary Sandpiper.

Farther along, the birds were a bit less obvious. Click on the picture below to see if you can find the Green Heron.

Green Heron in disguise

I caught up with it later at a much closer range.

Green Heron

And now see if you can find the Yellow-Billed Cuckoo in the photo below.

Yellow-Billed Cuckoo – where are you?

Mallards are always expected. These were catching morning naps.

Mallards

Sleeping with one eye open…

Sleeping Mallards

At some point this dragonfly decided it wanted to blend in with the trail right in front of me.

The trail that runs along the Salt Creek meets up with Graue Mill to the south where there is a waterfall which supplied the power to run the mill.

Waterfall at Graue Mill

The Great Blue Heron that appears at the beginning of this post eventually became tolerant enough of my presence to give me the photo below. I then left him to continue fishing.

McGinnis in the Rain

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Lisa Rest

Rain, rain…

Let me get the disclaimer over with. I planned on posting last night but my laptop apparently decided I had been taking it for granted, perhaps after hearing the washing machine had decided Saturday morning that it had had enough too. But it hasn’t been all bad. I took off from work on Friday because I had a ticket to Steely Dan at Ravinia and there was really no way I could envision driving that far after working half a day. I was also rationalizing I could make up for not birding last weekend after the water heater staged its own rebellion.

Stormy Sky

Friday, the forecast was for scattered thunderstorms, but you can never tell where they’re going to scatter, so I got up as early as I my body would allow, and I managed to get to McGinnis Slough at 7:10 AM, whereupon a little rumble of thunder turned into a downpour. I sat in the car and waited for it to stop. Which it did, and then it started again. I must have gotten in and out of the car five times before I finally managed to take off for more than a few feet. And even then I had to stop and open up the umbrella. McGinnis got a good soak.

Rain starts again…

I think she might have stayed for the photo if the rain hadn’t suddenly picked up again…

Blackbirds drying off

When it seemed like I might yet be able to see a few birds, I took the shortest route to the south end of the preserve, stopping to admire the first Rose Mallow blossoms.

Marsh Mallow - not "Rose" - I'm hearing "Rose Darling" by Steely Dan...

Rose Mallow. But I’m still hearing “Rose Darling” by Steely Dan…

I wasn’t seeing as many birds as I heard, Marsh Wrens and Song Sparrows singing in between cloudbursts, Blue Jays calling from everywhere. But then I heard something different yet quite familiar. Sandhill Cranes. I followed the sound and found a pair of Sandhills and two young Great Blue Herons. Only one heron fit in the frame with the cranes.

Sandhill Cranes with a Great Blue Heron

A closer view of the cranes.

There was a break in the clouds, finally, so I ventured to the farther, northernmost side, where there were predictably a lot of Great Egrets. This group constitutes perhaps a third of the total I counted.

Great Egrets

And one managed to fly by ever so slightly closer.

I left shortly after the sun was finally starting to shine, almost three hours later. When I got home I was a bit dismayed to find it had not rained at all on my garden while I was gone. But the quiet of McGinnis with the rain stayed with me and served as the perfect meditation to take a slow day off, nap, do a few chores and then go to Ravinia. Fagan, Becker and the excellent musicians that share the stage with them delivered another memorable concert. I have been singing their songs ever since.

After the Fourth

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Lisa Rest

Red-Winged Blackbird

Enduring last night’s neighborhood illegal fireworks blitzkrieg, which seemed louder than last year or even the last five years combined, I can barely remember, let alone believe, that I got up early yesterday morning to go birding. The lengthy assault of the fireworks noise seems to have split yesterday in two.

Springbrook Prairie

I visited Springbrook Prairie, but I will have to go back because the Fourth of July is not the best time to visit anywhere in the suburban sprawl, no matter how vast the space. People on bikes and runners passed me by constantly. To be sure, this did not daunt the Red-Winged Blackbirds and Song Sparrows, but less abundant species were hard to come by.

Female Red-Winged Blackbird

Song Sparrow – singing

And a sample of his song, with a background chorus of Common Yellowthroat, American Robin, Warbling Vireo, Red-Winged Blackbird and possibly a few others:

Northern Crescent

Black Swallowtail Female

At least there were some new butterflies, not just the Cabbage Whites…

On a hunch that I might get a different perspective, I stopped at Hidden Lake which is now across from a Wal-Mart, so I guess that gives it a peculiar distinction. I used the Wal-Mart entrance to turn around in because I missed the entrance to the preserve. This time of year with everything overgrown you have to know where you’re going and I hadn’t been here in a while.

Great Egret

There was a Great Egret hunting for food when I started out.

Great Blue Heron, a bit too distant

I’ve gotten pictures of Great Blues flying lately, but this was my first on the ground this year.

Kildeer

Likewise the Kildeer flying pictures weren’t too clear, but I tried not to bother this bird too much by taking its picture.

American Robin

And maybe my favorite image of all is this Robin with a worm in his beak.

On that note I have to clean my house, it is Friday. Even if this is my two-year anniversary with WordPress and my 65th birthday. Ah, milestones. But life goes on, and the birds are calling.

“Marsh Mallow” at the Slough

Posted on July 22, 2012 by Lisa Rest

Swamp Rose-Mallow

My visit to McGinnis Slough this time found the Swamp Rose-Mallow in bloom. I was able to find three colors of it. They are big, beautiful flowers that stand tall with the reeds.

Unlike last time when I was nearly eaten alive by deer flies, this morning was delightful. It was not yet too hot, there was a gentle breeze, and the sky was partly cloudy which gave a the light a particular density.

Great Egrets

Three weeks ago, I could find only one Great Egret. Today, there had to be maybe 300. If they weren’t in the trees they were fishing all along the banks and in the shallow water.

The Great Blue Herons had increased in number too from three weeks ago. I estimate 175. Here’s one flying over, looking effortless. Egrets, herons and cranes often remind me of ballet dancers defying gravity.

Great Blue Heron

And this time I had a Green Heron that flew up into a tree nearby, after something.

Green Heron

I don’t think he got what he was looking for, he looked frustrated. I’ll take suggestions for a caption for this shot!

Summer Sunday

Posted on July 1, 2012 by Lisa Rest

Well, I was writing this post, and just as I added another picture I lost the whole thing, so let me start over. I think I started out by saying I can’t believe it’s July already, although we’ve had July-like weather for weeks.

Trumpeter Swans and a Great Blue Heron

I went to McGinnis Slough early this morning, just to see how the habitat and the birds were faring with the drought and the heat. The water level is so low, the Trumpeter Swans that are usually way over on the far side were in what is now the middle of the slough, so I was able to get some sort of picture even though they were still far away. I think I like the reflection in the water about this shot, and the fact that they had the Great Blue Heron between them.

Barn Swallow

When I first ventured from the parking lot, this juvenile Barn Swallow was waiting to be fed by a parent. Unfortunately I wasn’t fast enough to get that shot as the parent swooped in to drop off a bug and kept going.

Cedar Waxwings

Also found these Cedar Waxwing kids holed up in a nearby tree.

Walking down the mowed path in either direction summoned deer flies, which I was forever swatting. I wished I was a horse with a tail I could switch at them (in which case then I would have called them horse flies). Stopping along the way was prohibited.

Great Blue Herons

I saw easily 30 or more Great Blue Herons, most of them in the water, although these two are in the trees. The only Great Egret I found was in a tree also. Normally when the water level is higher, I have seen what seemed like hundreds of Great Egrets at McGinnis. I suppose that could still happen, summer has a long way to go.

Great Egret

Herring Gull

There were a lot of Caspian Terns but they weren’t close enough for a picture, unlike this Herring Gull.

Marsh Wren

My reward for enduring the heat this morning was getting to see a Marsh Wren singing. I heard at least 10 of these guys in the grasses along the path, but hearing Marsh Wrens is always easier than seeing.

House Wren

I stopped at the Portage on my way home. Here’s a House Wren for comparison.

And now a word of thanks to all who follow this blog! I apologize for not responding immediately to your likes and comments. At the same time, it occurs to me this blog is almost one year old. So I guess my “new year’s” resolution is to try to be a more conscientious blogger.

And to remember to save every draft so I don’t have to start over!

Goldbird Variations

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

Tag Archives: Great Egret

Busy Breeding Birds

Fermilab Shorebirds

Blending In: The Camouflaged Life

McGinnis in the Rain

After the Fourth

“Marsh Mallow” at the Slough

Summer Sunday