A Rather Gull-less Frolic

Posted on February 26, 2023 by Lisa Rest

The weather wasn’t too bad for mid-February. The sun was shining and although it’s always colder by the lake, the wind chill wasn’t prohibitive. Indeed, it was quite easy to spend more time outside.

As in the past few previous years, the better the weather for humans, the fewer gulls come to this event. But this year was exceptionally pretty gull-less. With virtually no ice on the lake, there was no reason for the gulls to come to the shore. A lot of bread was thrown into the lake that day, but even the Canada Geese weren’t interested in it.

It was good to see some people I hadn’t seen in a long time, and the talk was interesting and informative. If I had stayed the entire day I might have seen a male Harlequin Duck that was reported being seen first over the Wisconsin border. But I had a busy evening and next day ahead and knew I would need a nap after the long drive back home.

Much of the time I spent outside was looking at some ducks. There were several Common Goldeneye.

It seemed most of the gulls were out on the ice beyond the yacht club. But as birders with scopes examined the flock, nothing unusual was reported to have been seen.

So I took a few token photos of the Herring Gulls that came in for bread early.

In addition to the Common Goldeneye there were some Lesser and Greater Scaup. When I managed to capture some of them in flight, I looked them up and discovered that the easiest way to tell them apart in flight is the white on the wing, which is a longer stripe on the Greater Scaup.

It was a beautiful day, and from time to time I took a few photos just to celebrate the blue horizon.

February is almost over. We’ve had a little more snow, a lot more rain, blustery cold and warmer temperatures. A bit more like March, perhaps, minus the longer days, but those are on the way too. And those increasingly longer days are calling some birds back to their breeding grounds already. I am starting to see American Robins here and there – individually, not in flocks. And Red-winged Blackbirds are proclaiming territories. Here’s a little sneak preview.

Looking Back: Gull Frolic 2022

Posted on March 25, 2022 by Lisa Rest

This will be short. I attended the first Gull Frolic since the pandemic began, on February 19, 2022. It was clear and very cold, there was a lot of ice, and normally these would have been good conditions to attract a lot of gulls, but the gulls have been affected by the pandemic too, in that they noticed a significant drop in human activity and had to adjust. I think the prevailing consensus was that the gulls were likely at the town dump, and they might have eventually worked their way over to the yacht club where the event is held every year. But in general, there were hardly any gulls, most of them were Herring Gulls, and after a while those that came were no longer very interested in the bread being thrown to them.

I endured the cold as long as I could. It was good to see some people I knew and I met some new folks.

There were definitely more Canada Geese than gulls on the ice.

It seemed perfunctory to take some photos of the gulls going after slices of bread, even if they lacked the usual over-the-top enthusiasm.

Also a few flight photos were obligatory.

There were a couple gull species other than Herring that were seen but I did not manage to photograph them. I did get some distant shots at a male Harlequin Duck that was quite far away. He was keeping company with some Common Goldeneye.

I captured one Redhead and some of the Common Goldeneye…and a Greater Scaup in the upper right hand corner – thanks to Ann I am correcting omission of its ID.

and a pair of Bufflehead early on.

I did not recall ever having seen the sculptures below that are on rocks by the harbor.

Here are a few more frolicking Herring Gulls…

We are going to experience some freezing temperatures over the next couple of days but I doubt seriously that it will be cold enough to freeze the lake again.

I managed to get out this morning after two days stuck inside because of rain or the likelihood of it. I almost didn’t make it out the door, but I just could not stand to spend another morning on the futon. I will be back next with a little report on the status of the Chicago Portage. If we get snow overnight, which is the latest prediction, I will stay home and shovel tomorrow morning.

Two Visits to McGinnis Slough

Posted on July 2, 2020 by Lisa Rest

Even though I never go to McGinnis Slough these days prepared to see a lot of birds – which would require bringing my scope – I invariably see something interesting. It used to be a great place for hundreds of Great Egrets and multiple Great Blue Herons, but for the past several years the numbers have dwindled to a few individuals. During waterfowl migration it’s still a place to see good numbers of several species. My last two visits were sort of before and after spring migration. But I like the fact that it’s not crowded. You can’t your bike through it, so that likely keeps people away. And you could miss it driving by at 50 mph on LaGrange Road, even though the entrance is newly paved and there’s a lovely wrought-iron fence, maybe to keep the deer from crossing the highway.

So these photographs are from April 4 and June 7 of this year. From grays and browns in early April to greens and blues in June. April 4 was a good day for Tree Swallows, even if they look washed-out on a cloudy day.

The gray and brown was enhanced by a little low-lying fog on the April visit.

I haven’t seen an awful lot of Eastern Phoebes this year. I think flycatchers in general have been scarcer, which I can only assume speaks to the lack of insects. I hope they can recover somehow.

In the tail end of waterfowl migration, some Lesser Scaup were close enough to photograph.

Those white blobs are actually American White Pelicans on the far shore.

The June visit featured Warbling Vireos chasing around at eye-level, and then one sang for me. I managed to record a bit of his song below after having him pose for all these pictures.These guys are hard to spot normally so I indulged.

I often see Wood Ducks lined up on this fallen log. The June visit was no exception.

Baltimore Orioles aren’t advertising for mates anymore so they’re a little harder to spot.

Going down the path to the north, I encountered a couple does.

There were a few Cedar Waxwings in the same general area as the Warbling Vireos.

This White-breasted Nuthatch would have been even better if he had turned around.

Red-winged Blackbirds abound.

And in the flying-by department…

I’m used to seeing rose mallow, and maybe it will appear later in the summer, but I think this wild iris is new.

Thanks for making it to the end of this long post! We are in for a long, hot, sunny weekend around here. With luck, I will find more birds to share with you.

Back to Virtual Travel

Posted on April 7, 2020 by Lisa Rest

I didn’t go to The Gull Frolic this year. I decided not to when the invitations went out to Illinois Ornithological Society members last November. I was then looking forward to my trip to San Blas and the thought of coming back to stand on the lakefront in freezing temperatures after spending the early part of January in warm and sunny Mexico did not appeal to me. And anyway, my head was still full of images of Great Black-backed Gulls I had seen in New Brunswick and Grand Manan.

So this post features some of the Great Black-backeds and other species seen as we made our way from St. John to Grand Manan by ferry.

The photo below is actually a small section of a larger image. I was trying to focus on the White-Winged Scoters we were seeing from quite a distance. Or as Ann has now corrected me, they were Black Guillemots! We had some Scoters too. But this is sometimes the problem with processing photos half a year or more later.

More of the White-Winged Scoters. Oh they’re not, let’s fix this right now. They are Black Guillemots. I don’t know what happened to the Scoter. Maybe it’s in the third photograph on top — how far away we were at one point…

More Great Black-backed Gulls – and there’s likely a few Herring Gulls in the group shot, but it’s more like a warmer version of a Gull Frolic.

These Red-Necked Grebes were distant but delightful nonetheless.

Sooty Shearwaters don’t photograph particularly well at a distance.

A glimpse of a rugged landscape.

Great Shearwaters were abundant and easier to photograph than the Harbor Seals in the first two photographs below.

I thought this post needed a little color.

A few more Great Black-Backed Gulls.

Some of that lovely rugged stuff that grows on rock.

And an adult Herring Gull.

I will be back with the other half of this day’s photos. The focus will be on land birds. It took me a week to process the 740-or-so images on my recalcitrant pokey travel laptop. But I guess these days I can’t complain about how long it takes me to do anything.

In Between

Posted on February 5, 2020 by Lisa Rest

My last trip to the lakefront was at the end of November. I intended to post some pictures from that visit closer to the time they were taken but the holidays and impending travel plans got the better of me. So in between the Mexico trip posts here’s a little nostalgia from home.

Above and below, a very cold-looking Golden-Crowned Kinglet I encountered in the plantings outside the Columbia Yacht Club. I confess to seeing his fiery crown first before I eventually saw the entire bird.

I miss the lakefront for these little guys, the Horned Grebes, that tend to hang out conveniently near the shore. There were also a few closer ducks that day, in between dives.

The Crow Crowd I expected was not present, but I did find a small but enthusiastic group at my last stop, Lake Shore East Park.

I don’t remember exactly where this very young Cooper’s Hawk was.

Predictably, a Herring Gull and a White-Throated Sparrow…

I’ve been trying to keep up with the Mexico pictures and hope to manage another post in a couple days. If for no other reason than to take a break from the cold, gloomy weather and news cycle, if you can even call it that.

On the Water

Posted on October 8, 2019 by Lisa Rest

Well, I took way too many photographs on the pelagic tour in the Bay of Fundy… it was primarily a whale-watching boat tour, but we got to see plenty of birds too. It was a beautiful day. And I am convinced the Humpback Whales know exactly what’s going on and they willingly provide entertainment. I believe we saw 9 of them – with the captain of the boat calling each one by name, depending on the pattern of white coloring underneath its tail.

Here’s another Storm-Petrel to add to my life list.

As we got closer to the whales…they seemed to become more active.

One or two of a Sooty Shearwater…

We had a lot of Great Black-backed Gulls throughout the tour, but I seem to have captured a only Herring Gulls in these photos. It is remarkable to take a photograph of a bird flying alongside the boat – it occurred to me going through these shots that you rarely get this perspective.

Great Shearwaters outnumbered every other species but I adore them and think they’re very photogenic. You can see how they got their name, looking in one or two photos like they’re walking on water…

Of course we were eager to see Atlantic Puffins. There weren’t many close to the boat but I did my best to capture this one…or two?

A Common Tern, not too close to the boat…

I invite you to click on the series of pictures below – I know they look a lot alike but whales don’t move as fast as birds and between the boat motion and the whales themselves maybe you get some of the idea of what it was like to see them…

I might add that the water was clean, free of debris and wonderful to see.