This morning was cloudy and comfortably cool, without the heavy wind gusts from yesterday. The wind direction remains coming out of the Northeast, which should bode well for warbler migration. I went to the Chicago Portage somewhat late this morning, sleeping in after attending a play last night, and I did not expect to see much activity after yesterday’s drizzly walk at Columbus Park. At the Portage, I met up with Bob who had arrived a half hour before me and told me he had seen only two species.

As we started to walk down the paved trail together, it was soon apparent the birds had been waiting for us. I wound up taking over 300 photos which I spent a good part of the day paring down to 195. After I had been through them all a few times and solidified my list, I reported 29 species to eBird, 12 of them warblers.

We saw a couple Palm Warblers and Yellow-rumped Warblers which I did not manage to photograph well, and then we saw our first Northern Parula, which turned out to be the Warbler of the Day, although Black-throated Green Warblers came in a strong second. Here’s what the first Northern Parula looked like before we started seeing them all much more clearly.

Here’s the first Black-throated Green Warbler I captured.

Then we caught a glimpse of a coyote running out from the direction of the water, to cross the trail ahead of us.

A Ruby-crowned Kinglet caught our attention.

Of a few Magnolia Warblers, I only managed the photo below,.

A Blackpoll Warbler first appeared with its back toward us, but graciously displayed its orange legs.

Then we got really good views of a Northern Parula. This one is the same individual at the top of the post, and I was in heaven – I really love seeing this bird. I’ve seen them on a couple occasions during the Saturday walks this fall, but up until now I have not had good looks, so this was just wonderful.

Next we saw a Bay-breasted Warbler. I should know this Bay-breasted face by now, I have had enough of these birds peer into the camera lens with curiosity.

Although this post is focused mainly on warblers, I have to include a very pretty adult non-breeding male Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

The camera caught a brief look at a Nashville Warbler. Apologies to Bob if this is the bird I identified in the field as a Common Yellowthroat. I am not sure, though, if I managed to capture the Yellowthroat. And so it goes.

Another Northern Parula!

More Black-throated Green Warblers appeared.

Between the green and yellow leaves and the two predominant warbler species displaying green and yellow in their feathers, it all made a lot of sense.

Here is another Bay-breasted Warbler, looking not so much like the one that appears earlier in the post.

For all the Yellow-rumped Warblers I have seen over the last few days, I was able to only barely capture one this morning. Have no fear, I will be back with many more photos of these birds.

Then a Tennessee Warbler came into view.

Sure enough, another Northern Parula grabbed my attention.

There were even more Northern Parulas, but first, it took me a while to decide that the bird below, rather nondescript, was quite probably a Pine Warbler. And just so you know, the Warbler Guide app on my phone clarified it for me. Take a look at the last photograph where you can see there is no streaking on the top of the back but note the lower contrast tertial edging – that’s how they phrased it. In other words, the entire back isn’t streaky like a Blackpoll or a Bay-breasted Warbler. What a great new field mark to discover!

I also found what looks like an Orange-crowned Warbler in my photos.

Well, that about wraps it up for this morning’s outing. We had other species, such as American Robins, Downy Woodpeckers, Northern Flickers, American Goldfinches, etc., but we gladly let the warblers distract us. Here’s a few more of my bird of the day, Northern Parula. I will be back as soon as possible with more photos from the past week or two. There are so many of them!