I have been out for a walk here, a walk there, more for the exercise than anything else, but yesterday was too snowy and blowy to go for a walk. I looked out my back door and saw half a dozen Pine Siskins on the thistle feeders. That was exciting, as it’s been years since I’ve had Pine Siskins in the yard. Of course, by the time I grabbed the camera, they were gone.
But I went out into the yard and managed to take some photos. American Goldfinches are always good subjects.
I counted eleven Dark-eyed Juncos. They have been hanging out in the yard all winter.
I was quite happy to see a pair of White-breasted Nuthatches,
I also had a female Downy Woodpecker and a female House Finch.
Of course, House Sparrows were in good number.
It wasn’t untl I got back inside that one Pine Siskin returned to the feeders. So I took some fuzzy pictures through the screens.
At one point a White-breasted Nuthatch was hanging on a thistle feeder before it relocated to the peanut feeder.
I was out of commission much of last week with a bad cold, but I am back to singing, walking and swimming and feeling much better. I have a weekend of field trips ahead and hope to be back with something to report soon.
I already had too many posts in mind when Sunday late morning on a whim, after visiting the Chicago lakefront, I headed up to Memorial Park Cemetery in Skokie where White-winged Crossbills have been reported all week. It did not take me long to find several birders and the Crossbills, along with Common Redpolls and even a couple Pine Siskins. I just pointed the lens at the tops of the trees and followed the movement. They were way up at the treetops which made it that much more challenging, but the weather was good and the light wasn’t too bad either. It took me a couple hours to go through way too many photographs – but I kept finding more and more images of birds buried in the pine cones. So this is just a glut of pictures of the three species. The White-winged Crossbills are the rarities this time. They don’t come this far south every year.
Below are some photos of a male White-winged Crossbill.
And below are some of a female White-winged Crossbill.
It got a bit more complicated when other finches joined them. There are two female Crossbills and a Common Redpoll below.
Trust me, it was not fun digging through all these pine cones looking for birds in the photos. But if you click on these you should be able to find a Common Redpoll and a White-winged Crossbill or two.
Common Redpoll, Pine Siskin and female White-winged Crossbill
Once the Common Redpolls came in, they were literally everywhere.
The other winter finch that I had in my yard the last two years but hadn’t seen all winter made an appearance here – Pine Siskins.
So there you have it – I still have photos from the lakefront for the same day. I apologize for the pine cone overload. What I neglected to take a photograph of were the piles of pine cones beneath the trees these birds were finished with. Here are yet some more of the White-winged Crossbills. I don’t think I’ve used them all up but I am getting dizzy, so this will have to do.
I will be back with a more civilized post soon. Thanks for your patience.
After reading about the irruption of Pine Siskins for weeks, I kept wondering how I could have possibly missed seeing them. The species showed up in my yard for the first time in January of this year and I fondly remembered their cheery presence. I thought I might have seen one or two last week but I couldn’t be sure, and had to discount it as wishful thinking. Then last Sunday morning as I stood on the back porch, there they were. Only two of them, but they were all I needed to restore my faith in something. They didn’t stay long. Maybe they were playing hooky from some large flock somewhere.
The House Sparrows outnumber everybody else, of course.
Last Saturday was the first time I dared go out with my usual camera setup. The camera weighs two pounds and the lens is another three and a half. It doesn’t sound like a lot of weight but it’s dense and massive. Then there’s the issue of adjusting the focus with my left hand. My fingers are still slightly swollen and stiff, and I can’t maneuver entirely without pain. But I am in the painful stage of physical therapy now so I may as well enjoy my suffering and take pictures.
I had come to see if there were Sandhill Cranes – and there were, a few – but the skies were dominated by Canada Geese. Unfortunately the owners of the surrounding farms were hunting them. I didn’t see any fall from the sky but I wasn’t looking either, it was bad enough to hear the gunshots. Something else to think about when I visit this place in the fall.
Canada Geese
Some flora caught my eye.
The first two birds I saw on the trail going in were Cedar Waxwings.
A burning bush?
It was nice to see this young White-crowned Sparrow.
So there were some Sandhills. I won’t be able to get back up there this year to see hundreds or thousands that sometimes come through, but I did have a good time talking with a crane enthusiast who visits there a lot and knows their habits. He said he was waiting for a big push of cold weather from Wisconsin and that would bring down a lot of cranes. He is hoping to see a Whooping Crane this year.
Not a lot of land birds but it was a beautiful morning. I was surprised to see the Blue Jay arrive and announce himself, and pose for a couple pictures.
I always see Crows here and that makes me happy.
Below are the last pictures I took the previous Saturday morning at the Portage, with the mirrorless camera. It takes nice photographs, but I haven’t figured out how to get it to focus all the time.
So I was frustrated when I saw the Blue-headed Vireo below so well, but I couldn’t get the camera to see it as clearly as I did.
My closest shot of one of the Sandhills from Goose Lake Natural Area…
Between work, physical therapy, waking up to this, that, or the other pain, trying not to let the news cycle interrupt a deeper thought process, there have been moments of peace and flashes of contentment, even a little creativity. I have missed seeing more birds and autumn color. This is usually my favorite time of year. I am looking forward to setting the clocks back so there will be more light in the morning. My indoor birds are good sports. They are helping me write a song about looking for an answer to a question I haven’t figured out yet.
My bird observation life has been peripatetic at best. Last Saturday was probably the best recent weekend day to go out, but I was at our annual choir retreat for three hours in the morning to prepare for this coming Choir Sunday. The weather was predictably cloudy and more miserable last Sunday so I stayed at home and took some pictures of the yard crowd.
I did manage to get out on March 31st to the Portage. Even though it was chilly and cloudy, I wanted to see if there were any new arrivals. For the most part I saw regular visitors. One White-Breasted Nuthatch was particularly cooperative. Perhaps he is related to the one who visits my yard on occasion.
The locals were all busy.
Perhaps the most evident Sign of Spring was seeing the return of a Turkey Vulture.
March 31st at the Portage still sleepy.
In the yard, I am happy to still have two Pine Siskins hanging out. I hope this means they have become regular visitors.
The Goldfinches are looking a little in-betweenish these days.
Not too clear pictures through the porch windows and screens but the House Finches are bonding. There’s a Pine Siskin mixed in the group shots too.
When I managed to stand in the backyard and wait for the birds to come back for photos, a male Downy Woodpecker made sure he checked out everything.
I still have a Dark-Eyed Junco or two, as of Sunday. And even though we had a nice warmup on Monday and Tuesday, the winds have shifted and we are back into chilly, windy gloom.
In a way I am glad I have not had time to start cleaning up my yard because there are undoubtedly a lot of overwintering insects I don’t want to disturb.
This Saturday I’m “leading” a walk at Columbus Park. So far the weather looks promising. I expect we will have a few migrants and with any luck I’ll get some pictures of them.
I’m looking forward to Choir Sunday. Our last rehearsal is tonight. We are singing a wonderful work by John Kramer entitled “The Immigrant Experience.” If you are anywhere within striking distance of Oak Park, Illinois, I urge you to attend either one of the two Sunday services at Unity Temple. Yes, this is a plug, but for a good cause. The music will be breathtaking.
With any luck I’ll be back to this page before next Saturday. Then I will be gone for a birding trip to Big Bend and the Hill Country in Texas. It’s been on my list of places to visit for a long time, and I wanted to see it before any habitat is destroyed by the border fiasco.
Or downside up. I have a really good excuse for not managing a blog post until now, which I hope never to use again. As much as I hate the passive voice, I’d rather phrase it like this: my car was totaled Sunday night on the way home from a meeting – the accident was unavoidable, not my fault, and I am happy to report there were no injuries and I will be getting a new, safer (should I have to crash into anything again) vehicle shortly.
It was 14 degrees Fahrenheit outside that night and I was so focused on getting the police to arrive that I forgot to take a picture of the damage, but that’s history now. So is the extraordinary lunar eclipse of that evening which I also forgot about in my distraction, although I was admiring the full moon through the window of the squad car as I sat in the back of it to keep warm while the police handled the investigation and report. So there are no spectacular images to share with this information, and I apologize.
American Goldfinch and House Finch
Instead here are some pictures from last weekend, when we got a total of about 9″ of snow, but had not yet plunged into the single digits and below which is where we are now.
I don’t anticipate getting any clearer photographs this weekend, but I will still try to capture the two Dark-Eyed Juncos and the Black-Capped Chickadee that I have seen only briefly. It was nice to see cardinals hanging out in a relaxed fashion.
I hope to be back soon, maybe even with a report about the new vehicle. In the meantime, I wish you all safety and warmth wherever you are!
Yesterday was cloudy, cold and windy, so I did not go down to the lakefront to visit the crows. I decided to check out the zoo instead, only to find there were hardly any birds to see except a Downy Woodpecker afar.
Brookfield Zoo50+ Canada Geese flying over the zoo
So I spent much of the day looking out into the yard for activity, and it changed over the course of the day. My official first-bird-of-the-year sighting was American Goldfinch. These birds have become my biggest fans.
It didn’t seem worth going out into the yard to take pictures on a gloomy day, so I took all my pictures through the windows and sometimes the screens as well, which gives everything a warm and fuzzy appearance, I suppose. It was the only way I could capture the interloper below.
Cooper’s Hawk (male) with prey
I am not sure what he was attempting to eat, but I think it might have been a European Starling. I’ll should see if there are any telltale feathers by the neighbor’s fence.
The Pine Siskins were still around, at least four of them. And one of my Northern Cardinals even made an appearance, however temporary. At one point I had over 100 birds in the yard, which became all the more evident when they all took off at once in a thundering rumble of wing beats.
But my most cooperative subject was the female White-Breasted Nuthatch who was hanging out in the sumac by the kitchen window.
The only species that visits my yard that I haven’t seen in a while is Black-Capped Chickadee. I haven’t heard them either. All I can hope is they haven’t gone missing totally in the neighborhood.
American Goldfinches and Pine Siskins
I am afraid I’m getting off to a lazy start this year. Naps were all too easy to come by. Choir rehearsal should wake me up tonight.
Yesterday morning when I was almost done feeding the indoor crowd, I looked out the kitchen window and saw a Red-Bellied Woodpecker at the suet feeder. I managed to get this fuzzy photo through the window and the screen but by the time I got out to the porch, the Red-Bellied was gone. Instead there was a Downy Woodpecker at the upside-down suet feeder.
I started paying attention to the Goldfinches as they were numerous, and eventually…some of them were not Goldfinches, and they didn’t look like House Finches – and I suddenly realized that the Pine Siskins I’d been hoping for were now in my yard!
Today my birding plans were trashed after I drove all the way out to Goose Lake Prairie State Park only to discover it was closed due to deer hunting. I talked with a couple guys in the Heidecke Lake boat launch and they told me the park would be open tomorrow. But that won’t do me any good because rain is predicted all day. Lesson learned. Now I know to check these places before I take off in the middle of winter. Midewin National Tall Grass Prairie was just around the corner, but I figured that might not be safe from being shot at either. I did see three crows in a field and a lovely female Northern Harrier in flight, but the two hours of driving back and forth for nothing wore me out. I decided to stop at McGinnis on the way back, but there was nothing going on there, the shallow water being frozen mostly frozen.
When I got home, I filled the thistle socks, went out by the back steps and stood with the camera until the birds came back to feed. They seemed to be less shy today in the bright sunshine. I finally had great looks at the Pine Siskins. There were four of them and they seemed to be quite friendly,
Taking a drink from the gutters.
Below are a couple pictures of a female House Finch for comparison. I think the difference in bill shape might be the most trustworthy field mark for distinguishing the two species.
It was a good day for male House Finches and Goldfinches too.
Male House FinchAmerican Goldfinches
I don’t know if I’ll still be in the mood to go down to see the crows on Tuesday, although if the weather is halfway decent I may as well. I’ve been invited to a party for New Year’s Eve which will likely prevent getting up very early to find birds. But now I can stay home and watch the feeders, and maybe add yet another species to my yard list.
