The river was too frozen for much of February, so I missed seeing some of the ducks that usually come to visit. With the recent warmer temperatures and the ice melting, it was rewarding to start seeing Red-breasted Mergansers again. And just two days ago, there were two male Buffleheads with them.
There was ample sunshine that morning and I had the best look at a Red-bellied Woodpecker that I’ve had for weeks.
Going back a bit, on February 27, I started seeing pairs of Canada Geese. There was one of a pair that like to stand on the wall leftover from the Hofmann dam.
A couple Red-breasted Mergansers were a bit closer that day.
I started seeing Brown Creepers again.
A Red-winged Blackbird was foraging in the leaf litter right in front of me as I sat on my favorite log,
Going back a bit to February 16, just before the water started flowing in the river again, the same pair of geese by the Hofmann Tower, practicing thermoregulation.
I also saw a Merlin that day.
A pair of Mallards found some open water next to the ice.
Three more quick photos from Monday: a Mallard drake, an American Robin, and the full moon that evening. I got up early Tuesday morning to ln hopes of seeing the lunar eclipse, but we were under cloudy skies with drizzle.
We are scheduled to get some rain the next few days. While it might discourage a morning walk or two, we need the rain as the promise of spring continues.
These photos are from the middle to the end of March by the Des Plaines River. I let the Hermit Thrush at the top of this post fly in from March 31, but I will return to the rest of that day in a later post.
On March 17, the Eastern Bluebirds were watching me from the Swan Pond area.
There have been four Red-breasted Mergansers consistently in the river. That day it wasn’t easy to get them all in one photo.
A Song Sparrow, a female Northern Cardinal and a Dark-eyed Junco put up with me.
On March 19th, a little sunshine made all the difference.
Song Sparrow
I saw a Ring-billed Gull fly by with something in its beak. I could not determine what the delicacy was. But the gull made things more interesting.
A pair of Turkey Vultures flew over and I managed these photos of one of them.
On March 26th, I heard an Eastern Phoebe sing, then saw him as he sidled up against the wall and then later perched in a tree.
The female Eastern Bluebird was available.
And I had visits with a couple Golden-crowned Kingleta.
The Red-breasted Mergansers were still around. If you look closely to the left side of the group you can see the head of the second female emerging from the water.
I was thinking of stopping at this point, but I decided to stuff one more morning’s photos in here. March 26 was cloudy, nothing new there. By now I was hearing and seeing two Eastern Phoebes.
The clouds called to be noticed.
Then I encountered a burst of color from an Early Crocus. There was a brave insect checking out the right-most blossom,
Two Canada Geese got into a brief disagreement.
Near the end of my walk, I encountered a couple Brown Creepers. It’s the first time I’ve captured one in flight.
I didn’t expect it would take me so long to get around to these photos, but I’m taking a break this morning from most outdoor activities. I have been quite busy draining my sinuses from a cold that started to challenge me on Thursday. I am keeping up with WFMT’s spring pledge drive, and I plan to check out the live videos of the protests. I wasn’t planning on joining a protest today, but it didn’t seem quite right to go for a walk in the woods either if I’m not feeling up to par. I’d rather get over the cold.
In any event I will be back with more recent excursions and maybe I can manage a walk tomorrow, as every day more and more migrants are showing up. The plots thicken on all fronts.
I’d been trying to come up with another post, but as luck would have it, this morning’s brief walk in cloudy gloom by the Des Plaines River produced a few nice little surprises which, when combined with the birds I saw on Friday morning, make up this one.
There have been a pair of Canada Geese that like to stand on the wall by the Hofmann Tower for ages, and today they were joined by two more. But as I started to walk, there were only a few Mallards in the river.
i had been expecting to see waterfowl this morning, but the land birds surprised me instead. A few other things were on my mind too, like memorizing the lyrics to Christopher Tin’s “Baba Yetu” while walking. I could sing softly and try to get the Swahili to roll off my tongue in time for Wednesday’s choir rehearsal. On the paved trail, as I was coming to the bend in the river, a couple Eastern Bluebirds came to greet me. The first one flew in and held his ground even as another human came up behind me as I tried to focus the camera in gloomy light. I can only wonder if my singing had anything to do with it, because these Bluebirds were downright friendly. By that time, I was no longer singing, but praising them as they sat for the camera.
When I got to the swinging bridge, there were hardly any birds in the water, but flocks of geese were in the air.
In Riverside Lawn, I might have sung for a Red-bellied Woodpecker.
And its frequent sidekick, a White-breasted Nuthatch…
There were a couple Brown Creepers flitting about, but they were hard to capture.
The last bird to check me out was a Golden-crowned Kinglet.
Friday was a different story. Most of the birds were on the water or in the air. Standing on the swinging bridge, I got some close photos of Red-breasted Mergansers I had been seeing but only at a distance.
Farther north from the swinging bridge there were a lot of what looked to be mostly Common Goldeneye. Next time if I see that many birds in the water, I think I’ll try walking a little farther.
There was nothing worth photographing in Riverside Lawn on Friday. The trail was still muddy from melting snow and ice, but the parking lot puddles I usually wash off my boots in were dried up, so I walked down to the river’s edge to wash my boots and as I stood in the water, a couple small flocks of Sandhill Cranes flew in the distance.
My thanks goes to the Bluebirds for giving me something cheery to write about, a change from the cold and snow. We have warmed up a bit, but the forecast for the next couple of days is for rain and possibly some wet snow, so maybe I will get back to those birds from the last week or two and it won’t seem too out of context.
I started writing this post on Wednesday when it seemed prudent to stay home for the Winter Storm Watch. It turned out to be a hurry-up-and-wait kind of day. The snow came later than predicted and did not amount to as much as forecast, but I stayed in to monitor the bird feeders and sidewalks, attend to miscellaneous projects and get mentally ready to drive to choir rehearsal that evening. Unfortunately, choir rehearsal was canceled for the second week in a row due to weather. We will have to work that much harder the next few weeks for our upcoming Choir Sunday on March 16.
Now it is Saturday, and we are digging out somewhat from yesterday’s snow, with more snow in the forecast this afternoon, evening, and tomorrow morning. The choir sings tomorrow. I have gotten quite used to the snow by now and I anticipate shoveling before driving off tomorrow morning. At least there should not be a lot of traffic to make things worse, although I can never exactly predict when a slow-moving freight train will impede crossing the tracks.
Here are photos from my last walks by the Des Plaines River in Riverside. Beginning with February 3, the ice on the river was gone except for large pieces of it still on the river banks.
I noticed a Common Goldeneye struggling with its catch which looked at one point like a crayfish of some sort.
I saw more ice on the river bank as I crossed the swinging bridge, and still more in Riverside Lawn.
The Ring-billed Gull at the top of the post was showing off its catch. More photos of this bird below, along with one with a plane flying over.
On February 5, it was still overcast and quite gloomy. Not much to report.
Never know if I will see even Mallards these days
I try to keep track of the Common Goldeneye.
On February 7, a few more birds. I was surprised to see a lot of Red-winged Blackbirds, with some likely European Starlings, along with usual House Sparrows by the feeders behind the condominiums in Lyons.
I saw a Downy Woodpecker or two.
And several House Finches.
Still keeping an eye out for the Common Goldeneye.
As an added bonus, I saw 26N again.
And another Ring-billed Gull, this one having trouble managing its prey.
Beyond that, more ice, and a deer;.
On February 10, bright sunshine was welcoming. Although I didn’t see a lot of birds, I did get a closer look at a male Red-breasted Merganser that I have seen at more of a distance on occasion, all alone.
A couple Mallards swam by, and there were some more on an emerging island.
And a Common Goldeneye
My last visit was yesterday morning. It was almost prohibitively cold, but it felt good to walk. Ice is coming back to the river.
There were three groups of Canada Geese spread out along the river.
I barely captured the Common Goldeneye, but was glad to see at least five of them.
And there was snow.
We are getting more snow, and then tomorrow we start a very cold week, with lows in the single digits. The early morning low forecast for Tuesday is -2 degrees F. I don’t know how many walks I will attempt in those temperatures. I tend to make up my mind about a walk every morning when I go out back to fill the feeders. It’s all one can do lately to hold onto a routine, but it’s important for my and the birds’ survival. A few days ago I decided I need a new approach to writing the book. Maybe if I have to stay indoors more this coming week, I can make a little progress.
It’s been a slow week or two out on the trails but every once in a while there’s a surprise. Such was the morning of February 6 when shortly after I started walking the paved trail by the Des Plaines River in Riverside, I saw a young-looking Pied-billed Grebe sitting in the water by the near shore with a couple Mallards. Even though there was vegetation in the way of my lens, it occurred to me when I later looked at these photos that I don’t think I have ever been this close to a Pied-billed Grebe.
There wasn’t much else to get excited about that day or on two subsequent visits but what I did manage to capture is represented here.
I saw our friend 64H by the Hofmann dam with a female companion, perhaps
It was a nice, sunny day for Mallards.
A look at some of the ice – slowly melting.
On the other side of the foot bridge I barely managed to capture the Redhead which was still present and a male Red-breasted Merganser.
On February 8, there was still a plenty of ice and it was gloomier. A Common Goldeneye was fishing.
I was a bit surprised to see this Mourning Dove sitting on a low branch over the ice in the river.
When I returned on February 10, the most notable thing was the sunshine.
Now the pair of Red-breasted Mergansers were quite cuddly in the water.
A Red-bellied Woodpecker showed up briefly to emphasize the blue sky and buds on the tree it was visiting.
I have been to the Chicago Portage off and on and there are a few photos there for another post perhaps. I took a couple more distant jaunts the past two weekends just to get out of my rut, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot happening anywhere lately. But with the increased daylight, birds are singing. In addition to the Northern Cardinals, the Red-bellied Woodpeckers have started to sing. And Red-winged Blackbirds are also returning to their territories. Spring is a promise.
I haven’t been out for a walk the past two days, due to snow of one sort or another. I did manage a few visits last week in the gloom. These photos are all from Riverside, starting with January 18.
it was warmer last week and from time to time there were Canada Geese.
Any bird who sits still long enough to be photographed gets my attention.
There were geese on the lawn by the library.
And then I noticed a lot of American Tree Sparrows in the grass as well.
But then after I crossed the footbridge and started to walk the trail nearest the river in Riverside Lawn, I spotted a Winter Wren.
Seeing I was paying attention to the Winter Wren, a Carolina Wren came out to pose for me. This happened the last time I saw these two characters. I was also happy to hear a vocalization from the Carolina Wren that was new for me. I hope I remember it next time I hear it.
Fitting in with all the brown birds, a Mallard hen standing in a shallow spot.
And I saw 64H again. That may have been the last time I saw him.
My next visit on January 20 was much gloomier.
But there was a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers in the river that made up for the gloom.
I barely caught the Belted Kingfisher in flight and then managed to find it perched later with its back to me.
Backlit gloom did no favors for this White-breasted Nuthatch.
On January 23, there were at least 100 Canada Geese by the footbridge. I couldn’t stuff them all into one frame.
The light wasn’t good enough to capture a Downy Woodpecker in focus, but he brightened up the gloom anyway.
I saw the Belted Kingfisher again. He was quite far away.
A Northern Cardinal was my consolation prize.
It’s been quiet, getting colder, and we are about to dip into the deep freeze. The snow so far hasn’t been too much of a problem as the temperature has been just above freezing most of the time, but it looks like the next few days we will have more snow to deal with in addition to the cold. Such is winter.
Looking forward to singing Sunday morning. It will be just sopranos and altos. We’re singing a lovely little song in Italian and I am looking forward to rolling my r’s.
More winter birds on the way. Hard to believe we’re almost done with January.
I was ready to do another 3-slice version of Portage visits but decided to break up the monotony with my last two Riverside walks. on March 11 and 16, respectively. The visit on March 11 was after a light snowfall. which may have been our last snow. We have warmed up off and on since then and right now we are getting some rain for a couple days so I hope to write a couple posts while I’m stuck indoors.
The snow fallen on the cobblestone path by the Hofmann TowerDes Plaines River
This was the last time I saw waterfowl that weren’t Mallards or Canada Geese. There was a pair of Common Mergansers.
And a Common Goldeneye. These were the birds I had been seeing all along.
I did manage to find a couple Dark-eyed Juncos to sit still long enough. The one in the second photo had a little snow on him.
Here’s how the foot bridge looked with freshly fallen snow.
To my delight, when I looked down river, I saw some Red-breasted Mergansers.
There are seven of them in the photograph below. There might have been another underwater.
I did manage to get a closer look at a pair while I was on the other side of the foot bridge, or Riverside Lawn. First I saw the male, then the female popped up right next to him and then he dove, leaving her with a spash.
The last snowy scenes…
A pair of Downy Woodpeckers were hanging out together.
On March 16, the first bird I saw was this Cooper’s Hawk in Riverside Lawn but I was just about to cross Joliet Avenue from the Lyons parking lot.
Here’s how the river looked from the Lyons side.
It was cloudy again, which made for a pretty indistinguishable photograph of these six European Starlings.
The Des Plaines River from the other side of the Joliet Avenue bridge, and the paved walk.
The cloudy sky was variable.
I managed to capture a Mallard in flight and this lovely couple.
Also flying around were four Red-winged Blackbirds. They kept chasing around across the river and back again.
There was one lonesome Canada Goose at the bend in the river.
I’ve been seeing White-breasted Nuthatches lately instead of just hearing them.
There were quite a few Dark-eyed Juncos that day which probably made this one more relaxed.
I even managed to capture a female Northern Cardinal before she disappears into nesting season.
The highlight of my walk was more audible than visual. What I am sure is the same Song Sparrow who charmed me last time with two different songs this time sang four – or five, depending on whether you count variations as another song – distinctly different melodies from the two I recorded a week earlier. It was almost as if he was waiting for my return to sing a recital. You can hear all his riffs below. Song No. 2 has a Red-winged Blackbird in the background and Songs 3 and 4 have some White-breasted Nuthatch and Red-bellied Woodpecker. Not to be outdone, a Northern Cardinal chimes in on the fourth recording.
And he had his back to me the entire time, so I couldn’t get his picture. But what a singer!
Song 1 on 3-16-22Song 2 on 3-16-22Songs 3 and 4 on 3-16-22Variations on Song 4/Song 5 on 3-16-22
So I didn’t see a lot of birds but it was an interesting walk. The decaying wood below caught my eye.
There’s more as we slowly but surely slide into spring. We are not done with cold weather but there are no hard frosts in the forecast for the next ten days so I am hoping we are at least done with that.
The Unity Temple Choir is going to sing live in the sanctuary this Sunday for the first time in two years. We had a great rehearsal Wednesday night with Keanon Kyles who is our remarkable operatic bass-baritone friend and he will be singing the solos and leading the hymns for the congregation, which will also be allowed to sing along, albeit masked, for the first time. I will miss going for a walk on what is predicted to be a beautiful sunny day after all this rain, but it will be worth it to sing again for the congregation. More sunshine is coming.
Spring so desperately wants to happen. Or so I wrote when I was starting to put together this post four days ago. But then we had to spring the clocks forward, as if shifting more light to the end of the day would hurry up spring faster. However, we have been held back by what seems like the longest winter ever, and that one-more-day philosophy takes over. I may be too tired to know what I’m writing here, but I think the bright sunshine and the angle of its light now helps to wake me up, wakes the birds up, and the trees are probably musing among themselves, the time is coming.
I’ve managed to walk along the river a few times in the last couple of weeks, whether on my way in to work or those rare times when I manage to take a break and go for a walk. The weather has made it more difficult. I got out today for half an hour or so. The wind made it quite chilly, but wherever I could find a patch of sun, there was hope, if not many birds.
In any event, below are some pictures I took of Red-Breasted Mergansers last week. They’ve been hanging out in the river lately, like they did last year. One evening before I got on the train, I counted over 100 within my view outside the station. The pictures below are from one morning last week when there were four males trying to attract one female. She got into the act at one point chasing off one of her suitors. Click on the images for a better view.
Here’s the guy she decided upon. I love her mascara.Here is a Common Merganser for comparison.
Herring Gulls have been following the mergansers hoping to snatch the ducks’ catch.
I was really surprised on an earlier walk to see a River Crow! A Herring Gull was surprised to see him too and tried to knock the Crow off his perch, but of course, the Crow was triumphant.
On my way back to the office, I looked back to see the Crow cawing about his victory.
I’m hoping for a Return of the River Crow. I miss hanging out with the Lakefront Crows terribly, and it would be just so neat to have a River Crow following. So now every time I go out, I carry peanuts, just in case.
The moon was beautiful a couple weeks ago, so I took a few pictures after I went swimming (there are always better moon views in the gym parking lot). It was exactly a month after the night of the blood moon when my former Prius C was totaled. The shock has almost completely worn off, and I’m very happy with the new car. It’s easier to give people rides, so there are more conversations. And I am about to find out how much easier it will be to fill up the hatch with birdseed. What more could I want?
Two weekends ago now it is, I went to down to the lakefront to find Crows and whoever else might be hanging out. I was fortunate to be greeted by a group of five crows by Buckingham Fountain who remembered me from the last visit and indicated that by gathering around the same spot I fed them last time. I chose a better spot this time, I think, without a fence around it.
They didn’t seem too enthusiastic to see the cookies, but I suspect that’s because they’re youngsters and haven’t been exposed to them yet. I may run the experiment again next weekend and see if their reaction to the cookies is any different, because I’m sure after they were done caching and stashing all the peanuts they came back to check out whatever was left of the cookies. I say that because there were squirrels starting to show up.
There was a Cooper’s Hawk that flew into some trees which I tried to get a better shot of than the one below…
But since that didn’t happen, I walked down along the lakefront to see waterfowl. Most of the ducks were too far away to photograph, and they seemed to consist mainly of both Common and Red-Breasted Mergansers, a few Common Goldeneye and a couple Coots.
Red-Breasted Merganser female
Merganser Girls hanging out
Common Goldeneye
Inevitably there were a lot of Canada Geese. They flew into the lake from Butler Field at one point. As long as there is open water I have a feeling they won’t be going anywhere else anytime soon.
I came back inland and walked through Millennium Park seeing nothing of interest. But as I neared Randolph on the north end of the park, I saw some crows across the street so I followed them behind the Blue Cross Blue Shield Building where we have never met before. It seems like too staid a situation for peanuts but I picked a safe-looking corner, knowing the Crows would soon remove all the peanuts and no one would notice.
Thinking these are likely the same Crows that hung around Lake Shore East Park, I decided to see if they remembered the wall running along the Radisson parking lot that protects people and cars from falling into the empty lot below. The Crows picked up on the location immediately.
Apologies if this becomes a strange-looking post: I’ve been having issues with this new editor. Half the time I can’t see what I’m doing. It’s great!
Nothing makes my heart soar like the sight of a Crow in flight so I’m glad my friends obliged me that day.
Onward to the busy holiday weekend. I have Christmas Eve off of work this year thanks to the calendar, so the prospect of 4 days off in a row has given me a heady, almost drunk feeling of security that I can accomplish even half the things on my list. I am singing in a near-midnight candlelit service on Monday… I will try to report back soon. Until then, best wishes to all for a warm and loving holiday season.
Some days spring seems inevitable, others it seems to be lagging behind a cold front. I’m trying to get caught up with posts that have escaped my ability to sit down and write them. So these pictures from two weekends ago start off the Slow Spring documentation. I was joined by my friend Lesa and we started off early at the Chicago Portage. Note for Sunday birders: it was easily an hour past sunrise but the forest preserve employees had not shown up yet to unlock the gate to the parking lot. We waited perhaps five minutes…
Song Sparrow, Chicago Portage
I was hoping an earlier start might reveal more activity, perhaps a mammal or two, anything different. But just as I can’t predict surprises I apparently can’t predict nothing happening either. Maybe for the birds, waterfowl in particular, nothing seemed out of whack. Except I wonder what happened to the Mallard on the upper right below, who seems to have lost a lot of neck feathers, perhaps getting caught in something while he was dabbling for food. He otherwise seemed to be okay.
The stream scene at the Portage hadn’t changed too much for the Canada Geese, except that there were fewer of them than the last time. We walked out the back trail by the train tracks that leads to the Des Plaines River and saw distant Common Goldeneye and Common Mergansers, but for the most part, the birds were just too darned far away to see well without a scope. My monster lens managed to identify three Wood Ducks hanging out on a fallen limb enhanced with detritus and trash.
Wood Ducks on the Des Plaines
Song Sparrows were the most visible passerine species…
And one lady cardinal volunteered a brief acknowledgment after sitting with her back to us for several moments. Her expression conveys to me, “Just what do you want?”
Frustrated by the lack of participation at the Portage, we stopped by the house to pick up the scope and drove out to Saganashkee Slough in Palos to see the reported Eared Grebe. Eared Grebe isn’t one we see often in this area, so it seemed like a worthwhile venture. The sun was getting higher which made backlighting a bit of a problem, but we appreciated whatever perceived warmth the sun had to offer. Thanks to generous and helpful birders already at the scene, we located the Eared Grebe. It was swimming around on the far side of the slough, of course, not too far from the men fishing in the first photo below with the Red-Breasted Mergansers flying. The second photo shows the wake behind the Eared Grebe and the last photo was the best I could get from such a distance. You can click on it to get a bit of a better view.
In contrast there were perhaps twenty or more Horned Grebes (top pix below), although I was unable to find one in breeding plumage. And those show-off Red-Breasted Mergansers again.
Horned Grebe, Saganashkee Slough
Mallard drake, Chicago Portage Woods, with neck feathers…
Apologies are in order, I have been a bad blogger lately. It’s not for laziness so much as exhaustion by everything else that has to get done in life. I also think my body slowing down with its latest complaint affects everything since it’s hard to totally dismiss chronic pain. But don’t worry, temporary remedies work well and I’m looking forward to engaging with a more permanent remedy starting in a few weeks. (And I’m thinking beyond the procedure: if I have to sit around a bit more for a few days maybe I can amuse a few of us with on onslaught of blog posts…)
I have more recent excursions to report as soon as I can. I also am waking up to thinking about those big life questions that surprise me every once in a while when I come to realize how I have succumbed to the general malaise reinforced by the bombardment of media, which are designed to distract from reality. I think we’re all hovering around our own versions of this existential enigma, and once I can find all the little nuggets of inspiration that I have gleaned lately from various sources, I will try to offer them up in the context of this blog space. Thank you for being patient and staying with me.
