McGinnis Magic

Posted on June 3, 2021 by Lisa Rest

There wasn’t an awful lot going on at McGinnis on my last visit, but the sight of two Sandhill Cranes foraging in the lawn right off the parking lot automatically made it a special day.

I guess McGinnis is always good for a Great Blue Heron or two. But I’m surprised I haven’t seen any Great Egrets lately.

Not a lot of swallows that day but I managed to capture this Tree Swallow.

Not sure I have seen these Irises here before. Nice.

This Song Sparrow was almost completely hidden. We compromised.

Common Grackles are here and there.

Perhaps the second nicest surprise was to see a first-year male Orchard Oriole right before I left.

The lack of light didn’t offer much contrast with these raptors flying overhead.

While I was kind of hoping to see a colt or two with the Sandhills, which I never have here, I did see two Canada Geese in the same spot as the Sandhills were earlier – and they were carefully watching one lone gosling.

Providing additional interest, a Red-Winged Blackbird trying to make sense of a piece of ice cream cone.

I am always impressed by a Robin taking a pose.

I haven’t been able to think about much besides work lately. That – and the burrowing rats in my yard. I just removed all the feeders except for the hummingbird and oriole feeders – for 10 days. The city has provided an exterminator to discourage the rats, and I can only hope for elimination as up until the pandemic, they were never around. But adding insult to injury is the drought. I take it personally, I don’t know why – but the thought of weather like Phoenix, Arizona has never been attractive to me. Nothing against anyone who loves hot, dry weather. It has its place. But not here.

Thanks for letting me rant. I do have more cheerful posts in store and what should be a fun event I will share with you in the next few weeks.

Spring Slowly Unfolds

Posted on May 10, 2021 by Lisa Rest

The weekend before last was warm – but very windy. I went up to the Hebron Trail/Goose Lake Natural Area anyway to see if I could find any Yellow-Headed Blackbirds. I did eventually see them as tiny little yellow-headed black dots far away. It was almost too windy to see any birds well at all.

Where there was a break in the trees, I was surprised to see this one Eastern Kingbird sitting quietly for me to take its picture. I had to think a bit about its identification at such close range!

There were several Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers but they were hard to see.

I don’t know why I make a fuss about Brown-Headed Cowbirds but I still think the males are beautiful.

I had heard Indigo Buntings the day before at the Portage but this was the first one I saw. The closer photographs below are from last year. I will likely get more opportunities this year after the birds establish their territories and start defending them.

Red-winged Blackbirds are easy to see at this location, even on a windy day.

Although it was a hard day for warblers, it was still warm enough for bugs and worms, and I managed to see this Nashville Warbler.

On the trail, coming and going, I saw a Brown Thrasher.

After I had exhausted my patience with the Yellow-headed Blackbirds heard but not seen from the observation deck, I walked a few feet past and stood – only to see a Sandhill Crane take to the air a few yards away. There is nothing quite like seeing a bird with a 77″ wingspan coming toward you.

A few more views…

I was surprised to see a Gray Catbird sitting and calmly looking at me. They are usually quite secretive.

Playing the hiding game was a Yellow Warbler.

Even Song Sparrows were laying low…

A little more Sandhill Crane action…

One more warbler – a Palm Warbler…

Canada Geese are easily dismissed, but they are still striking looking birds.

We are not on the Brood X Cicada a/k/a 17-year locust map this year, but here is a cooperative Cicada from last summer. It hitched a ride into my post with the Indigo Bunting photos.

I have as many more photographs to share as I have other obligations preventing me from doing so. I hope the space between posts will narrow a bit in the not-too-distant future. Hope for the promise of spring.

Sounds of Spring

Posted on April 22, 2021 by Lisa Rest

On that warm weekend nearly three weeks ago – I write this as we chill again after a bit of April Snow yesterday morning and into freezing overnight – I went to McGinnis Slough for a few birds and was greeted by a lot of singing in the sunshine. Thankfully, there was not a lot of traffic noise from LaGrange Road. The primary contributors to the recording are Red-Winged Blackbird males.

Birdsong at McGinnis Slough

This time I got to see one of the Sandhill Cranes that I missed the weekend before. I have to wonder if they are nesting there…

No shortage of Red-Winged Blackbirds showing off.

And not showing off…

A male Wood Duck managed to swim by my lens.

Northern Cardinals didn’t offer many looks, but I managed to add these two for the record.

The iridescence of this Common Grackle’s neck caught my eye first.

This was the best I could do for a Song Sparrow, even though I heard a few singing. The song of one is below the picture.

Song Sparrow

This view overlooking a part of the slough perhaps conveys the feeling evoked by the toad chorus below it.

American Toads, I think

Never at a loss for American Coots this time of year. But I was most impressed with the one standing on a log poking out of the water, preening and showing off its pretty green legs.

Mallards… one hen very comfortable in her chosen spot.

It wouldn’t be an authentic visit to the Slough without a Great Blue Heron flying somewhere.

I was excited to see an Osprey, however briefly.

One male Blue-Winged Teal was close enough to capture.

Perhaps my most thrilling bird sighting that day was this lone Tree Swallow. It was actually warm enough for it to catch bugs in the air.

I always have hope to be back to this page sooner than later. Here’s to more sunshine, warmer weather and more reasons to treasure longer days while they last.

Double-dipping Goose Lake Natural Area

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Lisa Rest

After groveling about making the long drive all the way up to McHenry County around Memorial Day, I went back on July 5th to celebrate my birthday and then again on July 25th. Needless to say now I’m getting used to the drive and the trail and I may have a hard time staying away before October which is when I plan to go back for Sandhill Cranes that purportedly congregate in the fallow farm fields.

I feel like I could start giving some of the individual birds names, like the Willow Flycatcher at the top of the post. I even heard a confirming “fitz-bew” on the last Saturday.

I expected to see more Yellow-headed Blackbirds. On the fifth, the males were really too far away for decent photographs, but I did get to see a female close to the observation deck. I went back on the 25th because I wanted to see many juveniles like I did years ago, but I couldn’t find one Yellow-headed Blackbird anywhere. I must have just missed them. But that’s okay, because I saw some other interesting birds, and it’s just so peaceful to be there. In fact on the second visit when I got there, I had the whole place to myself. I didn’t stay long though because it was very hot.

I found the Gallinule below in my photographs from both visits. This is a great place to go if you carry a spotting scope. But I don’t have the energy to carry a scope and a telephoto lens. Perhaps I should rethink my philosophy of cutting corners. For instance, the combination of two visits in this blog post – it’s becoming evident as I write it that it’s entirely too long.

I did see a pair of Sandhill Cranes on each visit. I have not seen any with offspring, which is a bit disappointing.

Another “only in my photos” discovery – a last Black Tern seen on the 5th. Well, my camera saw it.

Here’s the turtle covered with duck weed that appeared in the background of one of the Yellow-headed Blackbird photos above. If you click on the pictures you can see how the duck weed makes it look like something from another planet.

There are still a lot of Red-winged Blackbirds here and everywhere. They are in no hurry to leave, I suppose, because they won’t have so far to go in the fall.

Red-winged Blackbirds (mostly juveniles)

Not a Red-winged Blackbird but a juvenile Cedar Waxwing

I was hoping I would find a Yellow-headed Blackbird when I blew this up but it turned out to be a Red-winged Blackbird. That’s okay, it’s kind of nice to see the feather pattern, albeit faded. Below the photo, two different Red-winged calls I heard on these visits.

The “other” blackbird – Brown-headed Cowbirds.

Dragonflies like this place.

On both occasions there were swallows, but in particular on the 25th there seemed to be a lot of them. It was nice to see the Bank Swallows – I don’t see them very often.

The Song Sparrow below was on the 5th. There are two more individuals further down the post whose songs I recorded and put underneath their photographs.