When flocks of Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles occur, we’re always looking for Rusty Blackbirds in the mix and until last Sunday I had not seen any. When, just by luck, I happened to be standing on the trail just as a flock of blackbirds flew into the tree in front of me, and lo and behold, mixed in with the Red-wingeds were Rusty Blackbirds!
Below, there’s one Rusty and one Red-winged, for comparison.
These two look like the official greeters.
I was treated to another busy White-breasted Nuthatch.
After an entire summer looking for Red-bellied Woodpeckers and never seeing them, now they are becoming easier to spot. You can even see the “red” on the lower abdomen in the bottom photograph.
I’m really drawn to the gold-colored leaves.
The duckweed turned gray with the cloudy sky, making a strange background for the Mallard below.
A female House Finch and a barely visible Downy Woodpecker.
Below is a flock of American Goldfinches and then one individual well-camouflaged by the vegetation.
This might be the first time I’ve noticed what looks like a cattail gone to seed.
One more of the welcoming committee.
We are getting a little snow, followed by a brief warmup, and then more cold and gloomy weather. I plan to go out as much as possible, just because it’s good to stretch my legs, and then I never know what I will see. Either way there are lots of warbler photographs coming from a few months ago. I should have time now to go through them and celebrate a good haul.
I am sure I have heard a Tufted Titmouse at the Portage on occasion, but I have never seen one until, just as I was about to finish my walk on November 2nd, this one appeared. I had been hanging out with a Black-capped Chickadee and the titmouse insisted on having its picture taken instead.
Black-capped Chickadee
More photos of the Tufted Titmouse are below. In all there are way too any photographs in this post. I am trying to empty them off my hard drive so I can keep up with the present. And there are still pictures of the fall warblers from two months ago. Well. You get the picture.
Birds are moving in flocks now, which generally means you can go for a long time without seeing anything move and then encounter several individuals at once. Below is a flock of Cedar Waxwings.
The 1st was a bit sunnier than the second. Northern Cardinals are easier to see now than they were all summer. Even the females allow themselves to be photographed…as long as they are somewhat hidden and backlit.
Although there are lots of White-throated Sparrows, I don’t often see one well enough to get a picture. This one was a challenge.
Another White-throated Sparrow
One sparrow that has been showing up a lot since I took these first photos below is the Fox Sparrow. They are considerably larger than other sparrows and tend to just sit, so even though this one was behind branches, I could still capture it.
Black-capped Chickadee… and an American Goldfinch
House Finches blend right in to the browns and grays of fall.
Below is a Red-tailed Hawk.
I’ve been delighted to see White-breasted Nuthatches after hearing but rarely seeing them all summer.
Nearly every day I have seen a Brown Creeper.
Here’s about how far away the Brown Creeper was.
American Robins are in flocks too, but every once in a while I spot an individual.
Apologies for Downy Woodpecker overload – it is the start of Visible Woodpecker Season… I love to observe their behavior.
There is a barely-visible House Finch in the two photos below – just to get a feel for how well camouflaged birds can be this time of year.
More Northern Cardinals…
More Downy Woodpecker overload…
Speaking of flocks – Red-winged Blackbirds have been stopping by every day so far, in various-sized groupings.
Some scenes of the fall colors here… The water in the bottomlands has dried up by now, but this was fairly soon after we received a lot of well-needed rain.
Backlit House Finches don’t make very interesting photographs but I liked the surrounding vegetation…
One more Goldfinch…
Below is a well-preserved wasp nest.
This juvenile Red-tailed Hawk was sitting with its back toward me … until it took off.
The Des Plaines RiverThe Portage creek
Thank you for letting me get these off my plate. I will be back soon – either with something more historical or more recent. It’s been exciting for me to go out every day, either way.
I borrowed this title from Peter Mayer, whose song “Winds of October” runs through my head, encapsulating the chill in my bones over the last few days. Our endless summer is over. Although we are still a way off from an overnight freeze, the temperatures are much cooler and we are cloudy and rainy to boot. I can’t complain about the rain. The ground is parched, we need it.
Hoping I could see some migrating Sandhill Cranes at Goose Lake Natural Area this fall, I drove up there with my friend Lesa on Thursday morning… to find no visible cranes, only the sound of them as they likely flew overhead and landed somewhere else as we were walking through the forested tunnel part of the path. The remainder of the path has been paved with some sort of material which I am sure is better for bikes… The lake is totally gone and overgrown, and apparently nothing feeds into it.
But Lesa noticed the bizarre-looking Giant Puffball mushrooms growing off the wooded part of the trail on the way back to the car. I had never seen them before, so it wasn’t a totally uneventful visit.
Giant Puffball Mushroom
We continued on to check out Glacial Park as it was nearby, and we watched the feeder birds from inside the visitor’s center… No Sandhills there either. I am not sure if I was too late again this year or if climate change is throwing off the whole scenario, but I likely will not go all the way back in that direction any time soon. But after all the great birding I have otherwise had the past two months, I really should not complain.
I needed a couple days to get caught up on sleep, to rise again early to meet Ed for the 7:30 bird walk at Thatcher Woods yesterday. Ed, who is the organizer, and I were the only two participants. It was chilly and rather cloudy – what else is new? We moved slowly around the perimeter of the grassy area and stood and observed the usual suspects. Most of them were up high and backlit in poor light.
One of only a few Yellow-Rumped Warblers
A few Yellow-rumped Warblers were barely seen. Golden-crowned Kinglets persisted. It was hard to imagine what the kinglets were grabbing out of the air and from the trees in their usual frenetic manner. But I suppose you have to be that small to find the smallest prey – likely those “no-see-ums.”
Running out of options, I took a picture of the moon. And then, as we stood there watching, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo landed on a branch right in front of us. It was no farther away than the first photo below.
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
I confess I hadn’t seen a Cuckoo in so long, I thought it might be a Black-billed – forgetting what one looked like. But the yellow orbital ring and the big splashy white spots on the tail make it a Yellow-billed Cuckoo.
This is a bird I heard off and on all summer long and never saw. Cuckoos are notoriously reticent – in that they don’t move around much, so if they are sitting somewhere calling, well, good luck finding a bird that blends in with its surroundings and doesn’t move. Every Cuckoo I have ever seen has done something like this – either suddenly appeared, or I would happen upon one just sitting over a trail somewhere. But this one came and sat for us at least three minutes, listening to us talking in admiring tones. Maybe it related to the shutter clicks, which could sound, I suppose, like a very slow Cuckoo.
I managed to get a few photos of the other birds that were around. A Black-capped Chickadee was up high in an oak tree.
A Dark-eyed Junco and its shadow
We got a nice look at a Hairy Woodpecker. A photo of a Downy Woodpecker I saw later is below for comparison.
Downy Woodpecker
A Red-bellied Woodpecker was only partially obscured by a few twigs.
White-breasted Nuthatch
Ed had to leave early and I stayed a few minutes extra before a track team started running through. One of three Hermit Thrushes I saw is below.
A gull flew overhead – it might be a first-year Ring-Billed Gull. The black band on the tail would be reason to believe so…
On Friday, I slept in and only went out to do grocery-shopping. I ventured into my backyard in the afternoon for a few minutes while the sun was shining. I am still waiting for someone to eat the berries off the hawthorn before I cut its branches back – they are laden practically to the ground. The berries look good to me, I don’t know why nobody has eaten them yet. Didn’t the berries suddenly disappear in previous years…?
The other overgrown offering seems to be the asters that bloom this late. I don’t know how many times I cut them back from growing over the walk, but they have grown over it anyway. I can forgive them for the abundance attracting a few bees remaining.
As the rain and cold ensue and my birding travels diminish somewhat, I plan to get caught up with the rest of the fall photograph haul… Thanks for tuning in. I will be back.
We had quite a bit of rain and it was welcome. We also had a couple very cool nights. The water level in the river improved, even if the trees still appeared a bit dried out. I went to the Portage on July 3rd to see what the birds were up to. Perhaps the most welcome sighting was of two Ruby-throated Hummingbirds arguing over some Red Beebalm a/k/a monarda didyma that I had never noticed blooming at the Portage before. Indeed, I was drawn to the color first before realizing there were hummingbirds in it.
Des Plaines River
So below is a little series of what photos I was able to get. Unfortunately the bright light was not favorable to capturing the male’s gorget but it was still fun to watch the hummers. The second bird sitting in the plant was perhaps a young male…
It was getting a bit hot and humid, if I recall, so the Red-winged Blackbirds were relaxing.
And after what seemed like months of never seeing or hearing a Downy Woodpecker, they are visible again.
The Goldfinch below is heavily cropped – it was sitting quite far away. I’m beginning to think all I need is a new prescription. I finally made an eye-doctor appointment. Anyway, bright sunshine helped in this case.
And a rabbit trying to hide…
While I am happy to see Monarch Butterflies, I never see more than one at a time. This makes me very sad, to be on the verge of losing them altogether.
I generally hear a White-breasted Nuthatch every time I go, but this is one of the first I have seen in a while. It was busy scratching an itch…
Come to think of it, I hardly ever see more than one butterfly of any species these days except for Cabbage Whites…
Silvery Checkerspot
I am splitting this up into two posts because as usual I have entirely too many photographs. It was such a nice day after all the unpredictable weather and hectic social schedule made weekend birding iffy. I shall return with Part 2 shortly.
I had a lot of other photographs I was going to post from previous visits but they will have to wait. In spite of the rainy forecast Saturday morning, I went to the Portage and even though it was overcast, it was magical. Within a minute or two I had heard 10 bird species. I saw most of them and many more.
Perhaps the first bird I saw and heard was a Baltimore Oriole. There were easily half a dozen males staking out territories. This was the only one sitting out in the open.
I encountered a small flock of warblers fairly early. I was lucky to be able to sit on a big fallen log that has become permanent enough to attract graffiti. The opportunity to sit and look up into the trees was welcome. Below, couple Yellow-rumped Warblers.
I encountered small groups of White-Crowned Sparrows. They were delightful to see, but they weren’t singing. I have had them in my yard for a couple weeks and they have always started singing the minute I open the door. It was nice enough of these guys to pose for pictures.
I’ve been hearing Yellow Warblers for a couple weeks but hadn’t seen one yet at the Portage. But I found this one in my photos.
Yellow Warbler
And then, of course, the Indigo Buntings. I underestimated their ability to look gorgeous even in poor light.
Below is a series of Black-and-White Warblers. There have been times I haven’t been able to capture these guys and girls, so this was a real treat for me.
I think I’ve decided Hackberries are my favorite trees. The birds like them a lot, and the Portage now seems to be full of them. They are in the elm family and I suspect were planted to fill the gaps left by all the elms we lost over the years to Dutch Elm Disease.
Here’s a Black-capped Chickadee demonstrating why he likes Hackberries. They seem to attract good worms.
A few birds I would expect to see all summer…
This female American Robin looks a bit exhausted. She also appears disheveled with her brood patch.A male American GoldfinchGray CatbirdGreat Blue Heron flyover
There were at least 30 swallows over the water. I had three species – Tree Swallows, Barn Swallows and Northern Rough-winged Swallows. They are all represented in the slide show below.
I looked up and saw this Scarlet Tanager. I’m going back to see if I can find another.
I always hear at least one White-Breasted Nuthatch but I haven’t seen any for quite a while. This one made up for all the ones I missed.
Song Sparrow
Here’s what a Magnolia Warbler might look like straight above you. Below I have grouped several views of the “Maggies” who always seem to engage with the camera.
There were some barely-there birds…
Blue JayFemale Cape May WarblerFemale Downy Woodpecker
With one more Magnolia Warbler photo, I am done with this post. We are going to get warm over the next few days. I wish I didn’t have to work, it would be ideal weather to see more birds. But the somewhat crummy weather this morning created conditions for some nice encounters with beautiful birds. I really can’t complain.
I started writing this post to coincide with setting the clocks forward, and now it’s taken me over another week to get back to it. But when considering all the photographs were taken a year and a month ago – on April 19th, 2020, to be exact – and I never got a chance to finish processing them until now, it’s taken even longer! I hope it’s kind of a sneak preview of what to expect in the coming days and weeks as spring unfolds at the Portage.
One of my first encounters was a pair of Downy Woodpeckers exhibiting their exuberant version of courtship behavior. At first I thought they were arguing! I have never witnessed this before so I’m glad I was able to capture it. If you click on the right panel and keep going you can see the sequence.
It appears I had way too many photographs from this excursion which might explain why I never managed to post them. Still it’s nice to revisit them, like the female Northern Cardinal below.
Below, often the first warbler to visit, a Myrtle Yellow-Rumped Warbler.
Surprised to find this photograph in the mix – likely my first sighting of an Eastern Bluebird last year.
An Eastern Phoebe, dreaming of flying insects, perhaps.
Another Downy Woodpecker.
Song Sparrows…
Red-winged Blackbirds…
I don’t think there’s enough water on site anymore to attract herons, but there is plenty nearby so I should still see them flying over on occasion.
A Northern Flicker showing just a little of its golden shafts.
There were two Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers on this tree and one flew away.
A Black-capped Chickadee showing off.
Red-tailed Hawk
White-breasted Nuthatch
A singular turtle…
An assortment of early fungus, moss and flora.
A singing American Robin
Here’s a Golden-Crowned Kinglet – unfortunately the lighting didn’t do its colors justice.
This Brown-headed Cowbird was foraging on the ground.
Canada Geese and the clouds…
Chipping Sparrow
Robins often seem like they want to engage in a conversation.
A Wood Duck drake in a tree. I remember trying to get this shot after I saw him land, with a lot of branches between us.
Mallards…
Blue-winged Teal…
So the Portage will still be slowly coming to life, but we’re warming up, the days are getting longer and migration has begun. Springing forward with hope.
Missing whatever nice, sunny weather during the week, I was determined to get out sometime over the three-day weekend when it wasn’t raining or snowing, so Monday the 18th was my only possible choice for a visit to the Portage. There may have been no snow but there was no light either. Although the sun was trying.
My attention is always drawn to this tree stump as I walk into the Portage and it’s become iconic, so expect to see it again.
Not surprisingly, Canada Geese were on the move.
Nothing like black and white birds and no light. With the exception of the touch of red on the male Downy, I could have taken these pictures without color… Well, the Chickadee does have a little beige to him.
The White-Breasted Nuthatch was so far away, this was the best shot I could get of him – upside down behind a branch.
It’s been hard to get motivated to go very far these days, but I do think next month I should try to venture a little farther as the days grow longer, at least. Until then, I don’t mind negotiating these snowy paths because they’re familiar.
The snow at least provided some light and contrast to the terrain.
You can’t see them, but trust me, there were Goldeneyes in the Des Plaines River.
So the water is frozen now and even the two ducks gave up. I did see a Mallard come in for a landing early on, but I never located it, so it must have taken off later. The only other thing I remember about this visit is one male House Finch singing his head off atop a tall tree way over on the other side, of course, so I couldn’t get his picture, but he filled up the otherwise quiet visit with hopeful sound.
I will be back with Part 3 shortly. I don’t want to imagine Part 4… We are anticipating a major snow storm. The radar looks pretty frightening. Luckily I don’t have to go anywhere today.
I participated in the Christmas Bird Count on December 19th. It was a cloudy, cool day. Not great for photographs, or for a lot of birds either, at least where I was, but it was good to see more people participating. I took both cameras with me, not knowing what I expected to do with either one of them.
If I start thinking about how long it has taken me to get back to finishing this post I won’t do it, so strike that thought and keep going. Below is a look at how the Fox River looked that morning.
I started out with the mirrorless and managed to get a rather nice view of this Red-bellied Woodpecker. Actually all the bird pictures in this post were taken with the little camera. I didn’t have to fuss around with adjusting for no light as much.
At some point we had stopped to listen for birds and saw this amazing honeycomb hanging from a tree.
We had Downy Woodpeckers (below) and a Hairy as well.
Hairy Woodpecker
It was almost not worth taking these photos of flying geese but you can appreciate just how dark and gloomy it was.
Learning more tree bark – this is a cherry tree, which the person who identified it said it looks like “potato chips.” I guess.
The fungus on this tree looks like a staircase to me.
The Cedar Waxwings were the most cheerful sight.
It’s hard to motivate myself to do anything beyond the have-to’s, these days. In particular, after the coup attempt – which is hard not to take personally – as much as I want to continue hoping I can exude a positive vibe that will land somewhere it’s needed, it’s hard to fight sheer exhaustion. But this comes and goes in waves. It’s been cold and gloomy too, which does not help. Time to get up and do something! I need to play some piano every day for the birds. Music is life.
I’m adding this White-Breasted Nuthatch that somehow didn’t make it into a Portage post of October pictures. Another mirrorless capture.
I’m not making any promises about when I’ll be back, but sooner or later I’m sure I will. It’s been confusing to be anywhere lately. Everything has a veneer of unreality to it. Maybe it’s just time to start asking the old questions again, even if we still can’t answer them.
In my typical fashion, I have been trying to write this post for the last week and a half. So while we are all wondering how to get through the holidays this year-like-no-other, I feel a sense of loss too, even though I likely would not have had any plans to go anywhere myself. But there’s also a sense of opportunity in any day I really don’t have to think about work.
Even though it was a cool, late spring and in the middle of the pandemic, there’s something oddly comforting these days about looking back.The Portage looks about like this now – no leaves on the trees, everything muted in browns and grays – but the birds are different in appearance, and most of these species have left for the winter. I took way too many photographs on this day, which might explain why it’s taken me seven months to process them. I won’t be doing a lot of explanation…that might take me another seven months. just hope you enjoy the images.
It will be a while before male American Goldfinches look like the one below.
Out over the Des Plaines River that day, there were three Belted Kingfishers flying around. I didn’t do a very good job of capturing them, they were quite far away. But at least one flew close enough to be recognizable.
A returning Song SparrowA Blue Jay, blending in with the sky and the barren treeWaiting to come back to life.
Eastern Phoebe
I keep trying to get a decent photograph of the golden shafts on a Flicker and usually fail, but this time I got close.
There were a couple Blue-Winged Teal hanging out with the Mallards.
One Ring-Billed Gull flew over low enough to be identifiable.
Robins started coming back to their territories. The one in the second photograph is barely discernible from the tree it’s in.
Of course nothing says spring like the return of Red-Winged Blackbirds.
It was early enough in the morning to encounter a couple deer.
Please forgive me, I took way too many pictures of Golden-Crowned Kinglets. They are all gone now, but it was a joy to see them return in April.
Downy Woodpecker – the Portage’s most numerous resident woodpecker
Here’s a thrush I don’t see often – a Veery.
I took a few too many pictures of this Ruby-crowned Kinglet too, but at least I did get somewhat of a shot at the ruby crown.
A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker…
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
I am always happy to see a White-Breasted Nuthatch, even though they are with us all year long. I never tire of them.
The light was nice on this Red-Bellied Woodpecker.
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Brown-headed Cowbirds are…what they are.
The pair of Eastern Bluebirds this year were such a welcome sight. Although I saw them for several weeks, I don’t think they wound up staying to breed. I can only hope they give the Portage a second chance next year.
The first warbler to show up in the spring, and the last to leave in the fall… the trusty Myrtle, or as long as it’s still lumped with Audubon’s (last time I checked), it’s a Yellow-Rumped Warbler.
I will be back with more from last spring (!) and some more current observations. I hope you are safe and well, wherever you are. And I hope you continue to find moments of peace and solace. There is still a lot to be thankful for.
Not always sure where I’m coming from with one-handed typing, but the slowness with which I have had to express myself has given berth to more measured thoughts, perhaps, and, like bird-watching, there is something almost meditative in it.
Before I stray further, I want to dedicate this post to my dear friend Linda Rios and her husband Ed who got me through my awful post-injury and surgery situation with loving aplomb. It occurred to me after I struggled to finish the last post that I was bereft in my focus and needed to at least acknowledge how much my friends have meant to me during this blotch on my existence.
These photos are from August 29th, mostly taken at the Portage. After I was done there I checked out what the Army Corps of Engineers has done to the part of Ottawa Trail that runs along the Des Plaines River, expecting there wasn’t much to photograph there except for the habitat destruction.
Below, a very cooperative White-breasted Nuthatch.
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Eastern Phoebe
The Chestnut-sided Warbler below was pretty well-hidden but now that I can’t take any photographs for a while I am glad I managed to get these when I did.
The bird below is a Nashville Warbler.
American Redstart
Red-winged Blackbird
The last of the Baltimore Orioles. I had one visit my feeder later that afternoon…
Baltimore Orioles
A juvenile American Robin
Red-bellied Woodpecker
There were a few Indigo Buntings still around as late as September 19, which was the first bird walk I led after my surgery. Most of them looked like the two below.
On my way out of the Portage on August 29, I spotted this Cooper’s Hawk who just sat, and sat, and I took way too many pictures expecting that it would do something interesting. I was too exhausted by the time it finally took off.
A little Portage flora – I am always amazed at the height of the trees so maybe the cell phone conveys them somewhat. Then there are parts of the trail that are lined with blooming flowers now – a vast improvement over the burdock from years past.
Juvenile Northern Flicker
So this is what Ottawa Trail is looking like now that the levee has been finished on one side of the Des Plaines. It was relatively devoid of birds but I expected that. Others have told me, though, that the levee affords great looks at the Des Plaines River when there are water birds present, so I shall have to check that out another time.
I was able to capture a few signs of life.
On my way out of Ottawa Trail, over the parking area, a Red-Tailed Hawk flew overhead.
Elbow-wise, the cast is gone, stitches removed, and I have 12 weeks of physical therapy ahead. I actually had one physical therapy session on Friday and was reassured I had chosen the right location when I heard a crow calling as I went back to my car. As I mentioned, I managed to lead bird walks these past two Saturdays and I am so grateful to the participants who showed up and helped me feel alive again. I didn’t master the one-handed binocular skill, but now that I am cast-free, I am able to raise my left arm enough so maybe I can go looking for a few more birds this fall even if I cannot commemorate the sightings in photos. In these uncertain times it’s all the more grounding to continue one’s connection with the natural world.
