Back at the Chicago Portage

Posted on April 1, 2023 by Lisa Rest

I walked around the Chicago Portage on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Against a quiet backdrop of very little activity, a few different species emerged.

I stayed home yesterday in part due to a tornado watch and also waiting all day for someone to never show up to check a leaky pipe in the basement. It was windy and off-and-on threatening anyway so it’s probably just as well I stayed in. I have already lined up a rainy day next week to wait again.

I heard Wood Ducks over the past couple weeks and had fleeting glimpses. Then on Thursday I saw one fly in, and when I got to the section of the water where he was headed, there were five.

I can’t ignore some American Robins when they don’t seem to mind me.

Tuesday was not a good day to photograph this Red-winged Blackbird but he was busy vocalizing in the gloom anyway.

The Dark-eyed Juncos are still around and they’re singing now too.

I haven’t heard American Tree Sparrows singing – I guess it’s because they’re quite far away from their breeding grounds. But they are still busy eating and storing up energy for their flight north.

It’s been a while since I have seen a Red-bellied Woodpecker well enough to photograph, although I usually hear one or two.

A distant Cooper’s Hawk was flying toward the water reclamation district property on Thursday.

I was attracted to the contrasting plumage with this pair of Canada Geese.

Both days I saw a pair of Blue-winged Teal. I hope they continue.

And on Thursday morning a Belted Kingfisher was perched in the top of the tallest tree by the water. That’s a European Starling below him.

The palette is going to change soon, but I am still attracted to the black-and-white-and-brown birds.

Thursday as I was coming back along the inside trail, I saw a distant stream of about 200 Sandhill Cranes flying northwest – silently. They would have been easy to miss, except for there being so many of them relatively low in the air.

Bad light, but this time of year any bird could be different, and so few appear they each deserve my attention, like this female Red-winged Blackbird.

Below, two Northern Cardinals and a Dark-eyed Junco on the paved part of the trail.

Periodically I have seen a White-throated Sparrow. This one was digging around in a mess of leaf litter until he flew up to a perch and sat a while.

We are supposed to get a break from the cold, gray, windy weather tomorrow morning, just in time for Choir Sunday. I am simply in love with the piece we are singing and looking forward to giving it my best. I remember being excited and moved by the last featured work we sang, but now I can’t remember what it was for the life of me. I have a feeling this music will be in my heart and head for a long time beyond tomorrow morning.

We made it to April.

McGinnis Magic

Posted on August 13, 2022 by Lisa Rest

I went to McGinnis Slough yesterday morning. It’s been on my mind for a week, and since there isn’t a lot of trail on the east side by LaGrange Road, I decided I could manage it with my knee, which I later took to the pool for a therapeutic swim. The Slough, of course, looks more like a bog.

But it was good to be somewhere else for a change and at first I didn’t see very much. There was a nice Eastern Kingbird. This seems to be the bird of the week.

The Rose Mallow is in full bloom. I always look forward to seeing this.

There was a beautiful Great Black Wasp on some Queen Anne’s Lace.

Walking north toward the overlook of the slough, I saw two Eastern Kingbirds in the Elderberry.

And there was an obligatory Rabbit.

There are usually a lot of dragonflies here but it was cool and a bit overcast so I only managed to capture this Blue Dasher Dragonfly and a Blue Fronted Dancer Damselfly, species I have been seeing all summer.

There seemed to be what looked like Evening Primrose all over the place. I used to have some in my yard years ago.

There was virtually nothing to see without a scope over the slough, and I could barely make out seven or eight Great Egrets, but that was a sign of things to come.

As I walked back south along the trail that follows some nearby open water, such as it is, I encountered a few delightful House Finches. They appeared to be juveniles and as curious about me as I was about them.

And then, through the tall grass, I saw a Great Egret perched on top of a branch of a fallen log that I have seen other birds on before.

As I tried to capture the Great Egret clearly through the grass, I noticed something else. Lo and behold, two Trumpeter Swans and their three Cygnets. I saw this configuration last year, but it must have been earlier because the Cygnets were much smaller. It’s good to see these three have survived to this age.

It then became evident that the Wood Ducks were hanging out on their favorite fallen log nearby.

Here’s a closer cropped image of the transforming male in the tree above.

But that’s not all that was going on. There was a Great Blue Heron behind all the ducks.

I was back there for some time, and not terribly far away from the birds, but I guess they felt safe behind all that grass that got in the way of my photos.

Then at some point another Great Blue Heron flew over, squawking somewhat vociferously,

There wasn’t too much to look at in the rest of the open water, but this little group was nice.

On my way out, as I stopped to look at something in a tree, I noticed there were three Great Egrets perched in another tree which reminded me of how this place used to look years ago when there were scores of them.

Needless to say I was restored by my encounter with these birds. And then swimming made it a nearly perfect day as I was able to work on my knee without injuring it further. I’m trying everything. Exercise, different shoes, whatever. It’s encouraging. Then I celebrated by getting my second Covid-19 booster, figuring it was probably a good idea to get it done before choir rehearsals start soon. The booster has left me feeling a little down, but I guess that means I needed it. Who knows? Everything is a gamble these days. Playing fast and loose with an ice pack on the futon.

Three Visits to Columbus Park

Posted on June 6, 2022 by Lisa Rest

Two weeks after the last formal walk at Columbus Park on May 14, I joined the two Eds from those walks to see what was up after it seemed all the warblers were gone. Suffice it to say that the water birds made up for the lack of passerine diversity. In spite of an event going on at the park, two Great Blue Herons and two Black-crowned Night Herons tolerated all the noise and our attention and gave us some great looks.

There’s invariably a Great Blue Heron here but I’ve never seen one up in a tree like the one in the series below.

These photos are from April 16, May 14 and May 28 so the vegetation keeps changing.

On April 16 we were lucky to see an early Northern Parula.

Although I saw this species on a few other occasions these were the best looks I had all spring.

Also in the old reeds left over from last year was an American Tree Sparrow.

A Northern Rough-winged Swallow posed over the water

There was one little Field Sparrow back on the April visit.

There’s usually at least a pair of Wood Ducks but they don’t always offer such great photo opportunities.

Below from the last visit, a Wood Duck hen with six ducklings.

Once the Red-winged Blackbirds show up, they stay for the summer.

On the last visit there were some more grown up goslings than an on earlier visit.

Back in April, two Double-crested Cormorants swimming together.

The Black-crowned Night Herons are sometimes so well camouflaged.

Back in April I followed this Great Blue Heron in flight.

On May 14, there was a visible Red-eyed Vireo.

And on the last visit two weeks later, a Warbling Vireo made itself known.

Here’s an earlier photo of a Great Blue Heron.

The Black-crowned Night Herons are simply photogenic.

But I’ll let the Wood Duck have the last word.

A rainy forecast for today gave me the time to sit here and put this together. I’ll be back out on the trail tomorrow morning. There will likely be more photographs of dragonflies coming, like the female Eastern Forktail Damselfly below – if that is indeed what this is. I noticed it at Columbus Park on the last visit.

Long Before the Rain

Posted on November 7, 2021 by Lisa Rest

It’s been almost 3 months, which seems hard to believe, but this is a more historical account from McGinnis Slough for birds seen on September 19th, when the slough looked more like a marsh at best. Yet there was more bird activity and a couple less common sightings.

It started off inauspiciously with a European Starling.

But at some point I found a Northern Waterthrush, which is a warbler species I haven’t seen in a long time. They aren’t particularly rare but they don’t travel around in warbler flocks and are often close to water and the ground.