When I was in Riverside Monday morning and it was gloomy and chilly, as it had been all week, there were still signs of things about to get better. This will be a quick post.
I don’t see a lot of Canada Geese these days, but there are a few, like the regular couple that hangs out on the wall by the Joliet Avenue bridge. I think this is the goose doing her morning exercises.
Things brightened up a little with a Golden-crowned Kinglet.
A Great Blue Heron flew up the river. Any day now, one will find a place to fish on the shore.
Cooperative Blue Jays are rare, but I guess this one had enough twigs in the way to make it feel less exposed to my lens.
One of the Red-breasted Mergansers flew by.
I thought I heard this Song Sparrow start to sing while he was still on the ground.
A Downy Woodpecker appeared.
I never get enough of the Brown Creepers.
I wondered what the Eastern Phoebe could possibly be catching on a chilly, gloomy morning.
Then I saw my first warbler of the season. Not surprisingly, it was a Yellow-rumped Warbler. The same individual is at the top of the post.
I was heading back to my car when I noticed two Ring-billed Gulls on the “island” near where the Hofmann Dam used to be. They behaved like a couple of young lovers and they were fun to watch.
They were joined briefly by a Killdeer which you might be able to see coming in for a landing on the left, in the photo below.
The gulls continued to dream.
Then one of them caught something, and ultimately they both appeared to share the treat. I knew then that they had to be a couple, because I have never seen such cooperation among gulls before.
I always have a lot more photos than I can ever get around to posting here. I’m sorry it’s taking me so long to churn these things out lately. Especially when I am now anticipating Birding Boot Camp this weekend, when I start getting up before the birds and going out earlier, as more birds are starting to arrive. À bientot.
I have what feels like a million things going on all at once and it seems never-ending. The past weekend alone was life-changing. More about that later. But this week I have to remain focused on our upcoming flute-and-piano recital Sunday afternoon. Even my birds seem to know it’s important.
So here are some photos from my walk in Riverside yesterday morning. I had several other things planned but they will have to wait. I can be more current for a change.
The first bird I saw, as it was trying to hide from me, was a bird we tend to associate with the coming of winter – a Dark-eyed Junco.
(I’m trying to finish this on my phone while I am at the car dealer for service. I hope I don’t become incomprehensible.)
As I continued to walk on the Swan Pond side of the river I encountered a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.
Then a female Northern Cardinal assumed that she blended in well with some changing leaves.
Then of course it was time for Yellow-rumped Warblers. They are everywhere in substantial numbers. It’s not unusual to see several at a time and I have become quite accustomed to their little “click” sounding contact calls.
What was even more impressive yesterday morning was their behavior. They seemed to be emulating some Cedar Waxwings who were flying over the river to catch insects in the air. I had never seen Yellow-rumps do this before.
This vine always turns bright red, and can be counted on even in a drought to provide some fall color.
More Yellow-rumpeds up close and personal.
I managed to get a Golden-crowned Kinglet to slow down long enough for a photo or two.
Killdeer were busy in mudflats that have sprung up everywhere in the shallow waters of the river.
Then, as I was crossing the swinging bridge, I saw a Spotted Sandpiper on the shore below. I have seen one or two of these birds at this spot before so I just dutifully tried to get the best photos I could without thinking too much about it, but then when I entered it on my EBird list it came up “rare.” All the better to have the photos.
In Riverside Lawn I saw a White-throated Sparrow.
Then I encountered a young doe having breakfast.
Of course there were more Yellow-rumped Warblers, if not much else. The individual below the flying bird appeared to be drying off its feathers after a bath in the river.
The Killdeer were busy flying around and I finally managed to capture them that way.
Flying to the rocks by the Hofmann Tower
That’s about it for yesterday’s birds. When I got home after swimming, I noticed Milkweed Beetles all over the seed pods in the front garden.
So I have been in a dream all weekend and I am reluctant to wake up from it. My favorite singer-songwriter over the last several years has been Peter Mayer (from Minnesota). I discovered his music when my friend Cory Anderson sang Peter’s iconic song, “Holy Now”, at what I think was the first or second Spring Music Festival that I performed in with my flute playing friend Linda Rios. Just Googling “Holy Now” led me to YouTube videos and eventually Peter’s website where I found albums on CDs galore. I eventually bought them all and fell in love with more songs than I ever imagined could be written with such incredible lyrics and beautiful tunes and arrangements. Peter Mayer also is a fantastic guitarist and singer. And he somehow manages to find hope for humanity through storytelling and metaphor, which is in such short supply these days.
Years ago, before the pandemic, I did get to see him in concert at a church in the northwest corner of the state. I started a small one-person campaign to see if we could get him to come to Unity Temple for a concert. If nothing else, he has a song in one of the hymnals called “Blue Boat Home.” But my request got lost in the myriad other things going on.
During the pandemic, Peter resorted to doing YouTube concerts periodically from his basement. It was a great experience for me to see him more often and get to know him more personally, or so it seemed. And I think it was also rewarding for him in a way as he could continue to write more songs and try them out on his larger following. He is now releasing singles instead of albums, as CD players become relics of the past.
So why am I telling you all this??? It’s because, thanks to our developmental minister Roger, who knows Peter from another congregation where he served, Peter Mayer played a concert at Unity Temple on Saturday night and the next morning, he sang for the service, sang with the choir, and gave the sermon – twice! – as we have now resumed two services. I Was In Heaven!! It was a transformative experience. Up there with the discovery that birds sing with music in key and they are listening to us. And even better than that, after Peter’s sermons about mindfulness and connection with the universe, I thought he should know about the birds and the music. I could see the wheels turning in his head as I told him about it. And I left him with the thought that, after the Big Bang, there was a Big Chord. Music is indeed the beginning of everything. And with luck, it just might be our salvation.
Thanks for listening. I will resume regular programming in my next post.
Oh, and by the way, if you are at all curious about Peter Mayer, he is at PeterMayer.net, to distinguish him from the other one who is “.com” and, as Pete joked about it at his concert, “is also very good looking.”
Monday morning I went back to Riverside to see how the birds were doing. We were still on the positive side of a warm front. I encountered a few Yellow-rumped Warblers off the paved trail. One in particular came down close to check me out.
It was hard not to take more photographs of other individuals.
There was one Killdeer on the rocks opposite the Hofmann Tower.
Two Canada Geese flew by.
The Des Plaines River was starting to green up.
The light was good for woodpeckers.
Downy WoodpeckerRed-bellied Woodpecker
Red-winged Blackbirds were scrambling, and I captured one briefly.
And Brown-headed Cowbird…
and a Common Grackle for good measure.
In Riverside Lawn I saw my first-of-the-season Hermit Thrushes – there were two on the trail.
I took note of a moss-covered log.
And noticed some Common Mergansers.
There were Ruby-crowned Kinglets, but I have yet to see a crown.
A White-throated Sparrow peered out at me from a tangle.
There were more Yellow-rumped Warblers on the other side of the river. Soon I will be able to pass over these guys for someone else, but at the moment they are hard to ignore.
The week has slowly but surely revealed more birds returning. I will have a couple visits to the Portage to review, plus it’s getting crowded on my hard drives. The winds have shifted for the last couple days and it was quite chilly this morning for the Oak Park Bird Walkers at Thatcher Woods. I’m looking forward to the warmup next weekend when I can finally start cleaning up the yard, although it looks like it could be a soggy situation. In the meantime, here are a few signs of spring from the yard on Tuesday. The little apple tree in the front yard is now in full bloom.
Blue violets carpet the backyard.
I’m seeing the House Finches more often now and they are singing like crazy.
The Prairie Smoke on the side of the house is starting to bloom.
And my old Redbud which has struggled the past few years still manages to stay alive.
I am back from the land of afternoon naps with a short segment.
We’ve had two Saturday morning walks at Thatcher Woods in River Forest, and we will have our final fall migration walk there on October 8. It’s been pretty quiet the last few weeks, but I did manage some photographs of a few birds, so here they are.
Basically, the Red-tailed Hawk was the only bird I captured doing anything on September 10.
Then on our last visit on September 24, the first of season bird of the walk – and for several of us, first of the year – was this Yellow-bellied Sapsucker who was perched somewhat distantly in a tree. This was likely the best long look I will get this year so I took too many photographs. I have since seen a few more of this species but have not been able to photograph them. For me, the placement of white on the wing quickly distinguishes this bird from other woodpeckers.
I must have had a few long moments to photograph the Red-tailed Hawk.
Also notable on the 24th, but impossible to capture well with the camera, were 34 Northern Flickers foraging on the lawn. We didn’t dare bother them by getting any closer.
A murder of about 20 crows flew overhead, which was beautiful to see. I could only capture a few, but to me there is nothing like a crow in flight.
Here are a few more of the sapsucker.
On our last visit we saw some Yellow-rumped Warblers by the parking lot, and after the walk I stayed a moment to get a few photographs.
Here are a few more of the Red-tailed Hawk.
Our last walk at Columbus Park is tomorrow morning. I have much more to report, it’s just been a busy week and I’ve been too tired to sustain many thoughts. I will try harder to be “back” at least while there’s still some activity before winter sets in. Then the birds will be fewer but somewhat easier to see, perhaps. Best to expect the unexpected.
There have been moments in past migrations when it has seemed like all we were seeing were Yellow-rumped Warblers. Specifically, in this part of the country we have the Myrtle variety. The birds look quite different in the fall than they do in the spring, and even contrasts between individuals can be a little daunting. After reviewing the photos I took yesterday morning in Riverside, I’ve come to the conclusion that I had three different individual Yellow-rumped Warblers.
There are a couple field marks beyond the one for which the bird is named, which you can always count on, however, and it was good to review them after my visual brain has been filled with images of all the other warblers I have seen or might see. The undertail pattern is consistent and striking.
The other feature is a split eyering. And there’s just something about a Myrtle’s face after you’ve seen more than a few.
Here are more images of the three individuals. You will see how variable their plumages appear. No. 1 is below, which also is the same bird at the top of the post and directly above.
No. 2 was a little yellower underneath.
And No. 3, sort of drab-looking. But this bird was so cooperative I obliged it by taking way too many photos.
There were a few other warblers I had a harder time capturing as they were way up in their favorite tree again. I had hoped maybe the storm Tuesday night would bring a few more birds down. Here’s a Blackpoll Warbler, one of only a couple warblers I captured clearly enough.
And a Chestnut-sided Warbler.
A few more of the hard-to-see Chestnut-sided Warbler.
And to make things a little bit more confusing, I had a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, which appeared really yellow in this light.
Beyond the few warblers, the Great Egrets were present again just south of the Hofmann Tower. There were eight of them at this spot but I could not capture them all clearly in one photo.
Then as the foot bridge came into view later, there were two more Great Egrets and a Great Blue Heron.
I heard and then saw a Red-bellied Woodpecker in a tree close to the sidewalk. If these birds are anything like they were last fall and into the winter, I will be seeing a lot of them soon.
I had a couple Gray-cheeked Thrushes.
Mallards are few at the moment.
There are still some Double-crested Cormorants on the river. I managed to barely catch this one in flight.
At my feet on the Riverside Lawn trail, a Powdered Dancer Damselfly.
I stayed home today and worked in the backyard while waiting for the tree service to come. I cleared out a huge amount of an invasive species that I had mistakenly assumed was something I planted after I noticed it was bothering the heck out of me and taking over. I will finish digging up what’s left of it over the weekend. The weather was perfect for working outdoors at a coolness ranging from 54 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. We remain cool tomorrow. Two workers will be back to replace the center post and repair my fence. Life is good.
Looks like Chantarelle Mushrooms were growing atop the old Ohio Buckeye stumpAnd here’s what was left of the stump after they cut it down – being sent to the grinder.
Warbler migration always seems to be defined by the appearance of “Maggies” and Redstarts. Magnolia Warblers are generally abundant in migration, and they always seem to cheerfully accept their fate as lens subjects.
The male Magnolia Warbler has that big bright white wing patch. The female Magnolias do not have the wing patch and their black streaks don’t form a “necklace” or thick black streaks.
More male Magnolias…
And some females…with one paler male snuck in below.
Just a couple more…
The American Redstarts are somewhat harder to capture. This is at least a two-year male. The first year males look a lot like the females in that they do not have the bold orange and black coloring.
These birds tend to forage more frenetically than some other species.
I think this is a first-year male. It’s sometime hard to tell, but the yellow on the breast is a bit orangey-er than the yellow on the females.
These birds may appear dull but they make up for it with their active foraging. Two days later when the leaves filled out on the trees, it was much harder to see them.
This bird lost its tail!
A few more of what I think is a first-year male American Redstart, sometimes affectionately referred to as a “yellowstart.”
There are still a few Yellow-rumped Warbers around and they have the same colors as the Magnolias, just arranged differently.
Wilson’s Warblers are among my favorites. But as of this outing they managed to hide their trademark black caps almost entirely.
If you click on the photos in the gallery below you might be able to see only a hint of a black cap in one or two of them.
So there are a few more warblers I have yet to cover – not as many photos of each species (whew!) – and some other birds seen as well, and then plenty more migration madness to continue. I am convinced the male Northern Cardinals are enjoying being basically ignored by us warbler-hungry photographers.
I am very tired from going out to hear a friend perform last night and then getting up early to do the spring migration walk in Columbus Park, so I may not have much to say for a little while. But I will be back with the review of Tuesday’s birds, and there are so many more I have seen since then.
I saw some birds this week – in between practicing for the Spring Music Festival which will occur tonight. We had a rehearsal/run through last night and I survived. At least people like the song, so I guess that’s a good indication of something.
We canceled our scheduled walk at Columbus Park this morning because the weather was potentially threatening with the possibility of thunderstorms. We will more than likely have that kind of weather later tonight as we warm up to 70 degrees. But the overnight lows are still predicted to be in the 40’s for the coming week, which delays the yard cleanup even further.
These photos are from Monday at the Chicago Portage. I warn you, there are Way Too Many of them. The warm wave from the two days before brought migrants into the area. It was cooler on Monday so a lot of birds were foraging for food on the ground, like this Pine Warbler sampling seeds on the asphalt path.
Believe it or not these photos are of two separate individuals. I couldn’t capture them close enough to each other for a group photo.
The one Pine Warbler in the trees at first was not recognizable to me, but it turned out to be a Pine, albeit a drab one. The photo of the undertail helped me identify it.
A few more of this bird. Either way, it blends right in with the wood.
Palm Warblers have been all over the place in great numbers. it has gotten so that after taking all these pictures I haven’t bothered much with any of them the rest of the week.
I barely managed a few fuzzy photographs of the Black-and-White Warbler below.
it was delightful to see the return of a Yellow Warbler. One or two always stays the summer at the Portage so I expect to see this species again.
Warblers were not the only thing going on. There were lots of Chipping Sparrows, albeit most of them on the ugly asphalt.
There were a few group photo opportunities.
Palm Warbler and Chipping SparrowsChipping Sparrow and Field Sparrow
There were one or two Field Sparrows and then quite a number of White-throated Sparrows through the break in the fence.
Field SparrowWhite-throated Sparrow
I saw my first Baltimore Oriole of the year. My feeder will go up tomorrow. As you can see he wasn’t moving much.
Vocally and actively, the Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers are back. The lack of light emphasized the the Gray half of their name.
Here’s what the sky looked like that morning.
I had a cooperative White-breasted Nuthatch doing his thing.
Male Northern Cardinals are a little easier to photograph these days as they advertise their territories.
But the lack of light kept everything pretty cool-looking.
In her elusive stage, I managed half of a Red-bellied Woodpecker.
My volunteer American Robin. They are all over the Portage now.
The Yellow-rumped Warblers were the first to show up, but now their numbers are diminishing.
The return of water this year is making the place attractive to waterfowl again.
Blue-winged Teal and Canada Geese
It would have been nice to see the rest of the bird below, but I think after going back and forth between Hermit Thrush and Swainson’s Thrush, it’s the latter.
Northern Flickers are determined to not be seen and this one wasn’t any different.
The Great Egret stopped by to see if conditions were conducive to fishing. I can only assume the sight of me changed its mind. But it was back the next day, on the bank of the stream.
I can only imagine what these Mourning Doves were up to. If that’s the male on the right, his neck feathers are iridescent…
I think these are flowers of a Box-elder Maple Tree. I found them attractive.
So thanks to the canceled bird walk and my nap, I was able to finish this offering. If you made it all the way to the end of this post you are a rock star! I must go back to my chores and prepare for this evening’s performance. I hope to be back again sooner after all this. Thanks for checking in and Happy Spring!
We are rainy and still warm today so perhaps these photographs from Wednesday won’t look out of place. The forecast was similar to today’s, albeit almost twenty degrees cooler, but it didn’t rain while I was out. I nearly dashed out this morning when the sun broke through the clouds because spring migration is picking up, but I am not interested in playing chicken today with the forecast, and with predicted rain and storms there is wind that will eventually drive the temperatures back down to where they were when these pictures were taken.
The first thing I noticed looking over the river from the Lyons side was swallows. They were mostly Tree Swallows.
Except for a Northern Rough-winged Swallow I managed to capture, albeit blending in with the cloudy sky reflected by the water, which was moving rather briskly. I later tried to capture the “rapids” in the photo below the swallow.
For what it’s worth, there was also a Ring-billed Gull over the river at Lyons.
There were Yellow-rumped Warblers at the riverbank at Riverside, bugging in the mud.
Distantly perched, I barely managed to capture a Belted Kingfisher, a male this time.
Showing up for the count, so to speak, a female Brown-headed Cowbird was foraging in the lawn.
Over on the Riverside Lawn side of the Des Plaines things picked up a bit. There were numerous Ruby-crowned Kinglets. Ruby-crowned Kinglets are slightly larger than Golden-crowneds, which makes them appear huge by comparison when you are dealing with birds this size altogether.
“No, I am NOT going to show you my Ruby Crown”
There were plenty of Golden-crowned Kinglets as well, with these giving me some nice looks.
At one point while I stood wondering where the birds were, a Song Sparrow came and sat right in front of me for the longest time. Here’s only a few of perhaps 20 photographs. He wasn’t singing, he was pretty silent, but he wanted me to notice him. Maybe this is the same bird that gave me a recital weeks ago. The third photograph shows his feathers ruffled up a bit by a wind gust. I don’t think the temperature had reached 50 degrees yet.
This Northern Cardinal looks a bit chilly as well.
It’s always hard to tell whether you are seeing the same birds that were on the other side of the river because they tend to fly back and forth, but I suspect these Yellow-rumped Warblers were different individuals from the mud bunch.
And then out of the blue, so to speak, I saw the flash of a Northern Parula. This was a bird I had seen on the weekend before at Columbus Park – and I will try to be back shortly with that report as I managed to get better images in much better light. This warbler has been showing up in various locations around the Chicagoland area the past week and it was still early on Wednesday. I was about finished with my walk when I noticed the bird was working along the riverbank and I followed it until I managed to barely grab these images. This bird seemed to prefer foraging in old logs.
I am always good for a quick White-breasted Nuthatch.
Blue Jays are starting to show up again. I have heard them on occasion all winter but now I am just beginning to see them.
Beyond that, a couple Mallard drakes for good measure.
And one more of the Northern Parula.
I will try to be back soon as I try to keep space on the old hard drive free for inevitably more photographs. It’s going to be a rather busy week as I keep practicing for the Spring Music Festival so I am not making any promises, but a rainy morning forecast helps the blog efforts.
I would also like to dedicate this post to the memory of my former first-alto Alice Muciek who was a force for nature and music, in whose memorial service I will be singing with the Unity Temple Choir this afternoon.
I had planned on this post days if not a week ago… This could be my last ancient fall warbler photos post. Even though we will still have some cold weather to deal with, spring and the longer days are gaining attention from the birds. It won’t be long before the trees leaf out and warblers start to arrive. Red-winged Blackbirds have already started setting up territories as of March 1.
So here are a few reminders of what the warblers looked like in the fall. Below and at the top of the post is a Bay-breasted Warbler.
Below is one quick capture I managed of a Northern Parula.
Yellow-rumped Warblers like the ones below will look quite different in the spring.
Male Nashville Warblers have a tiny red spot sometimes visible at the crown. If you click on the first image below you might be able to see a hint of red on this one.
One sought-after warbler that I saw a few times but didn’t manage to photograph until a later visit in October was this male Black-throated Blue Warbler.
There were a lot of Black-throated Green Warblers this past fall.
And many Blackpoll Warblers were available for observation.
I will never tire of Magnolia Warblers although they were ubiquitous this past fall. I really think they like to flirt with the camera lens.
Not a warbler, but there was a very well seen Cooper’s Hawk that day.
Things are getting a bit more interesting as spring approaches and I will be back as soon as I can with more photos and reflections. Life goes on. Sometimes surprisingly so.
Oops, I almost forgot the obligatory American Redstart.
I have been out locally the past two weeks and there is much to post about, but I thought it might be time to take a historical break. These pictures are all from October 19th at the Portage. Only a little over a month ago, there was still more color among the birds than the leaves. I spent a lot of time with this Nashville Warbler.
Perhaps in the instance below the leaves outshone the bird – a pretty drab-looking American Goldfinch.
The other late fall warblers were on hand. Below is a Yellow-rumped Warbler.
And the one I kept seeing later and later into the season, an Orange-crowned Warbler…
Barely visible but I would know that face anywhere (Orange-crowned Warbler)
Not a lot of sparrows on hand but I managed to capture these two.
White-throated SparrowLincoln’s Sparrow
And the Kinglets – Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned…
A little Portage scenery
It’s been wonderful to see Brown Creepers on so many occasions.
Always glad to see a Black-capped Chickadee who seems to return the sentiment.
This could have been the only Great Blue Heron I saw here for months since the drought caused the water level to drop so drastically.
Not a wonderful place for a Hermit Thrush to pose but I was glad to see it.
It wasn’t quite woodpecker “season” yet but I managed to see this female Downy Woodpecker.
There are lots more historical visits to make sense of – indeed a flurry of fall warblers that I was so busy taking pictures of I barely have barely had time to go through them, so they may periodically provide a little visual warmup during the cold.
I am mourning the death of my beloved singer/songwriter/implacable musician Zebra Finch male to whom I gave the name of Arturo Toscanini. He died Thursday morning. I found him on his back, on the floor of the dining room by the windows. He was still warm when I picked him up. He had been singing a lot lately, and I think perhaps he had been telling me his time was coming because I found myself thinking about how old he had to be, even though he had no signs of aging or impairment, other than it seemed his little goatee was getting whiter and whiter. The blessing in all of this is that I have one of his offspring who is singing an abbreviated version of his Arpeggio Song and an even shorter memory of his TaTaTaTaTAH Song. Also, other birds have taken up the actual Toscanini Song that he used to sing a long time ago. And there are many more songs among them to catalogue and follow. At some point I hope to go through the years of recordings (I determined I must have gotten Arturo sometime in late 2014) to see if I can put together a timeline of his compositions. In the meantime, I am incredibly thankful for all the avian musicians I still have with me. Singing is their raison d’etre, and music is life.
