Sunset over the lake at Jones Meadow, a little "pocket park" near our condo in North Aurora, Illinois:
A bit later, the view of the sky from the adjacent marsh:
Mary Lou and I participated with Kane County (Illinois) Audubon in a Global Big Day bird count on May 5. Our assigned territory was Bliss Woods Forest Preserve in Sugar Grove, Illinois, a favorite place to visit during migration.
This also provided one of the few opportunities we had to get out, due to other more pressing obligations. During our two hour early morning watch, we only saw 36 species, but there was lots of color!
Yellow Warblers were singing and courting:
Newly-arrived Baltimore Orioles dashed through the treetops:
A Rose-breasted Grosbeak provided a study in black and white...
...and red:
Mary Lou found another species which continued to carry out the color scheme--
A pair of Red-headed Woodpeckers:
Maintaining two homes and the associated travel has been stressful. Now that we have acquired "two of everything" it is time to let half of them go. We are busy giving away all the furniture in our second home condo. Here are some of the last items being carted off:
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We departed from our south Florida home on April 21, just as spring migration was beginning. Our destination was our condo in NE Illinois, just emerging from two weeks of unusually cold and wet weather.
The next morning we headed to nearby Nelson Lake Marsh/Dick Young Forest Preserve, where we were surprised to find a large flock of migrating American White Pelicans. I counted at least 60. This is at the eastern edge of their northbound migration from wintering grounds in the Western and Central US.
American
White Pelicans commonly winter in Florida and along the Gulf of Mexico
but migrate in a northwesterly direction, generally avoiding the eastern
coastal areas. (*See end note)
During breeding season the adults grow a vertical fibrous plate on their upper mandibles which is shed before they migrate southbound:
The prairie was just starting to geen up. This is the east entry path, looking towards the viewing platform which overlooks the lake:
On our way back to the condo we stopped at Jones Meadow Park, where the path had been flooded because of rain and snow-melt. The bare trees cast nice reflections:
A Tree Swallow defiled the warning sign:
Seeing an American Robin is quite a thrill. While they migrate into Florida, they rarely appear in our neighborhood:
The next day we visited Lippold Park in Batavia, Illinois. The Canada Geese were nesting. At the end of the boardwalk an especially protective pair guarded their eggs and even attacked some visitors. We steered clear:
We observed the incubating female from across the pond:
Three male Mallards swam in closed ranks:
I obtained one of my nicest photos of a male Red-winged Blackbird as it sang "Conk-ra-lee!"
In the wooded area, a Brown Creeper was almost invisible against the bark of a tree:
I finally obtained a side view:
A sweet little Golden-crowned Kinglet posed very briefly:
We are in the throes of marketing our condo-- so much stuff to move out and donate or give away. Our granddaughters were given two new puppies this week-- so much excitement! They will never forget Siboney but the girls are absolutely thrilled with their pets...
...a tiny (but eventually full-sized) Poodle puppy named Cazador ("Hunter" in Spanish) meets old Tibetan Mastiff Agramonte for the first time:
The next day, Moncada (4 month old Tibetan Mastiff, named after General Guillermon Moncada, hero of the Cuban War of Independence and civil rights advocate) arrived-- here napping after having great fun with his new little "brother"...
...and they got along splendidly, even after Cazador jumped on him and woke him up!:
With so much going on I may need to take a break but will try to get out as much as possible while my emails pile up! Sorry if I have not yet gotten back to everyone who have posted such great comments (they get a priority position in my in-box!).
*PS: We have had them in our local south Florida "Wounded Wetlands," where in 2012, I documented their cooperative fishing style (pardon my New Jersey accent):
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