Illinois birds: A robust robin and a little king

Two days after we left the fair skies of Florida behind. we arrived at our second home in NE Illinois.

Sunburst over the back gate:

 

 Clouds over the Everglades:

 

We were harshly greeted by cold, windy and wet weather. We ventured afield briefly in near-freezing temperatures and found that the dark skies and high winds rendered birding and photography nearly impossible. Staying in or near the car, my first shots were of a group of Northern Shovelers in a roadside pond.





A Red-tailed Hawk kited motionless in the sky against the sharp headwind, with gusts over 40 MPH:

 

The buildings also stood still for the camera:

   

After a sub-freezing night with snow flurries, the next day dawned bright, but the winds persisted. We got out to nearby Fabyan Park in Geneva, Illinois to see the nest of a Great Horned Owl with three owlets. 

Only two showed their faces:

 



American Robins were special to me as a youngster in New Jersey, for they stirred hope that spring would soon arrive. They usually came in early March, but I still remember their early arrival on February 12, 1949, bird #18 on my first formal life list. On that same day I saw my first Redpoll, a species I would not see again until a trip to Alaska in 2011  :
 

We rarely see robins in our south Florida neighborhood. They may appear sporadically some winters for a few days as small bands or even huge migratory flocks, but they sometimes do not appear at all. Fabyan Park was full of them. This male was a particularly robust individual:



A colorful Yellow-rumped Warbler foraged on the path ahead of us:   

 

Our granddaughter helped me stock their backyard feeders, and they instantly attracted colorful Northern Cardinals...



...joined by a male House Finch:





Red-winged Blackbirds and a Common Grackle quickly helped deplete the seed:





Rain was predicted again, but we got out early to Lippold Park, where another Red-tailed Hawk soared above in circles:




Stopping to photograph wildflowers, I had fallen behind Mary Lou. She called me excitedly to report her sighting of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet with its bright head feathers extended. When I caught up to her, the kinglet's head was no longer adorned:



 
I took over a dozen photos, trying to catch at least a glimpse of its signature crown as it weaved through the understory, to no avail until suddenly it rewarded me!






During the past week the trees have started leafing out and wildflowers have appeared. Among the early flowers--

 Bluebells:



Blue Violets:



Blue and White Violets:



Spring Beauty:



Cutrleaf Toothwort:



White Trout Lily:



And fittingly, a Wake Robin:








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Linking to Misty's  CAMERA CRITTERS,

Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS,

Linking to GOOD FENCES by Tex (Theresa). 

Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY by Yogi, Sylvia and Sandy

Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James

Linking to BirdD'Pot by Anni

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday by Stewart

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Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display

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Green Cay and Wakodahatchee Wetlands

Our visit to two of the famous birding locations in West Palm Beach County started at Green Cay Wetlands. It was a beautiful clear morning, without a cloud in sight. This is the boardwalk that leads out into the wetlands from the Nature Center. 







The birding action started even before we set foot on the boardwalk, with an abundance of Painted Buntings at the feeders along the path to the Nature Center:



A young Anhinga preened, oblivious to human presence. In the wetlands near our home there are so few people that this species is particulary wary:



Along the boardwalk , this pair of Blue-winged Teal was one of many:



A Green Heron hunted so close by that I had to back up to fit it in the viewfinder:



Pied-billed Grebes dived and swam under the boardwalk:



An American Bittern stood stark still for a long time, emitting soft calls of alarm. Another photographer pointed out that it was reacting to the danger posed by a Northern Harrier that was sitting, hidden deep in the grass only a few feet away:



The light caught the subtle rusty feathers on a Cattle Egret's head:




A blue-eyed Double Crested Cormaorant posed:



A Red-winged Blackbird sang and displayed on the boardwalk railing:



On a snag, a White Ibis provided a nice photo-op:



In the trees on the islands between the boardwalks, we saw warblers, including a Palm Warbler...



...Pine Warblers...



...Yellow-rumped Warblers...



...and an Orange-crowned Warbler:



We moved on to Wadokahatchee Wetlands, where there were the nests of many herons, Anhingas, cormorants and storks. 

There may have been as many as 12 pairs of Wood Storks, which have practically abandoned their historic breeding grounds to the south:



The storks competed with Anhingas for space in a single tree:



There were many nesting Great Blue Herons:



A Great Egret arranged a stick in its nest (an Anhinga chick is in the foreground):



The male Great Egret in this nest exhibits the green face and the nearly black upper mandible that appear at the height of breeding condition:



A Snowy Egret:



One of many Purple Gallinules:



There were numerous Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, which became abundant here only a couple of years ago:



Perhaps the most spectacular bird at Wadokahatchee was this Roseate Spoonbill. I loved its pink reflection:





Linking to Misty's  CAMERA CRITTERS,

Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS,

Linking to GOOD FENCES by Tex (Theresa). 

Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY by Yogi, Sylvia and Sandy

Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James

Linking to BirdD'Pot by Anni

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday by Stewart

________________________________________________

Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display

________________________________________________