We just returned from a two week stay in northeastern Illinois. Surprisingly, we had a spell of hot weather with some temperatures higher than those back home in south Florida. Although we were busy with volleyball games and preparations for a charity gala with 100 guests at our daughter's home, we found time to get out and walk in the nearby parks and forest preserves. We saw many more warblers than we were able to identify, as they tended to forage high in the trees against the very bright sky. At Les Arends Forest Preserve in their home town of Batavia, we encountered a mixed flock which included American Redstarts. I was only able to get a decent photo of a female: There were quite a few Bay-breasted and Blackpoll Warblers, which are quite similar in their dull fall plumage. The Blackpoll shows some streaking of its underparts and has a more greenish cast to its head and neck, so this most likely is one here: Bay-breasted Warbler? It should have dark legs but these appear to be light as in Blackpoll: This is a dull female Chestnut-sided Warbler: Bliss Woods Forest Preserve in Sugar Grove has very nice walking trails and a wooden bridge over Blackberry Creek, where Mary Lou is looking at a goldfinch: A Wilson's Warbler brightened our morning: We saw migrating Swainson's Thrushes... ...and a pair of Red-eyed Vireos: A favorite spot is Nelson Lake/Dick Young Marsh Kane County Forest Preserve: I caught sight of an early migratory Red-breasted Nuthatch, but had to wait a few days before getting one of these little acrobats in my camera viewfinder. It was foraging in this grand oak: The male American Goldfinches were in various stages of molting into their somber winter coats: A Mourning Dove struck a nice pose: A Cedar Waxwing had a regal appearance: Canada Geese were numerous... ...as were butterflies, including this Pearl Crescent... ...a Red-spotted Purple... ...a Cabbage White... ...and many beautiful Monarchs: Colorful Milkweed Bugs clustered on the pods of their favorite plant, also host to the Monarch caterpillar: A view of the upper reaches of the marsh at Nelson Lake is framed by tree branches: Back home at our daughter's house, their oldest and youngest pets rested on their patio. Tibetan Mastiff Agramonte is eleven years old and Standard Poodle Cazador is 6 months of age: In their back yard, a Silver-spotted Skipper visited a Rose of Sharon:
Upon returning to Florida, I captured this iPhone panorama of the western sky opposite the rising sun (click on image for full view): = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Linking to Misty's CAMERA CRITTERS,
During a visit to the zoo she noticed a sparrow in the tree above:
At four years of age, she loved to find fossils along the shore of our lake in Florida...
...and watched the Bald Eagle nest:
Graci enjoyed nature walks with her little sister and their huge Tibetan Mastiff:
Graciela writes-- Several times I tried to set up a bird walk with my grandparents but the first couple of times it rained. They did take me out to Bliss Woods but the mosquitoes almost ate us alive! Grandma with me on the bridge over Blackberry Creek in Bliss Woods: We heard this House Wren singing very loudly: A phoebe was catching mosquitoes and I saw it carry food to a nest under the picnic shelter. Gramps couldn't find it at first in the dark but it flicked its tail: I could not see the whole nest, behind the post: When it stopped raining we planned to walk at Nelson Lake, particularly to try to see a Bobolink. On the way I asked Grandpa to stop off at a neighborhood park because I had found a nest and did not know what type of bird it belonged to. The nest looked like a Chimney Swift's nest but it was made of mud stuck to one of the metal support posts under the edge of the roof of the pavilion. I did see the bird but did not know what kind it was. It had a blue back, cinnamon color on its throat and a dark line like a collar. Grandpa said it sounded like a Barn Swallow and sure enough it it was. If the video does not launch in the space below, try this link.
While we watched the nest an adult bird flew in and seemed to be feeding one or more tiny babies. We were not able to see them, but after getting a few photos and a video we moved on to Nelson Lake. It was cloudy and pretty cool for July: We began hiking the trail and we saw lots of birds, mostly Red-winged Blackbirds. There was a large picnic shelter and I went under it to see if I could spot any bird nests. I found three nests, one with a robin sitting in it. We saw some precious baby swallows on the roof of the shelter, but inside there were no swallow nests. I saw some places where there may have been swallow nests but they looked like they had been knocked down, hopefully not on purpose.
The tiny swallows looked right into the camera when Grandpa took their picture. They were so adorable! As we walked along the path I mostly heard Red-winged-Blackbirds and Song Sparrows: Then I heard the Common Yellowthroat singing "wichity-wichity-wichity." After Grandpa spotted the yellowthroat and pointed it out to me I said it was very cute with its little black mask. He had to wear a coat but I live in Illinois and am used to the cold weather. There were many milkweed plants with flowers, Black-eyed Susan and sunflowers. We saw some Cedar Waxwings among the Queen Anne's Lace.
The meadowlark was whistling "Spring of the year." At first we could find no Bobolinks until Grandpa saw a female, which flew by really fast. Then I spotted a male down close to the ground. It kept moving but down low where I could not see over the grass. Gramps could not get a picture of it, but a Dickcissel suddenly hopped up on a flower right next to the path. I didn't know how beautiful it was until I saw it on the computer: The good thing was that there were no mosquitoes! Two days later we went over to check the Barn Swallow's nest again. This time we could see FOUR baby birds! Ten days after Graci found the nest, on July 15, 2015, there were FIVE hungry nestlings! (Click here if video fails to load in the space below):
Well, here is Grandfather back again, to add some sky and reflection shots from our Canada Rockies rail trip. This is Lake Louise, Alberta on a very calm morning... ...and this is an oil painting effect on a photo of Bow River just above the falls at Banff, Alberta (click to view full size image in FLICKR):
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 Linking to I Heart Macro by Laura
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Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display _______________________________________________
