After enduring a South Florida winter which felt more like summer, it was refreshing to experience cool (even cold) nights and clear skies. Now we slept with the windows open, which was possible only a few times this entire winter in Florida. Each morning we were out early on nearby wilderness preserves and parks.
This is a view of a slough along the Fox River at Les Arends Kane County Forest Preserve:
Moments later the still water was disturbed by a busy Muskrat...
...and a pair of Hooded Mergansers:
Eastern Bluebirds were a sure sign of spring:
American Robins foraged on the lawns:
This Red-winged Blackbird displayed its epaulets as it burst into song:
A female Mallard rested in the flood plain, casting a fine reflection:
Bluebells flourished in the shade:
Violets, both blue and white, further evidenced the advance of the seasons:
At Fabyan Forest Preserve, a Great Horned Owl again nested in an old snag:
The adult groomed its single owlet:
A pair of Bald Eagles started nesting near our second home in Illinois just after we moved there in 2007. After about three years their nest fell down and for the last three or four years they have been breeding successfully in a native pine tree which is right in the middle of a residential school parking lot. The cars park right up to the tree trunk, and crowds often watch from very close by:
Unfortunately, the tree started declining and by last fall it was nearly dead. Now it is completely lifeless:
There are at least two eaglets which look to be about 3 weeks old. Dead pines have soft wood which rots rapidly, and this tree will quickly become a hazard to those who park or walk near it. The tree probably starved because its roots were nearly entirely covered by the asphalt pavement. I do not think anything was done to speed its demise. I wonder what will happen if the eagles continue to use the tree-- at some point it may need to be taken down:
Interestingly, this was the first nest in Kane County since before DDT was banned, and the Pembroke Pines (Florida) nest near our permanent home was also the first in Broward County!
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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
Linking to Today's Flowers Friday by Denise
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Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display
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Join me as I peek through the Retrospectroscope, a look at events three years ago during the month of May. As usual I will hope to find photos in my archives which meet the themes of SKY, REFLECTION, FENCE, MACRO and CRITTERS. Of course I am never at a loss finding shots of critters of all sorts, but mostly avian. This time I really had an easy time matching all of the memes. A nice thing about this exercise is that it prepares me for what I might find during May of 2016, God willing!
We began the month of May at our second home in northeastern Illinois.
Fair weather clouds over Nelson Lake in Batavia, Illinois on May 2, 2013
The observation deck at the east side of Nelson Lake
A Canada Goose kept watch inside the flimsy fence around the roof of a silo:
Yellow Warbler:
Eastern Meadowlark on budding oak sapling:
Violets in bloom on May 6:
Leaves were emerging on the hickory trees:
Wake Robin (Trillium sp) bud ready to burst on May 6:
Fittingly, a gathering of American Robins:
Rose-breasted Grosbeak, May 8:
Baltimore Oriole in song:
House Wren singing:
Wild Blue Flox:
A visit to the Brookfield Zoo outside Chicago to see gorillas and wolves:
Clay-colored Sparrow on May 13:
Female Mallard and Spotted Sandpiper:
Our granddaughters collected dandelion seed heads...
...and blew on them, dispersing them like little parachutes:
Before leaving for Florida I snapped this view from the front door of our Illinois condo:
Construction of the 74 new dwelling units was well underway. Our dooryard prairie which had harbored so many birds, butterflies and flowers was now extinct. Our unit is in the second building from the left. The open space in front of the camera would soon be occupied by additional homes. The black plastic fence did not contain all the construction debris:
The next morning after we returned from Illinois we visited the herbicide-damaged heron rookery and found four active Yellow-crowned Night-Heron nests, inclucing this one with sky-blue eggs:
A Great Egret cast a fine reflection on the still water:
The off-road vehicle vandals had cut through fences and knocked down the signs which provided no barrier to their rampages:
On May 27 the night-herons were raising their chicks:
