Thursday, October 1, 2020

Crops & Clips: Flashback to October, 2017

As I do each month, I enjoyed looking back over my archived photos, taken three years previously, to remember how things were then and maybe get some idea of what to expect this year. (A big difference is that during the present year we never got back to Illinois because of the Coronavirus pandemic.)  As usual, I searched for images which reflected favorite memes: critters of all kinds (especially birds), skies and clouds, reflections, flowers and fences, as well as scenes which speak for themselves. We began the month at our second home in Illinois, after just returning from our stay in New Mexico after Hurricane Irma affected our south Florida home. 

On the first day of October a walk in Hawk's Bluff Park near our daughter's second home in Batavia, Illinois yielded a sighting of an immature Cooper's Hawk. It was in the same tree where it may have been raised by the resident pair which nested there earlier in the year. Indeed, the park was named after the area which it preserved, where ancient oaks were home to Red-tailed Hawks as well as this species:

Cooper's Hawk 01-20171002

Lippold Park, also in Batavia but across the Fox River, had a newly constructed pavilion with a boardwalk and an elevated viewing platform:

Lippold Park pavillion 20171002  

The boardwalk traverses a pond and leads to the river's margin:

Lippold Park pond and boardwalk 20171002

Song Sparrows inhabited the areas of low brush:

Song Sparrow 03-20171002

We hiked and birded at our favorite Batavia location,  Nelson Lake Marsh/Dick Young Forest Preserve. One of its several trails crosses a creek spanned by "Audubon Bridge," amid a mixed habitat of prairie, wetlands and woodlands:

Audubon Bridge 03-20171001

We saw many White-throated Sparrows,...

White-throated Sparrow 03-20171005

White-throated Sparrow 02-20171005

...Swamp Sparrows,...   

Swamp Sparrow 091-20171008

Swamp Sparrow 03-20171008

...and several warbler species, including Nashville Warbler...

Nashville Warbler 20171009

...Black-throated Green Warbler...

Black-throated Green Warbler 01-20171009

...a female Common Yellowthroat...

Common Yellowthroat male 02-20171008

...Tennessee Warbler...

Tennessee Warbler 01-20171005

...Orange-crowned Warbler...

Orange-crowned Warbler 07-20171005

...and both kinglet species, here the Golden-crowned Kinglet:

Golden-crowned Kinglet male 02-20171010

Golden-crowned Kinglet 03-20171010

Male Golden-crowned Kinglets show a variable touch of scarlet in their crowns...

Golden-crowned Kinglet male 092-20171008

Golden-crowned Kinglet male 07-20171008

...but a Ruby-crowned Kinglet refused to display a red crest (or maybe it was a female who lacks one):

Ruby-crowned Kinglet 02-20171010

Acrobatic Black-capped Chickadees were busily foraging:

Black-capped Chickadee 20171008

One last look at the fall foliage before  we "migrated" to our southern home for the winter:

Lippold Park color 2-20171009

Back in Florida, Hurricane Irma had inflicted much damage in our local Wounded Wetlands. The wind had uprooted an entire grove of fruiting Trema trees. They are an important source of winter food for wildlife. Almost all of the larger Tremas were stripped of leaves and most were knocked over. It would be almost three years before any survivors or saplings again set fruit:

Felled Trema trees 20171018   

The Yellow-breasted Chat is a burly warbler-like bird which had just been reclassified as a non-warbler and placed in a family all by itself pending resolution of its relationship to other songbirds. This was only my second-ever local sighting, on October 28: 

Yellow-breasted Chat 02-20171026

Here is a nice view of a male Common Yellowthroat to complement the female I had photographed in Illinois:

Common Yellowthroat male 20171027

An Eastern Phoebe in habitat:

Eastern Phoebe 2-20171027

An Adult Bald Eagle flew low over the Wounded Wetlands:

Bald Eagle 03-20171028

Tropical Storm Philippe, the seventh named storm to strike Florida during 2017, moved in on October 28. The skies turned dark and we rushed home ahead of the rain. Wind damage was minimal:

Tropical storm approaching 20171028

A cold front dissipated the storm and we finished October enjoying cool air and clear skies. North wet prairie on October 31:

Margin of wet prairie 20171031


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Linking to:

Fences Around the World

Skywatch Friday

Weekend Reflections

Saturday's Critters

BirdD'Pot

Camera Critters

All Seasons

Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)

Natasha Musing

Our World Tuesday


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Please visit the links to all these posts to see some excellent photos on display
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26 comments:

  1. As always, a wonderful selection of birdies..Love the Coopers Hawk..SO majestic even if it is still a child..An Eagle has been spotted around here for several weeks..I hadn't seen it until yesterday when I was driving the town..The wingspan alone convinced me that it was an Eagling..We live not far from the Susquehanna river but I have never seen an Eagle here..Even if I had my camera with me...I was driving in traffic..Enjoy the rest of your week..

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  2. They are such beautiful photos. I wish I could take ones like this!

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  3. Cute Cute winged friends you shared with us this week my friend Kenneth! I am so happy to see that furry small one that looks kind of like an owl with his plumage but has a different form. A song sparrow it was? We have sparrows but only the plain brown ones (which are also cute!)

    thank you so much for joining Timeless Thursdays Kenneth :) Happy weekend soon!

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  4. An outstanding and nostalgic review, Ken!

    The sparrow images remind me the LBJ's will soon be sprinkled throughout the grass and shrubs! Challenges shall abound.

    In the meantime, I already have a case of "warbler neck"!

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  5. Beautiful, clear, sharp photos of the birds. And some great fall color.

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  6. beautiful wildlife photos as usual - love the hawk and that blue sky over the park

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  7. Love the shot of the hawk. Such a handsome bird!

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  8. You never disappoint with the bird photos. So beautiful and the sky captures are brilliant.

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  9. Another wonderful photographic post Kenneth. Love all your Sparrows and Warblers. Such a shade about the devastation of the tree and the food source for the birds. Gorgeous reflection. Stay safe and have a lovely weekend

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  10. What a great place to get out and enjoy nature. We have a volunteer group called the BOMB Squad (Bloody Old Men's Brigade) that builds bridges and walkways in sensitive areas on our backcountry trails. - Margy

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  11. Enjoyed this look back, Kenneth, those small birds are such a colorful lot and the bald eagle is always so magnificent, especially in flight as in your capture.

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  12. Hello Kenneth
    the little birds are captured very nicely with the camera, the eagle is of course great and the autumn forest with the beautiful colors looks very nice
    greet Frank

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  13. Hi Kenneth :) I love all of the bird photos, especially the eagle. I'm a big fan of wooden bridges, they look so lovely! :)

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  14. Amazing the number of birds seen on any of your walks. Lovely photos.

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  15. Lovely bird photos and the fall foliage is gorgeous!

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  16. Marvelous array of bird life Ken. Thanks for commenting (I didn't see a posted link) on this week's birding post.

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  17. Hello Ken,

    The park with the viewing platform and boardwalk look very nice. Your bird sightings were great. Love the first hawk photo! You have a nice variety of sparrows and warblers. I have only seen the Chat once, I would love to see one again. The fall colors are lovely. Beautiful photos and post. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Enjoy your day, wishing you a great new week! PS, thank you for leaving me a comment.

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  18. Such beautiful bird shots! I think my favourite is the Male Golden-crowned Kinglet. So sweet.

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  19. Nice photos! Hawk's Bluff Park looks like a wonderful place to explore.

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  20. That capure of the wingspan of the eagle is fantastic!

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  21. Your photos never cease to please.
    Thanks for sharing at https://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2020/10/snow-in-september.html

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  22. Sparrows - strangely I haven't seen any here yet in TX, while in California and Holland I saw them daily! So glad you came out of the hurricane alright! Don't know how the Floridians do it every year. I think I might move! (but people say the same about California with the fires, lol) Glad you're safe and you could report this to All Seasons this week, Jesh

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  23. Your captures of all the adorable small birds are incredible!

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  24. What a wonderful journey to the archives. I always find birds that I've never seen before when I pop over here :)

    I'm happy to see your link at 'My Corner of the World' this week!!

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