Too High

 

This shot is from the Great Basin National Park in Utah, where I was out of breath just standing still at 10,000 feet elevation. In August of this year, I got to visit my 31st National Park. That ice is what is left of one of the many glaciers that carved those mountains over the eons. It was a fun hike, although challenging. Spirit is willing. Legs (and lungs) were weak. 

An interesting Illinois duck

 

It is hard to imagine that a bird like this is very common on lakes and larger rivers in Illinois in the winter. These are Hooded Mergansers and the males are quite attractive when they display their beautiful headgear.  It always surprises me to discover that birds like this are local, yet I never noticed them in the first 66 years of living on this planet. I saw this bird a week or so ago at Whalon Lake in Naperville. You just have to be willing to brave the cold and take a walk to see them. They will be here until the Spring when they head back north. When it is very cold, you need to find a larger lake that has not iced over, but there are many days and weeks when it isn't all that cold and the ducks and geese are everywhere. I have also seen them in Florida and New Jersey as this species is very widespread. They are seen throughout the US and Canada except for the dry and arid southwest. So, go out and see if you can find one. Having some binoculars with you will help as waterfowl like to move as far as possible from humans. Good luck in getting out there and if you do see one, let me know!!! 

One Species, so many different looks

 

What I didn't know when I started down this birding path was the variety of different plumages that many birds go through. I didn't know that many females were colored differently than males and many juveniles of both sexes sometimes have different plumages as the adults (usually following the female pattern). I didn't know that birds vary their plumages over the course of the year, with the spring season usually having the male birds at their most colorful. Kinda fits why Fashion Week is in the Spring, right? These 6 shots are all of the American Redstart with two different colorations in the orange and black males, the yellow and black females and a juvenile (don't know which sex that one is). I am just learning now, that these shots aren't of 6 different birds, but of all the same species. Makes it fun and challenging to identify species. It takes a lot of mental work to be a birder--and the American Redstart isn't anywhere near the most difficult of the birds to identify over the year. Gulls, for example, can take up to 4 years to reach their adult plumage with different variations on the way to full, adult colors. Oh my!!! 

Mellow Yellow #2

 

Here is a second set of yellow-themed birds from my travels last month. The yellow-throated warbler is from Biscayne Bay. The other three from a trip to Harlingen, Texas. Go yellow!!!

Happy Turkey Day

 

Hope all your Turkey wishes come true!!!

Mellow Yellow Month

In my travels in the past month, I caught many birds on camera I had never seen before, as I was in south Texas near the Mexican/US border and these birds don't travel much further north that than in their range. A lot of them happen to have yellow in the mix of colors. So, here are a couple of yellow (and orange) birds caught on camera in November. The Brown Jay, below (well, it has a yellow beak and feet), is rare in Texas. There are only 7 of them known to be in the US and we saw all seven, as one family seems to have relocated to south Texas. They are quite common 100 miles south in Mexico. The Brown Jays consistently show up on the rare ABA bird alert (yes, there is such a thing) but they are living on private property so not seen very often. We were able to get access to the property and find the birds. Quite the trip with 23 new bird species added to my list. 

 

Turkey Day

 

Looking up and seeing this many Turkey Vultures overhead is quite disconcerting. Although this is a composite of two shots--this is what it felt like when you looked up and can see from horizon to horizon, Turkey Vultures everywhere. That is what parts of southern Florida in the Keys looked like last week. Maybe locals are used to these views, but for someone from Illinois, it was something to see. 

Caught breakfast....now what?

 

Well, that can be a problem. You caught breakfast. Now, you have to figure out how to eat it. Saw this double-crested cormorant come up with a catch, but couldn't get it off of its bill. After flipping it up and down to no avail, it eventually went underwater and presumably was able to rearrange it to finish breakfast. From Biscayne Bay National Park, my 31st national park. 

Snow Buntings are here!

 

Joined a group doing a bird hike this past weekend and I was able to see two lifers. This one, a Snow Bunting, was a long-sought-after target bird for the winter season.  Beautiful bird. If you want to find one, research their song first as you will likely hear them before you see them. The Ebird app will also point out where they have been seen near you in the past 7 days. They go as far south as maybe the Mason-Dixon line. Happy hunting. 

Coming in for a landing

 

Found a new birding spot that has become a hot spot for Illinois birders at Murihead Springs out in Elgin. These Sandhill Cranes put on a nice display with the watertower behind them. Caught two more lifers at this location but I will save those shots for another post. 

A little Halloween treat

 

I missed taking shots of Stephanie's kids but got a shot of Princess Noah in pink (and her school friend in blue), Fireman Graham and, in the shot below, raptor Eli. Hit about double the houses compared to last year as the kids are starting to get into it a bit more. The weather went from beautiful all fall to a bit of a chill yesterday for the first time this year. Lots of fun in the treating. 

Standing Guard

 

Was able to get up close and personal with a Bald Eagle on my last trip to Florida. Saw this as a silhouette with sunset happing behind the scene. Fun shot. 

London Eye

 

On our day trip around London, we did get the cloudy morning skies to break and give us a brief shot of nice blue skies. About a half hour before, we were briefly rained on but that went away quickly. The break in the clouds gave me a chance to get a nice shot of the London Eye. Never been up there. Maybe on another trip....

Echo's Turn

 

Echo showing off his soccer skills while on defense. 

Northern Lights from Naperville

 

For the second time in Naperville (and we have been here for over 25 years), I got to see the northern lights put on a display from my front stoop. It was just around 11:30pm and I started heading up to bed when I decided to step outside one last time to see if the reported display could be seen from my light polluted sky. After about 10 minutes of getting dark adapted, I started wondering if I was imaging splotches of red here and there in the sky. Took out the camera and I caught this one rather spectacular display, visual to the naked eye. The camera, with a 20 second shot, gets to see much more color than the naked eye can see but this vertical column was naked eye visible. So, quite fun to get to see this display.

If it continues into tonight, I might have to get my lazy self to a darker sky west of the city to see the display in darker light. We shall see!!!

Some Red on a London grey day

 

One must have a touch of color. London 2024. 

Big Ben and Westminster Palace

 

Just your classic tourist shot of the clock tower (Big Ben) and the Palace of Westminster, taken from the Thames River. Checking off a lot of names in that sentence.   

Travel Book Shop

 

While in London, one stop that was high on our list was the Travel Book Shop on Portobello Road. The store, as I am sure many are aware, is where the Hugh Grant character met the Julia Roberts character in the movie, Notting Hill, which is one of our favorite rom-coms of all time. We stopped at the store in 2006 during our last trip to London and what a disappointment to find that it has been turned into a tourist and trinket shop, although, as the Hugh Grant character himself admitted in Notting Hill, the fictional store didn't sell many travel books even back then. So, the store failed and just the facade remains as a tourist trap. Below is the picture from our recent trip with all the sad tourist stuff and one taken in way back in 2006 with me from 18 years ago, taken from the exact same spot: 

Just sad that the store didn't survive. 

 

Tower Bridge, London

 

It has been forever since we have had a chance to travel out of the country. But, we did it with a quick visit to London over 4 days last week. Long flights but enjoyable, if way too short, trip. We have been to London before but way back in 2006. Got lucky with the two red buses on the bridge. 

Tipsoo Lake, Mount Rainer National Park

 

This is a shot of the beautiful Tipsoo Lake in Mount Rainer National Park. Wonderful area with trails for hiking and picnic benches for families to enjoy the view. This shot takes in Mount Rainer which dominates everything when the trees part to give a view. Hat tip to Sam Wroblewski for telling me about this viewpoint!!!

Swallow-Tailed Kite

 

Interesting how things work out sometimes. I am on vacation this week and I get an email from the Ebird alert system yesterday about a rare sighting of a Swallow-tailed Kite in Lockport, Illinois. I had just read about this bird, which is mostly a resident of the swamplands from Florida to Louisiana, and I know it should be heading south about this time of the year, heading to its winter feeding grounds in South America. What is it doing here so far from its typical hunting grounds? A mystery for sure. The Lockport location was clearly marked in Ebird, as a sort of stakeout was in place and there are dozens of reports of this bird and where to find it. So, I jump in the car, get there in 30 mins and within 10 minutes of standing around with 5 or 6 other birders, the Swallow-tail gives us 20 minutes of flybys. I was shooting pics like crazy and end up getting something like 600 pictures of this one bird (which was a nightmare to edit down to an unnecessarily large pile of about 60 keepers). This is such a majestic bird and a lifer for me, I couldn't help it. The bird books describe it as one of the most beautiful birds in the United States and I have to agree. I was back home loading the pics within 90 minutes of leaving the house. Vacation days can be fun!!!

Salt Lake City Liberty Park view

 

One thing you see out west is: mountains. Lots and lots of mountains. This area might be called Red Butte, but don't quote me on it. This is a view from a city park near my hotel. Wonderful area. 

Herrick Lake, Naperville

 

Super beautiful morning walk along Herrick Lake in north Naperville. Not many birds but saw a few such as the Northern Flicker and Baltimore Oriole. 

A Hairy Visit

 

Been birding in the backyard since about March 2020 as a classic COVID birder. Lots of fun watching the birds as they have been swarming the backyard this year post the cicada invasion. Earlier this week, got my first Hairy Woodpecker visitor. That makes 35 species visiting the backyard feeders. Pretty cool. This bird looks almost exactly like the much more common Downey Woodpecker, just bigger overall and with a bigger beak. Great to see a new bird visiting. 

Terranea

 

Here is an early morning shot at Terranea Resort take last January. Beautiful area and a very nice resort. 

Snowy Breckenridge

 

My granddaughter, Clio, complained today that my Shot of the Day isn't shooting and isn't posting anything. So, I thought I better get back to work and put up a shot. Looking at this year's shots, I see this pic from back in January, where I got a chance to go skiing in Breckenridge. Seeing the shot for the first time in several months, it had a vintage feel to it so I brought that look out. Although Vail is still my favorite, Breckenridge is also a cool place to visit. Hope to see the mountains again this coming winter. 

Snowy Egret

 

You talking to me? I don't see anyone else here. 

One Beautiful City

 

Like everywhere else, we have our problems. However, hard to disagree that Chicago is one beautiful city. This shot was taken last week from the Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary. 

The Nine

 

In my opinion, these are among the nine prettiest birds you will ever see and you get to see them all during migration in May at the Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary. All of these birds were there within the past week and within a week or so, they will all be gone up north, looking for mates. This is my third year shooting warblers--tough, colorful, little birds always on the move--and my first at Montrose Point. What a discovery. So many birds (and birders) in a very condensed area. Want to know what birds are there? Follow the birders. They go right for the interesting, colorful and the rarities. Enjoy.