Polar Express Christmas Feel

 

Stole this idea from Sam, who set up the shot on her iPhone and instantly turned it into a nice Polar Express shot with the filter on the phone. (See below.) The tech on the phones is just crazy good. I wanted to see what I could do in Photoshop and either my skills aren't there or the technology in Photoshop isn't there yet but this is my version. I like it, although Sam's iPhone image is still better. Graham wasn't over yet in the first shot so this is just Echo, Eli, Peregrine, Noah and Effie. Sam's shot below includes Graham. 

Oh, Hey, There!

 

Oh, hey, there! I rounded the corner and ran into this. I was as surprised as she was, as no one else was out walking on Christmas Eve morning on this path (I was the only car in the parking lot). So, I continued down the path and we both went on with our day. No birds, but a nice doe encounter. 

Close visit

 

Got a fairly close fly-by of a Bald Eagle at Whalon Lake, near my home today. I am used to seeing these eagles everywhere I go but this is the first one that I have seen close to my house (maybe 10 minutes away by car). Always a fine sight to see. 

Always a strange sight

 

It is always a strange sight to see a waterbird, like this Great Blue Heron, sitting up in a tree, but they do it all the time. Before I started birding, I would never have believed such a thing. It is still rather odd to see such a large bird and, one that is normally standing in shallow water looking for its next meal, up high in a tree, but that is where they nest. Hopefully, you will have a chance to get out and about and you will see a large shorebird up in a tree as well!!!

Sad, but beautiful

 

Hard to figure what happened here. At first, I saw this Mallard and took a quick picture as the colors were vivid, with a nice reflection, which you can see better in the tighter crop. We were participating in the Christmas Bird Count, the largest citizen scientist project in the US. On the Fox River in our count zone at this location, there were lots of Mallards and Common Goldeneyes around. A few minutes later, my vision comes back to this Mallard and it is in exactly the same position and pose. I realize it is dead, frozen to the river. I was with some experienced birders and they said that in 40 years of birding they have never seen anything like that. So, I wasn't the only one surprised to see such a thing. Beautiful bird. Sad ending. 

Cash League

 

That's me in the middle (red shirt) playing racquetball again. I thought I was done but a year and a half out from my hip surgery, I am playing again. Not playing great but on occasion I play with a bit of the old (and very weak) magic, LOL. The cash league gives you about 2 hours of intense racquetball in singles play on Saturday mornings. I much prefer doubles nowadays but it is fun to play singles again. Started at the very bottom, scoring 2-5 points a game to now, two months later, occasionally taking a game and I did win the league one week. Still not playing consistently but my improvement is continuing. Fun to be back again. Racquetball is still mostly dead and probably dies with us old-timers but there are small pockets still playing here and there. The pro tour is also surprisingly doing pretty well, from what I hear, but always at frustratingly low levels for a sport that should be much more popular. Fun times are back. 

Last new bird of 2025???

 

Still might get a few more birds this year, but this might be the last lifer for 2025. Went to downtown Chicago this past weekend, before the temps dropped and based on reports of this bird being seen at the entrance of Montrose Harbor, I got a new bird--a Long-tailed Duck. According to my research, it is not unusual to see this bird on occasion this time of year in Chicago. Prior to falling into this hobby as an extension of my photography, I can't recall if I had ever heard of a long-tailed duck. Now, I have actually seen one in Chicago, on the lakefront, in the winter, right at Montrose Harbor, where it has been hanging out for the past few days. Who knew? Species number 445 and that makes 80 new species for 2025. What a year!!!

Another batch of wonderful birds....

 

A mixed bag of birds in this third grouping of birds seen over the course of 2025. The Cassin's Kingbird and the Cinnamon Teal were seen in southern California and the other three, the Mexican Mallard, the Greater Roadrunner and the Pyrrhuloxia, a sort of cardinal-like bird, were all found in and around Laredo, Texas, while I was at the Laredo Birding Festival. 

Some more new birds for 2025

 

This group of birds, which were lifers to me in 2025, came from a trip to southern California in January. They are all fairly common birds but you have to be in the right spot at the right time of the year to see them. That is how it is with most birds. The Spotted Towhee was in a parking lot as I was leaving another birding area. You never know what you will see when you go looking.  

New Birds seen in 2025

 

Had a great year birding in 2025. Found 86 new birds this year, pushing my life list to 444 birds. Got new birds near home here in Illinois and on road trips to 5 different states. This group of 4 lifers shown here include two from southern California, which I saw early this year (the Bewick's Wren and the Back-tailed Gnatcher) and two from Illinois, including a beautiful Snowy Owl seen in Lockport and the Common Goldeneye seen in the Illinois Canal last January in Darien. Sometimes you have to go far and wide to get a bird. Sometimes, they are more local.  It is getting harder and harder to book new birds but there are still lots of local birds that I haven't seen. The Lapland Longspur comes to town every winter and is one I might get this year. The winter wren as well. Those two are on my target list. You also have to go far and wide to get new birds and next year I have a trip lined up to Alaska, which should net me a boatload of new birds. Anyway, here are the first 4 of 86 birds that I will show over the next few weeks. Enjoy!

Sometimes when birding.....

 

.....you see other things as well. I was with a group of fellow birders as a white-tailed deer stopped to check us out. Yes, even the animals think birders are weird.... 

Lone Cooper's

 

Been a bit since I have posted. Sorry about that. Been taking a lot of bird photos. Didn't want to bore non-birders. This one has a bit of an artistic style to it, so I thought I would post it here. That's a lone Cooper's Hawk in the morning fog. This one had that misty feel to it. Enjoy the coming holiday season. 

A bit of Spring with a Verdin

 

Spring was in the air in Tempe...meaning it was quite hot in the afternoon, but in the morning and evenings, after work, the weather was gorgeous. So was this Verdin, which posed for me in front of some purple flowers in the background. It was nice of it to come and visit. Verdins are everywhere in the Phoenix area. However, you don't see them much as they mostly stay deep in the trees. Anyway, this one popped out and I got a shot!!!

American White Pelicans in Flight + One

 

These American White Pelicans were doing a nice series of turns, flying in formation that was amazing to watch while out birding near Laredo, Texas this past week. Actually, if you look closely, there is one interloper in the shot. Hard to see, but there is a Crested Caracara up near the top right.  Did you find him?

On Top of the World

 

This shot takes my breath away. I meant that literally, as I could hardly breathe at the top of Breckinridge's Crystal Peak chair lift this past week. Why do we do these things to ourselves? Put on a ton of layers so you can barely move. Add in 30-pounds of ski boots and then remove most of the oxygen? Still, the view was worth it as was the fear of getting back down without killing yourself on a field of moguls that didn't look quite so frightening from the chair lift. LOL. Even so, had a great time. The weather was amazing and, while I would have liked some overnight snow, the conditions were just about perfect for a couple of days of skiing. I just wish that first day and a half didn't come with the mandatory headache from the lack of oxygen. Just climbing up a flight of stairs could cause vertigo. What fun!!! 

Joshua Tree National Park

 

I got to this park sort of late in the day, after landing in the afternoon in Palm Springs and stopping for some nice birding on the way. By the time I got to Joshua Tree for a quick drive through the park, I just had an hour of light left. It still was an amazing drive. This is one of my favorite parks. I want to get the chance to actually camp in the park one day. This is just 15 minutes after sunset and the light was amazing. Had to do a HDR shot, with three different settings to get light, medium and dark shots and have them combined in the software. Beautiful area. 

Hanging with my besties

 

Just a Snowy Egret hanging out with a bunch of Double-crested Cormorants. Love how the Snowy picked a spot in the middle of the scrum. At a lagoon north of San Diego this past week. 

Sleepy Snowy Owl

 

Got another lifer. The winter of 2024/2025 is turning out to be the year of the owl. This is a Snowy Owl, which I found by consulting Ebird, with a stake out set up at a park in Romeoville, just a half hour from home. The owl sat for a solid hour on top of a picnic patio roof not far from the parking lot. I wanted to get a flying shot but I was losing light and feelings in both my hands and feet...LOL. This shot is super zoomed in, making it look like we were close to the bird. Not the case at all. We stayed quite a ways away and the owl didn't seem to care, sleeping most of the time. I was at least 50 yards away, maybe more, with about 20 other birders. 

Frozen North

 

I didn't just go up north to the Sax-Zim bog just for birds. I figured I would get some amazing early morning shots and boy, did that pay off. Got a night of dew that froze to the trees and ground in an amazing display of winter cold. It was cold but it was a beautiful cold. 

First Bird of the Year

 

Last year I started out the year with a Cooper's Hawk on the fence and I finished their year at the Sax-Zim Bog with the amazing Great Gray Owl. Nice bookends for 2024. This year, my first first shot turns out to be a Great Horned Owl. I went out looking for short-eared owls, which are lifers for me and are supposed to be hanging around the model airplane field at Naperville Prairie near sunset. No luck on the short-eared (on this trip), but got a nice view of this beautiful Great Horned Owl. So that was fun and I look forward to another lucky year of birding. 

WInter is Here (or at least in Duluth)

 

Got up with the sun to get to the Sax-Zim Bog last weekend before the birds started moving around. As a result, got to see a world of frozen dew. Quite spectacular, I think.  Was lucky enough to get 4 new lifers (a Black-backed Woodpecker, Ruffed Grouse, White-winged Crossbill and the amazing Great Gray Owl). Long ride to about an hour north of Duluth, but a great trip.