Tangled

Blink and You Missed It

It snowed on Thursday.  If you blinked, you missed it.  A few minutes later the sun came out; then another snow shower; then the sun came out again.

I got confused!  I wasn't sure if it was a sign that Winter was coming or if it meant that today was the start of Baseball Season ;)

Having a Snack

Caught this little guy having a snack on a Grant Park bench. I guess everyone is enjoying these warm early Autumn days.

Welcome Back Little Warblers

I shouldn't be surprised. The human bird watchers figured out a while ago that Grant Park was a great little spot for bird watching during the Spring and Fall Migrations. It was only a matter of time that the birds of prey figured out that Grant Park would be a good - um, shall we say - culinary destination?

This guy swooped by me on Tuesday morning. Sparrows, warblers, thrushes, and finches all headed for cover. He landed in a tree and, as his expression shows, caught sight of a potential mid-morning snack. He swooped away a few seconds later -- I didn't see if he caught his target or not. I do know that it was pretty quiet, bird-wise, in Grant Park after that.

Moving Migration

Lately I've been focusing a bit more on my other hobby - bird watching, so I don't have too many city scenes. However, I think it is interesting to see how many different birds stop by Chicago on their way north during Spring Migration. I love that I was able to take all of these bird photos right in the downtown area.

Here is a collage of birds from the past week or so. You can click on the image to enlarge it or visit my bird-watching blog, which is here, to see larger photos of these birds.

Column 1 (top to bottom): Wood Thrush, Veery, Palm Warbler, Black Throated Green Warbler

Column 2 (top to bottom): Prothonotary Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Oven Bird

Column 3 (top to bottom): Magnolia Warbler, Hermit Thrush

Pseudo-Symmetry

Close but not quite.

Feathered Friends: A New Batch

A new batch of migrating birds have stopped in Chicago.

Clockwise from top right

Brown Thrasher, Eastern Towhee, Caspian Tern, Brown Creeper

A few more pictures of each are at my Chicago Birdwatching blog, which is here.

Feathered Friends: Early Birds

I thought the saying was "The Early Bird Catches the Worm" but maybe it is "The Early Bird Catches the Slush". After a brief visit, Spring decided it wasn't ready to commit full-time to Chicago yet so winter is back (slush is falling from the sky, it's in the 30s).

But the mid-week Spring conditions did get the birds moving around a bit. Here is a pictorial summary of bird sightings this past week.

Clockwise from top left

Male House Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, very noisy Red-Winged Blackbird, Robin, Song Sparrow, House Finch, White Throated Sparrow, Common Grackle, Female House Sparrow

Park Bench: Winter and Autumn

More from the early January blizzard - WHY I didn't post these back then is unclear to me. Anyway. I was walking around in the Grant Park/Millennium Park area and I suddenly remembered I had taken an Autumn picture of this park bench that I had not posted. It isn't a perfect replica photo but you get the picture.

Colors of Autumn

Today's photo is a collection of the colors of Autumn from various places around Chicago. The one non-Chicago photo is the large tree with the moon, which is from the other side of Lake Michigan. But if you could see across the lake, you could probably see the Chicago skyline from St. Joseph, Michigan.

Click to enlarge photo

Clockwise from top left

Orange leaves in the water in Calumet Park, Yellow Gingko Leaf in Grant Park, Red Japanese Maple Tree in the North Center Neighborhood, Pink vine near 63rd Street Beach, Bare tree and moon near St. Joseph, Michigan, Rust leaves near Montrose Harbor

Feathered Friends: Hiding In the Leaves

I almost deleted this photo. I thought I missed the little Ruby Crested Kinglet that was hopping around in Grant Park. Then I saw him in the photo - definitely keeping an eye on me from his "hiding place". He really blended in with the leaves.

More photos of the little Kinglet are at my bird watching blog: from Autumn and from Spring.

Feathered Friends: Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween!

Feathered Friends: Splish Splash

Birds aren't too picky. They don't need an official bird bath to freshen up during their long migration trips.

Feathered Friends: Stretching

With a long flight still ahead, this migrating Nashville Warbler is getting some dinner and doing a little yoga stretching so he's limber enough to get down to Mexico.

More pictures of the Nashville Warbler are at my bird-watching blog, which is here.

Feathered Friends: It's Just a Phase

Pity the poor Cardinal.

They go through so much ...

... a mottled mess of gray and red ...

... a Bozo the Clown Orange Phase ...

... before getting their beautiful red, adult colors.

A few more pictures of the Cardinal's "transitional"phases are at my bird blog, here.

Construct-a-palooza

Lollapalooza - a huge music event - is this weekend in Chicago. Yesterday they were working on constructing one of the stages. I'd better mention that the people in the picture were in Grant Park for the outdoor movie last night (Born Yesterday). I wouldn't want people to think they were already staking out their spots for the concerts ;)

Movies in the Park

Movies in the Park again last night. In addition to the movie, which was Groucho Marx's "Duck Soup", they were attempting to break a world's record for the most people wearing Grouch Marx glasses. Apparently, the current record is held by Springfield Missouri. Whether or not Chicago has the record, everyone put up a valiant effort.

I'm not a Marx Brothers fan. But, when there are Marx Brothers fans around you laughing at the silliest stuff ... well .. laughing is contagious. Plus, it was a rather pretty night. Can't beat that.

Rufus T. Firefly: Chicolini, give me a number from one to ten.
Chicolini: Eleven.
Rufus T. Firefly: Right

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All the Wonderful People in the Dark (in the Park)

Yesterday was the first Movies in the Park downtown. There's just something really great about sitting in the park watching a movie - especially a classic like Sunset Boulevard.

Feathered Friends: Red Eyed Vireo

We never would have been able to identify this little Red Eyed Vireo in Grant Park without this picture. We could see some identifying marks (eye stripes, coloring) in the other pictures I had, but there were a lot of birds that fit that general description. Its red eye is clear in this photo.

More pictures of the Red Eyed Vireo are at my birdwatching blog, which is here.

Feathered Friends: A Long Way Down

This little Black and White Warbler was in Grant Park. It was scampering up and down the tree trunk looking for dinner. It seemed like it was thinking "Uh-Oh! How did I get way up here? It's a long way down" when it looked down from this branch. At least that's what I'd be thinking.

As usual on Feathered Friends Friday, there are a few more pictures of this Black and White Warbler at my birdwatching blog.