Suddenly Spring at the Portage

Lisa Rest

May 2

As soon as the winds started coming from the south, birds I've been waiting to see since they left last fall started arriving. These photos are from April 30th at the Chicago Portage National Historic Site. I am already in photo-overload mode as more birds keep coming to the area. I'd like to find a better way to keep up with this, but everything else in my life has been springing into action lately. I can't complain. It does help to have a new laptop with plenty of power and room to spare.

That's a Chestnut-sided Warbler at the top of the post. I heard him sing clearly and then when I looked for him, he obliged by posing nicely on a branch.

My walk began with some male Brown-headed Cowbirds above, silhouetted against the blue sky.

The last few days, Palm Warblers have been Everywhere. For some reason we weren't seeing them much in the fall, but they've made up for it on their return trip.

A glimpse of the Portage greening up

Yellow-rumped Warblers are still abundant.

I've been seeing a few Nashville Warblers over the last few days, but they have been up really high in the trees and far away, making them harder to capture.

Even the year-round birds look spiffier this time of year.

There were a number of White-throated Sparrows behind the opening in the fence. I managed to capture one.

And White-crowned Sparrows are showing up too.

Red-winged Blackbirds are getting down to business.

Red Admiral butterflies are everywhere too

There was a fetching Northern Rough-winged Swallow.

The Eastern Phoebe was available as well.

Most gratifying was to see my first Indigo Bunting of the season.

There's a Mallard pair, though the female is harder to find most of the time, and turtles sunning themselves.

A Great Blue Heron flew over.

When the heron came to check things out, a Red-winged Blackbird was not very happy. The Great Blue left after a few minutes.

Here are two more of the Chestnut-sided Warbler.

It took a day or two to come down from the Spring Music Festival. It was a wonderful event. Now I have an early rise on Saturday to look forward to, so I can be in DuPage County at 6:30 in the morning for the Illinois Spring Bird Count. The Oak Park Bird Walkers will be counting in Columbus Park where I led a walk last Saturday. I just remembered I have photos from that day too. I even had a little flurry of migrants in my backyard this week. And now that we are safely at 50 degrees Fahrenheit or more, the yard is begging for maintenance. ...I need to eat dinner and get some sleep!