Gobble, gobble, gobble.
I saw a pair of wild turkeys while out on a bird walk a few weeks ago. These guys were keeping a low profile and ran off into the woods when they saw us.
Posted in Birds | Tagged birds, Photos | 3 Comments »
Last weekend I went on a bird walk at Cantigny Gardens. We saw 26 different species, which is pretty good for Northern Illinois in November. Two of them were first time birds for me, a Hairy Woodpecker and a Belted Kingfisher. The Kingfisher flew away before I could get a picture, but the Hairy Woodpecker was in no hurry so I was able to get a just good enough photo of him.
Hairy Woodpecker
One other highlight was a young Red-tailed Hawk. While I’ve seen them many times, this one was low in the tree and I was able to get a close look.
Posted in Birds | Tagged birds, Photos | Leave a Comment »
Project FeederWatch began this weekend. Armed with my tally sheet and camera I paid extra attention to the feeders to count the birds. It was not a busy weekend, probably due to the red-tailed hawk that has been scouting the area.
I counted the usual gang of house sparrows, lots of squirrels, a pair of cardinals, a pair of red-breased nuthatches, a few juncos passing through, a couple of chickadees and a lot of visits from the woodpeckers who were enjoying the suet.
Female Red-bellied Woodpecker
The females even posed for a few photos.
Female Downy Woodpecker
Posted in Birds, Project FeederWatch | Tagged birds, Photos | 3 Comments »
In an effort to ward off cold and flu season, I brewed up a big pot of chicken broth. This recipe will make about 12 bowls.
Ingredients:
- 4 pounds chicken
- 2 carrots
- 4 celery stalks
- 1 medium onion
- 1 medium tomato
- 1 small potato
- 1 sml bunch flat parsley (3-4 sprigs)
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1/8 tea pepper or 3 peppercorns
Preparation:
Fill large pot ¾ with cold water. Rinse and cut up chicken. Place in pot and bring to a boil. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes skimming off any scum or foam. Add the vegetables, salt and pepper. Return to a boil and simmer for 2 to 2½ hours. Cool and strain broth into jars. Chopped up veggies and chicken can be added back to the soup.
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More Wordless Wednesday.
Posted in Birds, Photos, Wordless Wednesday | Tagged birds, Photos, WordlessWednesday | Leave a Comment »
Saturday was a gorgeous, sunny day with temperatures in the low 70’s, a rare treat for November. It was much too beautiful a day to be indoors so I grabbed my camera and went for a walk in the Wolf Road Prairie Nature Preserve, an 80-acre remnant prairie, wetland, and savanna complex.
The prairie looks very different in the fall with none of the vibrant color and lushness of the summer flowers.
Even though it is surrounded by development I could barely hear the traffic. In these photos you can see the office buildings in the distance.
The prairie has an interesting history. This land was originally planned as a housing development in the 1920s, but then the Great Depression came along and plans were halted.
Three cutouts were made for streets and sidewalks were poured, but that was all that was developed. The sidewalks are still there. An eerie grid of them leads you through an oak savanah to the open prairie.
Although this prairie is home to over 150 species of birds, very few were visible. I could hear them and see a few hopping in the dried grass, but they weren’t interested in letting me get too close. Perhaps the Red-tailed Hawk soaring above had something to do with it.
A tree sparrow stopped just long enough for me to get off a shot and a tree full of starlings didn’t seem too worried.
A few other interesting sights that were visible now that I wouldn’t see in the summer were an old oriole’s nest in a cottonwood tree,
a skeleton in the dried prairie grass,
and a milk weed pod, open and blowing in the breeze.
Posted in Nature, Photos | Tagged Nature, Photos, prairie | 1 Comment »
Brrrrr… it was cold and windy in that tree. Taken in my backyard last Sunday.
More Wordless Wednesday.
Posted in Birds, Wordless Wednesday | Tagged birds | 2 Comments »
A few weeks ago I signed up for Project FeederWatch.
Project FeederWatch is a winter-long survey of birds that visit feeders at backyards, nature centers, community areas, and other locales in North America. FeederWatchers periodically count the birds they see at their feeders from November through early April and send their counts to Project FeederWatch. FeederWatch data help scientists track broadscale movements of winter bird populations and long-term trends in bird distribution and abundance.
Anyone with an interest in birds can participate. Counting begins the second Saturday of November and runs for 21 weeks: November 14 to April 9. The program is supported almost entirely by participation fees which are $15 per registrant. This covers materials, staff support, web design, data analysis, and a year-end report.
In anticipation of the start of the program I’ve been observing and identifying the birds stopping to eat or drink in my yard. This weekend I observed the following:
- Northern Cardinal
- American Robin
- Blue Jay
- Downy Woodpecker
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- House Sparrow
- White-throated Sparrow
- Dark-eyed Junco (3 different types)
- Chickadee
- House Finch
- American Goldfinch
- Red-bellied Woodpecker
Posted in Birds, Project FeederWatch | Tagged birds | Leave a Comment »
I’ve watched the birds in my yard for years, but it’s only recently that I began to pay closer attention to them. And once I did, I wanted to know more. So off to the the library I went to check out a pile of books to find a few good ones to buy for my library. Here’s one I really liked.
National Audubon Society North American Birdfeeder Guide by Robert Burton, Stephen W. Kress
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A thorough explanation of the abc’s of attracting birds to your backyard. What to do and what not to do. Nicely organized into sections covering what birds need in food, nesting, habitat and other basics, understanding their behavior, and how to create a bird friendly garden. The last half of the book consisted of bird profiles with beautiful color photos to assist in their identification.
This is an excellent addition to a new bird watcher’s library.
Posted in Birds, Books | Tagged birds, Books | Leave a Comment »
The Garden
Welcome to LadyMin's Place. Gardner, nature lover, bird watcher, citizen scientist, amateur photographer and sometimes geeky person. The garden is in a suburb of Chicago; LadyMin herself is virtually everywhere.
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