House Finch, Carpodacus mexicanus

House Finch, MaleHere's a picture of a male House Finch that visited my feeder yesterday. This is the bird I've been waiting for (although I have plenty of photos from winter, this is the first summer picture I have this year).

House Finches are around all year. In winter, I saw a few of them seemingly sick, staying very close to the house and not flying away when approached. They attempted to feed and appeared 'drunk' and apparently unable to perch.

However, there's no problem with this bird, which looks nice and healthy and shows off the down-curved bill and flank striping defining it as a House Finch rather than a Purple Finch (which I have yet to see at my feeders!).

Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura

Adult femaleThis afternoon I tried again to get photos of the House Finches coming to the feeder (which I did - I'll post separately) when a family of Mourning Doves came to visit. I say family as there was an adult male and female and a juvenile bird but the parents looked like they were telling junior it was time to move out!

I have attached photos of all three to illustrate the differences between the sexes. The male's most obvious feature is the blueish cap vs the female's brown cap. The male also has a pinker breast but in certain light the irridesence of the female's feathers can make that hard to determine. The juvenile bird is a dull brown with scalloping on the head (see images below).

The Mourning Doves come to my feeders all year round and are always welcome. Usually they land and feed on the ground although I have seen them landing on all of the feeders except the Nyjer feeder. However when they do land on the feeders, they usually don't stay long before dropping to the ground. This female (large picture) landed in the perfect spot for me to take her picture this afternoon.

Juvenile
Adult Male

Finches of Gold

I grew up seeing the European Goldfinches [which ironically have very little gold on them] on a regular basis (pictured below). These days its all American Goldfinches (although there are European Goldfinches seen from time to time). I have had American Goldfinches coming to my feeder for months now - and now they are in full summer plumage rather than the duller winter plumage.

[European Goldfinch Photo by Alan Fletcher]
As you can see in one of these images, the Nyjer feeder is the most popular with them. Its amazing how quickly they can go through the seed despite how much there is! I took these pictures from my deck late this afternoon. I was actually trying to get pictures of the House Finches, which are very red (hopefully I will get them soon!).

I did not realize that the American Goldfinch is one of the last birds to begin breeding, often starting right about this time of year. There are plenty of [on the face of it] suitable places for them to nest around here.

Baby Birds

It is fascinating watching the progress of the various breeding birds around my home. Several have already been successful as I see the young already fledged regularly. The first were the Red-winged Blackbirds (don't really mind if they don't make it), followed by Eastern Bluebirds (the pair nesting in the nest box I put up were successful in fledging at least two young), Downy Woodpeckers, Brown-headed Cowbirds, Common Grackles and, although I haven't seen them, by the frequency of the Blue Jay visits, I'm sure they are also feeding young.

I haven't seen any young American Goldfinches yet, but I expect to soon. There are also Song Sparrow and Tree Swallows that are nesting close by. Unfortunately the Eastern Kingbirds didn't make a home here. I can hear Baltimore Orioles singing away in the nearby trees.

House Finches are still regular visitors to my feeders - I haven't looked close enough to see if any are juvenile birds. I also regularly see at least one White-breasted Nuthatch frequently visit, though its hard to tell if its on a feeding run (I hope it is). Bird identification tends to get harder as all the new year birds fledge - especially things like Sparrows! Always makes the fall migration more fun!

Aw Nuts!

I have been very busy at work lately (including weekends) and consequently haven't posted much recently (feeling very guilty about that!). My daughter has been very interested in the Blue Jays that frequent the peanut platform feeder on my deck and is now responsible for keeping up the supply of peanuts.

Last winter I spent quite a lot of time taking pictures out my back door of birds on my feeders but haven't taken of birds at home for some months. The Blue Jays and Common Grackles pictured here have been such frequent visitors that I thought it worthwhile setting up and waiting. So, while hiding behind the drapes I put my camera on my tripod and waited. Here are the results.

For anyone interested, I used fill flash on the grackle but not the Blue Jay. The Blue Jay was the first shot I took and I saw it needed the fill flash so used it on subsequent shots. I used a high-speed-sync to get these shots at 1/400th.

Cute as a button

Again at Glacial Park yesterday, while walking along one of the many paths we heard a splash followed by quick wingbeats rising from about 15 feet from us and watched a female Hooded Merganser land a short distance off and put on an act the Tony award winners would be proud of to get our attention. After seeing similar displays in the past, the first thing I did is look where it came from and saw six seriously cute merganser chicks swimming away from us.

The chicks, to their credit, were able to dive under vegetation and really move quite quickly (only the strong survive?) to get away. The chicks resemble the adults surprisingly well in my opinion, having the spikey "hair", steep forehead and even patches of color that weren't too far off where they will end up as adults.

As you can see from these photos, it wasn't too long before the ducklings were reunited with their mother and happily swam off together. I can only hope that they will all make it. I say that largely because of the dog owners that came along shortly after us allowed their dogs to tbe off their leashes and if that wasn't bad enough, they were throwing sticks into the water for their dogs to fetch - in a forest preserve where it clearly says dogs must be on leashes. Jeff went to talk to them and - as many dog owners do - they argued that their dogs "do no harm" and "there's nothing wrong with them running around". Its hard to believe they could defend an action that, apart from anything else, is prohibited in the park!

Cliff Swallow, Petrochelidon pyrrhonota

Another bird with a scientific name as long as my arm! The Cliff Swallows remind me of some of the martins we have in Australia, having a other-than-black rump. I don't think I had paid much attention to the pale patch at the front of their heads until today. I saw several flying directly towards me and it really stood out. When flying with other swallows, it is the pale, slightly rufous rump that quickly identifies them (in this area at least!).

With the Cliff Swallows Jeff & I saw yesterday were Bank Swallows, Barn Swallows, Tree Swallows and Northern Rough-winged Swallows. All of these were together in a large mixed flock at Glacial Park in McHenry County. I find it interesting that the Bank, Cliff and N. Rough-winged Swallows are all listed as uncommon in the Chicagoland area and yet I see all on a regular basis. Is it possible they are becoming more numerous - or am I just looking harder??

The Cliff Swallows were frequently landing at a small muddy puddle of water, presumable picking up mud to build nests in the area. I will have to return to see if I can see where their nests are. One thing is for sure: there are no cliffs in the area!

Dragonflies, Butterflies & Spiders

In the interest of getting better aquainted with some of the insect life I often see while I'm out, I bought one of the National Audubon Society's field guide to insects & spiders. I have been photographing insects (usually dragonflies, butterflies and spiders) from time to time as I see them but until two days ago was not able to identify them. As with birds, there are subtle variances that can make identification tricky.

Yes, I know they're not birds, but at least two of the three have wings (I'm glad spiders don't have wings)! I have included here three I saw over the weekend. I understand that the ID of the Pearl Crescent butterfly is in some doubt as there is a similar species that can only be told by genetic testing (something I do *not* have access to!).

Of the two dragonflies (which are both "skimmers") the one with plain wings except dark patches towards the body is a female Widow Skimmer and the other is a female Common Whitetail skimmer. After quickly realising that the field guide didn't have all the insects I was looking for (it typically only shows the male *or* female of each species), I went on-line to find a reference. The best one I found (and where I ID'd these dragonflies) was Digital Dragonflies. If anyone knows of a good site for ID'ing butterflies, I would appreciate hearing from you! I found that both wing *and* body color were important when ID'ing them.

More Dickcissels

This is first year male Dickcissels. A breeding male would have a large black patch on its breast and the facial colors would be more distinct. I hope to get more Dickcissel pictures (hopefully of a breeding male) before the season is over.

This bird was at Glacial Park this weekend with plenty of his cohorts. He was singing away happily and let me approach [what I thought was] surprisingly close. This Dickcissel was in the grasslands south of Harts Rd in Glacial Park and shared "territory" with the Henslow's Sparrows and Eastern Kingbirds.

Clay-colored Sparrow, Spizella pallida

I went back to Glacial Park again today to try to get some better shots of the Henslow's and Grasshopper Sparrows. While walking between the Henslow's location and the Grasshopper location I heard the familiar buzzing of a Clay-colored Sparrow, which I had not previously seen at Glacial Park.

It didn't take long to find the bird but it was never going to cooperate by letting me get close for a good shot. However I did manage to get this and a few other shots that clearly show the ID. The Clay-colored is rare on both the Chicagoland and McHenry County lists and not listed on my count sheets for the grassland survey! Guess I'll just have to add a line :-).

Eastern Kingbird, Tyrannus tyrannus

I love Eastern Kingbirds! They are an attractive and graceful bird that seems to be more common this year than last. Two of these pictures were taken today at Glacial Park. The third (the bird sitting and facing the camera) shows the rarely seen red stripe on the crown. This is usually concealed by the dark head-feathers.

The larger picture shows one of the kingbirds with nesting material in its mouth. I have a pair of kingbirds that appear to have taken up territory at the back of my house in a large grass-filled catchment area. I hope they stay for the summer!

Grasshopper Sparrow, Ammodramus savannarum

I had not seen Grasshopper Sparrows before today but as soon as I heard one call, I knew what it was! I had read and heard that the Grasshopper Sparrows were incredibly difficult to actually see because they spent most of their time on the ground and rarely flew up so I was thrilled when this Grasshopper Sparrow flew up onto this thistle.

You should have heard my camera's shutter going! I thought I had just one chance to get the shot. However, I actually got several chances to see & photograph this one. The Grasshopper Sparrows were at another of my research points at Glacial Park (I'm really glad I volunteered for this survey!).

The Grasshopper Sparrows preferred the more open ground around the thistles at the tops of small mounds but flew quite a long way from time to time. The field guides don't mention the yellow on the shoulders as being an identifying mark although they are incredibly clear on this bird. As I haven't seen them before I don't know if its because of pollen or if they are really that obvious all the time. To me its more obvious than the lores.

Henslow's Sparrow, Ammodramus henslowii

This morning I set out early to get my Glacial Park breeding bird survey done and while waiting at one of the survey points I heard a sparrow I wasn't familiar with. I tracked it down and found my first Henslow's Sparrow.

When I first saw it, it looked a little like a Savannah Sparrow and since I had seen several already I wouldn't have been surprised. But the head coloring was enough to keep me intrigued.

I was a little surprised to see the Henslow's Sparrow so close to the Common Yellowthroat (pictured). They seemed to harbour no ill will towards eachother at all although they appear to be sharing nesting grounds.