Little of This and a Little of That

Posted on August 15, 2020 by Tammie Rogers

I never know what I might see when I go out on my drive-arounds. I mean that literally because I am not familiar with every species of bird and I definitely don’t know much about plants or insects that make their home on our place. Sometime, in fact often, I don’t know what I saw until I look at the photo at my big monitor in my office where I can enlarge the image and try to research what it is I captured.

Yesterday, I encountered a myriad of birds and other life forms that I would like to share here.

First, before I even left the space around our yard, I encountered Barn Swallow chicks all lined up to be fed by their dutiful parents. I posted photos at this page Mom! But, here’s a sample of what that was like to experience. So vivid a story this images tells.

I had to drag myself away from the Barn Swallow activity because the sun was shining and I hadn’t been out for a couple of days. There were images to experience. On my way to the corridor, where I often see birds that exist in the cloak of the underbrush, I happened up what I refer to as an “eye-spot butterfly.” Because I was going to post this photos, I took the time to look up the various species of butterflies in Illinois and determined it is truly referred to as the Common Buckeye Butterfly. At least I got that “eye” part right!

I’m so happy that I chose to endure the biting insects that the corridor tends to harbor, because I got these couple of good shots of a female Common Yellowthroat Warbler. While still not perfect, they are the best quality images I have yet to capture of this species that tends to stay hidden, and when they do make themselves apparent, they are constantly on the move.

I was not so lucky with this bird. I’m going to say it’s an Indigo Bunting, but really, it’s impossible for me to tell. I was also hearing the chirp-chirp call of the Blue Grosbeaks while I was there, but I think this is probably the bunting. Perhaps a birding expert can make sense of the complete lack of focus and give me a good guess. For me, this issue with focus is actually more common than getting a good, clear shot. I am about as amateur of a photographer as they come. I just keep sayin’ “thank goodness we don’t have to pay for film processing anymore!”

As I traveled past the pond, I caught a glimpse of the Great Blue Heron that seems to make his home here. Robert claims that he saw two of them together a couple of weeks ago. I’ve only been lucky enough to see one. But, I hope there is a mated pair! He is truly magnificent and I struggle not to give him a nice, human name… I just can’t think of one that is a sufficiently noble a moniker. You know, “Harry the Heron” just sounds so simple – well, wait, there is a Prince with that name, isn’t there?

Oh, so many newly hatched birds are flying about that it’s pure joy to watch them learn how to be a bird. I have noticed many young birds spend quite a bit of time preening those new feathers. Here’s an Eastern Kingbird that stopped on a fence post just about thirty feet from me, as I tried to remain inconspicuous in a bit of shade. Before he landed in such a great place, I saw several Kingbirds flitting about, and I am now quite certain that they were parents with their new kids – perhaps showing the the ropes (or in bird language I suppose that would be showing them how to handle a change in wind direction or velocity.) They were also performing their typical hunting behavior which is quite fun to watch. I see the youth in this bird’s eyes.

Passing a bit of pink Milkweed, I noticed this ominous hornet. I hope it’s not one of those “murder hornet” from Asia! I looked up the species of wasps and hornets in Illinois. The only one I could find with red legs and a black body was the spider wasp. It’s a species that hunts spiders for a living. I’m sure it is quite harmless.

I also came upon a bird in a tree near the south end of the pond. It was one of those instances where I simply took photos and hope to figure it out when I got home. It became a situation where I simply couldn’t figure it out based on the bird species that I knew existed in my area. It was clearly in the grosbeak family, perhaps in the finch category, but even when I examined the female colored birds, I couldn’t make a match. As it turns out, based on the Illinois Bird experts, this is a female Red-breasted Grosbeak. The female Rose-breasted Grosbeaks that has come to our feeders has quite a bit of streaking on her breast, and she’s more brown and tan-ish. The bird I saw yesterday didn’t appear to have streaking. My bird guides claim “heavy streaking” on the females, as well. Apparently, the juveniles of this species, both male and female appear quite different than their adult counterparts. This is probably a juvenile female, or maybe even a male.

Like I said, I never know what I might encounter. I wasn’t expecting to meet this guy. He looks young and in good condition. I suppose he belongs to one of our neighbors. I think he was surprised to encounter me. He acted like I was in his way as I sat in a mowed path that leads from the Jaye’s Pasture to the north and the old house to the south. He walked straight at me and when I didn’t move, he sat and stared. I spoke to him in cat language, you know “hey kitty-kitty,” but he wasn’t impressed. He turned around and walked away.

Traveling north in the pond meadow, on my way to reach the access gate back to the house, I saw a flurry of activity about fifty feet ahead. I didn’t want to scare them away, but I yearned to get closer. Luckily the birds tolerated my presence as I moved nearer. What I encountered was a similar display of jovial activity between what I am assuming was parents and new fledglings, just like the Eastern Kingbirds I had seen earlier. There were at least four birds, perhaps another. An adult was hunting in the grass, and I was able to get a couple of photos of that bird, as well. These were Northern Mockingbirds, and based on the fluffiness of this birds feathers, I can assume he is quite young. Like the youthful Kingbird, this youngster was quite preoccupied with preening his lovely feathers.

I have to say that, while I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE butterflies, they do hamper my birding activities. As often as not I see their movement into my peripheral vision and assume it’s an incoming bird. But, that doesn’t stop me from feeling the need to stop and film these beauties.

Not far from where I found the ‘now identified’ female Rose-breasted Grosbeak, I saw three birds hanging out in a large weed plant. I am still in the process of trying to determine what these birds might be. Maybe the three are not even the same species. One has a light yellow tint to her breast. The others seem to present the typical beak of a finch. I noticed a streak over the eyes of one bird. I am guessing they are juvenile Dickcissels, but I will need to do a bit more research to confirm this suspicious. Like the other young birds, they were doing quite a bit of preening.

Across the pond I saw something in a large tree. It was a Mourning Dove. I’m considering using the images for a Christmas card because it looks enough like a partridge in a pear tree to pass the test!

In the tree next to the one with the Mourning Dove, there was something light colored, but it wasn’t moving. Typically, when I see something out of place and believe it’s going to be something “good!” it turns out to be some dried up leaves, a plastic bag, there was even a blue balloon in a tree the other day. But, this time the white thingie turned out to be a very young Mockingbird chick. He almost looks too young to be out of the nest.

Just before the sun set, I decided to take a ride around to the southwest side of the pond. I don’t tread over there much, but I should do so more often. I stopped, settled and waiting to see what might appear. An American Robin flew into a small oak tree just 20 feet away and began to serenaded me. I wondered, it is even worth the trouble of lifting my camera for a Robin? But, I’m glad that I did. While the lack of light didn’t create the best image, the content is very entertaining. What do you think of this dude’s “hairdo?”