Apparently this is the Spring of Me Rescuing Birds

So, last month there was the grebe that crash landed in the middle of a Chicago street that I rescued and got to a wildlife sanctuary where it was given medical treatment and rehabilitated.

Then this week there were the baby geese that were stuck behind the chicken wire.

So I'm chasing this little bird around (the guy on the fence post, not the geese in the background) when I notice... hey there's a pair of geese in the background!  And at this time of year, where there's a pair of geese, there's frequently baby geese.

And sure enough.  These particular parents had a set of triplets. Aren't they adorable?

But then I notice that this one is behind the chicken wire fence.  Now I know most of the chicken wire fence around the South Pond is to keep people on the paths and off the plants.  But right here, there's a goofy comma shaped section closed in between the path and the pond.

Two of the goslings had gotten into that comma shaped area.  Momma, Poppa and one of the babies were on the outside of it, with a clear path down to the water.

The ones to the right of the fence... I don't even know how they got in there.  About two feet across, at the back of the section, the fence is underwater.  I couldn't find a gap anywhere that would explain how birds that can't fly yet got into this space.

At this point I stopped taking pictures, in fact, I set all my gear down to figure out how to get all the geese back together.  Unlike a mother mammal, geese don't have the instinct to 'scruff' their young and move them.  All they can do is herd them and trust the small one's instinct to stay close to the parents.

In this case that was actively working against them.  As I got close the parents crowded up against the fence and began to hiss at me.  They never honked and they never flapped at me or tried to charge me. And believe me, Chicago geese are afraid of *nothing*.  Certainly not people.  I have to think they understood I was trying to help.

For about half an hour I tried to lift the fence (it was nailed down too well) or find the opening they'd used to get back there in the first place (I still don't know how they managed it.)  But when the goslings tried, repeatedly, to shove themselves through the chicken wire to get back to their parents, I knew I needed to do something.  They could get their heads and necks through the holes, but clearly couldn't get their tubby little behinds through a roughly one-inch diameter hole and they'd thrash when they got their heads stuck.

So I stepped over the fence, to the parents' great displeasure, and herded the goslings up to a corner of the space they were stuck in and one at a time picked them up and put them back down, right in front of mama.

Now, I know some people hold on to the old wives' tale that if you handle a baby bird, the parents will smell 'human' on it and reject it.  I've done enough reading to know, a bird's sense of smell is garbage and their need to take care of their young is very, very strong.  In my reading about song birds falling out of the nest, they said to pick it up and put it back in the nest if you can.  So in this case, picking them up for the three seconds it would take to get them back where they could rejoin their families was certainly not going to be an issue.

So I did.  I got them back over the fence...

... where Momma and Poppa herded everyone together and back down to the water...

Where they set off for the island in the pond where there's none of that pesky chicken wire to separate them.

So that puts my bird rescue total for the season at three.  Wonder what it'll be by the fall? :)

North Pond - 5.10.11 - New Speices, Post 1

Wow... yesterday the weather was just amazing so after I tracked down the falcon, I went to the North Pond.  I took my time and my tripod and got some really neat shots.  There are still a few species I need to research, but I found some really amazing stuff out there.

I also have a new obsession. ProjectNoah.org  It's a social wildlife site where you post what you've seen and where you've seen it.  If you don't know what it is, people can help you identify the animal or flower from the picture and the context you give.  And you get to earn little badges as you go.  If you've ever seen how I play Farmville, you know I love getting little electronic badges to signify accomplishments. :)  If you're on, or join, Project Noah, and want to follow me over there, I'm listed by my name (Kymberlee Ricke).

So anyway, it took me 5.5 hours to make the loop around the pond yesterday.  The wildlife was in full swing.  And so were the local birders and photographers.  At one point I stood around with two other people exchanging sightings and talking about the Kingbird that perched, basically, right above our heads and the warblers that are still in abundance.

So... new species from this particular adventure...

 So this particular duck is a bit of an odd case.  It's a Pekin or Domesticated duck.  Found in the wild... so... *shrug*  I suspect it was either put there by or escaped from the Lincoln Park Zoo, nearby.  There's exactly one pair on this pond.  So, yeah, wild, but not exactly.

From white ducks to American Black Duck.  Apparently these guys were in danger of being wiped out as a pure species.  See, there's other ducks that are happy to mate with them, thus diluting the American Black Duck gene pool.

 Which leads us to this guy.  At first glance, he seems to be a mallard with that bright green head, but that's only part of the truth.  He's a mallard mix.  Like dogs, ducks can apparently intermix when breeding and mallards are apparently all too glad to do so.  This particular mix seems to be the "labradoodle" of the duck world.  A 'mutt', but one that occurs enough to get its own name.  According to one website I found, the mallard head with a white neck/chest and brown body is called a Duclair Duck.  In general a mallard mix is referred to as a "manky duck".

Okay, this guy isn't new.  It's a correction.  I had originally listed him as a White-Fronted Goose.  And while that would be an appropriate description of this guy, it's not his species.  He's a Graylag.

 Did I mention that the pond is Warblers-Are-Us right now?  This is a Common Yellow-Throat Warbler.  Looks like more than just his throat is yellow to me!

 Here's the Eastern Kingbird I mentioned above.  Kingbirds are a type of flycatcher and apparently somewhat rare in the area.

 One of my favorite finds of the trip was this Rose-breasted Grosbeak.  So very nice of him to show off his distinguishing red breast for me.  Made it much easier to identify him. :)  He's a finch - related to cardinals.

 Now here's something you don't see every day.  Mostly because he never comes out of the grasses and reeds!  A Virginia Rail.  We don't get too many wading birds in Chicago, other than the herons, so this was a pretty cool find.

And the coolest find of the whole trip?  A Red-headed Woodpecker.  Yep, like Woody.  Someone had mentioned to me that they'd seen one around and I was pretty sure they were confusing red-headed with either Downy or Red-breasted because they both have red on at least parts of their head.  But no, sure enough, here's a bird that's listed as a threatened species, right here in the middle of Chicago.



So those were the major new finds.  Eight new species, for a total of 23 of my 50.  Almost half-way there.  I suspect it's going to start getting a little thin in the 'new species' area, at least until June and the influx of the warm-weather insects.  I saw a clouded sulphur butterfly when I was out getting the falcon yesterday, so we should start seeing more butterflies soon.  And the bees are starting to pop out.  So hopefully about the time the migrating birds move out, the insects will move in.

North Pond - 5.01.11 - Post 1 - It's Like Living on the Avian Super-Highway

So Chicago is in the middle of a pretty significant migratory path and at this time of year we see all kinds of birds that don't hang out here year-round.  I'm told the Magic Hedge can see over 300 distinct species in a migration.

Now I was out quite a bit both last fall and last spring, but I'm certain I didn't even see 50 distinct species.  What that tells me is that I'm clearly not looking hard enough.  For example, it took until a particular walk out there last fall to realize that there were at least four distinct species of sparrows all over the place - the ones that were black and white, the ones with the yellow stripe on their heads, the ones with little red mohawks and the ones with the gray heads.  I obviously need to be more studious in my taxonomy.

So I've set myself a challenge for this year.  In the year 2011, I want to photograph fifty wild species that I did not show up on my blog in 2010.  For this particular challenge, I'm a little less worried about how stellar a given shot is - especially with birds, they rarely sit still where you can see them for the time I'd need to set up a tripod and change settings and all that.  I just want to show that I'm looking closer.  That I'm getting on the ground and looking for caterpillars and bugs.  That I'm learning the difference between a black-capped chickadee and a white-crowned sparrow.

So here are my first ten new bird species.  The North Pond was *spectacular* last weekend.  I felt a bit like Tippi Hedren there were so many birds flying around me.

New Species #1: American Coot

This guy was adorable.  His head moved back and forth as his little legs carried him through the water.  He's about half the size of a Wood Duck - so this is one small waterfowl.  And he was out there by himself.  I didn't see another like him or a female that would appear to go along with this guy.

New Species #2: Brown Creeper

 
Last year I would have assumed this was some sort of sparrow.

Not even close.

It's a Brown Creeper.  It's like a nuthatch, only not.  A nuthatch goes head first down the tree when foraging for food.  Creepers spiral up.

New Species #3: Chipping Sparrow

Here's one of my "it's a sparrow" birds.  I never really looked much closer.  This one is distinctive because of his little red and gray 'mohawk' of feathers on top of his head.

New Species #4: Eastern Towhee

 At first I thought this was an oriole.  And I wasn't too far off.  He is in the same family.  The reddish brow patches on his sides really stand out when he flies.

New Species #5: Gray Catbird

To be fair I did *see* one of these last fall at the Hedge, but I couldn't figure out what it was.  I'm learning to ask the birders I see out with their binoculars if they've seen anything interesting.  If nothing else, it gives me a name or two to Google when I get back.  I also know of a great website that tells me what species are close to the one I'm looking up.  For example when I looked up "oriole" for the one above it said, "Similar species: towhee" so I knew to check that when oriole was clearly not right.

New Species #6: Greater White Fronted Geese

 Another set of animals I think I've seen before.  I'm pretty sure this pair of geese hangs out in the North Pond, or near it, year-round.  They aren't tagged as belonging to the nearby zoo, but they're the only two of their kind I've seen.  I have to say this: I like these guys a lot better than our 'garden variety' Chicago geese - those are Canada geese.  They stay in Chicago all year, despite their name,  and are mean as all get out.

New Species #7: Hermit Thrush

Something else I would have called "some kind of sparrow" and wouldn't even have been close about.

New Species #8 and #9: Barn Swallow and Tree Swallow

Two for the price of one!  Yeah, I know, it's an *awful* picture.  They were really, really at the limit of my telephoto lens.  I'm hoping to go back and actually get good pictures of them.  But they're swallows and it's amazing to find them sitting still for more than six seconds.  These were the guys that gave me the Alfred Hitchcock feeling. They were swooping around *all over*.

The one on the left is a Barn Swallow.  His buddy on the right is a Tree Swallow.  I don't think they hang out in Chicago for very long.  I don't remember seeing them at all last year and with the huge numbers we're seeing now, I'm pretty sure I would have seen a couple in the summer if they'd stayed.  So we appear to be a stop-over on the way to either Michigan's UP or Canada or something.

New Species #10: White-Crowned Sparrow

 So I was saying about the 'black and white headed' sparrows.  They're White-Crowned Sparrows and there seems to be tons of them this year.

 So that's ten to get started with.  I suspect it'll be easy to get the first 25 or so, but then I'll stall out when it's all "It's another chipping sparrow" or "Gee, look, another thrush."  I have a few more, but they'll go in the next post so I don't kill anyone's computer with too many pictures in a post.

The Magic Hedge - 1.11.11, Post 3

Here we go again... :)  I'm finding that I have to do a lot of lightening of my shots in post-production.  Given that it was really light (I mean, it was cloudy and snowing, but it wasn't, by any means, dark) out and I was shooting snow, I have to figure my camera was somehow overcompensating.

Airborne Squirrel

 Like I said yesterday, there were squirrels-o-plenty.  This guy was chasing another one.

Chilly Squirrel

This squirrel managed to look cold.  Most of them didn't. They were fat and energetic and having at the seed someone tossed down.  This guy... I don't know... he just looks chilly.

Standing Guard Over Seeds

I think this guy was afraid I'd take his seeds or chase him off.  He kept popping up like this and then going back to eat and popping back up to look at me.  I love how he's all chubby in the belly, but he has this kind of ratty tail thing happening.

And They're Off...

A geese-launch shot I forgot yesterday.  I didn't color correct this one.   I left it a little gray because it seemed to add to the scene for me.  Also because it gives you an idea of how my camera was perceiving the *really, really* white snow.

Your Insane Photographer

Here's a rare portrait of the (insane) photographer.  I ran into someone else out there taking shots with his S.O. so I offered to take a picture of the two of them together, so he said he'd return the favor.  I couldn't find my purple and gray hat, so I had the earband on.  I had really, really wet hair by the time I got home.

The Bird the South Forgot

Then there was this guy.  It's not a good shot or anything, but it's an American Robin.  What the *heck* is he doing here in this snowstorm?  As a kid I was always taught that the robins returning was one of the first signs of spring.  This robin?  One for the first signs of SNOW MY GOODNESS, SNOW!

Looking for Mr. Tumnis

 There's shrubbery arch in the Hedge.  I have no idea if this was crafted at some point or if it somehow naturally formed when branches tangled together overhead.  Anyway, add a little snow and you have the entrance to Narnia, I swear.


 

Snow on the Weeds

 The weeds of the summer and fall are clearly dormant now, but the stems still remain and have been picking up snow on any surface that's horizontal or close enough for jazz.

You Can't Spin This Cotton

It makes it look like we're growing cotton... in Chicago.  In January.  I love that in this shot, even at this size, you can see the snow falling.

Snow (on) Cone(flowers)

 Here's more of the little snow caps.  I'm pretty sure these were either coneflowers or sunflowers in the summer.  Now They're snowcone flowers. :)

Quiet

This needs to be made into a card or something at some point.  It just strikes me as ridiculously iconic "Winter".










There's more.  (There's always more with me, isn't there? :)  But that's enough for tonight. :)

The Magic Hedge - 1.11.11, Post 2

So like I said at the end of the last post, there were a lot of animals out and about for this kind of weather.  Of course, it's easier to see them when there's no brush or leaves in the way.

Bunny Bundles Up

 The first critter I saw was a bunny.  So was the second and third.  It was Bunny, ten steps, Bunny, ten steps, Bunny for a while.  All of them hidden in this thicket of the remains of the tall grasses and flowers of the spring and summer.

Literal Crow's Feet

 I know crows freak a lot of people out, but I find them kind of cool.  I love the texture of the feathers at his shoulder.  Also there's something inherently interesting to me about a completely monochromatic animal, down to his eyes and feet.

 And then he decided to head for the next tree and I got this cool shot of his wing.  I also used this shot to be sure it was an American Crow and not a Raven - a Crow's tail is that seashell/scallop shape and a Raven's tail is triangular. 

I Seed What You Did There

There were some seriously pudgy squirrels out there today. A woman I was talking to said she was the one putting out the seeds.  She wants to try to attract cardinals.  Now, to be fair, I spent an hour and a half today hoping to get that iconic picture of a male cardinal in a snowy evergreen, but I'm not sure it's a good idea to start tossing down seed in a wild sanctuary.  You could easily end up introducing a plant that doesn't go there when you do that.  Not to mention you influence the way the wild animals behave and then what will they do when you don't come back with more?

M-Y Geese

 Then there were the geese.  Again, there was a big crowd of them because there was someone out feeding them bread.  But when the bread-man left there was just this big flock of geese on the lawn.  There had to have been 75 - 100 of them easily.  And at some point they all decided to leave.  But not at once, like something scared them.  About fifteen of them lined up, facing the lake then all at once they took off.  Then fifteen or twenty more spread out in a line like the first set had and after a minute that group took off.  They kept going in batches like that.  Which, as a photographer was great.  I was able to start predicting their behavior and I knew where to aim the camera. :)

The Second Heat Takes Off

 So here was the second set.  I love that my camera caught them all with virtually no blur on any of them.  It does, however, make it look like a slightly weird photoshop job where the birds were just pasted in haphazardly.

The 3rd Heat

The shapes of the wings in this one are so very cool.  There's the "M" guy in the extreme foreground, the "V" guy above him.  There's the "U" guy on the left and the "Y" on the right.  Too bad they couldn't spell anything. :)

Last Group Gets Off the Ground

 The guy in the middle of this shot looks like someone just lobbed a bird into my picture.  Don't you wonder how anything that big, with that much mass gets off the ground without jet engines?  I love the white "V"s on their tails and that you can see the "V" on all 5 geese in the shot.

I Know I Buried Food Here Somewhere

There will be many, many squirrel pictures, later.  But for now, one guy who must be looking for *something* he buried.  He kept shoving his face in the snow and then coming up and looking... annoyed. :)











Okay, that's the first half of the shots I took today.  More later.

South Pond - 8.18.10 - Post 2 (The Birds, the Bees and the Fishies)

Okay, last set of shots from Wednesday, so that I can start going through my shots from today, before I got out again tomorrow.  :)

Wasp on Orange Flowers

A wasp on a flower.  At this size it's a little harder to see, but the stripes on his abdomen are almost green.

I may have mentioned this before, but photography has completely wiped out my sense of self-preservation when it comes to things that could puncture me.  (And that's just so wrong, given my huge phobia of needles and such).  But I no longer go, "Look, a wasp!  I should move away."  I go, "Look a wasp!  Hey sit still so I can get closer and get a nice clean shot!"  This is going to bite me in the ... uh... arm?  eventually, isn't it?

Bee on the Wing

I love that the bee's body is still and reasonably in focus in here, but his wings are moving far too fast for my shutter. And when I'm outside on a nice day, I'm shooting pretty fast.  This particular shot was at 1/400.  That means this bee flaps his wings faster than 400 times a second!  I also caught him with his 'tongue' sticking out. :)

There's Thin and Then There's This

Remember what I was saying about not having the sense to run the other direction in the face of puncturables?  I spent a good three minutes getting this thread-waist wasp.  Doesn't he look like he came shipped in two pieces?  I love the shadows in this one.  There's the shadow of his antennae and the fact that the upper-left corner leg is bent, but the sun is straight over it, so the shadow is straight.  And that stinger... I really need to start being afraid again.

Little Heron Waits for Lunch

 Here's another juvenile heron.  I guess they're getting big enough to fish for themselves now.

Goose Gets to the Core of the Problem

 This goose looks like he's freaking out over something, but he was fine.  A kid had tossed his apple core into the pond and the goose snapped it up.  He'd gotten it bitten into manageable pieces and was working on choking them down before anyone else could grab them.

Wood Duck, Almost Grown

A wood duck.  Where I grew up we had Canadian Geese and Mallard Ducks o'plenty.  But that was pretty much it for waterfowl.  So I'm loving the fact that Chicago has a population of different ducks, like wood ducks. This happens to be a juvenile male.  Juvenile males are colored more closely to and adult female, but they have a white neck patch (easy to see in this shot).  Adult males have red beaks, females have gray beaks.  All juveniles have gray beaks.  In this shot you can see where his beak is losing the gray and coming in red.

Algae Forest

The water was incredibly clear.  This looks like an overhead of a forest shot from a plane.  It's the algae plumes coming up from the bottom and not reaching the top.  Everything in the shot is under the surface of the water.

Fish in Algae

 


 
 A little further around the pond, the algae is a little browner and there are tons of fish in it.  Occasionally I'd see a Blue Gill, but they were jittery and would take off before I could get a shot.  There were tons of these clear guys though.  I think they may be X-Ray Tetras.  Which I do find kind of funny if they are, since I drove all the way up to Niles to take pictures of X-Ray Tetras in a pet store for my nephew's animal alphabet book.

Fish in Mid-Swerve

More fish.  I like how I caught the one on the far right side in-mid swerve.









Okay... now to sort the shots from the Lincoln Park Conservatory, the Lily Pond and the east side of the North Pond.  (It was a busy day today.)