Weekend Recap (09/28-09/29)

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Saturday (09/28) we had planned to go out to St. Charles to visit a few birding spots but the weather decided to ruin those plans so instead we took advantage of a T-Mobile Tuesday offer and got free food from Tropical Smoothie Cafe for breakfast. We got a mocha madness smoothie (free), acai bowl (free), and the cali breakfast flatbread (paid), all of which we split and enjoyed.

Their food is really good but I wish they had smaller sized smoothies which cost less than $8+. The one size smoothies are huge and I would order from them more if they were half the size and price.

Later that afternoon when the rain let up we stopped at the library on the way to our town’s Harvest Fest. This fest is rather small without much to do for adults, but we knew the Girl Scouts would have a bake sale booth. I was really looking forward to some zucchini bread but they didn’t have any this year; I guess I’ll have to make my own soon. We picked up a few items including some really yummy “monster” cookies that were a mixture of oats, peanut butter, and chocolate.

Sunday (09/29) we went on a bird walk at Danada Forest Preserve with the DuPage Birding Club. We weren’t seeing many migrating birds so our guide, Robert (who looked a lot like Hal Sparks), decided to cut the walk short and said we were welcome to follow him over to the nearby Hidden Lake Forest Preserve where people had spotted a Sage Thrasher, a bird that should not be in this area at all, not even during migration. Its territory is in the western states, so people had been flocking to the area to get a chance to see it. I had heard about it prior to Robert bringing it up, but figured there was no way I’d know where to look, so hadn’t intended on trying to find it. But knowing he had coordinates from eBird (which I still can’t seem to figure out), I was excited to take a look.

When we got there we all ended up in the wrong parking lot (on the left instead of the right) but one of the guys in our group got in touch with Robert to find out where he was and we walked over toward the other parking lot. Sure enough, there was a group of people gathered staring at a bush near a bridge where the bird had been spotted. Then to my amazement it came out so we could all get a very good look at it. It was almost as if it knew it was a celebrity and was coming out to greet its fans, and we were the Paparazzi! I got so many good photos I’m still working on them, but I’ve included this one.

After that excitement we headed to the arboretum for a quick look around. It had starting misting out, though, so we headed over to Lisle Community Park to check out this year’s Barkapalooza. Wow, there were so many dogs there between the rescue organizations and people bringing their pets.

The sponsor, West Suburban Humane Society, had a huge bake sale where we got some really yummy treats.

Note: We tried almost everything and it was all so good, especially the rice krispie treat which was my favorite. The only one I didn’t love was the cranberry bread.

We really love Barkapalooza – it’s where I got one of my favorite photos with Wookie in 2018 – so it was disappointing that it was raining more and ruining our ability to hang out longer.

On the way home we stopped at Trader Joes.

We’ve always loved TJs but prior to rejoining the arboretum wouldn’t go there often, but now that it’s on the way home we’ve been stopping quite frequently. The granola is something we picked up last time we were there and I fell in love with it and wanted to get more before it was gone. I’m pretty sure it’s seasonal. We also got the fish nuggets a week or two ago and tried them on Saturday. I was pleasantly surprised how good they were (I’m not really a lover of fish) so we had to get more. They’re a quick meal made in the air fryer.

When we got home Sofi Tukker was still live streaming on Twitch so we turned that on while we ate lunch and beyond. I want to say they streamed two hours, possibly longer. The more I listen to their new album, the more I love it. Even though we have Spotify, I plan to buy the album on CD as well which I always do for my favorite bands.

The chickadees also came by to visit the feeder briefly, so it was an awesome afternoon!

Chicago Trip 9/26

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I’ve been wanting to visit Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary (MPBS) in Chicago for a couple of years now and we finally made the trip! Joe took the day off work so we could avoid the weekend crowd which I hear gets pretty bad during migration.

We got up super early (4:45 am) for the drive into the city.

Joe decided to take Lower Wacker Drive to Lake Shore Drive, the former of which I had never traveled on.

Sure, I spent a lot of time in the city back in my twenties, but I always took public transportation, so it was an interesting experience driving “under” the loop.

Once we made it to MPBS and secured parking (which by the way has to be done via an app these days), we walked over to Lake Michigan to watch the sun rise which was spectacular.

Afterwards, we walked around the back of the sanctuary where a lot of palm warblers were gathering.

Much to my delight, there was also an abundance of black and white warblers throughout the sanctuary. They move so quickly it’s really difficult to lock focus in a timely manner. I was getting quite frustrated with myself, and my camera, which has issues losing focus at critical moments. Between that and my not so quick reflexes, I’ve missed many great shots over the years. But I digress…

Despite the challenges, I did get some cute warbler shots such as this one.

In addition to warblers, we saw a few lifers – a brown thrasher and a yellow-bellied sapsucker, but I didn’t get good photos of either unfortunately.

At one point we came across a hawk hunting a squirrel. It was so focused on chasing it around that it paid no attention to us, just mere feet away while it hopped into small bushes and trees and back to the ground in hot pursuit.

The squirrel got away.

The trails within the sanctuary are all over the place so even though I thought we hit every single one, based on my path tracking app, we missed a few spots.

No matter, we plan to go back in the spring during peak migration to hopefully see even more birds.

When we had about a half hour left on our parking, we headed back to the car to eat some snacks before moving onto our next stop – Bill Jarvis Bird Sanctuary, a short drive south along the lake.

When we first arrived, we were going to park in front near an entrance but they wanted $17 for two hours of parking. Insane! The sanctuary is pretty small, and I was worried it wouldn’t be worth it. We started to leave, but decided to check the parking lot by the nearby tennis courts. I’m glad we did because the parking there was a more reasonable $7 for two hours and a short walk to another entrance into the sanctuary.

We didn’t even spend an hour there because most of the sanctuary is fenced in; you can only walk around the perimeter and up a single overlook.

We also didn’t see anything exciting other than this racoon that didn’t seem too worried about us.

I’m really glad we found the other parking area as I would have been angry spending $17 on parking for that lackluster experience. It’s not a place I’d visit again. There are other birding hotspots I’d rather check on our next trip into the city.

That being said, I like this photo I took where it looks like there’s nothing beyond the trees. You have to walk closer to see the lake.

On the way home we stopped at Smoque BBQ to pick up lunch. Everything was good, although I was bummed they no longer have peach cobbler on the menu.

As I was leaving the restaurant with our takeout, I heard a jingling noise and suddenly a cute cat ran up and plopped down for pets. Of course I had to oblige!

Overall I enjoyed our trip into the city. My only regret was not staying longer. Our hunger and desire to avoid crazy afternoon traffic won out though.

I think it’s been nine years since we last ventured into Chicago (not counting my parents house which is nowhere near the loop or northside) and I missed it. Even Joe changed his attitude about it as we discussed the experience driving home. He had a more negative view of the city after having to work and drive in it for years. Now that he’s on board, we’d really like to go back soon to visit Lincoln Park Zoo, Chinatown, and a few parks south of MSI.

Extended Weekend Recap (09/20-09/22)

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Joe decided to take Friday (09/20) off from work so we could join the DuPage County Forest Preserve’s bird walk at Herrick Lake in Wheaton. We’ve been to this location several times over the years, but the path we took after the lake portion was new to us. Clearly we weren’t big explorers in the past, sticking to the simple trails, but going on all these bird walks have really opened our eyes to so many more possibilities.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to photograph any warblers, although they were there, but Joe did spot a sleeping racoon which was an unusual sight.

We also saw a dead shrew on the trail. I didn’t know shrews were in Illinois much less how tiny they are.

After our walk we stopped to get some coffee before heading to the arboretum where I came up empty-handed on the warbler front, but did see two coyotes just outside the arboretum as we were leaving.

We stopped at Trader Joe’s on the way home, visited the library, and went to Aldi & Costco which were not overly crowded on a weekday afternoon.

Saturday (09/21) we visited the Trailside Museum of Natural History in River Forest for a bird walk. It was led by a man named John who I later learned used to work at Sandridge Nature Center in South Holland back when my mom took us there fairly regularly. They had a talking crow in a cage outside the entrance that I loved to visit. John told me he used to take care of that crow from 1976 until the early nineties, so he was definitely there at the time we were which is cool. He said he was responsible for bringing the crow out to the viewing cage in the morning and back inside before the nature center closed. I thought that bird actually lived in that small cage 24/7 and I was relieved that was not the case (and felt silly for believing that, even as a kid).

I was able to add a new warbler to my life list during our hike – a chestnut-sided warbler!

Isn’t it cute?

John was full of knowledge, not just about birds themselves, but the best way to spot and identify them. It seems so obvious now, but he taught us that when spotting a bird not to look down at our binoculars when raising them to our eyes, because we’ll lose sight of the bird. I can use this tip for my camera as well because I do look down and then can’t locate the bird again. It’s going to take practice to break that bad habit.

The walk ended up running far over the allotted one hour time frame but we didn’t mind at all. John said he didn’t have anything else going on and invited the group to continue further on the trail if they wanted, but by the end Joe and I had him to ourselves after everyone else in our group had to leave for other commitments.

Once our tour was over, we spent some time outside the museum building watching the birds at the feeders, and then went inside for a short time to look at the exhibits.

The funny thing is we visited this same place 11 years ago and hated it. But I don’t think we explored any of the trails because we weren’t into birding like we are now.

There were no shortage of warblers in those woods; in addition to the Chestnut-sided Warbler we saw a Northern Waterthrush, and there were others that were just too fast for me to capture. We will definitely be visiting that place again this fall and during spring migration next year as well.

On the way home we stopped at Menards for some suet so I can put up the feeder soon. I miss my chickadees! We got a big box of twenty suet cakes, 10 berry & 10 peanut. Also bought purple mums for $5.

All we did on Sunday (09/22) was grocery shopping due to the rain, which makes me extra glad Joe decided to take Friday off so we still had two days of birding together.

Wookie’s 8th Birthday

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Today would have been Wookie’s 8th birthday.

Two years ago when she was diagnosed with kidney disease, I happened to notice a chart on the wall showing small dogs’ lifespan in human years. According to it, Wookie would have been 48 years old when she turned 8. I am 48 years old right now, so I hoped we could be 48 together. When she passed I was extremely sad that we’d never be the same age.

Less than a week ago I came across a video discussing something called a Lap Day, which marks the moment when you and your dog match in age, measured in dog years. I put our info into one of the calculators online and got the below result.

It makes me happy to know we synced up in age after all, and on Joe’s birthday, no less.

I still miss her so much.

Weekend Recap (09/14-09/15)

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It was a double birding walk weekend for us.

Saturday (09/14) morning we headed out to Bowes Creek Woods in Elgin for a bird walk hosted by the Kane County Forest Preserve. I was feeling rather exhausted since the day before so I opted not to bring my camera along which turned out ok because no migrating birds were to be seen, even though we still had a good time.

The walk was led by the same guy as last month, Josh, who is very personable & knowledgeable. We learned that migrating warblers will take cues from chickadees on where to find food. In addition, they are familiar with chickadee warning calls so they know when a predator is nearby. So in other words, if you hear chickadees, there’s a good chance there are warblers nearby (if it’s migration season).

On the walk we met a fellow photographer named Nick who tipped me off to a good website to buy reliable used camera equipment (I’d love to get more lenses). He and I also exchanged Instagram handles. I love meeting locals on these walks and seeing where they are finding interesting birds.

Afterwards we stopped at the library to check out their book & media sale and bought a few things.

Later that afternoon my friend whom I met while volunteering for a cat rescue many years ago, T, stopped by to bring me some Bigelow tea which was so nice of her. We got to hang out and chat for a few hours.

Sunday (09/15) morning we headed over to West DuPage Woods to join the DuPage Birding Club on a field trip. I had emailed the leader on Saturday asking whether they had any available spots left but hadn’t heard back, so we took a chance they’d let us join them anyway. They did even though the group was full and everyone was so welcoming! (Note: We later decided to join the club even though you don’t have to be a member to attend the field trips).

Our leader, Diann, impressed me when she remembered my name and came running over to point out a monarch butterfly I might want to photograph.

The walk itself was very long (scheduled to be 2.5 hours but was actually 3) and we did see a magnolia warbler, although I wasn’t able to get a photo of it. I did get a good photo of a rose-breasted grosbeak though!

I’m glad I decided to bring along my camera this time. There was one other person with a camera too. We learned a lot and explored a part of the forest preserve we had never seen before so that was fun.

That being said, the walk left us exhausted so we quickly grabbed some groceries on the way home and spent the rest of the day hanging out in the house away from the heat.

I love all these bird walks we’ve been going on lately and will miss them when it grows too cold.