Jul 12 2014

Nature walk/Supermoon watch tonight (rain date, Sunday July 13)

Meet at east door of Science and Industry Museum tonight at 6:30 pm. Meet at the Fieldhouse on the Point at 8:15 pm for 8:26 moonrise. Hope to see you there. Rain date, Sunday 6:30 pm for walk, 9 pm for moonrise at 9:10 pm)

None of these photos, except the rainbow ring around the sun, were taken in Hyde Park. All of these birds can be seen in Jackson Park.

This is a courting display. I’ve seen a more dramatic version of this head bob but this guy gets extra points for displaying during a strong wind. This call has been described as sounding like a rusty pump handle.

blue jay fledgling

hungry blue jay fledgling

“To see a Sun or Moon Halo…you need high, thin cirrus clouds which are usually at altitudes above 20,000 feet. These high altitude cirrus clouds are mostly made of ice crystals which refract the sunlight much like a prism will. Your typical rainbow is seen as a partial circle or arc. Rainbows are round but the ground prevents you from seeing the full rainbow unless you are high above it…or below it like today.” parphased from Boston weather man

Eastern Towhee singing “drink your tea”

fledgling baltimore oriole (3 photos) The Jackson Park orioles have fledged too but I saw an oriole sitting on her nest today so we may get a second batch of fledglings.

cedar waxwing

May 16 2014

moonrise last night

smoke in front of the moon

Demonstration of camera getting the color wrong when it takes a flash photo in automatic mode.

Feb 13 2014

Polar Vortex Winter!

coyote on lake near pier at Hayes (63rd) and the lakevideo of coyote on lake:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/01pxssikd6z4uen/RWgoz5ZRU0

feeders helped our birds survive this winter

raccon prints in the snow

sundog

mute swans

white-winged scoter (sea duck rarely seen in Chicago)

white-winged scoter with juvenile goldeneye

Jan 18 2014

Winter 2014 at 63rd and Hayes

Dec 16 2013

snowy owl back on 63rd Street Pier Sunday–we’ll check out the pier on Tuesday’s nature walk

On December 17th, we will meet at 3:30 pm for a Free Guided Nature Walk. We meet at the east door (Space Center) of the Science and Industry Museum . We will use a spotting scope to look at the winter ducks in the 59th Street Harbor and the Lake (63rd and Hayes, where we will hopefully spot the owl). We will then drive over to the Point for the 5 pm moonrise.
The meters are expensive if you park right by the East entrance. It is cheaper ($1 an hour) if you turn left into the parking lot. Parking is free if once you are in the parking lot, you drive south past the boats, over the stone bridge and park near the tennis courts. Hope to see you there! FREE EVENT. For more information go to passitonchicago.com or call 773-913-2030×3. Children welcome. Check here if rain date is needed and Call if you can’t find us: 773-913-2030×3.

Dec 13 2013

December 1st nature walk and peregrine falcon

Best part of nature walk was a glorious sunset. Worst part was one of our participants got a prickly pear cactus spine in his foot. Our local cactus has lovely flowers but nasty spines! The snowy owl and the snow buntings were not seen but we did see a horned grebe, some scaup and a red-breasted merganser using a spotting scope. The peregrine falcon was at 63rd Street beach the morning after the nature walk.

our local cactus– prickly pear

prickly pear flower

peregrine falcon at 63rd Street Beach

and our little white duck (an unusual mallard duck) that we often saw on the summer nature walks was spotted in Jackson Park near the 59th Street Harbor in early December. It was good to see he was still around. He was helping some crows and ring-billed gulls finish off a big bag of potato chips.

Jun 24 2013

June 2013: What we saw on nature walk/moon watch

Thanks for coming everyone! The first 3 photos were taken on the walk and the last 3 photos on the moon watch. Most of the rest of the photos were taken in Jackson Park during the morning using a camera with a zoom lens. All of you saw some of the things pictured in this blog. Amazing how long the list was for just an hour’s walk! And we don’t have photos of everything either! Jackson Park rocks!! I’d love to see you again at the next new moon and full moon walks in August. You are also invited to find some binoculars and join the bird walks that meet on Wednesday mornings (7:15 am ) and Saturday mornings (8 am). in Jackson Park. See more information above in the “Nature Walk Information” post.