In the Hall of Birds
We’d heard that the Field Museum had redone its Hall of Birds, so we had to see it. The museum is an amazing, cavernous, somewhat eerie place. Many of its astonishing holdings were acquired in the...
View ArticlePerhaps a Black Duck
Toward the end of my walk the other day, I noticed a duck I didn’t recognize. It was about the size of a Mallard, perhaps a little bulkier, with a mottled beak and a white patch under its chin. It...
View ArticleJuvenile heron
The bird’s spotted and streaked plumage are signs that it’s young. Eventually its plumage will darken and it will become a bulkier bird. It’s a black-crowned night-heron, which can often be spotted...
View ArticleNorth Pond birding
Because of its location on Lake Michigan’s shore, Chicago lies along a major bird flyway. As unlikely as it seems, the city’s parks are lousy with unusual birds in the fall and spring. In recent...
View ArticleStartled heron
Tuesday I went to the Lily Pool, which was crowded with people. Their noise startled a heron out of its place by the side of the pond. It flapped up out of the tall grasses, where it had been...
View ArticleWading birds around Chicago ponds
Herons and other wading birds have returned to our ponds. I just love looking at these birds, which hide in plain sight a lot of the time. I love the plumage, the carriage, the coloring of the great...
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