Yawning void

For whatever reason, I've historically spent little time at Montrose Point in November. So it was nice to get out today and explore at this time of year. One of the first things we noticed was that, like on our block, there's a surprising amount of greenery around. Many trees and shrubs have green leaves even though it's the first week of November.

The prairie at Montrose continues to be bursting at the seams like never before--the grasses and forbs and other plants are incredibly tall and dense, overrunning trails in places. The dunes are always changing, and this was evident again today. The tallest of the dunes continues to get taller. There are more grasses than ever--marram grass, and I believe little bluestem. There are dense stands of equisetum in one of the swales. And the cottonwoods and willows appear to have grown. Not to mention the black oaks that were planted last year.

There wasn't a whole lot of bird activity, save for a flock of goldfinches looking more like grayfinches at this time of year. And a group of herring gulls and ring-billed gulls, including the first-year ring-bill pictured with its tongue out. There are a few other pictures here.

Ice birding

I'm not proud to admit this, but I don't know anything about gulls. Last weekend, a 12-year-old took a glance at a gull and pronounced it a glaucous gull, a visitor from the Arctic. I can hardly tell a herring gull from a ring-billed gull.

I've done relatively little winter birding, having focused mostly on spring migration and its showy warblers. But perhaps winter is the best time to go birding, especially here in Chicago. The lakefront feels wilder, with its bizarre icy formations and frigid winds. It's absolutely quiet along the lake now, nothing but ice cracking and the wind's howl. In other seasons, there is plenty of human activity to remind you that you're in a big city.

So this morning I began an exercise in improving my winter birding skills. Montrose Point was mostly icebound, but there were a few pockets of water harboring diving ducks and gulls. I saw a huge flock of gulls (mostly ring-billed with a few herring), common mergansers, one male red-breasted merganser, common goldeneyes and buffleheads. The above photo shows buffleheads, the male red-breasted merganser and common goldeneyes, near the fishhook pier at Montrose.

The positive side of winter birding is that there are fewer geographical possibilities so the list of birds is substantially narrowed. And the Great Lakes are filled with wintering gulls and ducks, so it's a great opportunity to live near Lake Michigan. The winter tallies aren't gaudy--just 11 species today--but satisfying nonetheless.