Listing Through Life

nymphalis antiopa

Tuesday, June 17, 2003 — 3:54 pm

Ringwood, Illinois — Glacial Park

I took the afternoon off work and drove up to look (unsuccessfully) for Dickcissels. I walked the Deerpath Trail counterclockwise. On the wooded hill near the bench, I saw this butterfly fly up off the trail and flutter around the area. It landed twice on the path with its wings spread, giving me good looks. It then flew off over the brush beneath the oak trees where it chased and/or was chased by two black swallowtails which may have been Black Swallowtails.

The band on the trailing edge of the black wings was a very pale yellow. The blue spots on the topside hindwings were very pretty.

aegolius (owl) acadicus (of Acadia, for Nova Scotia)

Monday, January 20, 2003 — 9:55 am

Lisle, Illinois — Morton Arboretum

I drove down to Morton Arboretum where a Hermit Warbler has been seen for the past month or so. (I dropped my daughter at my mom’s on the way and picked her up on the way home.) I wasn’t too interested in making the drive down until I heard that a Northern Saw-whet Owl was in the same area. The area where both birds have been seen is a mixed pine grove near the visitor center (which was under construction). An IBET e-mail said to look for the owl in the weeping pine near the four columns. I walked around for about 20 minutes looking in every pine that looked like it might be weeping or even slightly depressed.

Then I saw one that looked exactly like a weeping pine. I walked over to it and saw droppings underneath. I looked up and saw a Northern Saw-whet Owl. It was maybe 15 feet above my head. It was sleeping, with its feathers puffed up. I walked around the tree and saw it from several angles. I moved off a little ways and looked in the field guide to make sure I saw all the marks. When I walked back under the tree, it was perched upright with it’s feathers in, looking very tiny. It stared at me for the five minutes I stared at it.

I wandered off and soon ran into an older couple who were looking for the warbler. I told them about the owl and showed it to them. I wandered off again and met two very ugly women who were looking for either bird. I took them to the owl. It was a lifer for them too, and they were appreciative. I didn’t tell them that it was a lifer for me a few minutes earlier. I was glad I found it on my own.

I hung around the general area for another hour. There were no other birds except for a Sharp-shinned Hawk that was hanging out in an evergreen thicket. When I first saw it, I thought I’d found another owl because it was so still and I was so close (maybe 15 feet away). It didn’t pay any attention to me. I wondered if I could count the Sharp-shin as the warbler since there was a pretty good chance the warbler was inside the hawk.

I ate lunch and took a seven-mile walk around the park trails. Before I left I looked one more time at the owl. It was in the same place, but now was sleeping again with its beak tucked under its wing feathers.

It was tiny, about as tall as my hand. Its back and short tail were a warm brown with large white spots. Its belly was white with large rufous streaks. The undertail coverts were white. Its face was brown with streaks like spokes on disks around the eyes. The forehead had tinier vertical white streaks on a brown wedge that pointed down to its beak. Above the beak and over both eyes, there was white in a Y-shape. Its beak was black, its feet and eyes yellow. There was off-white frosting-like whitewash on the branches immediately below and four small black pellets on the ground. I made five separate visits to the tree to see it.

marmota flaviventris

Wednesday, May 1, 2002 — 11:32 am

El Paso County, Colorado — Pikes Peak

We wanted to drive up Pikes Peak on Saturday but arrived too late in the day. But as we thought over our schedule for the week, we decided we’d have enough time on Wednesday between the first session and 5:05 when our plane took off.

We paid our $10 each and headed up the toll road in our rental car. Once we got above timberline, the drive was very disconcerting. When we were headed for a switchback, all we could see ahead was 15 feet of road and then … nothing. Just sky. It was as if we were approaching the end of the world.

We were at about 12,000 feet, perhaps two miles from the top when I saw the marmot. I knew immediately what it was. It was sniffing around on the gravel road along a bank of ice on a slope of rocks and tundra grass. Michael stopped the car right next to it and opened the window. He hung out the window to take a picture. Just before he pushed the button, the marmot sat upright and looked at him. My coworker took his picture, then took my camera from me and took another. The marmot decided he’d had enough. He dropped down to all fours and ran off over the ice and up the slope out of sight.