Bob Dolgan
@twibchicago
Midwesterner. Writes/films stuff.
A few photos from yesterday’s Slam Poetry anniversary featuring founder Marc Smith, two poet laureates, and many others in on the founding of a Chicago phenomenon. @newberrylibrary.bsky.social
I believe this damselfly is a Familiar Bluet. From Hackmatack NWR near Richmond, IL. 🐞 📷
Vandals have left my back yard fountain greenish and full of algae. 🤦♂️
Wild Turkeys can be elusive in the Chicago area, but Hackmatack NWR near the Wisconsin border is a fairly reliable place to find them. 🪶
Excited to be part of this film fest! There will be a showing on 6/21 at 1:30p. The legend of the stump lives on. 🎞️
Signs of the impact of Piping Plovers on this town are everywhere. Uptown Branch Library, the mural by Dorian Sylvain.
Spring migration was in full swing in one of our nearby forest preserves this morning. It was warm and humid, and there was a flurry of activity in between rain showers. 🪶
Writing in 1904, Schuyler Mathews described the Brown Thrasher's song as Shuck it, shuck it, sow it, sow it; Plough it, plough it, hoe it, hoe it. Don't stop get it, get it, Watch me as I navigate, ha ha ha ha.
Spring ephemerals 🌼 recently, taken while visiting Hackmatack NWR near Genoa City, WI. I’ll be there regularly this year, getting a chance to experience this special place. 🪴 🌱
The brilliant Florence Merriam Bailey once described the Great Crested Flycatcher as having an "olive coat, ash-gray vest, and bright sulphur-yellow knickerbockers!" and I'm here for it. Wrote about this in my newsletter today: www.twibchicago.com 🪶
New class alert! I’ll be teaching a class at Chicago Botanic Garden this June, on Mondays starting 6/8. About the intersection of birds, art, and history - Willughby, Catesby, Stone, and Bewick. Register on the garden’s website. #historysky
Sorry to be this person, but it’s driving me batty that these headlines repeatedly say “born” instead of hatched. Know your nature verbs.
May we all be this relaxed. Related: blue bells seem to be everywhere right now.
Bluesky friends, what to do with plant stalks from last year, in a smallish city lot? We don’t want to discard them, due to all the potential insect life. 🪴 🌱
As late as 1890, people believed that smaller birds migrated by riding on the backs of geese, swans, storks, and cranes. This wasn't just urban legend, this was the esteemed outdoors publication Forest and Stream going out of its way to make this point. #historysky
This is the most flooded I’ve seen the North Branch in my six or so years living nearby.
A Brown Thrasher from Schuyler Mathews’ 1904 Field Book of Wild Birds and Their Music. One of “our finest singers,” the song is paraphrased as Shuck it, shuck it Sow it, sow it Plough it, plough it Hoe it, hoe it 🪶
Another macro from the yard...this is some turkey tail (I believe) that has sprung up on an old log. It looks like it's getting more colorful in this season? 🍄 📷 📸
Practicing with a macro lens today, and Norway Maple buds bursts made for good subjects. 🌿🌱🪴
I snapped a photo of one of the area male goldfinches just as the bright yellow feathers are coming in. 🪶
A flooded woodland like this is Eden for migrating sandpipers and waterthrushes. Only two or three weeks until they return.
Always birding - including at the Art Institute of Chicago. Vessel in Form of a Bird, Tang dynasty (618-907), first half of 8th C, China. The bird may be either a mandarin duck or a wild goose; both traditionally symbolized peace, prosperity, and marital love (looks like a small goose to me).
The first hole at Edgebrook Golf Course is underwater this morning after last night’s rain. They have a drainage pump going at the moment to dry this out.
“I want you to put the word out there that we back up.” The feeder cam is online again and ready for spring migration. 🪶
Why is Montrose Point such a migration hotspot? Flying straight across the lake from places like Indiana is faster, consumes less energy, and is probably safer than going around the lake. The point juts into the lake and has the food and shelter that is critical during migration. 🪶