Bird Paradise

Saturday. An overcast sky, a cool almost-but-not-quite spring day. Jason and I seize it, we've been waiting a long time for a weekend day like this one. On the way we stop into Caribou for vanilla latte (his) and chai latte (moi), then drive on to Delnor Park in St. Charles. We take the path out of the little parking area, and the park belongs only to us. The trees and brush are speckled with green, no full leaves yet. You can still see deep into the woods through almost barren branches. We sip the lattes in our hands, warmth seeping from the paper cups into our fingers. I brought the list of local birds that he'd given me. A guide to the birds of DuPage County that he'd found for me in the arboretum bookstore. We are in Kane County just then, but never mind, close enough. Jason's binoculars were tucked under his arm. "Canadian Geese", he points down by the water. They nuzzle each other just near the dam, and we chuckle a bit. Even though they're unimpressively common, they're still on the list, and I mark them off. It takes a moment for me to realize why Jason is intent on some trees about twenty feet in front of us. I see them. Tiny birds fluttering in their branches, barely visible to me, their dull coloration blending in to the woodsy backdrop. "Kinglets," he says, and puts his binoculars to his eyes. "Golden-crowned," he adds. He hands off the binoculars to me, and I squint through them, trying to find them in their limited field. It takes forever for me to trap one in my view, since they flit from branch to branch and only alight for a moment, tense and turning their heads every which way. They must also have ordered an extra shot of espresso in their morning coffee. And finally, once I find the small bird, it takes even longer for me to spot the tiny yellow stripe on his head which separates him from his ruby-crowned cousin. We get a little closer and ... I see it!

Also spotted that day ... ruby-crowned kinglets, mallards, mourning dove, great horned owl (but we saw that earlier by the courthouse in Geneva), hairy woodpecker, northern flicker (beautiful colors!), eastern phoebe, white-breasted nuthatch, brown creeper (Jason's favorite), american robin, dark-eyed junco, common grackle, and the infamous "jason e" bird.