5.30.23 Jackson Park II, Chicago, IL

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Just when we were getting ready to leave we found what my dad calls "The Magic Log." It was a dead log that was infested with termites. Saw lots of bird varieties swooping in for a tasty treat!

--written by Ima and her family

This Mourning Warbler was so fast and in-and-out that I only got one pic of it!

When I saw this warbler with an orange throat, I thought "Please let that be a Blackburnian Warbler!", and it was!

Blackburnian Warblers are a little picky, befitting their fancy name: they only might come to a feeder if you offer mealworms.

This Blackburnian Warbler likely only came down from the treetops for the termite breeding flights, and the Warbling Vireo too.

This White-eyed Vireo was a big surprise, as we didn't even notice it was different!

The White-eyed Vireo has one fossil discovered; a wing bone about 400,000 years old, from the late Pleistocene (or ice age). That bone is also the only fossil record for the entire family Vireonidae, or Vireos.

This Yellow Warbler was posing in the sun, making for a beautiful pic.

...It then ate some termites.

...and some more.

The nuptial flights are found in ants, termites, and bees. The nuptial flights are when a mature colony produces males and young queens, both with wings, then they go out, mate, the males die, and the queens lose their wings and start their own colonys.