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Wooded Island Bird Walk

  • Wooded Island, Jackson Park Meet at the west side of the Columbia Basin Chicago, IL, 60637 United States (map)

Photo: Eastern Kingbird by Sheen Watkins/Audubon Photography Awards

Hello everyone,

It was another day for fledglings. Our mama Indigo Bunting was feeding her baby at the north end of the soccer field again this week. We saw one of the Green Heron fledglings who had an adorable fuzzy head and we also had a young Yellow Warbler, Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Bluebird, Baltimore Oriole and a Black-crowned Night Heron.  And we saw several fledgling Song Sparrows, which is the first time than any of us have seen the young of that species.  A Red-tailed Hawk was perched on the Museum of Science and Industry right below one of the angel carvings, and two Catbirds were singing a lovely duet just off the path in the middle of the Island.

BIRDERS: Jane, Marian, Jennie, Karin, Kristin, Gary, Cheryl, Becky, Eric, Megan, Marisa, Rob.

TIME:   8:00am to 11:30am   

WEATHER: Cloudy, 65 degrees

Compiler:  Cheryl       

Canada Goose   Number observed: 23

Wood Duck   Number observed: 2

Mallard   Number observed: 9

Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)   Number observed: 1

Chimney Swift   Number observed: 4

Ruby-throated Hummingbird   Number observed: 2

Ring-billed Gull   Number observed: 17

Caspian Tern   Number observed: 2

Double-crested Cormorant   Number observed: 2

Great Blue Heron   Number observed: 9,  confirmed count

Great Egret   Number observed: 1

Green Heron   Number observed: 3,  1 juvenile

Black-crowned Night-Heron   Number observed: 3, 1 juvenile

Red-tailed Hawk   Number observed: 1, observed twice by the SW corner of museum

Downy Woodpecker   Number observed: 2

Northern Flicker  Number observed: 2

Eastern Phoebe   Number observed: 7, feeding young

Great Crested Flycatcher   Number observed: 2

Eastern Kingbird   Number observed: 6

Warbling Vireo   Number observed: 2

Black-capped Chickadee   Number observed: 4

Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Number observed: 8

Purple Martin   Number observed: 27

Barn Swallow   Number observed: 29

Cliff Swallow   Number observed: 8

White-breasted Nuthatch   Number observed: 2

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Number observed: 5

House Wren   Number observed: 4

European Starling   Number observed: 47

Gray Catbird   Number observed: 8

Eastern Bluebird   Number observed: 3, 1 juvenile

American Robin   Number observed: 29

Cedar Waxwing   Number observed: 6

House Sparrow   Number observed: 1

House Finch   Number observed: 3

American Goldfinch   Number observed: 5

Song Sparrow   Number observed: 8, feeding young

Baltimore Oriole   Number observed: 5,  2 juveniles

Red-winged Blackbird   Number observed: 11

Brown-headed Cowbird   Number observed: 1

Common Grackle   Number observed: 4

Common Yellowthroat   Number observed: 1

Yellow Warbler   Number observed: 10

Northern Cardinal   Number observed: 2

Indigo Bunting   Number observed: 8

 If you’d like more information about a bird, check out the All About Birds ID guide:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/

Corrections, additions and comments are welcome.

Recordings are not used to attract birds.

The Walks are free and open to one and all. They are held year-round. Newcomers are warmly welcomed. 

Saturday morning walks: Start at 8:00 a.m. and cover a distance of two miles.  Birders walk from the meeting spot counterclockwise onto Wooded Island. Exiting Wooded Island at the south end, the birders walk along the soccer field and enter the south end of Bobolink Meadow. The Meadow’s path leads to the Music Bridge. After crossing the Music Bridge birders walk through the parking lot and around the Columbia Basin (North Lagoon) and return to our meeting spot.  In late fall, winter and early spring, the birders check for birds on the lakefront at the Outer Harbor near LaRabida Hospital and the Inner Harbor after the Wooded Island walk.

Meeting Spot:  Birders meet on the west shore of the Columbia Basin (North Lagoon).  Park on Stony Island Avenue near 59th Street, walk east across the parkland area, then cross Cornell Drive to reach the spot.

Good birding everyone,

Jennie

Earlier Event: July 3
Wooded Island Bird Walk
Later Event: July 10
McKinley Park Birding