Photo: Eastern Bluebird by John Larson
Hello everyone,
The beautiful warm weather brought out the birders and birds alike. The Cardinals and the Red-winged Blackbirds were singing up a storm. We saw two White-breasted Nuthatches together, one offering the other a treat. See Gary’s great photo. And we had a very large number of American Robins, obviously a migrating flock stopping by for a snack before continuing on their journey north.
We found two raccoons, one in each of the usual raccoon tree cavities. One even climbed out of its cozy bedroom and down the tree as we watched. See Eric’s photo. Our resident Red-tailed Hawk made an appearance, as always. We never get tired of visiting with him/her. See Marisa’s photo.
We were all entranced by a huge flock of geese that flew over us. See Eric’s photo. We thought they were Canada Geese, but John Fabrycky looked at Eric’s photo on his eBird checklist and told Eric that he thought that they were White-fronted Geese. Additional study of Eric’s photo was taken on by Eric and Mike and it was determined that our big flock of 127 birds was indeed White-fronted Geese! Also attached is a cropped version of Eric’s photo where you can see the speckles on the breast of many of the birds, one of the indications of a White-fronted rather than a Canada.
BIRDERS: Lillian, Jim, Jane, Marian, Cheryl, Lucy, Kristin, Gary, Mike, Leslie, Becky, Eric, Bruce, Ka Yee, Karin, Marisa, Jennie, Renate and welcome to Ben, Abby, Maureen and Patty.
TIME: 8:00am to 10:45am
WEATHER: Sunny, light winds, 40s at the start, quickly rising to the 50s
Compiler: Cheryl
Photographers: Gary, Eric and Marisa
Greater White-fronted Goose Number observed: 127
Canada Goose Number observed: 91
Mallard Number observed: 7
Red-breasted Merganser Number observed: 2
Killdeer Number observed: 1
Ring-billed Gull Number observed: 9
Herring Gull Number observed: 1
gull sp. Number observed: 2
Red-tailed Hawk Number observed: 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker Number observed: 1
Downy Woodpecker Number observed: 6
Hairy Woodpecker Number observed: 2
American Crow Number observed: 11
Black-capped Chickadee Number observed: 7
White-breasted Nuthatch Number observed: 3
European Starling Number observed: 27
American Robin Number observed: 67
House Sparrow Number observed: 4
House Finch Number observed: 1
American Tree Sparrow Number observed: 1
Dark-eyed Junco Number observed: 5
White-throated Sparrow Number observed: 3
Song Sparrow Number observed: 1
Red-winged Blackbird Number observed: 29
Common Grackle Number observed: 2
Northern Cardinal Number observed: 7
passerine sp. Number observed: 9
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