Photo: Green heron by Lindsay Vacek
Hello everyone,
The day started off with a bang! As Gary arrived he told us that there was a Snow Goose in the east parking lot and showed us photos to prove that he wasn’t hallucinating. Well, as we know, the best way to get a birder to move quickly is to tell them that there’s a rare bird in the area, and that’s what we did, practically running around the back of the museum towards the parking lot. However, our target bird decided to fly over to take a swim in the east lagoon and we spotted it in the water before we got to the parking lot, thereby saving some steps.
We reversed course and headed back on our usual route and the goose flew again, this time to the west lagoon. It stayed put until we got over to the shore and everyone was able to get some great looks at our special visitor. It then flew off and out of sight with some Canada Geese, but it left us with fond memories.
The rest of the walk was less eventful, but we had some nice birds and the weather was fairly pleasant for December. A muskrat was spotted swimming in the lagoon and both raccoon holes were occupied. There was a large group of Mergansers, mostly Red-breasted, but we also had 2 Common and 3 Hooded to make the Merganser trifecta. Tree Sparrows and Northern Cardinals were plentiful and the male Cardinals’ red feathers looked especially vibrant against the gray sky – a beautiful sight.
BIRDERS: Marian, Mike, Jennie, Lucy, Kristin, Mark C., Leslie, Mark W., Jane, Marisa, Gary, Becky, Rob, Tracy, welcome to Beth and Jorge, and welcome back to Steve who was visiting Chicago for the weekend after moving to rural Wisconsin a few months ago.
TIME: 8:00am to 10:15am
WEATHER: 36 degrees, cloudy, light winds
Compiler: Mike
Photographers: Marisa, Gary and Mike
Snow Goose 1
Canada Goose 115
Mallard 2
Hooded Merganser 3
Common Merganser 2
Red-breasted Merganser 34
Ring-billed Gull 5
Herring Gull 2
Great Blue Heron 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Downy Woodpecker 4
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 1
American Crow 14
Black-capped Chickadee 7
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
American Robin 2
House Sparrow 9
American Goldfinch 9
American Tree Sparrow 13
Dark-eyed Junco 7
Song Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 10
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