Photo: Black-crowned night heron by Derrick Johnson

Hello everyone,

We’ll start out with the rarity of the day; a juvenile Yellow-Crowned Night Heron was along the shore near the south bridge. At first we thought that it must be a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron, but after many looks, many photos, and consultations with other birders through the Cook County Bird Chat and even with an expert birder in California, it was determined that our young friend was indeed a Yellow-crowned. This is a rare visitor to Jackson Park and it’s especially rare to have a juvenile here since they are not known to breed in our immediate area. Marian and I went back over to the park in the afternoon and relocated it along the west shore of the island. It seemed to be finding enough to eat so maybe it will stick around for a while.

A few Great Blue Herons put on a show for us when they all arrived in a cove along the shore at the same time. After jockeying for position, one heron was triumphant in claiming his spot and strutted along looking proud as can be. See Tracy’s great photo of the victor.

Green herons were also present and our resident Black-crowned Night Heron, Osaka, was in the Japanese Garden in its usual spot. We also saw 2 Great Egrets so with the Yellow-crowned we had a heron “quadfecta” plus egrets today! I’m sure that quadfecta is not a real word but I like it so I’m using it.

After observing few Eastern Kingbirds in the spring we have an abundance of them now. They were flying about and calling all along our route. Again this week there were well over 100 Cliff Swallows swooping around and perching on the south side of the museum. It was quite a sight!

BIRDERS: Gary, Lucy, Marian, Cheryl, Jennie, Kristin, Satya, Paul. Tracy, Renate, Larry and welcome to Annie, Jen, Christina, Jason, Eric and Wael.

TIME: 8:00am to 11:30am     

WEATHER: Sunny, low 70s, light breeze

Compiler: Cheryl

Photographers: Tracy and Gary         

1. Canada Goose   Number observed: 78

2. Wood Duck   Number observed: 5

3. Mallard   Number observed: 3

4. Black-billed Cuckoo   Number observed: 1

5. Chimney Swift   Number observed: 4

6. Ring-billed Gull   Number observed: 1

7. Caspian Tern   Number observed: 1

8. Double-crested Cormorant   Number observed: 2

9. Great Blue Heron   Number observed: 9

10. Great Egret   Number observed: 2

11. Green Heron  Number observed: 1

12. Black-crowned Night-Heron   Number observed: 2

13. Yellow-crowned Night-Heron   Number observed: 1

14. Hairy Woodpecker   Number observed: 2

15. Northern Flicker   Number observed: 2

16. American Kestrel   Number observed: 1

17. Willow Flycatcher   Number observed: 1

18. Eastern Kingbird   Number observed: 3

19. Warbling Vireo   Number observed: 3

20. American Crow   Number observed: 3

21. Black-capped Chickadee   Number observed: 1

22. Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Number observed: 4

23. Purple Martin   Number observed: 18

24. Barn Swallow   Number observed: 14

25. Cliff Swallow   Number observed: 125

26. White-breasted Nuthatch   Number observed: 1

27. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Number observed: 2

28. House Wren   Number observed: 2

29. European Starling   Number observed: 3

30. Gray Catbird   Number observed: 2

31. American Robin   Number observed: 9

32. Cedar Waxwing   Number observed: 5

33. House Sparrow   Number observed: 3

34. House Finch   Number observed: 4

35. American Goldfinch   Number observed: 5

36. Song Sparrow   Number observed: 2

37. Baltimore Oriole   Number observed: 2

38. Red-winged Blackbird   Number observed: 7

39. Yellow Warbler   Number observed: 2

40. Northern Cardinal   Number observed: 3

41. Indigo Bunting   Number observed: 1

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.

Good birding everyone,

Jennie