Photo: Red-headed woodpecker by Gary Robinetten

Hello everyone,

It was another dreary, foggy, drizzly morning. It seems like the weather has been like this for weeks and weeks. I guess that’s not really the case but I will be very happy when the sun makes an appearance again. The fog made bird spotting a bit challenging but we did well enough to get 18 species, and with 18 birders we will say that we reached our winter goal of having at least as many species as birders.

A Brown Creeper was spotted in the center of the Island and we enjoyed two White-breasted Nuthatches. No raccoons occupied the raccoon tree cavities today. For me, the best treat of the morning was the sound, and sight, of a Northern Cardinal singing, not calling. This tells us that spring can’t be too far away!

The puzzling sighting of the morning was the presence of a number of squirrels that have blond tails and ears. I saw one in the parkway between Stony Island and Cornell as I was heading towards our meeting place, we found a few on our walk, and then I saw several more in the park a bit later in the morning. Do we have any squirrel experts out there? Is it normal for gray squirrels to develop blond tails and ears this time of year, or do we have a family with a genetic mutation in Jackson Park?

BIRDERS: Lucy, Kristin, Cheryl, Mike Mc., Jennie, Mark C., Jen, Mike M, Leslie, Nathan, Paul, Eric, Joanne, Bruce, Meghan, Ashley, Marisa, Marian

TIME:   8:00am to 10:00am   

WEATHER: 37 degrees, cloudy, very foggy

Compiler: Cheryl

Photographers: Marisa, Eric, Jennie 

1. Canada Goose   Number observed: 76

2. Mallard   Number observed: 3

3. Ring-billed Gull   Number observed: 2

4. Herring Gull   Number observed: 1

5. Downy Woodpecker   Number observed: 3

6. Hairy Woodpecker   Number observed: 1

7. Northern Flicker   Number observed: 3

8. American Crow   Number observed: 4

9. Black-capped Chickadee   Number observed: 5

10. White-breasted Nuthatch   Number observed: 2

11. Brown Creeper   Number observed: 1

12. European Starling   Number observed: 6

13. American Robin   Number observed: 7

14. American Goldfinch   Number observed: 5

15. American Tree Sparrow   Number observed: 10

16. Dark-eyed Junco   Number observed: 9

17. White-throated Sparrow   Number observed: 1

18. Northern Cardinal   Number observed: 5

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