Back to All Events

Wooded Island Bird Walk

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

Photo: Hairy woodpecker by Lia Bocchiaro

Hello everyone,

Wow, we found 50 species today for the first time in a long time! The Ruby-crowned Kinglets have taken over from the Golden-crowned and they were showing off their gorgeous red crowns. We had our first of year Warbling Vireo. The Blue-gray Gnatcatchers were very noisy and plentiful. We had one female Hooded Merganser on a log in the lagoon, hanging out near a pair of snoozing Red-breasted Mergansers. The number of Purple Martins is increasing and I expect we’ll see more next week. We also spotted three Blue Jays, which is a common bird that’s not very common in our neck of the woods.

The highlight of the day was a flyover juvenile Bald Eagle who was soaring beautifully on its way north. It’s always a big deal when we see an eagle!

BIRDERS: Kristin, Marian, Jennie, Mike, Luther, Cheryl, Lucy, Paul, Dennis, Caterina, Bruce, Julia, Gary, Roger, Tracy, Renate, Pat, Mark C., Mark W. and welcome to Craig, Louise and Anisha.

TIME: 8:00am to 11:05am     

WEATHER: High 30s, sunny, beautiful clear blue sky

Compiler: Cheryl

Photographers: Mike, Jennie

  1. Canada Goose   Number observed: 18

  2. Wood Duck   Number observed: 6

  3. Blue-winged Teal   Number observed: 3

  4. Mallard   Number observed: 9

  5. Hooded Merganser   Number observed: 1

  6. Red-breasted Merganser   Number observed: 2

  7. Chimney Swift   Number observed: 3

  8. Ring-billed Gull   Number observed: 4

  9. Herring Gull   Number observed: 1

  10. Caspian Tern   Number observed: 3

  11. Black-crowned Night Heron   Number observed: 1

  12. Cooper's Hawk   Number observed: 1

  13. Bald Eagle   Number observed: 1

  14. Belted Kingfisher   Number observed: 1

  15. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker   Number observed: 5

  16. Downy Woodpecker   Number observed: 5

  17. Northern Flicker   Number observed: 3

  18. Eastern Phoebe   Number observed: 1

  19. Warbling Vireo   Number observed: 1

  20. Blue Jay   Number observed: 3

  21. American Crow   Number observed: 3

  22. Black-capped Chickadee   Number observed: 4

  23. Tree Swallow   Number observed: 3

  24. Purple Martin   Number observed: 4

  25. Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Number observed: 3

  26. Barn Swallow   Number observed: 4

  27. Ruby-crowned Kinglet   Number observed: 9

  28. Brown Creeper   Number observed: 2

  29. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Number observed: 7

  30. Winter Wren   Number observed: 1

  31. European Starling   Number observed: 6

  32. Brown Thrasher   Number observed: 2

  33. Hermit Thrush   Number observed: 2

  34. American Robin   Number observed: 15

  35. House Sparrow   Number observed: 3

  36. American Goldfinch   Number observed: 5

  37. Chipping Sparrow   Number observed: 1

  38. Dark-eyed Junco   Number observed: 4

  39. White-throated Sparrow   Number observed: 6

  40. Song Sparrow   Number observed: 2

  41. Swamp Sparrow   Number observed: 1

  42. Eastern Towhee   Number observed: 1

  43. Baltimore Oriole   Number observed: 2

  44. Red-winged Blackbird   Number observed: 14

  45. Brown-headed Cowbird   Number observed: 2

  46. Common Grackle   Number observed: 3

  47. Northern Waterthrush   Number observed: 1

  48. Palm Warbler   Number observed: 6

  49. Yellow-rumped Warbler   Number observed: 7

  50. 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