Photo: Hairy woodpecker by Lia Bocchiaro

Hello everyone,

Important Announcement #1: Saturday May 4 is the annual Spring Bird Count for the Illinois Natural History Survey. As always, our group will be the official counters for Wooded Island and Bobolink Meadow. We’ll be searching for and carefully counting every bird we find, even all the Robins, Canada Geese, House Sparrows and Mallards. We need as many eyes as possible so please mark your calendars and come out and help with this fun and important work.

Important Announcement #2: Alan Anderson, our county compiler, is still in need of counters for Harold Washington Park (at Hyde Park Blvd and Lake Shore Drive) and for the 31st street beach and the adjacent Burnham Park areas north of there, up to, but not including, the McCormick Bird Sanctuary. Let me know if you’d like to cover either of those areas and I’ll put you in touch with Alan.

What a great spring day it was! Not only did it feel like spring but it sounded like spring, with the return of our Yellow Warblers, Warbling Vireos and White-throated Sparrows singing their lovely songs.

We had our first heron trifecta of the year with Great Blue, Green and Black-crowned, who are all in residence again. Our first of year Yellow Warblers, Common Yellowthroats and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have arrived. The first of the Canada Goose goslings have hatched and they are adorable. We even spotted an acrobatic squirrel who was hanging upside down, high in a tree, eating seeds. And the turtles were out enjoying the sunshine.

We found a very industrious male Downy Woodpecker busily cleaning out a hole in a dead tree, shortly after he mated with a female. He must have been trying to impress her with his nest cavity excavating skills. It was fun to watch him fling the wood chips out of the hole with only his tail sticking out.

The highlight of the day was a gorgeous Blue-winged Warbler that was looking for insects in a flowering tree. We all got great looks of this special visitor.

BIRDERS: Mark W., Kristin, Marian, Mike, Jennie, Luther, Dennis, Cheryl, Daniela, Leslie, Roger, Paul, Satya, Eric, Gary, Simone, Robert, Nathan, Larry, Renate, Marisa, Pam, Bruce and welcome to San who was visiting from the Boston area.

TIME: 8:00am to noon          

WEATHER: Sunny, 65 degrees

Compiler: Cheryl

Photographers: Eric, Leslie, Mike, Jennie     

1. Canada Goose   Number observed: 20

2. Wood Duck   Number observed: 6

3. Blue-winged Teal   Number observed: 1

4. Northern Shoveler   Number observed: 1

5. Mallard   Number observed: 6

6. Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)   Number observed: 1

7. Mourning Dove   Number observed: 1

8. Chimney Swift   Number observed: 3

9. Ruby-throated Hummingbird   Number observed: 1

10. American Coot   Number observed: 1

11. Spotted Sandpiper   Number observed: 1

12. Solitary Sandpiper   Number observed: 1

13. Ring-billed Gull   Number observed: 6

14. Herring Gull   Number observed: 1

15. Caspian Tern   Number observed: 1

16. Double-crested Cormorant   Number observed: 2

17. Black-crowned Night Heron   Number observed: 3

18. Green Heron   Number observed: 2

19. Great Blue Heron   Number observed: 9

20. Cooper's Hawk   Number observed: 1

21. Red-shouldered Hawk   Number observed: 1

22. Downy Woodpecker   Number observed: 4

23. Northern Flicker   Number observed: 2

24. falcon sp.   Number observed: 1

25. Warbling Vireo   Number observed: 2

26. Blue Jay   Number observed: 1

27. American Crow   Number observed: 3

28. Black-capped Chickadee   Number observed: 4

29. Tree Swallow   Number observed: 5

30. Purple Martin   Number observed: 9

31. Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Number observed: 6

32. Barn Swallow   Number observed: 12

33. Ruby-crowned Kinglet   Number observed: 4

34. Brown Creeper   Number observed: 1

35. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Number observed: 10

36. House Wren   Number observed: 6

37. European Starling   Number observed: 7

38. Gray Catbird   Number observed: 5

39. Brown Thrasher   Number observed: 2

40. Gray-cheeked Thrush   Number observed: 1

41. Swainson's Thrush   Number observed: 1

42. Hermit Thrush   Number observed: 4

43. Wood Thrush   Number observed: 1

44. American Robin   Number observed: 12

45. House Sparrow   Number observed: 4

46. House Finch   Number observed: 1

47. American Goldfinch   Number observed: 8

48. Chipping Sparrow   Number observed: 1

49. Clay-colored Sparrow   Number observed: 1

50. White-crowned Sparrow   Number observed: 3

51. White-throated Sparrow   Number observed: 160

52. Song Sparrow   Number observed: 2

53. Lincoln's Sparrow   Number observed: 1

54. Swamp Sparrow   Number observed: 3

55. Eastern Towhee   Number observed: 1

56. Red-winged Blackbird  Number observed: 27

57. Brown-headed Cowbird   Number observed: 9

58. Common Grackle   Number observed: 5

59. Blue-winged Warbler   Number observed: 1

60. Orange-crowned Warbler   Number observed: 1

61. Common Yellowthroat   Number observed: 1

62. American Redstart  Number observed: 1

63. Yellow Warbler   Number observed: 8

64. Palm Warbler   Number observed: 13

65. Pine Warbler   Number observed: 1

66. Yellow-rumped Warbler   Number observed: 6

67. Black-throated Green Warbler   Number observed: 1

68. Northern Cardinal   Number observed: 4

69. Rose-breasted Grosbeak   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