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Wooded Island Birding Outing

  • Jackson Park Chicago, Illinois (map)

Hello everyone,

It was another great day of birding. Purple Martins and Common Grackles were perched happily together in a tall dead tree. And, Starlings and Tree Swallows are nesting together peacefully in the big dead tree on the island. The Mourning Dove was on her nest and the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher is still on her nest too, but the Robin babies in the Japanese Garden must have fledged because the nest was empty.

Our Baltimore Orioles are a bit quieter than they were a couple weeks ago as they settle into their nesting rituals. One of the Orchard Orioles came out and posed for photos again this week.

We found a Green Heron in a tree behind the museum – was or is there a nest there? I hope so. We didn’t want to stay and stare at it too long for fear of disturbing it so we moved along quickly.

We were very pleased to find two Yellow-billed Cuckoos on the island – quite a treat! And we still have an Osprey hanging around. We only saw one this week but it’s possible that there’s a second one that just happened to be out and about for a while.

BIRDERS: Hal, Luther, Mark C., Maddy, Katie, Traci, Rodger, Paul W., Cheryl, Rob, Eric, Roger, Jennie, Caterina, Mark W., Tracy, Val, Melissa, Marisa, Renate and welcome to Paul S., Madhu, Anna, Tambria, Ruth, Sanjeev, and Ujwala.

TIME: 8:00am to 12:10pm

WEATHER: 62 degrees and sunny

Compiler: Cheryl

  1. Canada Goose   Number observed: 64

  2. Wood Duck   Number observed: 2

  3. Mallard   Number observed: 8

  4. Hooded Merganser   Number observed: 1

  5. Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)   Number observed: 2

  6. Mourning Dove   Number observed: 5

  7. Yellow-billed Cuckoo   Number observed: 2

  8. Chimney Swift   Number observed: 8

  9. Ruby-throated Hummingbird   Number observed: 3

  10. Ring-billed Gull   Number observed: 10

  11. American Herring Gull   Number observed: 1

  12. Caspian Tern   Number observed: 2

  13. Double-crested Cormorant   Number observed: 1

  14. Black-crowned Night Heron   Number observed: 1

  15. Green Heron   Number observed: 3

  16. Great Blue Heron   Number observed: 3

  17. Osprey   Number observed: 1

  18. Cooper's Hawk   Number observed: 1

  19. Downy Woodpecker   Number observed: 3

  20. Eastern Wood-Pewee   Number observed: 2

  21. Willow Flycatcher   Number observed: 3

  22. Empidonax sp.   Number observed: 1

  23. Eastern Kingbird   Number observed: 5

  24. White-eyed Vireo   Number observed: 1

  25. Warbling Vireo   Number observed: 9

  26. Blue Jay   Number observed: 2

  27. American Crow   Number observed: 6

  28. Black-capped Chickadee   Number observed: 3

  29. Tree Swallow   Number observed: 2

  30. Purple Martin   Number observed: 18

  31. Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Number observed: 6

  32. Barn Swallow   Number observed: 12

  33. Cliff Swallow   Number observed: 4

  34. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Number observed: 7

  35. Northern House Wren   Number observed: 5

  36. European Starling   Number observed: 10

  37. Gray Catbird   Number observed: 7

  38. American Robin   Number observed: 14

  39. Cedar Waxwing   Number observed: 12

  40. House Sparrow   Number observed: 3

  41. House Finch   Number observed: 3

  42. American Goldfinch   Number observed: 5

  43. Song Sparrow   Number observed: 4

  44. Orchard Oriole   Number observed: 2

  45. Baltimore Oriole   Number observed: 7

  46. Red-winged Blackbird   Number observed: 9

  47. Brown-headed Cowbird   Number observed: 3

  48. Common Grackle   Number observed: 3

  49. Mourning Warbler   Number observed: 1

  50. Common Yellowthroat   Number observed: 2

  51. Yellow Warbler   Number observed: 17

  52. Wilson's Warbler   Number observed: 1

  53. 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

Photo: Cedar waxwings by Marlin Greene

Earlier Event: May 31
Wooded Island Birding Outing
Later Event: June 14
Wooded Island Birding Outing