Photo credit: Will Stuart
Hello everyone,
Important Reminder: We will NOT have a Wooded Island Bird Walk this Saturday, July 11, due to a music festival that is taking place in the park. We’ll be back, as usual, on July 18.
To ensure that we don’t miss a Saturday morning of birding, Leslie and Roger have kindly offered to lead a bird walk at Salt Creek Woods on July 11. Meet at 8:00am at the corner of Jackson and Brainard in LaGrange Park. There is plenty of free street parking outside the entrance. Note that there are no restroom facilities at this forest preserve so plan to stop someplace along the way.
Here’s a link to a map of the meeting place: https://maps.app.goo.gl/jeQrVnKJZF4u9miB6
Our walk began with nice looks at three Great Crested Flycatchers flying about in a tree across the street from our meeting place. What a great welcome!
Our summer residents showed up in force for us with high numbers of Eastern Warbling Vireos, Northern Yellow Warblers, Mallards, as well as plenty of swallows and herons.
Once again, it was family day in the park. Seven “fresh” ducklings (as Caterina descriptively put it) formed a perfect conga line paddling across the lagoon behind mom. A Blue-gray Gnatcatcher was feeding a hungry juvenile. A highlight of the morning’s cuteness was the tree cavity with three Tree Swallow nestlings peering out and demanding that mom and dad bring them breakfast. Mom and dad happily complied and we happily watched them.
BIRDERS: Marian, Mike, Jennie, Cheryl, Mark C., Jeff, Luther, Jeffrey, Mark W., Lucy, Mark N., Sandra, Sarah, Amir, Carolina, Marisa, Pat, Laurie, Caterina, Rebecca, Daniela, Val, Gary, Simone, Robert, Leslie, Traci, Katie, and welcome to Laurel, Turquoise, Mack, Kera, Andrew, and Jimena (visiting from L.A.)
TIME: 8:00am to 11:40am
WEATHER: 71 degrees, partly cloudy
Compiler: Cheryl
Canada Goose Number observed: 95
Wood Duck Number observed: 3
Mallard Number observed: 23
Mourning Dove Number observed: 1
Chimney Swift Number observed: 8
Ruby-throated Hummingbird Number observed: 3
Ring-billed Gull Number observed: 8
American Herring Gull Number observed: 1
Caspian Tern Number observed: 2
Double-crested Cormorant Number observed: 1
Black-crowned Night Heron Number observed: 1
Green Heron Number observed: 2
Great Egret Number observed: 2
Great Blue Heron Number observed: 5
Cooper's Hawk Number observed: 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker Number observed: 1
Downy Woodpecker Number observed: 3
Northern Flicker Number observed: 1
American Kestrel Number observed: 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee Number observed: 2
Eastern Phoebe Number observed: 3
Great Crested Flycatcher Number observed: 3
Eastern Kingbird Number observed: 4
Eastern Warbling Vireo Number observed: 20
American Crow Number observed: 2
Black-capped Chickadee Number observed: 5
Tree Swallow Number observed: 5
Purple Martin Number observed: 16
Northern Rough-winged Swallow Number observed: 15
Barn Swallow Number observed: 17
Cliff Swallow Number observed: 11
White-breasted Nuthatch Number observed: 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Number observed: 6
Northern House Wren Number observed: 6
European Starling Number observed: 30
Gray Catbird Number observed: 16
American Robin Number observed: 57
Cedar Waxwing Number observed: 10
House Sparrow Number observed: 3
House Finch Number observed: 1
American Goldfinch Number observed: 12
Chipping Sparrow Number observed: 2
Song Sparrow Number observed: 6
Orchard Oriole Number observed: 3
Baltimore Oriole Number observed: 11
Red-winged Blackbird Number observed: 21
Brown-headed Cowbird Number observed: 8
Common Grackle Number observed: 1
Common Yellowthroat Number observed: 2
Northern Yellow Warbler Number observed: 19
Northern Cardinal Number observed: 8
Indigo Bunting Number observed: 2
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