Photo: Red-breasted merganser by David Mollenhauer

Hello everyone,

It was another lovely fall morning, but our low species count tells us that it’s really winter time in Chicago’s bird world.

We were greeted by a muskrat in the Columbia Basin – it’s always fun to see them. A Cooper’s Hawk flew into a tree in the meadow and posed for us in the sunshine. Fox Sparrows were a nice find. Eric spotted a late Catbird but unfortunately the rest of us missed it.

The big excitement of the day was the presence of 10 Cackling Geese among the large flock of Canada Geese. We get Cackling Geese regularly during the winter but usually not this many. It was great to see them side by side with the Canadas so we could clearly see the difference between the two similar species.

BIRDERS: Lucy, Kristin, Dennis, Mike, Gary, Eric, Cheryl, Jennie, Tyler, Leslie, Paul, Mark C., Andrew, Nathan, Rob, Renate, Pam, Jerry and welcome to Adam, JC, David, Alisa, Deborah and James.

TIME:   8:00am to 11:00am   

WEATHER: High 30s, sunny, no wind

Compiler: Cheryl

Photographers: Eric and Gary

1. Cackling Goose   Number observed: 10

2. Canada Goose   Number observed: 210

3. Wood Duck   Number observed: 16

4. Mallard   Number observed: 10

5. Ring-billed Gull   Number observed: 4

6. Double-crested Cormorant   Number observed: 1

7. Great Blue Heron   Number observed: 5

8. Cooper's Hawk   Number observed: 1

9. Downy Woodpecker   Number observed: 3

10. Hairy Woodpecker   Number observed: 1

11. Northern Flicker   Number observed: 5

12. American Crow   Number observed: 4

13. Black-capped Chickadee   Number observed: 7

14. Ruby-crowned Kinglet   Number observed: 1

15. White-breasted Nuthatch   Number observed: 1

16. European Starling   Number observed: 15

17. American Robin   Number observed: 4

18. House Sparrow   Number observed: 1

19. House Finch   Number observed: 1

20. American Goldfinch   Number observed: 2

21. Fox Sparrow   Number observed: 2

22. Dark-eyed Junco   Number observed: 6

23. Northern Cardinal   Number observed: 4

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