Photo: Eastern screech owl by Partha Saha
Hello everyone,
It was a surprisingly warm and pleasant fall morning and we all enjoyed being outside. We had some nice bird sightings too!
Fourteen Dark-eyed Juncos greeted us at the start of our walk. We had a late Red-winged Blackbird on the Island. I know that the blackbirds remain in the Chicago area for the winter but they seem to leave Jackson Park and not return until Spring, so today’s bird was a nice surprise. An Orange-Crowned Warbler is still hanging out with us and gave some great looks.
We spotted three lovely Fox Sparrows on the east path of the Island. They were doing their traditional “dance” in the leaves to uncover good things to eat. We had two adorable raccoons in our usual raccoon tree cavity. It looked like one was sleeping on top of the other, and in the process its backside and tail were hanging outside the hole. We caught occasional glimpses of the bottom raccoon as the two of them jockeyed for position.
As we rounded the corner to the path behind the museum, we were able to see a distant, but large flock of birds high in the sky. Based upon their shape and flight pattern we’re pretty sure that it was a flock of Sandhill Cranes. We didn’t add them to the official eBird list since we weren’t positive of the ID, but it was fun to see them and know that these special birds are on their way back to our area.
BIRDERS: Kristin, Mark C., Cheryl, Mike M., Jennie, Gary, Mike R., Jen, Joanne, Paul, Leslie, Lucy, Kevin, Michael, Meghan, Larry, Annie, Marisa, Pam, Renate, and welcome to Imani, Adiphyan, Ashley and Ian.
TIME: 8:00am to 11:10am
WEATHER: 50 degrees, sunny, light winds
Compiler: Cheryl
Photographers: Marisa and Gary
Canada Goose Number observed: 47
Wood Duck Number observed: 12
Mallard Number observed: 4
Ring-billed Gull Number observed: 2
Great Blue Heron Number observed: 4
Cooper's Hawk Number observed: 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker Number observed: 1
Downy Woodpecker Number observed: 3
Hairy Woodpecker Number observed: 1
Northern Flicker Number observed: 1
Merlin Number observed: 1
American Crow Number observed: 3
Black-capped Chickadee Number observed: 10
Ruby-crowned Kinglet Number observed: 3
Brown Creeper Number observed: 1
Winter Wren Number observed: 1
European Starling Number observed: 8
Eastern Bluebird Number observed: 1
Hermit Thrush Number observed: 3
American Robin Number observed: 17
House Finch Number observed: 3
American Goldfinch Number observed: 7
American Tree Sparrow Number observed: 4
Fox Sparrow Number observed: 3
Dark-eyed Junco Number observed: 17
White-throated Sparrow Number observed: 8
Song Sparrow Number observed: 2
Swamp Sparrow Number observed: 1
Red-winged Blackbird Number observed: 1
Orange-crowned Warbler Number observed: 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler Number observed: 1
Northern Cardinal 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