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Wooded Island Bird Walk

  • Wooded Island, Jackson Park Meet at the west side of the Columbia Basin Chicago, IL, 60637 United States (map)

Photo: Black-crowned night heron by Derrick Johnson

Hello everyone,

We have fledglings! A cute little Starling was outside the Japanese Garden, walking right up to people to say hello. We saw a male Baltimore Oriole feeding a little one and a young, scruffy Yellow Warbler was spotted near the soccer field. It was so cute! A mama Wood Duck was leading her six ducklings around the lagoons.

Our House Wrens who have taken up residence in light fixture number 40 are still building a nest. We saw one bird carry a long piece of grass into the base of the bulb, and then we watched as the grass was slowly pulled into the light fixture.

It was quite a day for Great Blue Herons. We had six fly over and then we found 10 more perched in various spots around the park. Our Black-crowned Night Heron was at its usual spot in the Japanese Garden and we had a nice number of Green Herons too. We had two Great Egrets too, one of whom perched at the top of a dead tree and we got a view of it with the construction cranes behind it – an interesting view. See Gary’s great photo.

The surprise bird of the day was, of course, found by Tracy. She is our rare bird finder extraordinaire. She spotted a Snowy Egret on the shore of the east lagoon and has a picture to prove it. What a great find!

BIRDERS: Kristin, Lucy, Marian, Cheryl, Mike M., Jennie, Leslie, Eric, Gary, Kevin, Mike, Peter, Tracy, Marisa and welcome to Rebecca, Steve, Gavin, Vince, Fiona and Dave who was visiting from Nebraska

TIME:   8:00am to 12:00pm   

WEATHER: cloudy, becoming sunny, low 70s

Compiler: Cheryl

Photographers: Marisa, Eric, Gary and Tracy, but the photo of the Snowy Egret is a picture of Tracy’s camera, just to prove that we really saw a Snowy Egret!

  1. Canada Goose   Number observed: 83

  2. Wood Duck   Number observed: 10

  3. Mallard   Number observed: 7

  4. Chimney Swift   Number observed: 4

  5. Ruby-throated Hummingbird   Number observed: 1

  6. Killdeer   Number observed: 1

  7. Ring-billed Gull   Number observed: 5

  8. Caspian Tern   Number observed: 1

  9. Great Blue Heron   Number observed: 16

  10. Great Egret   Number observed: 2

  11. Snowy Egret   Number observed: 1

  12. Green Heron   Number observed: 4

  13. Black-crowned Night-Heron   Number observed: 2

  14. Turkey Vulture   Number observed: 3

  15. Cooper's Hawk   Number observed: 1

  16. Downy Woodpecker   Number observed: 1

  17. Northern Flicker   Number observed: 3

  18. Eastern Kingbird   Number observed: 5

  19. Warbling Vireo   Number observed: 1

  20. American Crow   Number observed: 7

  21. Black-capped Chickadee   Number observed: 2

  22. Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Number observed: 6

  23. Purple Martin   Number observed: 2

  24. Tree Swallow   Number observed: 2

  25. Barn Swallow   Number observed: 20

  26. Cliff Swallow   Number observed: 140

  27. White-breasted Nuthatch   Number observed: 1

  28. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Number observed: 3

  29. House Wren   Number observed: 3

  30. European Starling   Number observed: 26

  31. Gray Catbird   Number observed: 2

  32. American Robin   Number observed: 6

  33. Cedar Waxwing   Number observed: 3

  34. House Sparrow   Number observed: 7

  35. House Finch   Number observed: 2

  36. American Goldfinch   Number observed: 4

  37. Song Sparrow   Number observed: 3

  38. Orchard Oriole   Number observed: 3

  39. Baltimore Oriole   Number observed: 5

  40. Red-winged Blackbird   Number observed: 12

  41. Brown-headed Cowbird   Number observed: 1

  42. Yellow Warbler   Number observed: 5

  43. Northern Cardinal   Number observed: 3

  44. Indigo Bunting   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

Earlier Event: July 8
No Wooded Island Bird Walk on 7/8
Later Event: July 20
Bemis Woods Bird Outing