Finishing up May strong!

Cook County, IL

Wednesday 14 June 2023 82 °F

Last May photo dump before I get into June! I’m slowly but surely catching up, hah!

MONDAY, MAY 29:

This morning I led a wonderful group of birders for my Oak Park Bird Walk at GAR Woods in River Forest. We started off with a RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER:

And great looks at an INDIGO BUNTING male:

It gave extended views, as you can see:

Male BALTIMORE ORIOLE:

Female AMERICAN REDSTART:

Then, I heard the telltale “Quick, three beers!” song of an OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER and gathered everyone into a clearing with a bunch of dead snags where I guessed the flycatcher was hanging out. They love perching on top of dead snags and this bird was no exception to that rule:

Here’s an example of how it can *sometimes* display a large bright white flash on the flanks:

A number of woodpeckers were around in this same clearing, too, like the DOWNY:

And several RED-HEADEDS which were awesome to see!

RED-EYED VIREO:

White-tailed Deer:

This PALM WARBLER, in my opinion, was the highlight of the day because it is so unseasonably late. It was a telltale Palm though with a yellow vent and it was wagging its tail:

And another weird warbler sighting was this PINE! There were no pine trees around (they only nest in one place in the county with plenty of pines, Swallow Cliff Woods), and they migrate through usually in early April, so this was a major surprise. Late warblers seem to be the theme recently, and this bird will get runner-up for the day, along with the Olive-sided Flycatcher, to the Palm Warbler.

TUESDAY, MAY 30:

I led a group around Thatcher Woods this morning, and no Thatcher walk is complete without first scanning the many dead snags surrounding the parking lot south of Chicago Ave. This proved particularly productive today with BALTIMORE ORIOLE:

A pair of RED-BELLIED WOODPECKERS:

Male BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD:

A gorgeous GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER:

Flyover BELTED KINGFISHER:

Another flyover — a GREAT BLUE HERON:

Male SCARLET TANAGER:

Male AMERICAN GOLDFINCH:

And female:

NORTHERN FLICKER:

Great to see the BROWN CREEPERS still on territory north of Chicago Ave:

TREE SWALLOW:

And to my delight, this walk picked up another OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER!! Absolutely awesome!

Male EASTERN BLUEBIRD was nice:

Later in the day some scouting at River Park for my upcoming big day wasn’t too productive but allowed for some more heron photography with GREAT BLUE: