1st Free Oak Park Bird Walk of the Autumn Migration!
Sunday 7 September 2014
60 °F
Today I led one birder on the first Oak Park Bird Walk of this fall. Before I give the details of the trip, let me just say that there are more of these free walks coming up and they are open to any birders, novice or experienced:
7:00am Wednesday, September 10
7:00am Sunday, September 14
7:00am Sunday, September 21
7:00am Sunday, September 28
7:00am Sunday, October 5
Just email me to get the details at:
[email protected]
Today's walk was under perfect weather conditions: totally sunny skies and temperatures around 60 degrees. The avian aspect of the walk, however, was rather slow with only five warbler species: N. WATERTHRUSH, TENNESSEE, NASHVILLE, REDSTART, & MAGNOLIA, which are all common ones except for the waterthrush, which is seen only once or twice every year or so on these walks. One highlight of the walk were an abundance of SWAINSON'S THRUSH, with at least 25 present at various points. Here is a picture of one of the birds, which turned out to to be the only bird species today that was obliging for photographs:
Bird-of-the-day goes to the abundant migrant SWAINSON'S THRUSHES while the runner-up goes to the NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, which while being a "better" species than the Swainson's, did not pose for a photograph.
Good birding and stay tuned for posts on the upcoming bird walks and more!
Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 700 Species (no life birds today)
25 avian species today:
Canada Goose 1
Ring-billed Gull 1
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 10
Mourning Dove 4
Chimney Swift 25
Downy Woodpecker 2
Red-eyed Vireo 2
Blue Jay 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Swainson's Thrush 25
American Robin 30
European Starling 1
Cedar Waxwing 15
Northern Waterthrush 1
Tennessee Warbler 3
Nashville Warbler 1
American Redstart 4
Magnolia Warbler 2
Northern Cardinal 5
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1
Common Grackle 1
Baltimore Oriole 1
House Finch 3
American Goldfinch 1
House Sparrow 40
