Montrose Point: Northern Mockingbird!

Saturday 2 May 2015 73 °F

Today was a nice day out birding (and nice overall with sunny skies and 73-degree temps), but before I dive into the details, this Thursday I attended a school field trip to Volo Bog in Lake County. We spent the majority of the day planting shrubs to restore the native shrubland for the protection of bird species such as Brown Thrashers and Blue-winged Warblers. Because I was planting the entire time, I only managed one photo of a bird; a blurry view of a RED-TAILED HAWK outside of the school bus' window:

Today, with the day starting off with a WINTER WREN's melodious warble, I knew that the southerly winds last night would pay off for a nice day for bird migrant species. I combined a choir rehearsal downtown with birding trips today, the first of which was Millennium Park.

Nice view of a male WHITE-THROATED SPARROW:

HERMIT THRUSH; these guys were surprisingly still abundant today (they are typically early-migration specialties):

Male EASTERN TOWHEE:

After rehearsal, I took the long bus ride up to Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary, where a Hooded Warbler (my all-time favorite bird!), had been recently seen by other birders. When I arrived, I noticed that the PURPLE MARTINS such as the one pictured below had returned to their bird condos:

Male NORTHERN FLICKER, "Yellow-shafted" subspecies:

Male SWAMP SPARROW:

HOUSE WREN:

Suddenly, this NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD popped up in front of me! This was quite a surprise because mockingbirds' northernmost edge of their range is southern-to-central Illinois, not anywhere near Chcago usually! I suppose it had flown the southerly winds a bit too far last night...

Alas, I failed to find the Hooded Warbler, but the NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD, along with a runner-up CLAY-COLORED SPARROW, was a fine consolation prize. The full avian species list for the day, 49 species in total, is found below.

Good birding, and stay tuned!

Henry
World Life List: 751 Species (no life birds recently)

49 species today:

Canada Goose 11
Mallard 6
Double-crested Cormorant 45
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Killdeer 3
Ring-billed Gull 50
Herring Gull 5
Caspian Tern 7
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 5
Chimney Swift 5
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 2
American Kestrel 1
American Crow 1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 5
Purple Martin 5
Bank Swallow 2
Barn Swallow 5
Cliff Swallow 1
House Wren 1
Winter Wren 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
Veery 1
Hermit Thrush 10
American Robin 20
Brown Thrasher 1
Northern Mockingbird 1 Photos
European Starling 8
Yellow Warbler 6
Yellow-rumped Warbler 4
Eastern Towhee 1
Chipping Sparrow 1
Clay-colored Sparrow 1
Savannah Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 2
Lincoln's Sparrow 2
Swamp Sparrow 2
White-throated Sparrow 10
White-crowned Sparrow 10
Northern Cardinal 2
Red-winged Blackbird 20
Common Grackle 20
Brown-headed Cowbird 3
House Finch 2
American Goldfinch 2
House Sparrow 5