7th Oak Park Bird Walk of Autumn

Sunday 4 October 2015 58 °F

Before I launch into my regular post, you may be wondering what the featured map above is for...? Well, over this Christmas Break (which is, I will admit, quite a while away still!) I will be visiting the Sax-Zim Bog, AKA "owl & winter birding mecca," in northern Minnesota with my birding aunt and uncle, just like I did last year! I am already excited (and shivering)!

Today I led my seventh of nine scheduled Oak Park Bird Walks this autumn. It was a fantastic bird walk with eight birders in attendance under overcast conditions with temperatures hovering around a rather chilly 50 degrees. 22 bird species were identified in total, with some highlights photographed below:

GRAY CATBIRD seen right at the beginning of the walk:

Female NORTHERN FLICKER, "Yellow-shafted" subspecies:

YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER:

BLUE-HEADED VIREO, my "bird of the day" and the most uncommon species seen. It gave fairly good looks to everyone in the group.

AMERICAN GOLDFINCH not looking so gold anymore - they have already transitioned to their nonbreeding plumage:

WHITE-THROATED SPARROW:

HERMIT THRUSH:

Bird-of-the-day goes to the uncommon BLUE-HEADED VIREO. The full list of 22 avian species is included below.

It was an extraordinary walk; one of my favorites of the fall so far! To get on the list for Oak Park Bird Walks, email me: [email protected]

For more information, please visit: sites.google.com/site/opbirdwalks/

Good birding,

Henry
World Life List: 865 Species (no recent life birds)

22 species (+1 other taxa)

I have two remaining walks scheduled for next weekend, and then this Oak Park Bird Walk season will sadly be over.

Cooper's Hawk 1
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 4
Mourning Dove 1
Chimney Swift 6
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 2
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 1
Blue-headed Vireo 1
Blue Jay 1
Black-capped Chickadee 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 20
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 4
Hermit Thrush 4
American Robin 60
Gray Catbird 1
European Starling 25
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2
warbler sp. (Parulidae sp.) 2
White-throated Sparrow 2
Northern Cardinal 10
Pine Siskin 5
American Goldfinch 3
House Sparrow 35