Oak Park Migrants & Miller Meadows Bird Walk

Friday 27 May 2016 88 °F

Hooray! I am FINALLY done with school for the year - this extremely hectic sophomore year is over!

We are nearing the end of spring migration; however, there is still a good amount of birds coming through and we are in the thick of the breeding season, also a great time to look for avian species. The overall reaction to the large photos with which I experimented on the last post was positive, so from now on I will post large-sized photos. Remind me if I forget!

Some birding around the neighborhood on Wednesday yielded a few migrants, including this absolutely beautiful male BLACKPOLL WARBLER, usually a species of high treetops that doesn't afford this good of views. In this photo he has a midday snack:

SWAINSON'S THRUSH:

OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER - a really nice surprise and the first one I have ever seen in Illinois:

Male BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER, starting to get a bit late for these guys to still be hanging around:

Bird-of-the-day for Wednesday goes to the Olive-sided Flycatcher, with runner-up to the Blackpoll Warbler.

Today (Friday, May 27) was my first day of summer vacation and I led a bird walk at Miller Meadow Forest Preserve. Although it was cut rather short due to rain, we did see a good number of grassland birds like this SAVANNAH SPARROW:

A far-away BALTIMORE ORIOLE:

Also a rather distant EASTERN MEADOWLARK:

A beautiful male DICKCISSEL threw his head back in song:

This bird confused the group, but thanks to the online Illinois birding community, it was identified as a female BOBOLINK:

There was a stunning male around as well. This is the only bird in North America that has black on the underside and light coloring on top.

Bird-of-the-day for today goes to the pair of BOBOLINKS, with runner-up to the male DICKCISSEL. Full list is below.

Stay tuned, because I am leading an Oak Park Bird Walk tomorrow, and then I will be spending the Memorial Day weekend in Michigan where I will be attending a family wedding...and also BIRDING (of course!) with my Aunt Mary and Uncle Mory. We have a list of ridiculously awesome target birds for the weekend including Piping Plover, Cerulean, Prothonotary, Worm-eating, and even Kirtland's Warblers! It should be a fantastic way to kick off the summer!

Good birding,

Henry
World Life List: 884 Species (no recent life birds)

24 species (+1 other taxa) today:

Canada Goose 34
Mallard 2
Turkey Vulture 1
Willow Flycatcher 2
Eastern Kingbird 1
Warbling Vireo 1
Blue Jay 1
American Crow 1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 2
Barn Swallow 2
American Robin 2
European Starling 2
Cedar Waxwing 1
Common Yellowthroat 3
Yellow Warbler 1
Savannah Sparrow 5
Song Sparrow 3
Dickcissel 1
Bobolink 2
Red-winged Blackbird 15
Eastern Meadowlark 1
Common Grackle 1
Baltimore Oriole 4
American Goldfinch 3
passerine sp. 1 Female Bobolink?