First true wave of neotropical migrants!

Chicago, IL

Saturday 2 May 2020 77 °F

Today, my plan was to cover the Wooded Island of Jackson Park this morning in anticipation of the first true wave of neotropical migrants (warblers, buntings, etc).

I arrived to find a large number of birds, but not as huge of a diversity as I was expecting (for example I got 51 species at Jackson Park this morning as opposed to my expected/hoped for goal of 70). RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS are still around in numbers:

EASTERN PHOEBE:

And the first of my new warbler sightings of the spring for today consisted of this stunning male YELLOW WARBLER:

Another FOY (first of the year) bird, BALTIMORE ORIOLE:

WARBLING VIREO:

GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER, FOY:

WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS were all over the place — in fact, they and the similar WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS comprised the majority of avian life in Jackson Park this morning.

This is one confused BROWN CREEPER!

LEAST FLYCATCHER, FOY:

Then, I faced a bit of an emergency as I had some pretty bad stomach pain, and because I didn’t want to use a public bathroom, I booked it up to our condo downtown. Since I was already out of the south side after the pit stop, I decided to continue northwards — specifically, to North Pond. A WOOD DUCK in a tree greeted me there:

As did a CANADA GOOSE family — sweet!

Close view of a female COMMON YELLOWTHROAT:

One of the local PEREGRINE FALCONS winged over:

I saw two of the three expected reptilian species for North Pond, Red-eared Slider (introduced):

And Painted Turtle (native):

And then, just as I was about to call it quits for North Pond, I ran into an absolutely spectacular flock of warblers. Here is my FOY MAGNOLIA WARBLER:

Rarest of them all was this YELLOW-THROATED which is a very hard-to-come-by migrant in Chicago. Sooo cool! FOY!

And as usual, my breath was taken away by my FOY BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER! I will never cease drooling over this bird.

Another FOY, AMERICAN REDSTART:

ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER:

And a BLUE-WINGED:

PALM:

There were other birds around too of course, like EASTERN TOWHEE:

And a migrating TURKEY VULTURE:

On the way home, I stopped at Columbus Park because I just couldn’t get enough. Another CANADA GOOSE family greeted me there behind the Refectory:

BALTIMORE ORIOLE:

YELLOW WARBLER:

Flyover DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT:

YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER:

SONG SPARROW:

American Bullfrog:

I saw two BLUE-HEADED VIREOS, cool!

BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER:

NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH:

Another MAGNOLIA WARBLER:

And I still wasn’t done. A bit of birding closer to home yielded NASHVILLE WARBLER:

And a pretty pair of AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES:

Whew! What a day — so fun to finally have all the different warblers around! Bird-of-the-day to the Yellow-throated Warbler with runner-up to the Marsh Wren, both being uncommon migrants seen at North Pond today. I added six warbler species to my spring tally today, too! Stay tuned for more migration craziness!

Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 1114 Species

Spring 2020 warbler list: 20/35 so far

1. Ovenbird: Washington Park, May 1
2. Worm-eating Warbler BONUS RARITY: North Pond, April 28
3. Louisiana Waterthrush: DuPage County, April 4
4. Northern Waterhthrush: North Pond, April 28
5. Golden-winged Warbler
6. Blue-winged Warbler: Washington Park, May 1
7. Black-and-White Warbler: North Pond, April 28
8. Prothonotary Warbler
9. Tennessee Warbler: Jackson Park, May 2
10. Orange-crowned Warbler: Oak Park alley, April 24
11. Nashville Warbler: Hegewisch Marsh, April 27
12. Connecticut Warbler
13. Mourning Warbler
14. Kentucky Warbler
15. Common Yellowthroat: North Pond, April 28
16. Hooded Warbler
17. American Redstart: Jackson Park, May 2
18. Cape May Warbler
19. Cerulean Warbler
20. Northern Parula
21. Magnolia Warbler: North Pond, May 2
22. Bay-breasted Warbler
23. Blackburnian Warbler: North Pond, May 2
24. Yellow Warbler: Jackson Park, May 2
25. Chestnut-sided Warbler
26. Blackpoll Warbler
27. Black-throated Blue Warbler
28. Palm Warbler: Big Marsh, April 27
29. Pine Warbler: Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve, April 18
30. Yellow-rumped Warbler: Thatcher Woods, April 4
31. Yellow-throated Warbler: North Pond, May 2
32. Townsend’s Warbler BONUS RARITY: Deer Grove Forest Preserve, April 17
33. Black-throated Green Warbler: Gillson Park, April 28
34. Canada Warbler
35. Wilson’s Warbler