Can I break 100?

Today, I had a mini big-day since I knew it would be a productive day: I wanted to break 100 species in Cook County, something that is doable but certainly more challenging without the Chicago lakefront (closed due to pandemic).

Little did I know though, just HOW productive it would be! Just by stepping out of my house this morning, I immediately sensed an intense density of migrant warblers — so much so that it was near “fallout” conditions. NASHVILLE:

My first photo of a TENNESSEE this year:

Stunning male BLACKBURNIAN:

And my first photo of a GOLDEN-WINGED! Yay!!! Love this bird.

FOY RED-EYED VIREO:

GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH:

Next stop: Washington Park to check for migrants, including a Stilt Sandpiper reported from the ballfields. The fields were flooded as I expected, and they held many WOOD DUCKS:

And a BLUE-WINGED TEAL with MALLARDS:

Unfortunately, the sandpiper was gone, but upon driving over to the Lagoon, I was faced with yet another “fallout” condition of migrant warblers with 23 species there in total. Crazy! Here’s an ORANGE-CROWNED:

WILSON’S:

And my eyes POPPED out of my head when, among the OVENBIRDS crawling along in the leaf litter, I spotted a stripe-headed WORM-EATING WARBLER!!!!! What?! My second self-found Worm-eating (N Illinois rarity) for the spring! Awesomeeeeee!

Then, I spotted my first SCARLET TANAGER of the year, a female:

CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER:

WHITE-THROATED & WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS abounded, as usual.

And a SAVANNAH SPARROW was nice to see.

BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER:

And yet another crazy surprise was a lemon-yellow male PROTHONOTARY which popped up on the south side of the lagoon. AMAZING!

Next stop: Jackson Park for more migrants. I immediately found a VEERY:

Warblers here, again, were prevalent. Here is a NORTHERN PARULA:

YELLOW-RUMPED:

CAPE MAY:

YELLOW:

BLUE-WINGED:

MAGNOLIA:

As you can see, I was quickly racking up the species for the day — my hopes were high for exceeding 100. I was super stoked to have this YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO, my FOY bird, sit for me for almost five minutes (very un-cuckoo-like). Sooooo cool!

The blue birds of migration — male INDIGO BUNTING:

And male EASTERN BLUEBIRD:

A quick jaunt out to scan 63rd St Beach from across Lakeshore Drive brought me CLIFF SWALLOW & RED-BREASTED MERGANSER for the day. To my dismay, I missed a pair of American Avocets by about thirty minutes.

Then, I headed to Calumet to get my marsh birds for the day. At Hegewisch Marsh, I picked up SORA, VIRGINIA RAIL, MARSH WREN, & MUTE SWAN — mission accomplished in the marsh department! A quick stop at Burnham Prairie brought me one of the continuing vagrant SNOWY EGRETS, another absolutely incredible bird to see in Cook!

Then, I got a call from Isoo who told me he was on six BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCKS, an exceptionally rare find for the county (and Illinois in general!). Wow! So, I drove down to Matteson where he had them and I immediately spotted them in the appointed field west of Central Ave. AMAZING!

At one point, they flew to the opposite end of the field and settled behind a little depression, cuing my departure, too.

I decided to check the nearby Ridgeland Ave Fluddle for shorebirds next, where I was surprised to see these NORTHERN SHOVELERS. Singing HORNED LARKS was also a good addition.

And of course, shorebirds! LESSER YELLOWLEGS:

And some awesome SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS, the first I’ve seen in a looooong time! So cool to see both dowitchers this spring!

Before I had to call it quits to the day, I wanted to stop at Bartel Grassland where I picked up some prairie birds including SEDGE WREN, EASTERN MEADOWLARK, HENSLOW’S SPARROW, and this male BOBOLINK:

And the female:

And after counting my list for the day, I saw that I had a whopping 109 species! Too cool! The full list is below. Bird-of-the-day to the Black-bellied Whistling Ducks & Worm-eating Warbler with runners-up to the Prothonotary Warbler & Snowy Egret. Lots upon lots to choose from!! Stay tuned for more!

Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 1115 Species

1. Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
2. Canada Goose
3. Mute Swan
4. Wood Duck
5. Blue-winged Teal
6. Northern Shoveler
7. Mallard
8. Red-breasted Merganser
9. Feral Pigeon
10. Mourning Dove
11. Yellow-billed Cucko
12. Chimney Swift
13. Ruby-throated Hummingbird
14. Virginia Rail
15. Sora
16. Killdeer
17. Short-billed Dowitcher
18. Spotted Sandpiper
19. Solitary Sandpiper
20. Lesser Yellowlegs
21. Ring-billed Gull
22. Caspian Tern
23. Double-crested Cormorant
24. Great Blue Heron
25. Snowy Egret
26. Green Heron
27. Black-crowned Night-Heron
28. Turkey Vulture
29. Cooper’s Hawk
30. Red-bellied Woodpecker
31. Downy Woodpecker
32. Hairy Woodpecker
33. Northern Flicker
34. Eastern Kingbird
35. Eastern Wood-Pewee
36. Least Flycatcher
37. Warbling Vireo
38. Red-eyed Vireo
39. Blue Jay
40. American Crow
41. Purple Martin
42. Tree Swallow
43. Northern Rough-winged Swallow
44. Cliff Swallow
45. Barn Swallow
46. Black-capped Chickadee
47. White-breasted Nuthatch
48. House Wren
49. Sedge Wren
50. Marsh Wren
51. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
52. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
53. Easter Bluebird
54. Veery
55. Gray-cheeked Thrush
56. Swainsons Thrush
57. Wood Thrush
58. American Robin
59. Gray Catbird
60. European Starling
61. Cedar Waxwing
62. Horned Lark
63. House Sparrow
64. American Goldfinch
65. Bobolink
66. Eastern Meadowlark
67. Baltimore Oriole
68. Red-winged Blackbird
69. Brown-headed Cowbird
70. Common Grackle
71. Ovenbird
72. Worm-eating Warbler
73. Northern Waterthrush
74. Golden-winged Warbler
75. Blue-winged Warbler
76. Black-and-White Warbler
77. Prothonotary Warbler
78. Tennessee Warbler
79. Orange-crowned Warbler
80. Nashville Warbler
81. Common Yellowthroat
82. American Redstart
83. Cape May Warbler
84. Northern Parula
85. Magnolia Warbler
86. Bay-breasted Warbler
87. Blackburnian Warbler
88. Yellow Warbler
89. Chestnut-sided Warbler
90. Blackpoll Warbler
91. Black-throated Blue Warbler
92. Palm Warbler
93. Yellow-rumped Warbler
94. Black-throated Green Warbler
95. Wilson’s Warbler
96. Scarlet Tanager
97. Northern Cardinal
98. Rose-breasted Grosbeak
99. Indigo Bunting
100. Eastern Towhee
101. Chipping Sparrow
102. Field Sparrow
103. Savannah Sparrow
104. Henslow’s Sparrow
105. Song Sparrow
106. Lincoln’s Sparrow
107. Swamp Sparrow
108. White-throated Sparrow
109. White-crowned Sparrow