Starting off September right!

Thatcher Woods, IL

Saturday 3 September 2022 80 °F

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1:

Starting off September well, I led my last bird walk of the fall season at Thatcher Woods for a lively group of seven birders. We immediately started finding birds from the parking lot including a lovely RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, a good bird for the Oak Park area!!

MAGNOLIA WARBLER:

SWAINSON’S THRUSH:

BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER:

BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER:

Immature EASTERN BLUEBIRD:

AMERICAN REDSTART:

CHIPPING SPARROW:

BAY-BREASTED WARBLER, basically only separated from a Blackpoll in the fall because its legs aren’t pink.

Interesting bird. This is a bird I called a Golden-winged Warbler in the field but closer inspection of the photo shows a slightly yellowish wash to the back which suggests it may be a backcross with a Blue-winged Warbler hybrid. Consulting the experts on this.

AMERICAN GOLDFINCH:

EASTERN WOOD-PEWEE:

Female YELLOW WARBLER:

SAVANNAH SPARROW:

WILLOW FLYCATCHER — it vocalized saying “whit” (the identical Alder Fly would say “pit!”):

First PALM WARBLER of the season:

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I spotted a cooperative cuckoo foraging low to the ground:

With minimal enticing, this bird foraged right out in the open for us, givin multiple walkers their life bird BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO in the form of a juvenile!!! Wowza! What a special bird. This bird is not an adult because an adult’s eyering would be red as opposed to yellow.

YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER:

GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH. Here you can see the rufous brown tail this bird can have to varying degrees which was so pronounced on this individual I waffled between Hermit and Gray-cheeked on this bird for a bit.

The gray cheek is a dead giveaway on the ID though.

TENNESSEE WARBLER.

It was a fantastic walk and a wonderful way to end a week of walks before I head back to NYC (I’m there now as of posting this!). On my way home I had a CAPE MAY WARBLER:

Bird-of-the-day goes to the Black-billed Cuckoo with runners-up to the Red-headed Woodpecker, Golden-wing type warbler, and Gray-cheeked Thrush. A wonderful day of migration!! Stay tuned for adventures from Central Park, Jamaica Bay, and beyond — and even a brief trip to Houston, TX this coming week to visit Tian! (birding TBD)

Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 1139 Species

Posted by skwclar 03:40 Archived in USA