May 2019

Today, I led my last local Oak Park Bird Walk of the spring (I have one more walk I am leading at Miller Meadow Forest Preserve on Saturday June 8).

A male WILSON’S WARBLER high in the trees started off the walk with a bit of warbler neck:

Female MAGNOLIA WARBLER:

Yet another YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER was great to see! It has been a great spring personally for finding this species.

My favorite bird of the walk was a staked-out male CANADA WARBLER that Laura Derks said she had singing in front of her house prior to the walk. Sure enough, after walking to her house, within a few minutes we heard its loud, chipper song! It allowed for some close, albeit fleeting, views:

RED-EYED VIREO was nice to spot again:

And a wonderful end to the walk was when a flock of CEDAR WAXWINGS flew overhead. One bird was even kind enough to perch for a few photos:

Bird-of-the-day to the Canada Warbler with runner-up to the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. A great walk, thanks to all for coming!

Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 971 Species

Yesterday, I went birding at Plum Creek Forest Preserve in far southeast Cook County in order to scout for a Cook County Big Day I am doing with my friends on saturday.

Although they made me work for them by walking a lot, there were a number of birds around including this EASTERN MEADOWLARK:

And a male EASTERN BLUEBIRD:

FIELD SPARROW, many of these:

Male YELLOW WARBLER:

EASTERN WOOD-PEWEE:

RED-EYED VIREO:

Yet another migrant YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER was really fun to see:

Male EASTERN TOWHEE:

A stop in the prairie section of the preserve yielded some great grassland species, including this HENSLOW’S SPARROW — many of these singing, but they were hard to see:

Male BOBOLINK, a bird I was really hoping to find here:

GRASSHOPPER SPARROWS were also pleasantly abundant:

Then, when I returned to the parked car I heard the song of a bird I feared I would miss — WHITE-EYED VIREO! I soon glimpsed this beautiful bird with its namesake white eye in the bushes across the street.

On the way out, seeing this RED-HEADED WOODPECKER perched in a tree was a wonderful treat:

Bird-of-the-day to the White-eyed Vireo which was so nice to see as I have actually seldom seen this bird before, with runner-up to the Bobolink. Fun stuff!

Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 971 Species

Yesterday morning, after a series of bird walks being rained out by this incredibly wet spring, I finally led an Oak Park Bird Walk! Before we get to that though, I must include some pictures of a very quality yard bird that visited two days ago: a YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER!

The bird walk yesterday was great!

More YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHERS were in the area, including this one:

RED-EYED VIREO:

Its considerably less common cousin, the PHILADELPHIA VIREO, was nice to see:

The poppies in my front yard are blooming beautifully:

And yet another uncommon vireo species, specifically for this late in migration, was a BLUE-HEADED VIREO:

TENNESSEE WARBLERS:

SWAINSON’S THRUSH:

And a crowd pleaser, the female BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER:

It was a great walk! Bird-of-the-day to the Philadelphia Vireo for yesterday.

Stay tuned and good birding!
Henry
World Life List: 971 Species

Today while my sister was at an event, I birded the Wooded Island of Jackson Park in search of migrants. Despite it getting late in the season, I was most certainly not disappointed! The flycatchers, in particular, put on quite a show.

CASPIAN TERN:

Female BLACKPOLL WARBLER:

EASTERN KINGBIRD, my first flycatcher species of the day:

One of my favorite birds today was this OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER which allowed for great photo ops multiple times. A very cool species to see here out east in migration (I see them every year on their breeding grounds out west in Idaho).

Male BALTIMORE ORIOLES:

WILSON’S WARBLERS proved abundant in the park today, which was so nice to see:

Male INDIGO BUNTING:

CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLERS:

My favorite warbler species of the day was this female MOURNING WARBLER, a bird which can be reasonably common at the right place and time, but is very challenging to observe due to their affinity for skulking in bushes:

Male YELLOW WARBLER, a common breeder in the park:

Traill’s Flycatchers, birds that are either ALDER or WILLOW FLYCATCHERS, but can basically only be identified by song. I heard both of these species in the park today but was unable to track the songs to any of the individual birds:

LEAST FLYCATCHERS:

EASTERN WOOD-PEWEES:

GREAT BLUE HERON with MALLARDS in the background:

Detail of the heron’s face:

Male COMMON YELLOWTHROAT:

Another uncommon flycatcher, a YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER, was a great treat to see!

SWAINSON’S THRUSH:

GRAY CATBIRD:

Male WOOD DUCK:

MAGNOLIA WARBLER:

‘Twas a great afternoon of birding — so fun! Bird-of-the-day to the Olive-sided Flycatcher with runners-up to the Mourning Warbler & Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. Stay tuned and good birding!

Henry
World Life List: 971 Species

After the intense Big Day yesterday, Jonathan and I both woke up feeling very groggy in the late morning today. After breakfast, though, we were ready for some very low-key birding in the woods outside the house in which we were staying.

I delighted in seeing this male YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER, apparently a commonality down here in this part of the state:

Female MAGNOLIA WARBLER:

EASTERN WOOD-PEWEE:

We heard a pair of duetting BARRED OWLS but were unfortunately unable to call them in with my vocal imitation like I did with the one in the state park the other night.

A male SCARLET TANAGER appeared to have a territory right over the house, and we were blessed with multiple opportunities to document this stunner, my bird-of-the-day for today.

Back to Chicago today. Good birding and stay tuned!
Henry
World Life List: 971 Species