May 2021

Well, I have certainly got out a fair amount this spring migration so this post will cover all of my birds from May 8 — May 11, in the week before what I would consider to be the “peak” of bird migration. I led a number of Oak Park Bird Walks in this time frame and we saw a decent amount of migrants. I’ll start out with the World Big Day/spring bird count at Bartel Grassland and other southern Cook County locations on May 8. It was slow given multiple nights of northerly winds the nights before but I did manage to eek out a few birds. SONG SPARROW:

The grassland birds were around as usual. Male BOBOLINK:

FIELD SPARROW:

PINE WARBLER in the peripheral forest:

GREATER YELLOWLEGS (back) with LESSER YELLOWLEGS (front). This is a perfect comparison shot — the best distinguishing factor in this tricky ID is bill length.

BLUE-HEADED VIREO:

CAPE MAY WARBLER, my first of the year:

NASHVILLE WARBLER:

At one point I unwittingly stepped under a BALD EAGLE nest so of course a pair of them took off from the nest, calling incessentalty. Beautiful! I quickly snapped a photo and then hurried away so as not to disturb.

EASTERN KINGBIRD:

Female/immature male PURPLE FINCH:

RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH:

I pulled this aggressive Plains Gartersnake out of the grass at one point:

I also hit Helmick Nature Preserve even further south. CASPIAN TERNS:

GREAT EGRET:

CHIMNEY SWIFT:

YELLOW WARBLER:

NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH:

SORA:

A bit closer to home, a YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER:

RED-SHOULDERED HAWK on a nest rather nearby:

I led a few birders on a private tour at LaBagh Woods and it was fairly slow, though we did manage to re-find the mega-rare BROAD-BILLED HUMMINGBIRD again which was super cool:

GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER:

MAGNOLIA WARBLER:

A couple NASHVILLE WARBLERS:

We headed down to Columbus Park where unfortunately it was equally slow, though we did have a SAVANNAH SPARROW in the parking lot:

WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS:

A neighborhood bird walk the next day was much more productive, with a few PINE SISKINS starting off the day:

As well as some GREAT looks at warblers. Here is a CHESTNUT-SIDED:

NASHVILLE:

BLUE-WINGED:

BLACK-THROATED GREEN:

BLACK-AND-WHITE:

RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET:

So overall, despite northerly winds for much of the first half of May, I was able to get some great birding in. More to come: stay tuned for a post about my recent weekend trip to Indiana Dunes State Park!

Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 1126 Species

So this weekend I am in Indiana with my friends Kim and Susie, but before posting about that, I have to catch up on all of the great birds I’ve been seeing recently back in Illinois the last few weeks. This post will cover birds sighted from May 3 — May 7 mainly on bird walks I have been leading, apart from one major chase.

The big twitch of the week was a mid-day excursion to LaBagh Woods Forest Preserve to pursue a reported Broad-billed Hummingbird found by birder Nathan Goldberg.

By the time I arrived, about thirty birders had already amassed and as we kept searching, the number of birders doubled. Finally, I saw a brilliant emerald-green hummingbird perched in the back of a bush, got a few people on it, and within a matter of seconds, BOOM it was gone!

Five minutes later, another birder discovered it perched a little deeper into the woods. BROAD-BILLED HUMMINGBIRD! An incredible Illinois lifer and only the third ever seen in the state. This is a Mexican bird that only ranges into far southeastern Arizona in the US so to have one in the Midwest is a mega-rare event. Awesome!!!!

Interestingly enough I realized I had never added Broad-billed Hummingbird to my life list from when I had them years ago in Arizona, so that bumped my life list up to 1126 species!!

It was quite the spectacle.

There were a few other migrants around at LaBagh as well. Here is a SWAINSON’S THRUSH:

And of course the warblers never fail to amaze. PALM WARBLER:

ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER:

PINE:

BLACK-THROATED GREEN:

CHESTNUT-SIDED:

Male BLACKBURNIAN was a star that I showed my mom:

BLUE-WINGED:

Another Palm Warbler:

A late GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET was fun to see see see. Get it? Lol

This BROAD-WINGED HAWK was a life bird for a number of birders on my neighborhood Oak Park Bird Walk:

A nice bright YELLOW-THROATED VIREO:

BALTIMORE ORIOLES:

Male NASHVILLE WARBLER:

GOLDEN-WINGED is always a star of any migration show:

RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, the more-expected kinglet species for May:

COOPER’S HAWK:

YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS have been common as can be, per usual:

A bird walk at Miller Meadow was quite enjoyable. SONG SPARROW:

EASTERN MEADOWLARK:

Male AMERICAN GOLDFINCH:

The stars of the show for the bird walk were a pair of EASTERN BLUEBIRDS that were using a natural cavity for a nest. Always awesome to see!

So it’s been pretty good so far, but I am admittedly waiting for the next few days in May for the peak of songbird migration. Stay tuned!

Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 1126 Species

Still catching up on migration posts...on May 2 I (and about two hundred other birders!) made the pilgrimage to Montrose Point since strong southwesterly winds were forecast the night before, hopefully bringing the long-awaited big push of migrants.

I started on the beach and immediately found my first PIPING PLOVERS of the year, more specifically, Monty and Rose who are now here for their third summer. I think this might be Monty.

A few RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS flew by — always nice to get May diving ducks in Chicago:

A NORTHERN HARRIER winged its way along the lakefront:

The flight of BLUE JAYS throughout the morning was pretty impressive. I counted almost 400!

And migrant passerines were evident in strong numbers. Here is a male ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK:

GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER:

LEAST FLYCATCHER:

SAVANNAH SPARROW:

LINCOLN’S SPARROW — note warm colors and fine streaks:

My first INDIGO BUNTING of the season was a welcome sight!

As was another colorful summer bird — male SCARLET TANAGER:

Here’s a quick lesson on thrush ID with my photos from Montrose. VEERY, a nice warm-toned bird from the back with extremely faint spotting on the breast:

SWAINSON’S THRUSH, note the duller back than the Veery and a thick eye ring:

WOOD THRUSH — almost reddish back and thick spots on the breast:

GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH — most similar to the Swainson’s but lacking the eye ring:

Back to Sparrows. Here’s a SWAMP. Note the rufous back.

And a CHIPPING with the almost-red cap:

FIELD — white eyering and cute pink bill:

PINE SISKINS are always a welcome sight:

And the warblers didn’t disappoint. I had 16 species which was quite good for May 2, a date when I would usually expect around 10 species. YELLOW-RUMPED:

OVENBIRD:

MAGNOLIA:

YELLOW:

NASHVILLE:

Favorite warbler of the morning was this GOLDEN-WINGED:

First RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD of the year:

The celebrity bird of the morning was this roosting EASTERN WHIP-POOR-WILL which attracted about 80 onlookers at one point, unfortunately spooking the bird. Luckily it came back for more photos and hopefully wasn’t disturbed too much after that.

I came back fo the car with 83 species for the morning so I set out to see if I could get a few more and I upped my count with the lingering LESSER SCAUP in the harbor:

And my first PURPLE MARTIN of the year, seen distantly on one of the Martin houses. Ended the morning with 85 species.

Awesome! It was so good to get some quality migration birding in.
Henry
World Life List: 1125 Species

Still catching up on posting here...bird walks have been continuing and the migrants have just been picking up speed! This was among my final (probably) DARK-EYED JUNCOS until I go to western New York next month...seen a couple weeks ago on a neighborhood bird walk.

AMERICAN GOLDFINCH:

BROAD-WINGED HAWKS have become very reliable in the neighborhood recently — hopefully building a nest somewhere nearby!

WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW at an enjoyable walk at Columbus Park:

And a LINCOLN’S:

Warblers abounded at Columbus Park, as well. Here is a YELLOW:

NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH:

PALM:

PIED-BILLED GREBE in the lagoon was nice, too:

SPOTTED SANDPIPER:

SONG SPARROW:

The bird-of-the-day was this incredible BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER which gave us amazing views near the end of the walk:

It was a great start-to-May walk! Much more to come, I am still behind in posting!

Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 1125 Species

Last thursday I set out on a mid-afternoon excursion to find a rare bird: a Ruff! I have only seen this bird one time before, and that was almost exactly one year ago right across the Wisconsin border, one of my first big chases after the pandemic hit. Thursday’s chase was much closer-to-home, in fact it was only a thirty minute drive away to Salt Creek Marsh in DuPage County! So, I showed up mid-afternoon and immediately joined three other birders in scanning the other shorebirds for the rare European visitor. PECTORAL SANDPIPERS were all over the place:

As were LESSER YELLOWLEGS:

As well as GREATER YELLOWLEGS — note the difference in bill length & thickness which is used to differentiate the two yellowlegs species. I find that if I’m doubting my ID, it’s a Lesser, and if it’s a Greater, I definitely know because of that long bill.

Two Greater (foreground) with a Lesser (back):

Then, I laid my eyes on a noticeably different shorebird — a chunkier yellowlegs-looking bird but with orange legs and an overall rusty plumage — it was indeed the female RUFF! Interestingly enough, the female of this species is called a REEVE. So, I called the one remaining birder over and we enjoyed views of this rarity.

Soon, it flew in, allowing for some wonderfully close-up views. To date, both of my Ruff sightings have been of impressively obliging individuals.

We were able to observe its feeding behavior which I documented in a short video here:
https://youtu.be/GcVStIQYulA

Another Pectoral Sandpiper:

And the Reeve just kept serving up some amazing looks.

Here it is (back bird) pictured with a Greater Yellowlegs for comparison:

After the successful twitch, I headed to a nearby forest preserve for more birding and herping. There were a few migrants including RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET:

A bit of flipping yielded a total of 7 Eastern Tiger Salamanders, my highest-ever day count of this species.

ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER was nice:

So it was a great day to be out! Bird-of-the-day obviously goes to the Ruff/Reeve!

Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 1125 Species