This is a syndicated birdwalk report from the North Park Village Migratory Bird Walks, Saturdays at 8am through the months of April and May in the Spring, plus September and October in the Fall.

We meet at the parking lot and make our way around the park an hour before it officially opens. To receive all emails and communications, sign up at: tinyletter.com/northparkvillagebirding

Hello North Park Birders,

At least two juvenile Cooper's hawks, maybe three, have taken up residence at North Park Village! They have been over the last four Saturdays and as early as 8/22/23. If we're lucky, one continues or returns into the following fall, and we see it in mature plumage.

They were both among our first three birds. The first one was right at the gate and nicely side-lit by the golden sun. The second was prepping its breakfast while everyone looked the other way at a Northern flicker and then a distant red-winged blackbird across the prairie and lagoon.

It didn't seem to mind the whole group collectively turning around to watch it decimate its squirrel. It simply basked in its glory and ripped away.

You can see in this image that the tail is definitely rounded and not square.

The treats these slow days bring are what make every visit enjoyable. We witnessed an American goldfinch molting away from its mating-season plumage. Oxidizing if you will.

We heard countless blue jays and saw at least 3 red-headed woodpeckers throughout the walk. The first one was a bit tricky as it was three dead trees down and only a handful saw its head. It wasn't until we made it past the eastern hill that we saw it return to the same tree. I took a walk back to get a closer shot while most moved ahead to see a green heron. A small group stayed on the wetland catwalk in hopes is spotting the marsh wren we kept hearing.

There's not much action from the bridge ahead. Some do hear a flicker calling and are drawn in across the pond by a great blue heron.

The heron quickly becomes a guide point as we notice that the wood ducks have settled in with large numbers. I count 39 wood ducks across the next set of images.

We’re guided to more abundance ahead by a flicker.

Distant calls of blue jays scream that they’re still going at it. A few of them are flying past us and we almost dismiss a juvenile red-headed woodpecker as another one of those jays. This made us pay close attention and notice two grackles as well. The marsh wren caught our attention once again but only audibly.

The jays kept darting west. A few of them had stuffed mouths.

On the other side perched a majestic American robin.

Into the woodland trail and only by the logs did we spot some birds. A yellow-bellied flycatcher fluttered along with some Swainson's thrushes and a Philadelphia Vireo.

Things were slow from here on out. The group split per usual. One side saw a red-headed woodpecker once more. The other crew saw the two Cooper's hawks again. Notice the rounded tail once again.

Once at the Savannah trail, we witnessed a red-tailed hawk chase away the Cooper's hawks. We also heard but didn't see a white-breasted nuthatch. Most just trekked along to get to our count. We counted 26 species total, no warblers. That is until we finished counting and a bay-breasted warbler arrived to test our necks. It hopped right above us with enough time to see its fading breast coloration and to add a final bird to our list.

Thank you to Laura for keeping our list this week! It took me some double-checking after the walk to confirm the flycatcher. See the Tinyletter archives for the complete version of this report.

Happy birding,

J’orge 🐦- @yorickgarcia

eBird Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S150584419

Species List:

Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Chimney Swift
Great Blue Heron
Green Heron
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Belted Kingfisher
Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Philadelphia Vireo
Blue Jay
White-breasted Nuthatch
Marsh Wren
Gray Catbird
Swainson's Thrush
American Robin
American Goldfinch
White-throated Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Bay-breasted Warbler
Northern Cardinal