Submitted by Jennie Strable on Mon, 10/05/2015 - 11:07am
Event date:
Saturday, October 3, 2015 - 8:00am
Location:
-
Hello everyone,
It was a brisk and chilly day, but as Pat often says, bad weather makes for good birding, and overall we had a good day. The highlights were the Snow Goose, first discovered by Randy a few days ago and still hanging with the Canadas, and a male Eastern Bluebird.
BIRDERS: 8; Tracy, Marian, Kayla, Eric, Tobias, Bruce, Karin C. and Jennie. Special visits by Randy, Doug, and our favorite golden retriever, Copper.
TIME: 8:00am to 10:30am
WEATHER: Cloudy, chilly and windy, in the low 50s.
TOTAL SPECIES COUNT: 34
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Black-crowned Night Heron (juvenile)
Canada Goose
Snow Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
Cooper’s Hawk
Distant flyover of some kind of bird of prey. To both Eric and I, it had the “jizz” of a bald eagle, but we couldn’t get a good enough view to tell for sure.
Ring-billed Gull
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker. A lot. A big flock of Flickers must have been moving through.
Eastern Phoebe
Blue-headed Vireo
American Crow
Chimney Swift
Black-capped Chickadee
Brown Creeper
Wren, possibly Winter
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird (male, near driving range)
Gray Catbird
Hermit Thrush
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Several flocks of small birds flying over. Randy tells us they were Pine Siskins.
Northern Cardinal
Eastern Towhee
Lincoln’s Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco (first of season)
American Goldfinch
This is a group report, with many birders contributing to the list. Most of the birds were seen by a least several or all the birders.
Corrections, additions and comments are welcome.
Recordings are not used to attract birds.
This report will be recorded on eBird as a group report for the Wooded Island Bird Walks.
The Walks are free and open to one and all. They are held year round.Newcomers are warmly welcomed.
Note on Darrow Bridge: Darrow Bridge has been barricaded by the Department of Transportation. No one can cross. A high black metal iron fence has been erected on all four sides. It appears that the fence will remain in place until Darrow Bridge is completely rebuilt, which could be more than a year. The Bridge has been deemed unsafe.
The Walks start at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday.
Birders meet in the southwest corner of the East Parking Lot. Wooded Island is closed off by a fence while work in being done. Birders walk through Bobolink Meadow and view the eastside of Wooded Island and the East Lagoon.
Please note: The Wednesday morning Walks have been decommissioned. An informal group often meets, but the start time varies and the distance traveled can be curtailed.
Metered parking is available in the East Parking Lot that is accessible from South Lake Shore Drive at 57th Street (labeled Science Drive on a small blue street sign). There is a Stop Light at 57th Street. Make a turn at the Stop Light towards the Museum. Turn Left (south) at the intersection of Science Drive and Columbia Drive. Go through the parking lot to the west end.
Note on Parking and Lots: While restoration is ongoing, heavy equipment has taken over half of the east parking lot, off of South Lake Shore Drive, and half of the southwest parking lot which has an entrance off of Hayes Drive (63rd St.) and just east of Cornell Drive. Birders will be able to find metered parking in both lots. The East Parking Lot is preferred. There is also unmetered parking along Stony Island Avenue from 59th to 56thStreet.
Good birding all,
Jennie Strable, filling in for Pat