Trip Report: Douglas Park Field - COS & Illinois Young Birders - 2014 September 28

A joint Chicago Ornithological Society-Illinois Young Birders field trip led by Eric and Aaron Gyllenhall attracted 40 birders to Douglas Park on Chicago's Westside. Combining eBird lists of four different birders, the group list for the trip stands at 62 species!

We spent more than two and a half hours birding around with north lagoon and inside the fenced sanctuary (which is actually a combined mini-golf course and bird sanctuary -- http://douglaspark.cpdgolf.com/ ).

The three "best birds" of the trip were a female BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER (giving good if shaded looks under some small trees north of the north lagoon), a female PURPLE FINCH (perched atop a dying ash tree south of the sanctuary lagoon), and a PHILADELPHIA VIREO (at the edge of a small woods, also south of the sanctuary lagoon). Our list of 14 warbler species also included BLACK-THROATED GREEN, CAPE MAY, and ORANGE-CROWNED. We also had a RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER (uncommon in the Westside parks), singing EASTERN PHOEBES, five species of thrush, eight species of sparrow, and a female ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK.

For the full list of species seen today (and earlier this year), please visit the Douglas Park eBird Hotspot page: http://ebird.org/ebird/hotspot/L108460

- post contributed by Eric Gyllenhaal, Oak Park, Cook County