Trip Report: Jackson Park Bird Walk - 2013 September 14

With northeast winds and meager indication of movement on radar Friday night/Saturday morning I didn't expect much to see for the COS trip to Jackson Park yesterday.  At first it seemed that it would be really slow but near the Rose Garden we finally found a nice pocket of warblers.  We only got 12 species but working on their identifications with all the leaves kept us well occupied.  The best was a male BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER just south of Wooded Island.  There was a small group (3-4) ofN. PARULAS just west of the Rose Garden, which were all females orimmature birds (one was an immature male that briefly sang while I waslooking at it.  We also had 5 species of woodpeckers with great looks at adult and immature RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS, a heard only HAIRY WOODPECKER and a YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER.  I missed the sapsucker butgot 2 later in the day waiting for a bus at 60th and University!  TheMONK PARAKEETS did not make an appearance but let us know they werethere by calling from inside their nests.

After the trip I stayed around Wooded Island to look for the sapsuckerwithout luck but added GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER, GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH and SONG SPARROW.  I then checked 63rd Street Beach but only added SAVANNAH SPARROW (2).  However, I had one great find here.  It wasn't an animalor plant but a 1945 silver Mercury head dime in almost mint condition!  I found it in the sparse vegetation behind (south of) the fenced offhabitat at the west end of the beach.

In the area at the southwestend of the inner harbor I added HOUSE WREN and WILSON'S WARBLER.  Therewas also a MAGNOLIA WARBLER, 2 COMMON YELLOWTHROATS and a ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK here.

On the east side of the golf course I added OVENBIRD,  TENNESSEE WARBLER and, the best bird of the day, a male GOLDEN-WINGEDWARBLER to give me 16 warbler species on the day.  There were also aGREY-CHEEKED and a SWAINSON'S THRUSH in this area.

Randy Shonkwiler
Hyde Park/Chicago

Here is a list of notable birds from the outing:

Black-crowned Night-Heron 3
Monk Parakeet ~2
Belted Kingfisher 2 males
Red-headed Woodpecker 2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Downy Woodpecker 5
N. Flicker 5
E. Wood-pewee 1
Least Flycatcher 1
Red-eyed Vireo 2
Warbling Vireo 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
Swainson's Thrush 7
Brown Thrasher 2
Nashville Warbler 2
N. Parula 3-4
Chestnut-sided Warbler 1
Magnolia Warbler 2
Black-throated Blue Warbler 1
Black-throated Green Warbler 2
Palm Warbler 6
Blackpoll Warbler 2
Bay-breasted Warbler 1
A. Redstart 4
N. Waterthrush 2
Common Yellowthroat 5
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 2
Indigo Bunting 2