Field Trip Report: Tinley Park Area

Bald Eagle, Bartel Grassland, January 21, 2023.

words by Vinod Babu
photos by Lizzy Navarro (Instagram)

January 21, 2023

On January 21, seven birders, including a new birder and a young birder, explored the Tinley Park area in the hopes of finding Short-eared Owls. Monitoring indicated that owls were present in the Bartel Grassland and Killdeer Wetlands area, and so the original plan to explore Springbrook Prairie was scrapped in an effort to go where the owls were.

We had a pretty great trip, even though we didn't get the Short-eared Owls. We scanned Killdeer Wetlands, and walked some distance into Bartel, but the owls didn't make an appearance. We did catch a glimpse of the short-eared owl's diurnal counterpart, the Northern Harrier, gliding over the swales of Killdeer wetlands. A highlight at this spot was a Bald Eagle's nest in the woods south of Bartel. We also got to see a Bald Eagle perched by the nest and another flying over the grassland. Another highlight were the American Tree Sparrows foraging all around us, with one bird perching right by us, giving great looks.

Great-tailed Grackle, Monee, January 21, 2023.

With the owls not panning out, we debated adding a couple of other spots to our itinerary. Linda and Peter reminded me a vagrant Great-tailed Grackle was present only twelve minutes south of us. With some of the group leaving, others decided to look for it. We got great looks of this remarkable-looking western vagrant in its preferred habitat—a gas station—then a McDonald's drive-thru. Incredibly, we even watched it pursue and subdue one of its typical prey items, a bag of fries. The drive-through customers were equally puzzled by the birders and the bird we were looking at.

Red-breasted, Hooded, and Common Merganser, Midlothian Reservoir, January 21, 2023.

This left three of us to check out Midlothian Reservoir, which was on the way back to the city. We got a good list there, with a big flock of mergansers—red-breasted, common, and hooded, a pair of Bald Eagles, a Great Blue Heron, and gulls.