A woman walks down a path strewn with fallen leaves. The path leads through a grove of trees with green and gold leaves. In the background two other people look off into the distance. — Dunning Read Natural Area

words and photos by Robyn Detterline

October 28, 2023

Five birders set out on a journey through the Irving Park corridor of the Dunning neighborhood on Chicago’s northwest side, exploring three haunts in this underbirded community. On this Halloween weekend, our goal was to learn about the area’s troubled past and honor those poor unfortunate souls who succumbed to it, while also celebrating the future of the local natural area as an up-and-coming bird paradise.

An iron rod sign reads "Read Dunning Memorial Park." The sign is connected to two brick columns and marks the entrance to a park that shows a green lawn, trees, and a wide sidewalk that leads to a circular sidewalk lined with large stones. — Entrance to Read Dunning Memorial Park, September 3, 2023.

We started our trip at Read Dunning Memorial Park and walked the path to view the markers for the countless people buried here en masse: the forgotten patients at the county infirmary; the unwanted mentally ill at the asylum; the indigent workers at the county poor house; the unidentified victims of the Great Chicago Fire; the neglected Civil War veterans; and the city’s orphans. While the park does not provide much in the way of bird habitat, the morning started auspiciously with two Peregrine Falcons overhead, one with unidentified prey in their talons. The small park also gave us glimpses by sight and sound of our favorite backyard birds, including Mourning Doves, American Robins, and Northern Cardinals, giving us a total of 9 species to start our day.

From Read Dunning Memorial Park we walked to the Dunning Read Natural Area (DRNA). The stroll through the neighborhood delighted with its plentiful robins; a large flock must have pushed through with the preceding night’s moderate migration movement, as dozens upon dozens of the merry birds reveled in the fruiting trees and shrubs. As we approached the DRNA, also known as Park 601, we stopped to read the memorial at the entrance to the Chicago-Read Mental Health Center parking lot, honoring the individuals buried here, as the site running below Oak Park Avenue was a second cemetery plot for the old Dunning complex, where many unknown souls remain buried in a mass grave.

An American Kestrel a small falcon with orange and blue-toned feathers, perches atop a light pole before a bright blue sky. — American Kestrel. Dunning Read Natural Area, October 7, 2023.

In the parking lot we were greeted by an American Kestrel and several crows perched on the light poles, as well as by Brian Stevens, president of the Dunning Read Natural Area Park Advisory Council, who had come to complete some stewardship work at the park. Acquired in 2022 by the Chicago Park’s District, DRNA is in need of TLC, but changes for the better are already well underway. Our walk through the prairie trail was peaceful, and we discussed how earlier in the year it had been overrun with invasive teasel that had since been mowed by the park district.

A Yellow-rumped Warbler, a small bird with a brown head and back, yellowish sides streaked with brown, and a pointy black bill, perches in the crook of a tree branch. — Yellow-rumped Warbler. Dunning Read Natural Area, October 7, 2023.

From the prairie we began our journey through the woodland when we heard the calls of Red-winged Blackbirds. From there the trail was dappled with kinglets, chickadees, goldfinches, and Yellow-rumped Warblers. Still, we moved quickly along the path, the volume of birds being unexpectedly low, especially in the way of our most anticipated friends: sparrows.

A Hermit Thrush, a robin-like bird with a brown head and wings and a white breast with smudged brown spots, perches on a tree branch. — Hermit Thrush. Dunning Read Natural Area, October 15, 2023.

Our luck began to change as we turned the last bend in the path and looped back toward the prairie. East of the woodland we spied a number of White-throated Sparrows, juncos, and, to our delight, two brash Fox Sparrows who gave us great looks at their gorgeous rust-smudged coats. We were also happy to see a few Palm Warblers, and we ended our journey at the park with a band of Hermit Thrushes running this way and that through the brush, obviously with very important business to attend to. Thus, after what began as a slow excursion, we ended up with 22 species at the park.

Next we took the bus and headed back east to Mount Olive Cemetery, which delivered big on our birding wishes. We asked for Cedar Waxwings, and we did receive, spying a handful of the crowd-pleasers perched high in the branches. They took off, and then a minute later a large flock flourished over the cemetery. A soaring Red-tailed Hawk impressed us, and a Red-bellied Woodpecker went to work on a spooky, gnarled old tree. Beside the Red-bellied, we also enjoyed a Downy Woodpecker and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, so along with the Hairy briefly glimpsed at the natural area, we found ourselves in the midst of quite a woodpeckery day. But what we really wanted to see was a Northern Flicker, so we continued on, and after watching the scurrying of nuthatches among the pinecones, we were absolutely thrilled to find a pair of ant woodchucks fluttering from tree to lawn, and we took a good long while to admire their spots and stripes and colors, noting that, while from a fashion perspective, the mix of palettes and patterns did not make sense, the Northern Flicker is somehow able to pull it off.

And so we ended our cemetery walk with 14 species, and had a total of 33 in what turned out to be a beautiful, birdy, and not very ghoulish day.

Field Trip Report: Dunning Transit Hike