Field Trip: Horner Park
Photo by Stephanie Beilke.
Words by Stephanie Beilke, COS Board Member
On Memorial Day, 14 birders met at Horner Park to join COS’s first ever bird walk dedicated to Female Bird Day! The plan was to enjoy the late migrants still making their way through Chicago while paying close attention to female birds and discussing plumage and behaviors that help us differentiate females from males. The weather was a bit gloomy, cool and overcast, but spirits were high on our quest to find female birds. Spirits leapt even further upon the first sighting, an Olive-sided Flycatcher, from the parking lot, which was a good sign for the day.
However, the group barely made it a quarter of the way around the Horner Park loop trail when we were stopped in our tracks by the 17-year cicada emergence! Cicadas were first spotted when the group leader saw an American Robin carrying a mystery food item, which turned out to be a cicada. Suddenly, group members noticed cicadas all over the nearby trees, all in stages of unearthing themselves and shedding their exoskeletons. It was an incredibly special moment since cicada sightings had been relatively rare in northeast Chicago up until that point, especially in the more urban areas.
Cicada. Photo by Stephanie Beilke.
After fully documenting the cicada experience, the group members made their way to Horner Park’s natural area along the Chicago River. We were soon pointing out female birds left and right, paying close attention to the plumage and distinct calls of the female Red-winged Blackbird and squinting at Blue-gray Gnatcatchers to decipher if they had an “eyebrow” (male) or not (female). We also found several Mallard hens leading large clutches of fuzzy ducklings. House Sparrows and American Robins also gave good looks that helped us distinguish females from males.
Female Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Photo by Randy Shonkwiler.
The riverside trail provided excellent views of three species of swallows (Northern Rough-winged, Barn and Cliff) that nest at Horner. Group members discussed how to tell the species apart as well as what to look for to determine a male from a female Barn Swallow (females tend to have a paler underside, whereas males are more orange). The group also overheard a lovely singing Canada Warbler, but unfortunately did not get any looks, since he was hiding in the dense shrubs on the other side of the river.
As the group completed the hike and began to part ways, a few more parking-lot birds showed up to enchant the remaining participants. The group watched a Black-capped Chickadee family feeding at least three young that had recently fledged. Then, a young male American Redstart showed up, giving an opportunity for us to discuss what to look for when differentiating a young male from a female Redstart.
The three-hour tour yielded 36 bird species in all and participants left with new knowledge and appreciation for female birds, and cicadas too!