Hummingblog

North Pond, Chicago, IL USA

This morning I did some birding right outside my door at North Pond in the Lincoln Park neighborhood in Chicago. The Chicago Ornithological Society leads walks every Wednesday morning during spring and fall migration at the pond and have seen some great birds over the years. This morning the highlight had to be the singing male Purple Finch that started the morning out. The bird really does look to be 'dipped in raspberry juice' as Roger Tory Peterson so perfectly describes in his guide. Other birds included both a male and female Belted Kingfisher, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Hermit Thrush, Fox Sparrow, Golden and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, several Yellow-rumped Warblers, and 2 Pied-billed Grebes. We've had a lot of North winds overnight and the trend looks to continue for at least another week, so migration might be rather slow in the near future. BLOW, SOUTH WINDS--BLOW!!!!