Hummingblog

North Pond April 30

Today's highlights at the pond on a chilly morning:

Orchard Oriole
Palm Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
House Wren
Blue-winged Teal (8)
Ovenbird
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Black and White Warbler
Black-crowned Night Heron
Lincoln's Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Swainson's Thrush
Gray Catbird

North Pond April 29

Today's highlights include:

LeConte's Sparrow
Palm Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
White-crowned Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Blue-winged Teal
Black and White Warbler
House Wren
Chipping Sparrow
Gray Catbird

North Pond April 25

This morning's highlights were:

Great Egret (3)
Pine Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
Palm Warbler
Field Sparrow
Green Heron
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Swamp Sparrow (singing)
Northern Flicker
Brown Creeper
House Wren

North Pond April 21

Highlights today at the pond were the following:

Pine Warbler (gorgeous singing male)
Chipping Sparrow
Green Heron
Swamp Sparrow
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Green-winged Teal
Belted Kingfisher
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Marsh Wren
Brown Thrasher
White-throated Sparrow

North Pond April 20

This morning on a short walk I had the following new birds:

Marsh Wren
Louisiana Waterthrush
Winter Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Brown Thrasher
Hermit Thrush
White-throated Sparrow
Green Heron

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!!!!

Wooded Isle Report, Chicago, IL, USA

I live on the lakefront in Chicago, IL and it offers great birding opportunities year round. Spring and Fall migration are always great, and Winter birding brings us gulls, owls, ducks and winter finches. Spring is well underway now in Chicago with birds such as Eastern Phoebe, Hermit Thrush, Northern Flicker, Brown Creeper, Eastern Meadowlark, Song Sparrow, and Yellow-rumped Warbler already having arrived.

This morning I drove down to the south side of Chicago to my favorite spring-birding location, Wooded Isle. My walk there goes through several different habitat types including open water (Lake Michigan), beachfront (64th St. Beach), grassland (Bobolink Meadow), pond (Lagoons surrounding Wooded Isle), and deciduous forest (Wooded Isle). We don't have many evergreen trees there, but there are a few that do get birds like Pine Warbler, Long-eared Owl, Northern Saw-whet Owl, etc. There is also quite a bit of open parkland with all types of large and small trees throughout that also offer up some goodies.

This morning I started my day looking for the male Harlequin Duck that was seen earlier in the year and then again by my friend Scott yesterday along the rocks on the lakefront. Couldn't relocate the bird, but along the way I walked through the park at the Promontory Point and picked up Savannah Sparrow, 3 Fox Sparrows, Belted Kingfisher, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Field Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, and Double-crested Cormorant. I soon ran into my friend Paul and we started birding together and were immediately rewarded with a record early arrival of Barn Swallow (Paul has been keeping detailed arrival/departure data for the past 25 odd years) The previous record arrival for Barn Swallow was April 7, 1980 and '81. Throughout the rest of the morning we saw 4 Eastern Meadowlarks, Great Blue Heron, American Pipit, Common Merganser, Bufflehead, Horned Grebe, Yellow-rumped Warbler (over 20 and all but one of them males), Winter Wren (only seen by Paul), Carolina Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Tree Swallow, and Black-crowned Night Heron.

Arrivals that we are expecting to show up any day include Pectoral Sandpiper, Wilson's Snipe, Louisiana Waterthrush, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Merlin, Bonaparte's Gull, Greater Yellowlegs, and Vesper Sparrow.

I'll keep you posted.

Promontory Point

Wooded Isle

Florida Highlights

My wife and I just returned from a vacation to the Naples, Florida area and were able to do a few days of birding and butterfly watching. The only life bird for me on this trip was Snowy Plover at Tigertail Beach on Marco Island, but had quite a few new butterflies, as that is a more recent obsession. The dates for our trip were March 20-31. Here are some highlights---

Shark Valley, Everglades Nat'l Park (Tram Tour): Snail Kite, Great White Heron (subsp. of Great Blue Heron), Purple Gallinule, Black-necked Stilt. Butterflies: Palamedes Swallowtail, Phaon Crescent, Viceroy, Gulf Fritillary (Stunning!).
Corkscrew Sanctuary: (This is a gorgeous old-growth cypress swamp which is a must visit if in southwest Florida). Painted Bunting(male showing very well at close range at feeder), Limpkin on nest, Barred Owl, Yellow-throated Warbler, Blue-headed Vireo, Louisiana Waterthrush, Ovenbird. Butterflies: Spicebush Swallowtail.

Other new Butterflies for the area were Cassius Blue, White Peacock, and Mangrove Skipper.

Click on Butterfly Pics below to enlarge!!

Black Skimmer

Phaon Crescent

Mangrove Skipper