NPV Birding: After The Urban Birding Festival
The BirdCast model predicts high-intensity bird migration over the Chicago region tonight. Large numbers of birds will be flying at night. To protect migratory birds between 11:00 PM tonight and 6:00 AM tomorrow morning:
- turn off or dim any non-essential exterior building lighting;
- close curtains or blinds to reduce the escape of interior lighting;
- avoid illuminating lobbies, plants, or fountains that may attract birds.
Slow Migration Season
It is exciting to see a night with a lot of migratory movement. The dry, hot days have dragged on, and movement has been skittish. I led a walk on Wednesday at Humboldt Park, and before our walk, we looked at eBird data. We noticed that year over year, the number of birds that have passed over Cook County by this time of year has decreased. This year, in particular, is relatively low. There's still plenty of time for the weather and winds to pick up, of course.
Birds crossing Cook County by September 19:
- 2024: 38.4 million
- 2023: 44.8 million
- 2022: 46.2 million
- 2021: 49.1 million
While those numbers look bleak, let's note that the total number of birds that have come through during the Birdcast season is not necessarily decreasing. Movement seems to be moving later into the season, or at least that's how I'm reading into it at the moment.
Total Birds crossing Cook County between Aug 1 - Nov 15:
- 2023: 94.5 million
- 2022: 103.5 million
- 2021: 87 million
The Urban Birding Festival
We had a solid walk. 43 birders, maybe at North Park Village for the first time! If you haven't joined us for a walk but are spotting by the park, the far Northeast corner after the hill is a really good spot now. Some highlights included a leucistic flycatcher that threw us off, two kingfishers chasing each other, and Northern Flickers that dominated the Woodland Trail.
I have a few links for you to check out. Look for another email soon with more about these.
Trip Report for TUBF-24:
https://ebird.org/tripreport/273078
Participants of the festival were encouraged to submit their checklist to a centrally compiled list.
Wings Over the Windy City - Migration Dashboard:
https://www.migrationbiology.org/chicago
On Saturday's TUBF-24 Keynote, Benjamin Van Doren released the dashboard for the live migration monitoring network we have been building. My favorite way to use it is to select a date from the line graph and see what birds are moving through. For example, many Bobolinks were detected passing over on the night of September 19. Another way is with a particular species. According to the Bird Conservation Network, Upland Sandpipers are a species of conservation concern. We are recording them passing through, but only one has been recorded in the region on eBird this year, in DuPage County—on September 1st. The app is best used on a Computer and not a mobile phone.
The Birds of TUBF-24:
https://citybirds.shinyapps.io/tubf24/
This is a preview of a data portal I'm putting together for another look at the festival. It showcases all the birds reported for Cook County during the festival's three-day run, even if they didn't share with the official Trip Report, to better understand what birds were present/recorded throughout the event. You can select different species to see where they were reported over the three dates. See how the Redstart and Connecticut Warblers compare. Then check out regional specialists like the Eurasian Collared Dove and Monk Parakeet.
North Park Village Birding - September 13, 2023
eBird Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S195491447
Species List:
- Canada Goose
- Wood Duck
- Mourning Dove
- Chimney Swift
- Ruby-throated Hummingbird
- gull sp.
- Green Heron
- Great Blue Heron
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Belted Kingfisher
- Red-headed Woodpecker
- Red-bellied Woodpecker
- Downy Woodpecker
- Hairy Woodpecker
- Northern Flicker
- Eastern Kingbird
- new world flycatcher sp.
- Blue Jay
- American Crow
- Black-capped Chickadee
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- European Starling
- Gray Catbird
- Swainson's Thrush
- American Robin
- American Goldfinch
- White-throated Sparrow
- Song Sparrow
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Common Grackle
- Northern Waterthrush
- Black-and-white Warbler
- Common Yellowthroat
- American Redstart
- Magnolia Warbler
- Bay-breasted Warbler
- Northern Cardinal
Looking forward to the rain...
-J'orge 🐦
