NPV Birding: A Northern Pintail and other oddities
Our first two walks of the season at North Park Village are in the books with over 30 species each! I missed week two and unfortunately missed the first reported Northern Pintail for the park. Geoff Garland took a beautiful picture of it! This makes the newest bird added to all-time sightings at NPV since our Bald Eagle last fall. I don't plan on missing any other the rest of our walks and I can't wait to see what we see this season!
In case you missed one or both weeks, here's a quick summary:
Wk1
April 6th started with a great preview of what we could expect with the newly cleared area on the eastern end allowing us to track an Eastern Bluebird flying to and fro around the field. She was evasive for many, distant and blending in well.
The path below the hill, which was in rough shape, also featured a bird that flew right over our heads and we didn't get a good look at it. We thought it might've been a Blue Jay or one of the many Northern Flickers. However, upon reflection, Matt Newman shared that he thought it might have been a Northern Mockingbird based on the white pattern he witnessed on the wing.
Ducks on the pond included a pair of Hooded Mergansers among several Wood ducks. We also found a nesting American Robin once again right next to the path along the western pond. Another great moment was when we spotted three Red-tailed Hawks soaring together and heading north. Not without some mobbing of course. Some folks also spotted a Winter Wren and two Red-breasted Nuthatches. Others also heard a distant Belted Kingfisher which I later heard as well once the lot of birders cleared.
See the full checklist here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S167470370
Wk2
Again, I missed week two but many of the regulars held it down with Laura maintaining a checklist featuring that first-for-NPV Northern Pintail. I was at Big Marsh facilitating a Bird Photography Workshop for the 2024 Chicago Bird Photography Contest. Of course, I checked out the checklist later that day, and excited by the sighting, I stopped by the park but did not find the fabulous-looking duck. I did, however, find a flock of three Great Blue Herons which was neat given that I believe I may have seen these same three the day before at Gompers Park. On the pond, I did find both Hooded Mergansers continuing while the group earlier only spotted one for each of the aforementioned species. Check
Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S168398738
Migration Season
In preparation for the mass of warblers passing through, now would be a good time to freshen up on our warbler ID'ing. Check out The Warbler's Guide Quick Finder and save it for reference!
Birdcast recognizes Spring migration between March 1st and June 15th. So far we've had two good waves of migration with more surely on the way as we get closer to May. We can expect the next few waves to start dwarfing the two we've experienced thus far. The next few days don't look great for much migratory movement but we've got plenty of migration birds in the area and surely some will still be making the slow way north. The Birdcast team recently published a post sharing when we can expect peak migration across the country.
Oddities
In the time between these walks, Chicago has seen some great birding action. That time frame also featured the unfortunate passing of the father Great Horned Owl in Lincoln Park's North Pond. I was there that Saturday when he passed away for the first of two photography workshops. We spotted the other two owls and it wasn't until the next day word started going around about his passing. One of the participants shared a wonderful photo of the ailing owl but as of this writing, I haven't received permission to share it here. If I get that permission, I will update this post.
The eclipse was a wonderful experience and I joined many birders at Montrose Point to bird in the dimming light of the partial eclipse. I purposely did not photograph much but I did catch a glimpse of an early Northern Parula along with a couple who sat nearby.
After the workshop at Big Marsh, I stopped by Montrose Beach (on my way to North Park Village) where many birders rushed for a chance to see a bird that hasn't been seen in the city since 2012, a Burrowing Owl. The heat haze from such a sunny was too much to get a decent photo but what a great moment! Here's a photo from that day from Janna Nugent
I did manage to photograph two odd bird sightings, both in the Loop. The first was a Virginia Rail right next to the L tracks at Madison and Wells. This bird is known to roost in the day in odd places, but I keep hearing how strange it is that it was perched on a tree. This shot felt extra special because this happened to be one of the few days I left my telephoto lens behind. I managed to take this photo through my job's birding scope and my 40mm lens.
The second was thanks to Tarik Shahzad who happened to spot another early bird by chance, an Eastern Whip-poor-will roosting in Millenium Park. This makes two years in a row that I've seen this bird early in the season. Last year on April 14th, 2023, I heard one along the old rail line at LaBagh Woods. That time I had an audio recording to confirm the sighting, and this year I was glad to get this photo. Thanks, Tarik!
I hope to see you out in the field! Whether at North Park Village or across the city.
Best,
yorickgarcia (J'orge 🐦)