After a long winter of slow birding, finally April pulls through. In the end, there are two groups of birds that will set your big year apart from others; I like to call them "freebies" and "never guaranteed species." Freebies are birds you would never anticipate the idea of getting for your year list. Last year, Cook County killed it in this category with a handful of mega rarities, including Ancient Murrelet, Long Billed Curlew, King Eider, and more. However, many of the typical annual rarities were a no-show or didn't stick around, making it a tougher year for any sort of record breaking big year. With this winter being especially dry with almost no notable birds, it felt good to clear up a lot of species I was worried may or may not show up this year. I set a new month record of 141 species, not too shabby for a lakefront closure. Here's what went down in this very exciting month!
(4/1) I added 3 new birds on the first day of April to start out the month. Those were:
#123: Caspian Tern
#124: Palm Warbler
#125: American White Pelican
As recent as 4 or 5 years ago, Pelicans were very challenging to find in Cook County, but with their recent population boom it seemed like they were everywhere this month!
(4/2) With all the chasing I've been doing, I've paid little attention the the birds in my yard. For the first time all year, I dedicated the morning to yard birding. I had a nice 20 species including my first of the year Yellow Bellied Sapsucker,
#126: Yellow Bellied Sapsucker
(4/3) With the lakefront closure, I had to get a little more creative and spent much of the month visiting under-birded locations that I thought had the potential to harbor rarities or anything else I might need. One of those frequently visited locations for me was Busse Woods in Schamburg. No rarities today, but at least it didn't end up being a 0 day.
#127: Northern Rough Winged Swallow
One of my local spots in Evanston yielded an unexpectedly early Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher.
#128. Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
(4/4) After a long time of waiting, a good bird was finally found in Cook County, a Harlequin Duck in Rogers Park! I rushed over there only to receive a message that the bird had flown north when I was as close as 2 blocks away... ugh. I wouldn't give up that easily though, and started checking all the breakwalls and rocky areas to the north since that's where they like to feed. High numbers of northbound Bonaparte's Gulls made each stop a little more eventful, and I counted 129 individual birds during my search!
#129. Bonaparte's Gull
#130. Eastern Towhee
I ended up going all the way to Winnetka looking for the duck and failed to find it. However, the next day (4/5) the duck made an appearance back at the original spot! Dozens of lucky birders were treated to excellent views of this breathtaking bird:
#131. Harlequin Duck
(4/1) I added 3 new birds on the first day of April to start out the month. Those were:
#123: Caspian Tern
#124: Palm Warbler
#125: American White Pelican
As recent as 4 or 5 years ago, Pelicans were very challenging to find in Cook County, but with their recent population boom it seemed like they were everywhere this month!
(4/2) With all the chasing I've been doing, I've paid little attention the the birds in my yard. For the first time all year, I dedicated the morning to yard birding. I had a nice 20 species including my first of the year Yellow Bellied Sapsucker,
#126: Yellow Bellied Sapsucker
(4/3) With the lakefront closure, I had to get a little more creative and spent much of the month visiting under-birded locations that I thought had the potential to harbor rarities or anything else I might need. One of those frequently visited locations for me was Busse Woods in Schamburg. No rarities today, but at least it didn't end up being a 0 day.
#127: Northern Rough Winged Swallow
One of my local spots in Evanston yielded an unexpectedly early Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher.
#128. Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
(4/4) After a long time of waiting, a good bird was finally found in Cook County, a Harlequin Duck in Rogers Park! I rushed over there only to receive a message that the bird had flown north when I was as close as 2 blocks away... ugh. I wouldn't give up that easily though, and started checking all the breakwalls and rocky areas to the north since that's where they like to feed. High numbers of northbound Bonaparte's Gulls made each stop a little more eventful, and I counted 129 individual birds during my search!
#129. Bonaparte's Gull
#130. Eastern Towhee
I ended up going all the way to Winnetka looking for the duck and failed to find it. However, the next day (4/5) the duck made an appearance back at the original spot! Dozens of lucky birders were treated to excellent views of this breathtaking bird:
#131. Harlequin Duck
(4/7) Today I took my mom birding all around Cook County. She picked the right day to come, because we got a huge push of migrants the previous night. Seeing high numbers of passerines for the first time was exciting because it's a sign that warblers and the peak of migration are just around the corner. We started at Northwestern which hosted a nice waterfowl movement over the lake. I quickly added Ruby Crowned Kinglet followed by a Sora spotted by my mom under a bush in the parking lot! During migration, rails are notorious for showing up in weird locations far from their expected habitats, and this Sora did exactly that.
#132. Ruby Crowned Kinglet
#133. Sora
#132. Ruby Crowned Kinglet
#133. Sora
After unsuccessfully checking some fluddles near the Will county border, we stopped at some farmfields on the way to Orland Grasslands to see if we could turn up anything. I ended up getting my 3rd year bird of the day, a singing Vesper Sparrow.
#134. Vesper Sparrow
Throughout the month I became very familiar with farmfields, fluddles, and other underbirded locations in far southern Cook County. I focused heavily on these areas because I believed they had potential to produce rarities and possibly a few of the very difficult targets for my year list. I visited these areas multiple times per week as if they were a new patch for me. This southern Cook County jaunt was another one of many Smith's Longspur searches in the few farmfields and grassy areas in the most remote areas of Cook. I figured our trip to Orland Grasslands that day would be no different then my previous unsuccessful attempts, but I was wrong. A few minutes into our walk, I flushed two birds out of the main burn area and immediately recognized them by their dry rattle call, buffy underparts, white outer tail feathers, and a white lesser covert patch... SMITH'S LONGSPURS!!! Panicking, I watched the birds touch down all the way on the other side of the grassland. I thankfully refound the birds and got photos, video, and audio. Nothing feels more rewarding then finding a bird you put hours of searching into, especially when you didn't think you would even get it at all. Effort is everything.
#135. Smith's Longspur
#134. Vesper Sparrow
Throughout the month I became very familiar with farmfields, fluddles, and other underbirded locations in far southern Cook County. I focused heavily on these areas because I believed they had potential to produce rarities and possibly a few of the very difficult targets for my year list. I visited these areas multiple times per week as if they were a new patch for me. This southern Cook County jaunt was another one of many Smith's Longspur searches in the few farmfields and grassy areas in the most remote areas of Cook. I figured our trip to Orland Grasslands that day would be no different then my previous unsuccessful attempts, but I was wrong. A few minutes into our walk, I flushed two birds out of the main burn area and immediately recognized them by their dry rattle call, buffy underparts, white outer tail feathers, and a white lesser covert patch... SMITH'S LONGSPURS!!! Panicking, I watched the birds touch down all the way on the other side of the grassland. I thankfully refound the birds and got photos, video, and audio. Nothing feels more rewarding then finding a bird you put hours of searching into, especially when you didn't think you would even get it at all. Effort is everything.
#135. Smith's Longspur
(4/8) I decided to try my luck at Busse Woods again. Eared Grebe was a bird hot on my radar and Busse seemed like the perfect place to look. As I was expecting, no Eared Grebes were found but I added a Pectoral Sandpiper to my year list. The north pool at Busse is another good place to look for shorebirds and is also extremely under birded.
#136. Pectoral Sandpiper
(4/11) After seeing reports of a Ring Necked Pheasant at Bartel Grassland, Jeff Skrentny and I teamed up to try and find the bird (at a distance of course). Though we could never find the pheasant, we both added multiple new birds, including Virginia Rail, Barn Swallow, and a handful of singing Henslow's Sparrows. On my way out I did a quick check at the Bobolink Meadow Parking Lot. I wasn't expecting to find anything so I was incredibly surprised to find this NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD perched just a few feet from my car! Another relieving bird to check off since that was the first one to show up in the county this year. Amazingly, this bird came so close that it actually ran under my car. An awesome way to add an awesome bird to my big year list.
#137. Henslow's Sparrow
#138. Virginia Rail
#139. Barn Swallow
#140. Northern Mockingbird
#136. Pectoral Sandpiper
(4/11) After seeing reports of a Ring Necked Pheasant at Bartel Grassland, Jeff Skrentny and I teamed up to try and find the bird (at a distance of course). Though we could never find the pheasant, we both added multiple new birds, including Virginia Rail, Barn Swallow, and a handful of singing Henslow's Sparrows. On my way out I did a quick check at the Bobolink Meadow Parking Lot. I wasn't expecting to find anything so I was incredibly surprised to find this NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD perched just a few feet from my car! Another relieving bird to check off since that was the first one to show up in the county this year. Amazingly, this bird came so close that it actually ran under my car. An awesome way to add an awesome bird to my big year list.
#137. Henslow's Sparrow
#138. Virginia Rail
#139. Barn Swallow
#140. Northern Mockingbird
(4/15) I got word of a Yellow Throated Warbler visiting a feeder at a private residence in Wilmette. I arranged a time to visit and got the Warbler almost immediately. Thanks Karen for the hospitality and Tamima for helping me get access!
#141. Yellow Throated Warbler
#141. Yellow Throated Warbler
(4/17) On this cold and snowy mid April morning, I was definitely not expecting anything eventful to happen in Cook County birding, and that's why I was shocked to find out the first mega rarity of the year had made an appearance, A Townsend's Warbler at Deer Grove Forest Preserve. With no hesitation I jumped in the car to go and search for the bird. Annoyingly the observer refused to give a more specific location of this bird in the massive preserve she found it in, so basically it was a needle in a haystack, and I was skeptical in our abilities to find it. After hours of searching in the sleet, things weren't looking promising. I was giving up when Nathan Goldberg called me saying that Andy Sigler had just refound the bird. We had killer looks at the bird as we watched it feed low to the ground only a feet away. A 6th state record and without a question the best bird I've seen so far this year!
#142. Chipping Sparrow
#143 Townsend's Warbler
#142. Chipping Sparrow
#143 Townsend's Warbler
(4/19) With migration in full swing at this point, checking fludldles for shorebirds became a regular part of my many south cook jaunts. The fluddle at Lansing Municipal Airport hosted my first Greater Yellowlegs of the year.
#144. Greater Yellowlegs
Following my typical routine of checking the few cornfields in the county for anything of interest, I finally cashed in. While driving down a busy street in Lynwood, I spotted a game bird way out in a field. It sure as hell looked like a Ring Necked Pheasant. I waited for an opportunity to stop and snapped a pic... a RING NECKED PHEASANT indeed! Over the course of the last month, I've put about 20 hours of birding into areas that I thought had the potential for this bird. Doing your own searching as opposed to waiting for chase birds IS HOW you do a big year. After finding a place to scope it out, I found a second bird with it! Hopefully this pair breeds somewhere nearby.
#145. Ring Necked Pheasant
#144. Greater Yellowlegs
Following my typical routine of checking the few cornfields in the county for anything of interest, I finally cashed in. While driving down a busy street in Lynwood, I spotted a game bird way out in a field. It sure as hell looked like a Ring Necked Pheasant. I waited for an opportunity to stop and snapped a pic... a RING NECKED PHEASANT indeed! Over the course of the last month, I've put about 20 hours of birding into areas that I thought had the potential for this bird. Doing your own searching as opposed to waiting for chase birds IS HOW you do a big year. After finding a place to scope it out, I found a second bird with it! Hopefully this pair breeds somewhere nearby.
#145. Ring Necked Pheasant
My shorebirding wasn't over for the day, and the Volbrecht Road fluddle produced 3 Dunlins for my year list. I am relying pretty heavily on these few fluddles this Spring with the lakefront closure eliminating access to pretty much all other shorebird habitat in the county.
146. Dunlin
147. Purple Martin
More shorebirding in the northern half of the county the following day (4/20) yielded:
148. Lesser Yellowlegs
149. Spotted Sandpiper
(4/21) On this Easter Sunday Joe Lill found a Louisiana Waterthrush at Bunker Hill Forest Preserve, which is a pretty tough bird up here.
#150. Louisiana Waterthrush
146. Dunlin
147. Purple Martin
More shorebirding in the northern half of the county the following day (4/20) yielded:
148. Lesser Yellowlegs
149. Spotted Sandpiper
(4/21) On this Easter Sunday Joe Lill found a Louisiana Waterthrush at Bunker Hill Forest Preserve, which is a pretty tough bird up here.
#150. Louisiana Waterthrush
(4/23) On another southern Cook run, combined with one of many failed attempts at finding a Yellow Rail this month, I added:
#151. House Wren
#152. Chimney Swift
#153. Sedge Wren
#154. Marsh Wren
(4/24) Now that we have no access to Montrose, Jackson Park became the new top hotspot in town for migrants. On my first of many trips there this spring followed by a quick stop at Burnham Prairie, I added:
#155. Northern Waterthrush
#156. Green Heron
#157. Solitary Sandpiper
(4/25) The last week of April was a whirlwind full of great birds, starting with 6 American Avocets at Centennial Park! Without the lakefront (and even with the lakefront sometimes), Cook County definitely lacks in the shorebird department. With that being said, anything out of the ordinary in terms of shorebirds, such as these Avocets, were very lucky.
#158. American Avocet
#151. House Wren
#152. Chimney Swift
#153. Sedge Wren
#154. Marsh Wren
(4/24) Now that we have no access to Montrose, Jackson Park became the new top hotspot in town for migrants. On my first of many trips there this spring followed by a quick stop at Burnham Prairie, I added:
#155. Northern Waterthrush
#156. Green Heron
#157. Solitary Sandpiper
(4/25) The last week of April was a whirlwind full of great birds, starting with 6 American Avocets at Centennial Park! Without the lakefront (and even with the lakefront sometimes), Cook County definitely lacks in the shorebird department. With that being said, anything out of the ordinary in terms of shorebirds, such as these Avocets, were very lucky.
#158. American Avocet
(4/27) My luck with rare shorebirds continues. I had just gotten to the southern end of the county when I got word of 3 Dowtichers at Techny Basin, which is all the way up north. Given the date, they were almost certainly Long Billed Dowitchers, so of course I whipped the car around and headed straight for Techny. I found the birds immediately, and Long Billed they were!
#159. Long Billed Dowitcher
#159. Long Billed Dowitcher
(4/28) On this day we got our first real push of migrating passerines! I started off birding my local patch, Northwestern University, but was quickly interrupted by a sighting of a Worm Eating Warbler at North Pond! I rushed there and quickly got the bird, but it flew off before I could get a photo. However, I got Ted Wolff on the bird as well, continuing my streak of having evidence for every notable bird I've seen this year.
#160. Cliff Swallow
#161. Worm Eating Warbler
#162. Blue Headed Vireo
Next, off to Jackson Park. Birds were on the move last night and there was no question about it. My best bird was a Willet at 63rd St. beach, which was my only one this entire spring.
#163. Willet
#160. Cliff Swallow
#161. Worm Eating Warbler
#162. Blue Headed Vireo
Next, off to Jackson Park. Birds were on the move last night and there was no question about it. My best bird was a Willet at 63rd St. beach, which was my only one this entire spring.
#163. Willet
#164. Forster's Tern
#165. Baltimore Oriole
#166. Yellow Warbler
#167. Lincoln's Sparrow
Another stop at Burnham Prairie followed by Bartel Grassland produced:
#168. Black-Throated Green Warbler
#169. American Bittern
#165. Baltimore Oriole
#166. Yellow Warbler
#167. Lincoln's Sparrow
Another stop at Burnham Prairie followed by Bartel Grassland produced:
#168. Black-Throated Green Warbler
#169. American Bittern
(4/29) Just as soon as I thought the window had closed for the year for this bird to show up it did! A Brewer's Blackbird at Bunker Hill Forest Preserve! Only my second ever in Cook County.
#170. Brewer's Blackbird
#170. Brewer's Blackbird
(4/30) To close out a very successful month, April gives one last gift. This Lark Sparrow at the Gomper's Park ballfields was my final year bird for the month of April!
#171. Orange Crowned warbler
#172. Clay Colored Sparrow
#173. Lark Sparrow
#171. Orange Crowned warbler
#172. Clay Colored Sparrow
#173. Lark Sparrow
Overall a very good month with many good birds. Stay tuned for my next post as I will be covering the month of May, the high holidays of birding here in Chicago. See you in a month!
Good birding,
Isoo
Number of species seen this month: 141
Number of year birds gained this month: 51
Good birding,
Isoo
Number of species seen this month: 141
Number of year birds gained this month: 51
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