Chicago Botanic Garden Thursday 8-20-26

[Al Stokie]

Hello Bird People,

Today I went to the Botanic Garden arriving at the south mudflat area
as the bell tower was ringing at 9 am. Stayed until it was ringing at
10 am. Like everywhere else the water is high leaving only a small
area of mudflats. At 1st I only saw 2 Killdeer & later a single
Spotted Sandpiper. About 30 min later two Least Sandpipers arrived &
15 min after that in came one Solitary Sandpiper.
Considering how small the mudflats were I was lucky to see what I did.

Chicago Botanic Garden (8:30-11:30 am)

D.C. Cormorant (4 fly-bys)
Great Blue Heron (2)
Great Egret (1)
Canada Goose (~40)
Wood Duck (6)
Mallard (2)
Killdeer (2)
Spotted Sandpiper (1)
Solitary Sandpiper (1)
Least Sandpiper (2)
Mourning Dove (8)
Kingfisher (1-F)
Blue Jay (2)
Barn Swallow (only 2)
(Seems that all the Purple Martins have left)
Robin (4)
Warbling Vireo (H-2)
Song Sparrow (10
Red Wings (8-10)
Cowbird (1, a very young one)
Goldfinch (15-18)
House Sparrow (4)

I should mention that David A saw an adult Bald Eagle here today but I
missed that.
So 21 species at the Garden & had no roadside additions.
Not much to choose from but Bird-Of-The-Day will be the Solitary
Sandpiper as I haven't seen one for a while. Runner-Up to the female
Kingfisher.

Al Stokie
Very local in Cook County today