Lot's Of Sparrows At Montrose But Not The Ones I Need Plus The 2 Techny's Thur 9-29-22

[Al Stokie]

Hello Bird People,

For the 3rd day in a row I looked for an Harris's Sparrow & for the
3rd day in a row I did not find it. There were 2 here yesterday but
not today at least for me. There were about 80 to 90 Sparrows on the
lawn just west of the Butterfly Meadow & I thought I'd surely find the
Harris's mixed in but not so. Most were White Crowned & White Throated
with a few others mixed in. See my list for all the Sparrows seen
today. I see on ebird that Bob H had LeConte's & Nelson's Sparrows as
well but all I found in that area were Savannah Sparrows. Again, not
my day for Sparrows!

Montrose Beach (6:45-7:30 a.m.)

D.C. Cormorant (22 fly-bys)
Canada Goose (16) & Mallard (32)
BLACK BELLIED PLOVER (1, still present)
GOLDEN PLOVER (1, on the public beach, found by Terry W.)
Killdeer (4)
Sanderling (1, with a bad leg)
Ring Billed (~50) & Herring (4) Gulls
Eastern Phoebe (1)
HORNED LARK (1, an adult)
Palm Warbler (2)
Savannah Sparrow (1 or 2)
House Sparrow (2)

Montrose Hedge Area (7:35-10:35 a.m.)

Canada Goose (~15)
Rock Pigeon (6) & Mourning Dove (2)
Chimney Swift (~25)
Yellow Bellied Sapsucker (1)
Downy Woodpecker (2)
Flicker (2)
Chickadee (4)
G.C. (2) & R.C. (4) Kinglets
Swainson's Thrush (2), Robins (6) & Catbird (2)
Starling (4)
Ovenbird (1), Nashville (1), ORANGE CROWNED (1), Redstart (1), Palm
(2) & Myrtle Warblers
Cardinal (2)
Chipping (2), Song (2), Swamp (1) & Lincoln's (4) Sparrows
White Crowned (~25) & White Throated (~50) Sparrows
Junco (8-10)
House Finch (6), Goldfinch (8-10) & House Sparrow (~30)

Checked on Techny North but I had to leave early as the pavement
workers were scraping the lot where we park. But shorebirds are still
here as I saw Killdeer (22), Pectoral (3) & a STILT SANDPIPER (1)
changing into its gray Winter plumage. The Black Duck also continues.

At Techny Basin I had more Killdeer (15) & 1 WILSON'S SNIPE. Ended up
with 7 shorebird species for the day which is better than I've been
doing lately.

Ebird says I had 52 species for the day.
Bird-Of-The-Day will be the graying Stilt Sandpiper & Runners-Up will
be the Horned Lark, the Orange Crowned Warbler & the 2 big Plovers.
Not a bad day even if I missed all the rare Sparrows.

Al Stokie
In Cook County today