Montrose Beach & Hedge Area Monday 10-13-25

[Al Stokie]

Hello Bird People,

Started out as always by walking out to the pier to check the beach &
lake. Had my scope along transported on my wheelchair/walker & got all
the way out there when I noticed I had left my bino's in the car. Not
a good thing to forget when looking for birds. But I did ok with just
the scope as I was scanning the beaches when I saw a FRANKLIN'S GULL
fly in & land on the public beach. Got to show it to several others
using the scope & it turned out to be a lifer for 3 folks. Also had 1
Horned Lark there so missing the bino's did not hurt me much. Took the
scope back to the car, retrieved the bino's & went to the Hedge Area
for land birds. Not many at 1st but eventually saw a few interesting
birds.

Montrose Beach & Hedge Area (7:15-11:15 am)

Canada Goose (~55, lawns)
Mallard (4)
Coots (6)
Chimney Swift (35-40, soaring)
FRANKLIN'S GULL (1, Winter plumage)
Ring Billed (35) & Herring (2) Gulls
Cooper's Hawk (1)
Red Tailed Hawk (1)
Rock Pigeon (2)
Yellow Bellied Sapsucker (1-IM)
Downy Woodpecker (1)
Flicker (3, together in one tree)
Crow (3)
Chickadee (2)
Brown Creeper (2)
G.C. Kinglet (1)
R.C. Kinglet (2)
HORNED LARK (1, others saw more later)
Hermit Thrush (3)
Robin (2-3)
Starling (4)
BLACK THROATED BLUE WARBLER (1-F)
Yellow Rumped Myrtle Warbler (6)
Cardinal (2)
FOX SPARROW (1, 1st of the Fall for me)
White Crowned Sparrow (2)
White Throated Sparrow (4)
Junco (2)
RUSTY BLACKBIRD 1, others saw 2)
Goldfinch (4)
House Sparrow (8)

In addition to my birds Dave Johnson also saw Nashville & Magnolia
Warblers & a Swainson's Thrush. So 32 species at Montrose for me plus
a roadside Blue Jay for a total of 33 for the day.
Bird-Of-The-Day will be the Franklin's Gull & Runners-Up will be the
Black Throated Blue, the Fox Sparrow & the Rusty Blackbird. A pretty
good day after a slow start.

Al Stokie
At Montrose in Cook County today