Fort Sheridan Hawk Watch & Sparrows Friday 9-19-25

[Al Stokie]

Hello Bird People,

I had to give Bob Erickson a ride up to Waukegan to pick up his car as
repairs were finally done. But except for a really good license plate
seen in the am & a really good lunch at Culver's nothing seemed to go
my way today.

Bob & I arrived at the Fort Sheridan Hawk watch at 8:30 am to look for
the Nelson's Sparrow that had been seen here for the last two days.
But since the official counter Pieter B & birder Mike L had not seen
the sparrow in the early hours Bob & I walked the loop trail where we
found lots of Savannah Sparrows & a couple Song Sparrows.

On our way back we saw Pieter & Mike waving at us as they had just
seen the Nelson's Sparrow at the Hawk Watch site. Hurried over but the
sparrow was not seen again for the next 90 min while we waited &
searched. Then we had to go for the car pickup & of course 25 min
after we left the Nelson's Sparrow was seen & photographed again.

After our Culver's lunch I returned & spent another 90 min hoping for
the return of the Nelson's Sparrow but that did not happen. Pieter &
Co also saw a Clay Colored Sparrow & 2 White Throated Sparrows for
good measure & I did see 1 of the 2 White Throats but not the Clay
Colored.

Guess it was a timing issue as I was there long enough but not at the
right time.
We did see several Merlins going by so I guess that will be Bird-Of-The-Day.

And 1st thing this am on Oakton St on Park Ridge I ended up behind the
Hawaii rainbow plate on a BMW X3 so that's Plate Of The Day.

Al Stokie
Struggling for sparrows in Lake County today