Harris's Sparrow at Steelworkers Park Saturday 10-18-25

[Al Stokie]

Hello Bird People,

Waited for the rain to stop & headed to Steelworkers Park where a
Harris's Sparrow has been seen for the last few days. Decided to take
Lake Shore Drive & not the Kennedy which turned into a huge mistake.
There was a major accident at about Fullerton & all the traffic just
stopped. Two large fire trucks blocked the road & scattered wrecked
cars, ambulances, tow trucks & police cars added to the scene. Finally
they opened one lane & traffic slowly got through. What should have
been an hour trip ended up being almost 2 hours. Not a good way to
start our adventure.

Arrived at about 10:15 or so & it didn't take Bob Erickson more than
10 min to find the HARRIS'S SPARROW. That was the good news & the bad
news was that I couldn't see it before all the birds scattered. Waited
about 10 min & the sparrow flock returned & again Bob re-found the
Harris's Sparrow & this time I also got to see it. Thank goodness we
were successful as had we failed after that terrible drive there it
would not have been a pleasant ride home.

The Harris's Sparrow was with a big flock of 3 White Crowned Sparrows,
9 White Throated Sparrows, about 45 Juncos & 1 Palm Warbler. Also seen
were House Sparrow (2), Goldfinch (2),
Crow (2) & Robin (2).

So only 9 species at Steelworkers plus 3 roadside additions for a
total of 12 for the day.
Bird-Of-The-Day to the Harris's Sparrow & Runner-Up to the many Juncos.

Al Stokie
In S.E. Cook County today