Good Sparrow Day at Ft Sheridan F.P. Wednesday 10-13-21

[Al Stokie]

Hello Bird People,

Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve (7:15-10 a.m.)

Today Bob Erickson & I walked from the small pond west along the
creek/swale area where the Sparrows are usually found. This is where
the tall grasses (Indian Grass) meets the shorter vegetation near the
pond. Thanks to good spotting by Bob we got to see a LECONTE'S SPARROW
& later an immature HARRIS'S SPARROW.. My contribution was a less
exciting Fox Sparrow which was my 1st of the Fall. Usually Bob finds
the birds & sees them well & then I get a poor look & then they fly
away. But today we had good looks at both the LeConte's & the Harris's
Sparrows as they both re-landed where I could see them well. We also
flushed one SORA & 11 Snipe from the swale area as we moved west.
Ended the day with a 30 min visit at the Hawk Watch with Ted W & Donna
K. Highlight there were one male & 1 female HARRIER flying south.

Mourning Dove (12)
Sora (1)
Wilson's Snipe (I saw 5 & Bob had 11 as he was 1st along the swale)
Red Bellied Woodpecker & Flicker (heard 1 each)
Blue Jay (4)
Crow (2)
W,B. Nuthatch (H-1)
Robins (6)
Palm (4) & Y.R. Myrtle (2) Warblers
We ended up with 10 species of Sparrows without seeing any Juncos.
Field (2) & Savannah (~10) Sparrows
LECONTE'S SPARROW (1-AD)
Song (~30), Swamp (8) & Lincoln's (2) Sparrows
FOX SPARROW (1)
White Throated (2) & White Crowned (1-IM) Sparrows
HARRIS'S SPARROW (1-IM) (small area of black on the chest)
Red Wings (10) & Eastern Meadowlark (H-1)

At the Hawk Watch we saw 3 Sharp Shinned Hawks going south, 1 adult
Cooper's Hawk chasing Mourning Doves, a Red Tailed Hawk in a tree &
the male & female Harriers flying south. Also 1 Wood Duck went by.

Made a short stop at Techny North but the water was high & no
shorebirds were there.
Did see one P.B. Grebe, 5 Cormorants, 1 Great Blue, 2 Egrets, 52 Canada Geese,
115 Mallards & 4 G.W. Teal.

Bird-Of-The-Day will be a tie between the LeConte's & the Harris's Sparrow.
Runner-Up to the nice looking male Harrier flying by. It was a VERY
good day today!

Al Stokie
Mostly in Lake County today with a brief stop in Cook County