Big Marsh & Burnham Prairie Marsh Sunday 9-19-21

[Al Stokie]

Hello Bird People,,

Chuck B & Mike C have already reported from Big Marsh but as I had a
few different birds I'll do a full list of what I saw. Early on I was
with birder Alex who told me where to stand to see Cormorants & more
young Black Crowned Night Herons. In return I showed him a Black
Bellied Plover & a Stilt Sandpiper. As always, yesterday's Avocets did
not wait for me to see them. Rats!

Big Marsh (7:45-10:15 a.m.)

D.C. Cormorant (4)
Great Blue Heron (6)
Great Egret (8)
SNOWY EGRET (1)
Black Crowned Night Heron (4-IM)
Canada Goose (~15)
Wood Duck (~10)
Mallard (~12)
PINTAIL (1)
G.W. Teal (~30)
SORA (saw 5 & heard 5 or 6 more, it was sort of a "Sora City" at the
shorebird viewing area)
Killdeer (~20)
BLACK BELLIED PLOVER (1 young one with black axillaries & all)
Greater Yellowlegs (3)
Lesser Yellowlegs (~10)
Pectoral Sandpiper (1)
STILT SANDPIPER (1)
Peep Species (10 flying by but they never landed where I could get a
good look at them)
Also saw about 25-30 Chimney Swifts, 2 Hummingbirds, heard 1 Eastern
Pewee, Mourning Doves, Blue Jays, Robins, Catbirds, Palm Warblers &
Goldfinches. Downy Woodpecker &
Flickers were heard only.

Burnham Prairie Marsh (10:30-10:55 a.m.)

If Big Marsh was "Sora City" then this place was "Great Egret City" or
perhaps "Greater Yellowlegs City". There were 53 Egrets in the closer
front pond & 2 more in the rear pond.
The rear pond also held 11 Yellowlegs & much to my surprise all 11
were Greater Yellowlegs in one flock. I don't see that very often
locally.

P.B. Grebe (1)
Great Blue Heron (only 2)
Great Egret (55)
Mallard (4)
Red Tailed Hawk (1-AD)
Killdeer (8)
GREATER YELLOWLEGS (11, in 1 flock)
Ring Billed Gull (4, all young ones)
The only land birds I saw were Mourning Doves & Goldfinches but I
hardly looked.

Bird-Of-The-Day to the Snowy Egret which was best seen from Stony
Island road & not from the shorebird viewing area. Runners-Up to the
Black Bellied Plover, the Stilt Sandpiper & all
those Greater Yellowlegs.

License Plate Of The Day to one from New Hampshire seen on the Dan
Ryan on the way home.

Al Stokie
In southern Cook County today