The Magic Hedge

After 2 days of birding at the "Magic Hedge" on Montrose Harbor (about 1 mile away from my house). These are in no particular order. I'll try to add some more description later. The Magic Hedge sounds like this idiotically hokey name for a very small park smack dab in the middle of Chicago - but that's before you go. Once you go, you realize that the Hedge is, in fact, magical, and I say that without a hint of irony. It's probably one of the best bird-watching spots in Illinois and it's right down the road! The particular bit of hedge that it was named for in the park is amazing - there are birds everywhere and just SO many species. But the park actually butts up to the beach, so you can bird the migrating birds as well. Large parts of it are roped off to walkers so that the birds (and foliage) can live in peace. It's pretty cool. The only downside is that it doesn't really ever get raptors.

Gray Catbird - I saw one of these at Eagle Creek (ostensibly what got me on my current birding kick) and had to end up identifying it by his call, which is loud and sounds like a really annoyed cat mewing/yowling. Kind of like Izzie when she's hungry, actually. Anyway, I swear this guy was chasing me around the park on Sunday - kept hearing him, and then he'd jump out onto the trail. This time I was able to see his rather pretty rump - which is rufous-colored instead of gray like the rest of him.

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - probably the only Flycatcher of the 5 that I'll ever be able to identify.
Worm-Eating Warbler

European Starling (juvenile) - an entire freaking flock of them descended on the tree I was looking in - all juveniles in some form of molt.

Purple Finch

Promonotary Warbler

Guesses anyone?
No idea? Here's a hint:

Yeah, that's right, Red-Winged Blackbird. I saw the female first (above), then the next day an entire flock of males all together. I never would've identified the female without some fellow birders coming along.

While looking for a picture to accompany my Male Red-winged Blackbird, I was linked to a story in the UK Telegraph newspaper recounting the frequent attacks being made by territorial Blackbirds in Chicago in 2008. The last line of the article: "Mr. Stoltz advised anyone targeted by an angry blackbird, to stare directly at it. If that fails, barking like a dog should keep it away". Crack journalism, that.

Eastern Kingbird - he sat and modeled for me for a while.
CEDAR WAXWING! I actually only saw the top half of it for like 5 seconds, about 2 minutes after I walked into the Hedge for the first time. I've been dying to see one of these since the 2nd grade because it was the prettiest picture in my bird book. So I'd like to see the entire thing some time, but it sure made me happy that I finally found where that stupid hedge was!

Caspian Tern - probably spent 20 minutes looking at 4 of them sitting on the beach. Finally identified them using the following field markers - Black tail, Black legs, Black tip on the end of the beak that I was only able to see through my binoculars while standing maybe 10 feet away. Another field marker is that their beak is redder and larger than other Terns, but without anything to compare it to, I had to use the other field markers to confirm.

This is how I saw them - standing in a field of Gulls with his black tail sticking out. This particular one is either a juvenile or molting because his black head isn't as striking.

Black and White Warbler (my favorite find of Sunday)

Female American Redstart was another one of my favorites because I had to look her up when I got back home, but I'm positive of the identification. The female has the exact same pattern of colors as the male, but in different colors (gray and yellow instead of black and orange). I could see the yellow on the sides of the breast, but then she flapped her wings and I saw all kinds of yellow which was under her wings. She's very pretty.

American Tree Sparrow

Also saw a Downy Woodpecker, dozens of Ring-Billed Gulls, Mallard Ducks, Flycatchers, Cormorants, a bird that may or may not have been an Ovenbird, a Mama Goldfinch feeding her exceptionally loud baby (or teenager, she wasn't very small, and she sounded like an extremely incessant squeaky toy), and some warblers that I couldn't identify. Also, there were Swallows EVERYWHERE. They call constantly and fly above your head constantly, so your eye is always drawn to them. I think they were Barn Swallows and Bank Swallows, but I'm not very good at identifying them because they're often backlit and they're fast little buggers. And for the third consecutive bird-watching session, I saw the Black-Capped Chickadee at the same time and location as the Woodpecker. It's like they're symbiotic. I also have 2 descriptions of birds in my notebook that I can't identify and don't have a picture in my head, so I probably won't be able to. That's frustrating. But overall, the Magic Hedge lived up to its name!