Twelve people, including two children, in jackets and with binoculars on sidewalk with lagoon behind them

words by trip leader and COS board member Robyn Detterline

On a brisk, sunny May 3, a lucky 13 birders set out on a COS green birding event: the May Borbs and Forbs. Each month we visit a different Chicago park and complete a short birding trek, followed by a workday to improve the habitat for the birds we have just appreciated. This month we visited Humboldt Park.

We started at the boathouse and made our way to Picnic Island, along the way finding some happy Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Common Grackles.

Tiny bird with yellow and black striped wings and yellow edges along a black tail, olive green on head and back, with a white eye ring, perched sideways on a vertical stick.ical — Ruby-crowned Kinglet. *Photo by Emily Tallo, Montrose Point, Oct. 10, 2022.*

We noted how difficult it can be to tell the difference between a grackle and the ubiquitous Red-winged Blackbirds when looking from below, but if we are patient the bird will shift and we can see the unmistakable long tail of a grackle.

Picnic Island was a treat, especially the vantage it allowed us as we watched a Caspian Tern fiercely hunting. Oohs and Ahhhs were uttered all around as they dove like a dart into the water and snatched up a little fish. An adorable Pied-billed Grebe appeared and disappeared over and over under the water.

On the island we also spotted a skulking Black-crowned Night Heron and learned about their endangered status elsewhere in the state, but their success in Chicago due to the wolf-protected rookery at Lincoln Park Zoo.

Robin-sized bird with brown back and head, brown speckles at its throat, and white breast, with a pointed yellow bill, standing in grass. — Veery. *Photo by Carl Giometti, Chicago Women’s Park, April 28, 2022.*

We then wound around the Big Lagoon, delighted by a Veery, a lifer for some, being super obliging by basking in the warm sun. We also had brief glimpses of a female Eastern Towhee and watched the Tree Swallows hanging around their nesting boxes.

Warblers were few but delightful: sharply dressed Black-and-White Warblers and bouncy little Palm Warblers. Common Yellowthroat and Northern Waterthrush were seen by some, but all too briefly. And of course everyone loved the fuzzy goslings, whose proud Mama and Papa Canada Geese showed off for all us humans to admire.

Two large geese with white breasts and a white chin-strapm black heads, necks, legs and back, standing behind two small fuzzy golden goslings that were nestled on the ground. — Canada Goose. *Photo by Moon Kim, Humboldt Park, May 3, 2025.*

By the end of our walk we had 31 species.

We then we met up with the Humboldt Park Steward to begin the workday portion. Our quarry was the highly invasive Garlic Mustard, which is not flowering yet, but we did our best to nip it before the bud. There was some trash pickup, but we remarked that the Earth Day crews from the previous weekend did a relatively thorough job, making our work quite easy.

Three people with work gloves, tools and a wagon on one side of the fence, one person with hands full of invasive weeds on the other side, coming toward the cart. — *Photo by Moon Kim, Humboldt Park, May 3, 2025.*

Being deep in the natural areas allowed us some nice non-avian critter spotting: we were all tickled to see so many bunnies, and most of us were bowled over by the visibility of so many garter snakes, which we learned are in the height of breeding season and on the prowl.

As always it was another lovely day at Humboldt Park, filled with good company, good scenery, and good birds!

Field Trip Recap: Borbs and Forbs at Humboldt Park