Field trip recap: Urban Birding Festival Walk at Busse Woods

 
Seven people in rain gear with binoculars, one with a camera tripod, on a grassy green field with trees in the background.

words by Vinod Babu

The first walk I led for the Urban Birding Festival on Sept. 13 was off to a dismal start as rain overspread the metropolitan Chicago area. The participants and I huddled in our cars in a parking lot at Busse Woods North as thunder rumbled and lightning flashed outside. As the rain subsided, we gathered in one of the picnic shelters and started birding there. A pair of drenched Ospreys on a dead tree seemed to commiserate with us.

Small bird perched on a branch, facing right, head lower than tail. Gray face and short, dark beak, mottled gray and yellow on back, with yellow flanks and outside tail feathers and a white rump.

American Redstart. Photo by Carl Giometti, Chicago’s Women’s Park, Sept. 1, 2021.

The rain cleared up slowly but decisively, and bird activity started up. So did we! We took the hike/bike trail north through the preserve and eventually ran into what we had hoped for—a mixed-species flock consisting of a Downy Woodpecker, a few Eastern Wood Pewees and a nice selection of warblers—American Redstart, Magnolia Warbler and Black-throated Green Warbler. Most of this flock consisted of Bay-breasted Warblers—over 20 by the end of the walk (apparently other walks that day also had high numbers of this species). 

As we continued walking, we enjoyed other species, including a nice diversity of woodpeckers, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds zooming around a patch of jewelweed and harassing a circling Red-tailed Hawk, and a few Eastern Bluebirds.

Seen from in front and below, a small bird perched on a twig and looking right. It has a slate-blue head, dark eye and bill, with orange from its chin to its breast and along its sides, and white on its belly and the underside of its tail.

Eastern Bluebird. Photo by Walter Marcisz, Saganashkee Slough, Dec. 19, 2021.

This was also a great location to botanize. We observed fruiting poison ivy, dogwood, Solomon's plume and cranberry bush viburnum. Some Swainson's Thrushes had their eyes on these plants, too.

We walked the trail to the next shelter and back, then took our cars to the next parking lot to the west. Here, we got several waterbirds, including Wood Duck, Solitary Sandpiper and herons.

Six people facing right, heads back and binoculars lifted, on a paved trail with grass and tall trees on both sides.

A curiously pale-headed Red-tailed Hawk perched on a snag overhanging the water, while a Double-crested Cormorant surfaced amidst the duckweed. As we finished our walk, a Broad-winged Hawk passed directly overhead.

We had a total of 48 species, a nice number for what started off a really wet day.

 
Field TripKris HansenUrban Birding Festival, Busse Woods