South Shore with Chicago Ornithological Society

Seventeen young birders and families joined forces with Christine Williamson and the Chicago Ornithological Society to bird the south shore of Lake Michigan on September 16th. We met at Chicago’s Rainbow Beach on a beautiful sunny and warm morning. We walked the dunes to the water and began scanning the far breakwall behind the water intake plant. Within a few moments, we found a couple of Sanderling and three Ruddy Turnstones moving in and out of view on top of and between the rocks. While scanning one of the towers, we found perhaps our best bird of the day, a Neotropic Cormorant, among the larger Double-crested Cormorants. One has been found at this location annually the last three Septembers.

From there, we walked to Park 566, where we found only an American Kestrel.

We returned to park at Rainbow Beach and added a few warblers including Blackpoll, Bay-breasted, Black-throated Green, Palm, and Cape May. In addition, we found both nuthatches – White- and Red-breasted and plenty of Swainson’s Thrushes.

A few of us continued onto Jackson Park, where we added to our warbler list with Tennessee and Nashville Warblers as well as American Redstart and Common Yellowthroat.

All in all, it was a beautiful day for birding despite the moderate number of birds.