Tag Archives: American Pipit

May 1, 2013, Finally

Montrose was really hopping this morning. It never ceases to amaze me what a couple days of south winds can do in spring. In about an hour and a half I saw the following birds (not a complete list):

Piping Plover – 1, the unbanded male
American Avocets – 2, flew in from the south and landed on the beach around 6:30
Little Blue Heron – 1 adult flying south over Lake Michigan with 2 Great Blue Herons
Green Heron – 1
Red-headed Woodpecker – 1 near the golf course pond
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – 1
Least Flycatcher – 1
Great Crested Flycatcher – 1
Eastern Kingbird – 3
Sedge Wren – 1 in the meadow
House Wren – ~5
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher – 2
Veery – ~4
Swainson’s Thrush – 3
Gray-cheeked Thrush – 1
Gray Catbird – 3
American Pipit – 1
Orange-crowned Warbler – 2
Nashville Warbler – 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler – ~40
Palm Warbler – ~20
Black-throated Green Warbler – 1
Yellow Warbler – 2
Hooded Warbler – 1 female in the Magic Hedge
Ovenbird – 1
Yellow-breasted Chat – 1 near the water feature
American Redstart – 1
Field Sparrow – 1
Henslow’s Sparrow – 1 in the meadow
Savannah Sparrow – ~30
Swamp Sparrow – ~40
Lincoln’s Sparrow – ~10
White-throated Sparrow – +
White-crowned Sparrow – ~10
Bobolink – 1 male
Purple Finch – 1

I probably missed a few things but you get the idea.

October 18, 2011

There were good numbers of birds at Montrose on this cold and gray October morning, especially White-throated Sparrows and kinglets. My highlights include American Pipit, Purple Finch, a Northern Harrier winging south out over Lake Michigan, and a Sharp-shinned Hawk that almost became breakfast for a Cooper’s Hawk. Sharp-shinned Hawks, or Sharpies as they are known in the birding community, are fairly unusual at Montrose. The lowlight was an unidentified sparrow that came in off the lake around dawn and was set upon by a gang of Ring-billed Gulls. This gruesome spectacle occurs fairly regularly in the fall at Montrose as passerines get caught out over Lake Michigan during migration after the sun rises. They then have to run a veritable gauntlet of hungry gulls to make it to shore and safety.

Water Crib

Water Crib

I’ve included a photo of one of the water cribs that lie a couple of miles offshore from Chicago. These cribs pump water from Lake Michigan to filtration plants near Navy Pier and on the south side of the city. The filtration plants purify the water and then deliver it via a system of pipes to the residents and businesses of Chicago, as well as some of the nearby suburbs. One time I was at Montrose and I got into a conversation with an out-of-towner about the crib. This fellow remarked that the crib reminded him of Alcatraz. Perhaps he was speaking from personal experience.