I went birding with three friends Monday morning to the far reaches of the southeast side of the city of Chicago known as the Calumet region. It’s a former industrial area with large tracts of undeveloped land near the Little Calumet River that provide habitat for a lot of birds, in particular, waders and shorebirds. Among other species, we hoped to see a Stilt Sandpiper.
We started out walking along the road at Indian Ridge where we saw several Caspian Terns, Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons and a couple Mute Swans.
Mourning Doves had gathered in the tops of some dead trees. Here’s a small group.
I noticed a Killdeer flying by.
Then we spotted a Coyote in the distance.
Great Egrets were everywhere.
Some Great Egrets were in unusual places.
There was a pair of Mute Swans…
And a Black-crowned Night Heron in a less-than-lovely spot.
Great Blue Herons were here and there, fading in with their surroundings.
We spotted a couple Green Herons with some Great Egrets.
Below, a little negotiation for space between a Great Egret and a Great Blue Heron.
I took note of a Northern Rough-winged Swallow.
A fetching female House Finch paid us a personal visit.
Onward to Deadstick Pond where we searched for shorebirds. The photo below illustrates how this site got its name. After peering through chainlink fence, we climbed through a decent-sized hole in the fence for better views.
There were some Lesser Yellowlegs.
Then we saw a Lesser Yellowlegs with two Stilt Sandpipers.
We had three Stilt Sandpipers at one time. I was glad to get good photos as I was not familiar with this species.
A Peregrine Falcon swooped in briefly and disturbed all the birds,
I caught a couple Barn Swallows in flight over the course of the outing.
Here’s one more Stilt Sandpiper.
For a grand finale, we visited the Monk Parakeet hangout in a nearby neighborhood.
The heat later this week has been exhausting. But I have managed to go out a few times and it’s generally been better than I thought, which just goes to show you never know what you might see.