April 15, 2007

Finally back with some reports from the Camp Chicago area. Sometimes even a short experience in the wilds of the Midwest can be memorable. We were in between engagements in suburban Milwaukee yesterday afternoon and stopped by Warnimont Park in the city of Cudahy. (Pronounced cud-a-HAY). This is a greenspace along Lake Michigan that we discovered on the map. The park's wooded bluffs afford a stunning view of Lake Michigan. Framed by evergreens, with the blue lake in the background, one overlook resembled northern Michigan. In less than a half-hour we saw and heard the following birds: brown creeper, downy woodpecker, yellow-bellied sapsucker, black-capped chickadee, northern cardinal, dark-eyed junco, american crow, ruby-crowned kinglet, northern flicker, chipping sparrow, brown-headed cowbird.

Today in Chicago, a bike journey along the glistening lake yielded the following, including my first wood warbler of the season: horned grebe, common merganser, ring-billed gull, ruby-crowned kinglet, yellow-rumped warbler, song sparrow, swamp sparrow, red-winged blackbird, european starling, house sparrow, eastern towhee, rock dove, canada goose, mallard, a red metal tricycle, brown thrasher, american robin, northern cardinal, common grackle.