ML406988811
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
- Not specified
Observation details
Continuing flock at the parking lot. Beautiful medium to small-sized finch with distinctive red cap, very light eye ring, brownish eye stripe, lighter supercilium, brown ear stripes, and black chin and around the base of the beak. Streaking on the side and pretty nondescript back similar to other finches. Counted 1x1 from a single-frame photo, which the actual count is most probably at least 30 more, which will represent a high count for Cook County. At 8:10 am, I saw the big group of Common Redpolls in the trees at the north side of the parking lot foraging, then the group moved to the beach side foraging on the ground (see photo). Suddenly, a Cooper’s Hawk dive bombed the group, caught nothing, and flushed the entire group of redpolls. The redpoll flock took up into the air and flew south and was never seen entirely today. Without giving up, I stayed around and started walking the surroundings of the parking lot. Being my arch-nemesis bird for months with multiple twitching attempts with no luck, I came to Northwestern University campus with a very determined mind not only to see the Common Redpolls but to see them well. The five-second view of the flock was not satisfactory for me as a birder. With upmost silence except the sound of waves splashing into the shore and the cold wind of Chicago winter, I started to lose faith and wander far into the campus. However, I always had these small ‘things’ in mind and decided to go back to the parking lot and wait. A quarter of an hour after I returned, I heard something very similar to a goldfinch, but with a bigger change in pitch in each call. Realizing that it was what I have been playing in every semi-grassland habitat for the past two seasons, I played the call and hoping that it will come back, but it did not work. However, three small groups no larger than 4 came to the trees with cones north of the parking lot at 9:02, 9:14, and 9:25 am. They flew in calling vigorously, perhaps trying to reconcile with the flock. At 9:33 am, I heard a much bigger flock coming behind me. I left my bag and brought my camera and headed for the trees, where they eat the seeds from the cones. There were more than 20 individuals in the same tree, and my last try playing callback turned out to work out maybe too well, since the group of birds all moved to the tree closest to me, some 3 meters above the ground. Even if I was so frustrated with these little things leaving right after I arrive in the beginning, seeing them coming to me when replying to callback made me surrender and give them my unconditional love. With numb fingers and sore arms, I held my camera for as long as possible trying to take photos and videos hoping to land some shots since they could leave at any second, which I did; see photos.
Technical information
- Camera
- Microphone
- Accessories
- Original file size
- 123.86 MB