Dark-eyed Junco

Grant Park is my second favorite park along the lake. It can be excellent at times, and November happened to be one of those times. There are a couple feeders, right in the middle of the park, next to a parking lot. These feeders host the “common” feeder birds all year long. However, during migration (spring/fall) or times with inclement weather, it gets overloaded with birds. In early November, there were a couple of rare birds seen at/near the feeders. 2 Spotted Towhee (male and female) and several flocks of Red Crossbills (75+ total). The towhees were around for a few days but took off. I thought they might stay all winter, since they were in a perfect spot, with plenty of food. The Red Crossbills can probably still be seen almost daily. There is a tall group of pines on the east side of the parking lot and also about 100′ west of the parking lot, that they visit, while flying around. In addition to the rare birds, there were also a few uncommon ones, 2 Tufted Titmouse (first I’ve ever seen there), 3 Purple Finches, and 12 Pine Siskins. And of course, the numerous common feeder birds. One day it snowed, and I went down there because I thought it could be good. It was awesome! There was a solo Red Crossbill that day, that came down to the feeder four times. I had never seen them eat out of a feeder before. That day the Pine Siskins, a male Purple Finch, and both Tufted Titmouse visited numerous times as well, along with all the common ones. All of these birds make this park an extremely fun place to spend hours at a time, with a camera. Outside of the feeder parking lot, I had a beautiful male Green-winged Teal, mixed in with 75+ Mallards on Mill Pond. He was very close to the road and provided excellent views. On the 7th, I was looking for deer and stopped on the side of the road, by the 17th tee box. I was looking out into the golf course and 40 or so Snow Bunting took flight from the sand trap, near the green. They circled over the golf course and headed south. This is a large gallery post with all photos taken during the month of November, at Grant Park. Enjoy!

Spotted Towhee

Red Crossbill

Tufted Titmouse

Pine Siskin

Purple Finch

House Finch

Black-capped Chickadee

Brown Creeper

White-breasted Nuthatch

Blue Jay

Northern Cardinal

Downy Woodpecker

American Goldfinch

American Crow

Green-winged Teal

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Red-bellied Woodpecker

House Sparrow

Yellow-rumped Warbler

White-throated Sparrow

On my way home this afternoon, I saw a larger bird in a tree along the side of Good Hope Rd. As I drove past, I realized it was a Merlin! I turned around and luckily, there was enough shoulder for me to pull off on. I stopped right alongside of it, on the opposite side of the street. I thought for sure it would fly, like they always do, but it didn’t! As soon as I got my camera on it, I saw it had just snagged a bird. Wow, what perfect timing! As it flipped the bird around, I could see that it was a junco. I sat there in my truck, snapping hundreds of photos, trying not to miss any of the action. When it was all finished, I managed to take just over 1000 photos! I was amazed that it didn’t pay any attention to me, rather only looking around occasionally, to make it was safe from other predators. Once the junco was consumed, I drove off and the Merlin was still sitting in the tree. I’m sure glad I had my camera with me! Images below are from today, but beware, they are not for the faint-hearted! Enjoy!!!