The extraordinary becomes commonplace during the fall migration. Casual birders often miss this because they tend to prefer May over November. In May the weather is better, and it improves through the month instead of getting worse. And the birds are all bright colors and bold patterns, feathered for the breeding season and easy to identify.
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The Egyptian goose that showed up at Wampum Lake in southern Cook County a couple of weeks ago is off the charts as far as wanderers are concerned. This is an African bird that you would expect to encounter on Lake Victoria, but to see one in a small lake near the junction of the Calumet and Kingery expressways is so unlikely that we have to suspect this bird’s provenance. Actually the mystery is not all that mysterious. There are hobbyists who keep and breed flocks of exotic waterfowl. Whenever we discover an Egyptian goose, a bean goose, or a ruddy shelduck running loose, we explain it as an escapee from a captive flock.
An immature lesser black-backed gull has been hanging around Montrose Harbor. This Eurasian species has recently expanded its breeding range to the north Atlantic coast of North America. Prior to the early 80s there were only two sightings of this species in the Chicago area. Now the bird has entered the “rare but regular” category.
The hoary redpoll, which is paler than the common but otherwise quite similar, nests on the tundra north of the forests. According to all the standard reference works, this tiny bird regularly winters on Ellesmere and Baffin islands, which are both way north of the arctic circle. We’re talking about a bird that weighs less than 20 grams after a big meal, and it manages to survive for months on end in total darkness, hurricane-force winds, and temperatures of 50 or 60 below zero. Somehow in those horrible conditions it maintains a body temperature in excess of 100 degrees.
Flocks of snow buntings, one numbering 150 birds, have been seen along the lakefront, and a lapland longspur was sighted at Montrose. Both of these species nest on the tundra and migrate south in the fall. To me, the arrival of snow buntings marks the beginning of winter. I always seem to see them on cold, blustery days.
