The birds were very different in winter than my previous visits. The iit campus alive with White-throated Sparrows, Ruby- and Golden-crowned Kinglets, Downy Woodpeckers and Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers in October was nearly bird free in December with just a few crows and a Northern Cardinal seen. American coots were absent from the lake shore in the city, their place taken instead by Common Goldeneye and by Red-breasted and Common Mergansers.
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| Common Goldeneye |
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| Red-breasted Merganser |
We made a visit to the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago in the suburb of Lemont and heard and saw many Blue Jays there. (I had been told that these birds were common in the area but not close to Lake Michigan.)
Pat picked me up at 7:30 on Saturday morning and we went to Wooded Island in Jackson Park for the weekly bird walk. This took us about half the time it takes in October due to the lack of birds. Although the water held many Canada Geese and a few ducks we saw few passerines. The locals were most impressed by a White-breated Nuthatch, but my bird of the morning was a small flock of America Tree Sparrows. We had just a dozen species in an hour and a half. This allowed time to go to Jackson Harbor which was also very quiet but allowed close comparison of Ring-billed and Herring Gulls.
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