Delmonico

Songs of the Spring: Illinois Birds are Blooming

written by Lexi Delmonico

One of my favorite spring memories dates back to my elementary school courtyard. My school sat on a large expanse of grassy fields, surrounded by windy willows and large willow trees, whose branches swayed through the wind. There were special days when we would look at pond water and frogs and see garden snakes slither into the swampy willows. The best however, were the ducks that nested out in our courtyard. We would look through the large windows at the mama duck and her ducklings waddling around.

This was out in central New York, but central Illinois has its own populations of ducks and other birds that migrate in the spring. Ducks migrate in March, but April and May are the best to view the arrival of migratory birds. This is the norm in Central and Northern Illinois. Nevertheless, if you live in the Southern region you’ll find that spring comes much earlier in March, therefore you’ll experience the spring migration earlier.

Make sure to keep an ear out for the sounds of birds throughout these spring months. Some of them, you might have heard already. The rattling call of cranes flying overhead, the yodeling of loons, the whistling of dozens of warbler species, and of course, the early morning soft song from the rose-breasted grosbeak. There are many more birds to keep an eye out for, and even more songs. Wetlands, quiet lake areas, and forests are the perfect places to hear these birds.

see the next page for the Chicago Botanic Gardens published list of bird species that have made their way to Illinois this Spring. Maybe you’ve seen one already!

April

Eastern Phoebe White-throated sparrow White-crowned sparrow Fox sparrow Hermit thrush Brown thrasher Gray catbird Golden-crowned kinglet Ruby-crowned kinglet Blue-gray gnatcatcher

Eastern wood-pewee Great crested flycatcher Scarlet tanager Indigo Bunting Baltimore oriole Rose-breasted grosbeak Yellow-rumped warbler Palm warbler Black-throated green warbler American redstart Blackburnian warbler Chestnut-sided warbler Yellow warbler Magnolia warbler

May