Hey guys,
Passerine migration has died down for the most part now, with the exception of some straggling flycatchers and warblers but sparrows are still moving in force. Typically Northwest Winds in Chicago are favorable for moving raptors like Northern Goshawk and Golden Eagle along with other birds like Phalaropes (Red-necked and Red), Townsend's Solitaire, Spotted and/or Green-tailed Towhees, Sage Thrasher and other western birds. Northeast winds can also be favorable for Northern Goshawk, any potential Jaegers (Pomarine, Parasitic, and even though it's pretty late, Long-tailed is still possible), and finches like White-winged and Red Crossbills, Evening Grosbeaks and Redpolls (Common and Hoary). Those are all pretty good for Chicago, and a certain someone (I'm looking at you @ieobrien) would greatly appreciate any notifications that one of these have showed up in Cook County. Even flyovers matter.
Onto other more random rarities, Starting about this week, until pretty much Thanksgiving, really odd birds tend to show up in really odd places. Whether it's a King Eider on a cemetery lawn or an Ancient Murrelet on Lake Michigan, extremely rare birds like to show up. If you can't bird far away from home, walk to your nearest little park and search the White-throated Sparrow flock for any impostors like a Golden-crowned or Harris's Sparrows. Go to the local cemetery and find the trees with berries, or find the large American Robin flock and comb it for a Townsend's Solitaire or a Varied Thrush. If you live near the lakefront or even a large inland body of water, look for lost water birds like Western, Eared or Red-necked Grebes, odd ducks like Harlequin Duck or Barrow's Goldeneye. (BAGO will be more inland, like on a large pond or lake). Go find the big Canada Goose flock and look for a Brant. Some gulls to look for that could show up on any pond, lake, river or any body of water include California, Mew, Slaty-backed, Glaucous-winged Gulls, Black-legged Kittiwakes and others. Most rare finches will likely be flyovers, so knowing the flight calls of crossbills is pretty important from now until the end of the year. November and December is also a good time to look for odd birds like orioles and other bright and colorful birds. If you keep your bird feeders up, you might get a Bullock's Oriole or a Black-headed Grosbeak. It might seem completely ridiculous to say, but yes, find the chickadees and other small birds and search for warblers from the west like Hermit or Black-throated Gray. If you find a large flock of Cedar Waxwings, search it for a Bohemian. Mountain Bluebird could be hanging out with some robins too, or it could be completely lonely sitting on a post at a prairie/grassland. All of these birds could be seen in Cook County basically from now on. It's also still not too late for a Cattle Egret either. We just need people looking!
There are some absurd sounding birds that aren't 100% impossible, but are extremely unlikely to show up include Northern Wheatear, any southern kingbirds like Tropical, Couch's or Gray. (Tropical/Couch's are pretty much only distinguished by voice, so if you see it, also try to hear it!) Any swallows you see could be Violet-green, and any swift could be a Vaux's. A Great Kiskadee showed up in NE Indiana a couple Decembers ago, so that's another large flycatcher to look out for. A Hammond's Flycatcher showed up in Central Wisconsin last winter, so that's yet another western flycatcher to look out for. Rufous Hummingbird is always one to look out for. PLEASE KEEP YOUR HUMMINGBIRD FEEDERS UP!!! Basically if you see a hummingbird in the winter coming to your feeder, it is likely a Rufous. There is the chance for an Anna's or Broad-tailed too. Ferruginous Hawk could be soaring around in the more open parts of the county, or sitting on a light pole out in the fields to the south in Cook. Great Cormorant has showed up in Ohio consistently for a few years, so there's no telling why there hasn't been one in Illinois hanging out on the various piers, breakwalls and jetties. Pacific Loon could show up on the lakefront as well as King Eider, and Ancient Murrelet.
I wouldn't go so far as to say to expect the unexpected, but go out with the mindset that you could find something unusual or super rare for the next few weeks! (Emphasis on could).
That's all for now, and I'll see ya next time,
Simon