Well, our goal was to find and photograph different species of birds eating the newly emerging Brood XIII Cicadas that come out every 17 years. So today we grabbed our cameras and headed for Kishwaukee Forest Preserve in Rockford Illinois.
Common Grackle Dining on the Picnic Table
We found 18 different species of birds gorging on cicadas, including a Yellow-billed Cuckoo.
American Robins were all over.
No White-breasted Nuthatch is too small for a cicada feast!
The Eastern Kingbirds were not at all shy to eat for a crowd
Blue Jays were loud and rowdy
We also saw Northern Flickers, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Chipping Sparrows, American Crows, Northern Cardinals, European Starlings, Brown-headed Cowbirds, Red-eyed Vireos, Blue-Grey Gnatcatchers, Great Crested Flycatchers, Eastern Bluebirds, and Cedar Waxwings all hanging out and eating up cicadas. Some, like the Chipping Sparrow, were only picking through the remnants on the ground, but they were all having a feast.
We did not get a picture of a Cedar Waxwing eating a cicada, but we found someone who did.
Even our Doberman, Arizona ate some, however, we were too chicken to try them ourselves. Maybe in 17 years!
It looks like the cicada provided plenty of food for the birds-That’s a cool capture of the Cuckoo which is a difficult to bird to see around here.