Species Showcase • Blue jay Handsome, spunky and common in the eastern U.S., blue jays are familiar visitors to suburban backyards and birdfeeders. Their swoopy blue head crest, necklace of black feathers and cascades of blue-white wing bars are easy to admire. Mating pairs assemble loose nests of sticks and grasses in the forked branches of trees, incubating 4–6 green eggs speckled with brown spots. Blue jays are acorn aficionados. Skilled at burying healthy acorns, the species is thought to have helped spread oak trees in Chicagoland after glaciers retreated from the area 10,000–12,000 years ago.
Lark family Alaudidae Forest preserve hotspots hotspots •
Fort Sheridan (Lake Forest)
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Spring Bluff (Winthrop Harbor)
Grassland
Small
Horned lark
Horned lark
Eremophila alpestris
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