A 7,000-Mile Flight: South American Bird Finds it Way to Chicago-area Park
Posted: 25 April 2012 03:14 PM   [ Ignore ]  
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Chicago bird-watchers a South American bird has traveled 7,000 miles and is now resided in the city’s Douglas Park.

Teenage bird-watchers say they spotted the white-crested elaenia in Douglas Park and after the sighting uploaded photos of their find to the Illinois Birders’ Forum.

Fellow birders confirmed brothers Aaron Gyllenhaal, 15, and Ethan Gyllenhaal, 16, finds after seeing the photos, although the American Birding Association has yet to confirm that the bird is an elaenia.

The South American white-crested elaenia varies in size from 13.5 to 15 centimeters in length and weighs about half an ounce. They are normally found in the forest edges of the Andes Mountains.

If the bird spotted by the brothers is confirmed to be the elaenia, it will be only the second recorded sighting of the bird in the U.S.

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