Birds of Illinois

Yesterday started very early -- before sunrise. It was the start of a May "Big Day". The goal was to record as many species as possible in a day. I will post separately on the results of the Big Day, so suppose you could call this the Big Highlight of the Big Day.

My family & I were at Van Patten Woods this afternoon when a flock of Short-billed Dowitchers appeared out of nowhere and started feeding on the edge of Sterling Lake.

I love days like this. For a start, it was a day off work. It was also a very pleasant morning to be out. On Saturday I went to Grant Woods as part of the Spring Bird Count. I returned today to see if I could capture on digital film some of the birds we saw.

It has been way too long since I've gotten out! I have been watching the leaves sprouting on the trees and thinking "that will make 'em harder to see & photograph". But until now, didn't have the time to get out. But today I took a day off and this afternoon I visited Volo Bog for the first time in months. It was well worth it!

On the way home from work today I stopped in at McHenry Dam to see what was around. The water level was still very high and lots of people were fishing. There were even some cool birds there!

Independence Grove was looking picture perfect this morning with dead calm lakes, dew on the ground and the call of a Common Loon to finish off the idyllic image.

Its hard for me to believe that yesterday was just the second time I had been out birding in Illinois this year - and the first time was January 1st! But there were some awesome spectacles on the Lake Michigan shore this morning.

In the April issue of Birder's World Magazine, David Sibley gives some tips on identifying warblers high overhead.

Raptor Force will be showing on PBS this Sunday. See more details at their website http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/raptorforce/.

By Mike Michaelson | Midwest Travel

In a few weeks it will be show time at Buena Vista Grasslands in central Wisconsin, and now might be a good time to book a front-row seat.

I have updated the software used to run my website. I encountered some issues while updated so some features on the site are not yet operational. I am working hard to get them all up and running very soon. In the meantime please "excuse the dust"!

Some features of this site are currently not working. I hope to have everything up and running within a day or so. I apologize for the inconvenience.

Lloyd Licht sent me some pictures of a hawk that had apparently caught a Ring-billed Gull. It turned out to be a Cooper's Hawk that then tried to fly off with the gull, which is much larger than the hawk!

Its been harder to get out birding recently - partly because of the weather and partly because of work. But I took some time off to go to Texas with Jeff to do some birding in an area I have never visited before - with outstanding results.

My new computer (iMac) has allowed me to create some new content for the website. One of the things I can now do is a podcast!

by FRANK ABDERHOLDEN :: Lake County News-Sun 

January 3, 2008

I have added a Sparrow ID Quiz to the site today. It is in Quicktime format that most browsers will already have the software necessary to run. If you don't have Quicktime, you can get it at the Apple website . You will get a chance to see pictures of Sparrows then see if your ID was right with the click of a button. I have added a Sparrow ID Quiz to the site today. It is in Quicktime format that most browsers will already have the software necessary to run. If you don't have Quicktime, you can get it at the Apple website . You will get a chance to see pictures of Sparrows then see if your ID was right with the click of a button.

I was working from home this morning and looked out at my feeders to see what was visiting and was very happy to see a new feeder bird (and yard bird): a Red-breasted Nuthatch. There are not a lot of pines in the area (a typical habitat for Red-breasted Nuthatches) and I am not sure where this bird usually hangs out - but I hope it makes my feeders a regular stop!

Not a great day to get out today but I did spend some time taking some photos of the birds visiting my feeders, so here's a selection of my favorite shots of the day.

By JEFF LAMPE
GATEHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
Published Sunday, December 09, 2007

PEORIA COUNTY - When a neighbor called saying a birdwatcher wanted access to his property, Bill Neff was surprised.

What could a birder see on his 28 acres that they couldn't see most other places? Quail? An occasional pheasant?

From the Daily Herald...

By Mick Zawislak | Daily Herald Staff 

After transforming farmland into a vast welcome mat of grasslands and other terrain at Rollins Savanna, forest preserve officials are keeping an eye on human activity to make sure one skittish visitor isn't scared off.

A wonderful day for birding today. OK, that was a lie, it was cold, overcast and there was fine mist or rain most of the day. But apart from that it was a great day for birding! Jeff and I birded several Lake County hotspots and came up with six gull species and three goose species!

Woodpecker pair is rarely seen in these parts of the state
By Joseph Sjostrom | Tribune staff reporter November 28, 2007 

The pileated woodpecker is a loud, large bird. An inspiration for the Woody Woodpecker cartoon character, it measures 15 inches from head to tail and can be heard from about a quarter of a mile away when it pounds its beak into a hollow tree...

Another one of those times when its good to have the camera handy!! I was driving back from the Hawk Watch (sadly the last time this year) and saw this American Kestrel on power lines by the side of the road. I stopped as quickly (& safely) as I could and snapped a few photos while it completely ignored me.

I got a fantastic opportunity to access the protected area of Illinois Beach State Park's South Unit today with a group of 20 birders. We were looking for the Clark's Nutcracker, which unfortunately was not seen. But! And not really a consolation prize were about 70 Red Crossbills and 4 Common Redpolls!

Great day at the Hawkwatch today! Four Rough-legged Hawks and three Red-shouldered Hawks and twenty-one Red-tailed Hawks migrated over the Hawk Watch site today. We had great views of some of the Red-tails and an interesting time watching a Red-tail and Rough-legged Hawk together giving great views of the subtle differences between them when seen as silhouettes.

Jim Solum called me Sunday afternoon to tell me there was an adult Bald Eagle at Rollins Savanna (thanks Jim!). It was about 3:45PM and the sun was due to set at 4:42PM so if I was going to get there and see it I was going to have to get my skates on. I made the quickest trip I've ever made to Rollins and found it right where Jim said it was in the dead trees in the middle of the preserve. The shot at right is at best a record shot (sun wasn't cooperating). It was great to see such a majestic bird so close to home! (click on the photo for a larger version).

I headed out very late this morning hoping to see and photograph Snow Buntings at North Point Marina. As I write this I realize that was quite ambitious as there was no guarantee they would be there but I had told myself that if I couldn't find the Snow Buntings I would head for the IBSP Hawkwatch site and spend the afternoon with the fine folks there.

I have been saying for a long time that Purple Finches are far less common than is indicated by many of the checklists of the Chicagoland area. I have rarely seen them while out birding and see few reports of them. So I was very surprised to see one sitting on my feeder this afternoon at home!

Its hard to have a bad day at the Illinois Beach State Park Hawkwatch. Even when there are few raptors there are always other birds to observe. Today was no exception with a Pine Siskin, two flocks of Snow Buntings, an American Pipit and 'the' Hawkwatch Northern Shrike.

Bird walks: Bird walks will be offered at 8 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 27, Nov. 10 and Dec. 1 and 8 at Volo Bog State Natural Area.

Led by McHenry County Audubon members Randy Schietzelt and Joel Orlinsky, the walks begin in the main parking lot then venture into and around Volo Bog. Birders of all skill levels work together to search for and identify waterfowl, raptors and songbirds including fall warblers.

There's no doubt the weather is cooling down and with that, some of the buteo family of hawks are starting to move down from the north. They are pushed out from their summer areas by snow cover making hunting difficult. The winds today were strong Northwest winds which brings the possibility of a strong movement of raptors....

About a month ago I was just about to leave the Hawk Watch to go to the airport and just as I was leaving, Paul saw an American White Pelican in the distance. I was torn as to whether to stay to wait and see if it would come closer or leave. That day I had to leave. Today I was at the Hawk Watch and again about to leave when a flock of SEVEN pelicans started heading towards us. This time, I stayed....

The Illinois Beach State Park Hawk Watch had a truly fantastic day today with 1,892 raptors seen and possibly the world's largest recorded Merlin flight this year. Unfortunately for me, I was only able to stay until 11am and most of the raptors came afterwards, however even until 11am I saw more raptors than I usually see in several days of hawk watching...

Migration is fascinating. How is is that birds are able to accomplish the feat of migrating sometimes thousands of miles? Perhaps our fascination is partly because most of us could not achieve a much smaller migration without a car, plane, boat, map, compass or GPS!

Scientific American has recently published two articles that deal with migration. The first deals with why migratory birds fly in V or J formations and the second deals with the possibility that birds can literally "see" the Earth's magnetic field. That sure beats using a compass...

This morning I have updated the Gallery to include some of my newer favorite photos including the Great Horned Owl and some of the insects I have captured over the last few months. As always, feedback is welcome! It is always fun looking back at old posts and pictures and it gives something of a timeline of not only where I was but also what was around. Many of the current gallery images are from August & September.

Not many words to go with this post. All the birds below were at Glacial Park in McHenry County this morning. It was a great day to be out!

A Bar-tailed Godwit has made an incredible 7,200 mile non-stop journey from Alaska to New Zealand in 8 days according to the USGS Alaska Science Center who had placed a satellite tracking device on the bird along with 15 others in February this year....

Following up on my post yesterday about "my" hummingbirds, I spent some time today seeing if I could get some better shots of the hummingbirds as they came to my feeder. While trying to photograph them I learned that there are at least five different individuals as I could tell differences in their plumage....

I am not sure how many hummingbirds frequent my feeders or even whether the birds that I do see are the same ones, but I do know that I can look out at just about any time of day and see a hummingbird within a few minutes...

Today was my first day of the Illinois Beach State Park Hawkwatch for 2007. The last time I did it, it was very cold (like freezing) and I saw very few raptors. That was at the end of the season last year. Fortunately today was much warmer and we saw a number of raptors...