So yesterday Andy Stewart and I embarked on my 3rd Lake County Big Day for 2014 (did the Everglades in March). It was challenging to say the least. The weather was difficult in that winds were strong and cold out of the northeast, which is not favorable for movement of birds. As the day wore on and it became colder, birds were tough to find. I'm starting to wonder if the average temp is ever going to get to 70 degrees.
This was in stark contrast to the way the day began, however.
At 11:45pm, Andy arrived at my house and we headed for Rollins Savanna. I had never started a big day at Rollins before, so I was not sure what to expect. Shortly after we began to head toward the observation deck we heard the "peenting" of an AMERICAN WOODCOCK. I was actually worried about finding this bird on our day yesterday. Silly me. I think we heard/saw around 15 woodcocks during our nocturnal foray last night. Most were at Rollins and Fort Sheridan preserves. Just to help you get the feel for what it was like to be there, here's our most familiar sound from last night:
woodcock peenting
Rollins turned out to be very birdy at night as we listened to sounds of GREAT HORNED OWL, VIRGINIA RAIL, multiple SORAS, 4 HENSLOW'S SPARROWS, GADWALL, and GREEN-WINGED TEAL. The evening was awesome weather-wise as well. It was warm and there was very little wind. We had a great night and ended up with 15 species before sunrise. No bitterns, gallinule, or Sedge Wren unfortunately, but just about every other night species I was hoping to get. The best bird of the starlit night, though was a "tic-tac-zeeeeee"ing GRASSHOPPER SPARROW at Fort Sheridan. I have never had this bird in April before, and it was tough to get last year, so I was happy to hear it last night.
Daylight came around 5:45am and we headed to Ryerson to start our day. It was still calm and temps were mild. We birded the entrance rd. and then meandered down "warbler alley" which is the far western trail running parallel to the river. The entrance rd. didn't have much but the alley was hoppin'.
It was more like "sparrow alley" but active nonetheless. Best birds here were an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER and a SWAINSON'S THRUSH. Nothing much save for an EASTERN BLUEBIRD at the Brushwood lot, so we booked over to Daniel Wright. We biked around the main pond area and got nothing of note so we left to begin the long and torturous journey along the Lake County lakefront.
Understand that usually this is one of my favorite places to bird. There's varied habitat, and during migration, usually lots of birds to look at. Yesterday, however, was very, very different. When we left the Des Plaines River area it was nice and balmy. When we got to the lakefront, there was a stiff 20-30mph NE wind blowing right in our faces off the lake. It was brutal, I was FREEZING, and, for about the 15th time this spring, I was muttering about when in the world spring was actually going to get here. It wasn't pleasant. And there were no birds on the beach, save for the usual gulls, and none in the water. Having said all that, we actually had 2 real good birds on Seahorse Dr. BEFORE we got on the beach. In the retention pond on the fenced in construction site at the turn were 4 shorebirds. 1 looked big, so I got the scope on it and we had nice looks at a WILLET!
This was probably our best bird of the day. In the same spot were 2 LESSER YELLOWLEGS and 1 GREATER YELLOWLEGS, and our other good bird, 3 BREWER'S BLACKBIRDS.
Other than those lovelies, Waukegan gave us our only BROWN THRASHER of the day, buuuuut.......we only had 2 species of waterfowl, 1 grebe (our only HORNED GREBE), 0 warblers, and 0 new sparrows. Not very promising. The South Unit gave us some nice waterfowl (AMERICAN WIGEON, both SCAUP sp.) and RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, and HERMIT THRUSH, but no warblers or new sparrows AND no wrens. Here's a couple of IBSP shots:
2 Lesser Scaup (left) with at least 2 Greater Scaup (male-top, female- far right)
As always, it's always a great day to be out birding with friends, but the weather made it tough yesterday. We finished with 108 which could easily have been 115 with some foresight. Given the strong NE winds, I should have stayed inland early and finished at a couple of lakefront stops. Anyway, here are some of my highlights:
Best Bird: WILLET
Best site: IBSP South or Ryerson
Biggest Surprise Site: Sullivan Lake. While we missed the Trumpeter Swan that has been there since forever, but not YESTERDAY, the small stand of trees and shrubs next to the road had the sun shining on it and was alive with birds. Andy deftly picks out a TENNESSEE WARBLER from the flock as we listen to a zeeeeeee-UP'ing NORTHERN PARULA. Very nice birds at a time when we weren't finding much.
Funniest You-Had-To-Be-There Bird Moment: So I'm lamenting about the fact that I never get a COOPER'S HAWK on my big days while we are driving past Rollins to Third Lake. Andy says in response to me that he usually sees his Cooper's at Rollins in the trees at the back of the parking area right HERE as he points while we drive past. He hadn't quite finished speaking when he suddenly blurts out, "THERE IT IS!" I look quickly and can't see anything. I'm not about to miss another Cooper's on a big day, so I quickly turn into the median and throw it in reverse. It still took me a minute, but perched right there next to the road was a beautiful adult Coop. Nicely done, Andy. Sorry about the creative driving.
Warbler sp: 5 (yr, palm, oc, tenn, parula)
Sparrow sp: 11
COOL SIGHTING: Andy finds a GREAT HORNED OWL nest with an adult sitting on it. Been looking for one of those for quite a while. Another attaboy for that one, Andy. Sweet.
Biggest misses: Cedar Waxwing, Vesper Sparrow on Crawford Rd, Rusty Blackbird on Goldfinch Trail, Common Loon, no wrens of any kind.
Thanks, Andy, for awesome finds, great jokes, and a hazelnut latte.
Thanks everyone for reading. Here's to some warmth in May......please!
The List
