It was finally here. No more freezing to death looking for birds. Praise God. It was a balmy 65 degrees for much of the night and 90+ on Sunday, June 1 when Andy Stewart and I did our Lake County Big Day for June 2014. Unfortunately what I thought would be a great blessing turned out to be a great source of frustration and consternation. I also made a bad logistical decision that cost us a few birds. As always, live and learn.
We started at 12:11 at our favorite Barred Owl spot at Lakewood Forest Preserve. As we opened the car doors, we immediately heard what sounded like a big party in the woods. Whaaa?! It was not deafening but definitely loud enough to wonder how nobody had called the cops at 12:15 at night. Andy and I looked at each other like "yeah, this isn't good." In the past, our Barred has called almost immediately in response to my call, but today I called a good 4 times and got nothing. We gave up at that point and started driving away. I hate giving up, though, so I thought we would just pull down the road a little further from the racket and try again. It worked. I called and My Boy called back. Beautiful. Failure averted, but it was close. Unfortunately this theme of failure and working hard for birds would be a recurring theme for the next 19 hours.
One of the things, besides the exciting possibility of finding uncommon and rare birds, that I enjoy about monthly Big Days is that you can see how bird populations change, not only from month to month, but from week to week, and day to day. I did about 6 hours of scouting on Saturday to find some breeders. I thought I had 3 good ones, Pine Warbler, RB Nuthatch, and Green Heron, as well as other birds that I had seen for months, and others had seen recently like Vesper Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Grasshopper Sparrow, Black Tern, and Blue Grosbeak. These were all absent from sight and sound yesterday. It was both disturbing and interesting at the same time. There must have been a reason why ALL of these birds were no shows. Part of it might be that some of the sites were hit later in the day, but I had a number of them in the morning that were AWOL as well, so there must be something else. I know the warm south winds had sent migrants packing, but it must have been other things as well since breeders don't care about south winds. And just 2 weeks ago, the area was crawling with birds. Yesterday, most everyplace we went, save for Daniel Wright, places were very quiet. Could it be that breeding territories were already established so birds were silent? Maybe, but last year Jeff Sundberg and I had 123 species and had 12 warbler species and 7 shorebird species on JUNE 2. We had 7 and 3 of these respectfully yesterday. Some points to ponder.
After getting My Boy, the Barred Owl, we headed to COLSP to see my favorite gate ranger who still asks me what I'm doing there at 12:45am even though I've seen and chatted with him at least 10 times in the past 2 years. It's like Groundhog Day for this guy. It's amazing. We got EASTERN SCREECH OWL at our favorite spot then headed west into the marsh. The number of calling MARSH WRENS during our nocturnal forays was astounding. 15-20 would be a good estimate. Even better, though was that we had multiple (3) calling SEDGE WRENS which had been virtually absent from the county so far this spring. Changing marshes, we headed east and tried for our rails. There was a ton of noise, most of it from Blarney's Island, the floating bar and nightclub in Grass Lake. However, there were also deafening Marsh Wren calls. We seriously had no rails for like 5-10 minutes before we finally heard a single grunting VIRGINIA RAIL. Seriously? I've rarely had trouble getting a Virginia during breeding season. Something weird was going on. AND we got NO SORA. That's even more ridiculous. They're usually the first birds to call. Incredible. We next visited a private residence we have permission to bird on and were welcomed with a PIED-BILLED GREBE (our only one of the day) and another SEDGE WREN, but no common gallinule which breeds here.
As we hit the lakefront our luck changed a bit. At NPM we drove along the entrance road and immediately heard multiple WHIPPOORWILLS and a peenting AMERICAN WOODCOCK. We tried for Least Bittern to no avail, but while doing so we heard a hooting GREAT HORNED OWL. So we did get all 3 owls yesterday, which was nice. Still no Sora, though. At the South Unit we had more Whips and Marsh Wrens, and, FINALLY, 2 SORAs. Whew! That was another close call.
We still felt good about our night birds as we headed into daybreak despite missing gallinule.
My plan for daybreak was to start at Waukegan for late shorebirds, gulls, terns, and waterfowl of any type. I knew Waukegan would be useless soon after the hordes of beachgoers arrived, so we had to hit it early. Then I wanted to hit Ft. Sheridan for grassland sparrows, RH Woodpecker, possibly some migrant warblers like the 10 sp. Jeff Sanders had on Friday, or some cuckoos before heading west and getting all the woodland birds at Ryerson and D. Wright. After that it was "play it by ear" depending on how it was at Waukegan and Ft. Sheridan.
Well, suffice it to say, it didn't go well. Waukegan was dead as a doornail. 2 gull species, Mallards and Canadas, and 0 migrant shorebirds. The retention pond had nothing but swallows, Killdeer, and a Spotted Sandpiper (breeder). Yikes. We got out of there quickly and headed to Ft. Sheridan where we biked the trail loop. I think that may have been a mistake. I think we may have missed birds, like RH Woodpecker because we covered ground TOO FAST. Biking is good in some situations, but bad in others. I will change this next time. Anyway, we stopped at the traditional Grasshopper Sparrow spot and got nothing, though we did hear at least 3 HENSLOW'S SPARROWS. We saw nothing in the air, nothing on the beach, and heard only common birds. No migrant warblers to speak of, though I think biking would hurt there as well. So we left Ft. Sheridan with not much from the lakefront. I had pretty much made my decision to go west and get birds, which probably was a big mistake and the reason for missing Lark Sparrow and Blue grosbeak for sure, as well as others probably.
I've already droned on about our difficulties yesterday but we did see some nice birds and finished with 104 sp., which was honestly way more than I thought we had. Our best birds:
RYERSON- GREEN HERON (only one of the day), and a LINCOLN'S SPARROW showing its buffiness nicely. 0 migrant warblers......again.
D.WRIGHT WOODS- best spot; singing VEERY behind south washrooms, a singing BLACK-THROATED GREEN, 2 OVENBIRDS, a WOOD THRUSH, and a "peet-SAH"ing ACADIAN FLYCATCHER near the parking lot. Also a calling YB CUCKOO doing its accelerating cow-cow-cow call.
St. MARY'S- no RB Nuthatch which I had Saturday and the previous week; HAIRY WOODPECKER
LAKEWOOD- CLAY-COLORED SPARROW, PURPLE MARTIN
GRANT WOODS NORTH- BLUE-WINGED WARBLER, ALDER FLYCATCHER, no pine warbler which I had Saturday.
FAIRMONT SHORES- BALD EAGLE
COLSP- OSPREY, no pelican, no turkey
PRIVATE RESIDENCE- YH BLACKBIRD
CRAWFORD RD.- no vesper, HORNED LARK
ROLLINS- HOODED MERGANSER (thanks, Al!), WB NUTHATCH (only one!)
ALMOND MARSH- BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON
Lakefront- BREWER'S BLACKBIRD, no Lark Sparrow, CASPIAN TERN (NPM)
Biggest misses:
There were many but other than those previously mentioned were:
Belted Kingfisher, American Kestrel, Cooper's Hawk
The weather was great, the jokes were great, and it's always good to be birding. Thanks for all your ebird lists, IBET posts, and for returning my emails, phone calls, and texts with lots of helpful info. It wouldn't be that much fun without all your help. See you in July!
the list
Monday, June 2, 2014
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
The BiggEST Day
Ah, the May Big Day. The BIGGEST of Big Days. The day where visions of myriad shorebirds, raptors, and songbirds dance around in one's head and make one dizzy with expectation and possibilities. The anticipation was exciting for me to say the least. Last year my team and I were able to glean 147 sp. from the lakes, treetops, grasslands, and shrublands of Lake County. I was happy with my first May Big Day ever. It can always be better, though, and I have my sights set on the Lake County record of 163 some day soon. This year I tweaked the route a bit, listened to some well-placed advice by my teammate, and veteran big day birder, Jeff Sundberg, and we, along with eagle-eye Andy Stewart, were able to nab 151 sp. on Sunday. My goal for the day was 150, so I was pretty happy with our efforts. Of course, learning that 2 birds were seen at Waukegan and 5 birds at Ft. Sheridan that we missed was a tad frustrating, but such things happen. Judging by the number of different birds Steve Bailey and Sheryl DeVore had Saturday, the tier 1 birds we missed, birds we missed that others had on Sunday, and birds we missed due to route issues, 160+ sp. is definitely possible in Lake County on a good weather day without flooding. I think the flooding definitely hurt our shorebirds by dispersing birds all over the area to suitable habitat. Better shorebirding by what we had last year would have given us 157 sp. So there are many opportunities to break the 160 mark next year given no flooding. Having said that the actual weather on the Big Day was fabulous, though a tad windier than expected mid-morning.
We started the day at my house to pack up the car at about 11:50pm Sat. night. Having just warmed up with a little Central Park Effect on Netflix, Opposable Chums on DVD, Birding Adventures TV on my laptop, and 2 cups of coffee, I was chomping at the bit to get out and find some birds. We started our journey at Lakewood FP to get, what has proven to be, a very consistent BARRED OWL.
From here we went to Volo Bog to get SORA, VIRGINIA RAILs, SWAMP SPARROW, and MARSH WREN but missed Sedge Wren and Screech Owl. At COLSP we had a nice chat with the gate officer who always wants to know what we're doing there in the middle of the night. I always tell him but he apparently doesn't believe me because he looks confused every time he sees us. Anyway, at COLSP we got EASTERN SCREECH OWL at a very reliable location along with some more rails but that was it. Then on to the lakefront where EASTERN WHIPPOORWILL was calling on its own at IBSP South at 3:30am. We also had GREAT HORNED OWL calling on its own and a couple of AMERICAN WOODCOCK. So far the day was playing out nicely with all expected nocturnal species save for Sedge Wren and Wilson's Snipe, two birds that eluded us for the entire 20+ hours.
We began our daylight hours predawn at Fort Sheridan circa 4:30am. We walked the west trail primarily to get some sparrows. HENSLOW'S and SAVANNAH SPARROWS were easy to hear, but my target GRASSHOPPER SPARROW was proving to be very difficult indeed. Finally it gave its characteristic high-pitched tic-tac zeeeeeee "song" along with a little "tinkling" for good measure, and we were on our way.
Grasshopper Sparrow
Other good birds seen/heard here were ORCHARD ORIOLE (3), 2 flushed AMERICAN PIPITS, COMMON NIGHTHAWK, and an OVENBIRD. From Here we headed to Ryerson for the dawn chorus. On our way to Ryerson, I was driving down Old Elm Rd. at about 35 mph and listening to bird song out the window. "Hey, there's a HOUSE WREN.........there's a NORTHERN PARULA.........and a BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER...." I wasn't really thinking of pulling over, but Jeff yelled out to stop the car, so I pulled over right across from a house on Old Elm as a cyclist and a jogger were both passing us wondering who these weirdos were. There was a hedge on both sides of the road with lots of warblers in it. We nabbed CAPE MAY, BLACKBURNIAN, N. PARULA, BT GREEN, B and W, CHESTNUT-SIDED, etc. In about 10 min. we had 10 sp. of warbler and were off. We pulled in to Ryerson, checked the old bridge for Prothonotary but whiffed, and then headed down warbler alley. It was crawling with birds. We nabbed all the vireos, including great looks at a PHILADELPHIA VIREO, and had all the regular sp. of warbler one would expect. On our way back to the lot, a COOPER'S HAWK did a nice pass right in front of us to give us another good bird. The Brushwood lot and Smith Cabin gave us no Olive-sided, so we headed to Daniel Wright for the HOODED WARBLER. As soon as we exited the car in the parking lot, we heard the Hooded singing off to the NW. We quickly trotted over only to have the bird become silent. A Chestnut-sided was also singing, so I started to doubt myself on the song. We decided to headed over to the pond for a quick loop and then come back. This added a CANADA WARBLER, TRAILL'S FLYCATCHER, YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER, and MOURNING WARBLER before returning back to the Hooded Warbler, who was singing his head off. We got real close and were able to confirm for sure that it was a Hooded before Andy was finally able to get a good look, and we headed out quickly to Waukegan. On the way there we were commenting on lack of Am. Kestrel stakeouts when Andy yells out, "Slow down. I think I have a Kestrel." "You're kidding me, right????" "No". So we pull into this factory lot of some sort on MLKing Dr. and sure enough there is a Kestrel pair nesting in some old vent on the side of the building. Heckuva spot, Andy! Onward to Waukegan.
It was Ternfest at Waukegan Beach with hundreds of COMMON TERNS and a few less FORSTER'S TERNS. The retention pond gave us flyby LESSER Y'LEGS, DUNLIN, SEMI-PLOVER, and LEAST S'PIPER. Unfortunately close scanning of gulls on the beach failed to reveal any LBB Gull which was frustratingly found later by someone else. The water was completely empty of waterfowl, the pines were dead, 0 Purple Martins were in the Martin house, and no shorebirds were on the beach, so we headed out to cover the rest of the lakefront. By the time we left Waukegan it was pretty late at around 9:30, but I think our time spent early in the Des Plaines River Valley was worth it. My only regret is that we should probably have added Middlefork before hitting the lakefront. We didn't get virtually any migrants on the lakefront that one more hour would have changed anyway.
The Rest of the Story:
Com Ed- no peregrine.......again. I don't think it exists. Just sayin'. I'm 0-93 on this bird this year.
Lyons- no RB Nuthatch. Or anything else. Really?
South Unit- We checked for ET Sparrow and got zippo, but while looking we noticed a lot of warblers in the hedge right across the entrance drive. We started picking through them and had some nice, but ordinary, warblers. Andy and I started heading back to the car to keep us moving, when Jeff yells out, "PRAIRIE!!!!" WHAAAAAT!?! So we sprint our butts over there, and I struggle to find the bird after Andy gets it in about 3 sec. Finally, I get a sweet look at a fantastic bird.
Prairie Warbler
Nicely done, Jeff!
Andy also finds another CANADA in that clump and then we head to the Dead River Trail, which was aptly named this day. Not a stinking bird on this trail except the ever-present FIELD SPARROW, and a nicely floating headless SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, which was a much-needed raptor.
At the end of the trail, though, we nab LARK SPARROW and BREWER'S BLACKBIRD in nesting territories before heading back to the car. A quick check of the lake from the office added HORNED GREBE in nice breeding attire. The campgrounds were quiet and nothing new was in the deciduous woods near the creek, so we headed out.
North Unit- CLAY-COLORED SPARROW seen and heard north of Sand Pond Rd. bridge along the gravel trail. No YB Chat, however.
NPM- Cliff Swallow colony but nothing else of note. No Willow Flycatcher calling.
Headed west:
Crawford Rd.- HORNED LARK, VESPER SPARROW
Private Residence- YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD, COMMON GALLINULE
COLSP- WILD TURKEY, OSPREY, AM. WHITE PELICAN, WOOD THRUSH
East Loon Lake- BLACK TERN
Rollins- N. SHOVELER, PB GREBE, RUDDY DUCK, COMMON NIGHTHAWK
Almond Marsh- RING-NECKED DUCK, HOODED MERGANSER, BC NIGHT-HERON
I. Grove- PURPLE MARTIN
Then we drove to Butler Lake to look for the elusive Green Heron, which we never found, before finishing our night at 8:10 at Fairmont Shores checking out the BALD EAGLE nest as the sun disappeared over the horizon.
It was a great day birding.....again. Thanks to Jeff and Andy for all the great birds, as always, good stories, patience, and chocolate chip cookies. It's a pleasure to hang with you guys.
Biggest misses: Green Heron, Sedge Wren, Wilson's Snipe, WT Sparrow, Solitary Sandpiper, BTB Warbler, LBB Gull. If anyone knows a consistent easily accessible spot for Green Heron in Lake County, please let me know. It's becoming quite a challenge for me to find them except by accident.
Summary:
26 Warbler sp. (my all-time high in Lake County), 13 sparrow sp., 11 waterfowl sp., 2 grebes, 7 shorebird sp.
Thanks for reading. See you in June. It's coming quickly!
Here's the List:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S18458099
We started the day at my house to pack up the car at about 11:50pm Sat. night. Having just warmed up with a little Central Park Effect on Netflix, Opposable Chums on DVD, Birding Adventures TV on my laptop, and 2 cups of coffee, I was chomping at the bit to get out and find some birds. We started our journey at Lakewood FP to get, what has proven to be, a very consistent BARRED OWL.
From here we went to Volo Bog to get SORA, VIRGINIA RAILs, SWAMP SPARROW, and MARSH WREN but missed Sedge Wren and Screech Owl. At COLSP we had a nice chat with the gate officer who always wants to know what we're doing there in the middle of the night. I always tell him but he apparently doesn't believe me because he looks confused every time he sees us. Anyway, at COLSP we got EASTERN SCREECH OWL at a very reliable location along with some more rails but that was it. Then on to the lakefront where EASTERN WHIPPOORWILL was calling on its own at IBSP South at 3:30am. We also had GREAT HORNED OWL calling on its own and a couple of AMERICAN WOODCOCK. So far the day was playing out nicely with all expected nocturnal species save for Sedge Wren and Wilson's Snipe, two birds that eluded us for the entire 20+ hours.
We began our daylight hours predawn at Fort Sheridan circa 4:30am. We walked the west trail primarily to get some sparrows. HENSLOW'S and SAVANNAH SPARROWS were easy to hear, but my target GRASSHOPPER SPARROW was proving to be very difficult indeed. Finally it gave its characteristic high-pitched tic-tac zeeeeeee "song" along with a little "tinkling" for good measure, and we were on our way.
Grasshopper Sparrow
Other good birds seen/heard here were ORCHARD ORIOLE (3), 2 flushed AMERICAN PIPITS, COMMON NIGHTHAWK, and an OVENBIRD. From Here we headed to Ryerson for the dawn chorus. On our way to Ryerson, I was driving down Old Elm Rd. at about 35 mph and listening to bird song out the window. "Hey, there's a HOUSE WREN.........there's a NORTHERN PARULA.........and a BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER...." I wasn't really thinking of pulling over, but Jeff yelled out to stop the car, so I pulled over right across from a house on Old Elm as a cyclist and a jogger were both passing us wondering who these weirdos were. There was a hedge on both sides of the road with lots of warblers in it. We nabbed CAPE MAY, BLACKBURNIAN, N. PARULA, BT GREEN, B and W, CHESTNUT-SIDED, etc. In about 10 min. we had 10 sp. of warbler and were off. We pulled in to Ryerson, checked the old bridge for Prothonotary but whiffed, and then headed down warbler alley. It was crawling with birds. We nabbed all the vireos, including great looks at a PHILADELPHIA VIREO, and had all the regular sp. of warbler one would expect. On our way back to the lot, a COOPER'S HAWK did a nice pass right in front of us to give us another good bird. The Brushwood lot and Smith Cabin gave us no Olive-sided, so we headed to Daniel Wright for the HOODED WARBLER. As soon as we exited the car in the parking lot, we heard the Hooded singing off to the NW. We quickly trotted over only to have the bird become silent. A Chestnut-sided was also singing, so I started to doubt myself on the song. We decided to headed over to the pond for a quick loop and then come back. This added a CANADA WARBLER, TRAILL'S FLYCATCHER, YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER, and MOURNING WARBLER before returning back to the Hooded Warbler, who was singing his head off. We got real close and were able to confirm for sure that it was a Hooded before Andy was finally able to get a good look, and we headed out quickly to Waukegan. On the way there we were commenting on lack of Am. Kestrel stakeouts when Andy yells out, "Slow down. I think I have a Kestrel." "You're kidding me, right????" "No". So we pull into this factory lot of some sort on MLKing Dr. and sure enough there is a Kestrel pair nesting in some old vent on the side of the building. Heckuva spot, Andy! Onward to Waukegan.
It was Ternfest at Waukegan Beach with hundreds of COMMON TERNS and a few less FORSTER'S TERNS. The retention pond gave us flyby LESSER Y'LEGS, DUNLIN, SEMI-PLOVER, and LEAST S'PIPER. Unfortunately close scanning of gulls on the beach failed to reveal any LBB Gull which was frustratingly found later by someone else. The water was completely empty of waterfowl, the pines were dead, 0 Purple Martins were in the Martin house, and no shorebirds were on the beach, so we headed out to cover the rest of the lakefront. By the time we left Waukegan it was pretty late at around 9:30, but I think our time spent early in the Des Plaines River Valley was worth it. My only regret is that we should probably have added Middlefork before hitting the lakefront. We didn't get virtually any migrants on the lakefront that one more hour would have changed anyway.
The Rest of the Story:
Com Ed- no peregrine.......again. I don't think it exists. Just sayin'. I'm 0-93 on this bird this year.
Lyons- no RB Nuthatch. Or anything else. Really?
South Unit- We checked for ET Sparrow and got zippo, but while looking we noticed a lot of warblers in the hedge right across the entrance drive. We started picking through them and had some nice, but ordinary, warblers. Andy and I started heading back to the car to keep us moving, when Jeff yells out, "PRAIRIE!!!!" WHAAAAAT!?! So we sprint our butts over there, and I struggle to find the bird after Andy gets it in about 3 sec. Finally, I get a sweet look at a fantastic bird.
Prairie Warbler
Nicely done, Jeff!
Andy also finds another CANADA in that clump and then we head to the Dead River Trail, which was aptly named this day. Not a stinking bird on this trail except the ever-present FIELD SPARROW, and a nicely floating headless SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, which was a much-needed raptor.
At the end of the trail, though, we nab LARK SPARROW and BREWER'S BLACKBIRD in nesting territories before heading back to the car. A quick check of the lake from the office added HORNED GREBE in nice breeding attire. The campgrounds were quiet and nothing new was in the deciduous woods near the creek, so we headed out.
North Unit- CLAY-COLORED SPARROW seen and heard north of Sand Pond Rd. bridge along the gravel trail. No YB Chat, however.
NPM- Cliff Swallow colony but nothing else of note. No Willow Flycatcher calling.
Headed west:
Crawford Rd.- HORNED LARK, VESPER SPARROW
Private Residence- YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD, COMMON GALLINULE
COLSP- WILD TURKEY, OSPREY, AM. WHITE PELICAN, WOOD THRUSH
East Loon Lake- BLACK TERN
Rollins- N. SHOVELER, PB GREBE, RUDDY DUCK, COMMON NIGHTHAWK
Almond Marsh- RING-NECKED DUCK, HOODED MERGANSER, BC NIGHT-HERON
I. Grove- PURPLE MARTIN
Then we drove to Butler Lake to look for the elusive Green Heron, which we never found, before finishing our night at 8:10 at Fairmont Shores checking out the BALD EAGLE nest as the sun disappeared over the horizon.
It was a great day birding.....again. Thanks to Jeff and Andy for all the great birds, as always, good stories, patience, and chocolate chip cookies. It's a pleasure to hang with you guys.
Biggest misses: Green Heron, Sedge Wren, Wilson's Snipe, WT Sparrow, Solitary Sandpiper, BTB Warbler, LBB Gull. If anyone knows a consistent easily accessible spot for Green Heron in Lake County, please let me know. It's becoming quite a challenge for me to find them except by accident.
Summary:
26 Warbler sp. (my all-time high in Lake County), 13 sparrow sp., 11 waterfowl sp., 2 grebes, 7 shorebird sp.
Thanks for reading. See you in June. It's coming quickly!
Here's the List:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S18458099
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Is it Spring Yet?
4/26/14
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.
male
female
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:
Red-headed Woodpeckers
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
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
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Big Day in the Sea of Grass
My usual pattern of doing a Lake County Big Day had to be interrupted this month since my lovely wife and I took a much-needed vacation over spring break to the Florida Keys. There are a few more people down here than I would like, but the scenery, the weather, and the birds are awesome. A vacation from the sub-arctic of northern Illinois does NOT mean a vacation from Big Day birding, however, and my wife graciously agreed to be my partner for a big day excursion in the Everglades. Now, one of the things I like most, aside from the birds, about big days is the challenge of route planning. This is really difficult for me because I am an inherent perfectionist, so it's easy for me to get frustrated with my decisions. Picking a route through a place you have only been to twice before isn't easy, so I predictably made a few logistical errors which, no doubt, cost us some good birds, but we saw some pretty cool birds, also, so that made up for it.
My wife, being the saintly individual that she is, was highly sacrificial in her love yesterday, as well, seeing that she is not a birder AND she enjoys sleep......a lot. For her to stay up for 18+ hours in a row and help me find birds aint really her thang, but she was great and still amazes me after 22 years. She was my official photographer yesterday, so she took some pics of the more easily-viewed birds and a nice selfie for reference :
4. grunting Great Blue Heron
5. screaming Osprey
6. Black-crowned Night Heron- quawking
7. saw a Roseate Spoonbill at Eco Pond.
That was it for night birds. The Coastal Prairie Trail, though we only walked out about 100 yes into the prairie yielded nothing but silence.
Once daylight hit, the first conundrum was where to start. I wanted to hear the Seaside Sparrows at Mahogany Hammock, but you need to catch them early. This was my first mistake. Never sacrifice many birds for 1 bird. While I did hear the SEASIDE SPARROWS, but never saw them (they must have been sitting low in the grass), I can't help thinking that hitting Eco Pond and Snake Bight early would have yielded a few migrant warblers and sparrows, of which I had virtually none for the day and was probably my biggest disappointment. In any case, we quickly sped from Flamingo to the main rd. just south of Mahogany to hear the sparrows, then journeyed over to Gate 15 mound. This was my next error. Doing this side route was a total time suck. The biggest problem was that I had never been to this spot before, but the birds seen and heard here according to ebird were awesome, so I thought I might get lucky. Wrong. Though we did have a nice cruising black SHORT-TAILED HAWK on this overcast morning, we got nothing else of note, and since I had no idea where exactly to go, we stopped and turned around. Next visit I will have to get some intel on this area.
From here we went to Research Rd. and had a few good birds, including EASTERN MEADOWLARK, NORTHERN HARRIER, and GRASSHOPPER SPARROW, but no other sparrows, which I was hoping for. From here we headed to the Anhinga Trail where I was hoping for a Bittern or two and some gallinules, but we incredibly whiffed on all of them. I should also say that it has been a really wet year down here, so water levels were high and habitat for rails near the trails was not good. We had 1 COMMON GALLINULE at the end of the day at Nine-mile Pond, but we whiffed on Purple Gallinule. This still amazes me. I've always seen multiple numbers of Purple's on my previous visits here. Can't beat the photo ops of waders and the namesake bird, though, so here's a couple nice ones:
Tricolored Heron
There were a lot of gators as well. Many were doing a lot of grunting and sounding very prehistoric. A couple were seriously big:
By now it was 11:00ish and starting to get warm. The bird activity was definitely decreasing, so as we headed to Flamingo, I knew our productivity would decrease. At Eco Pond we saw the usual waders but virtually 0 warblers, save for Yellow-rumps, and no sparrows at all. Best bird here was a basic plumage AMERICAN AVOCET, but that was the only shorebird other than the resident BLAC K-NECKED STILTS. Tough to complain about dozens of Black-necked Stilts, though. Gorgeous birds.
And a couple nice waders:
Tricolored Heron (left) and imm Little Blue Heron (right)
Also, the numbers of singing WHITE-EYED VIREOS here and everywhere else was astounding. We probably had 25 of these birds on they day. These guys along with singing PRAIRIE WARBLERS, and NORTHERN CARDINALS made up almost all of the birdsong on the day.
So, we're starting to get a little warm right now, so we decide to get in the water and take a canoe trip to Snake Bight. It's about 1:00pm and low tide is at 5:00 so I think we have plenty of time, which we did, but we only paid for a 3 hr. trip. I sorely underestimated the time it would take to get out there. I figured about an hour each way, but it would be more like 1.5 each way. This may seem like a long time but you're usually looking at birds along the way, or at least we were the last time we did this. Today was a different story. There were virtually no birds at all near the visitor center and Flamingo Bay was similarly an avian desert. Very unexpected and not well understood......by me anyway. The trip out was long and arduous, but this is really the only way to see the shorebirds well in Snake Bight. This brings up the second problem: I chickened out. As we were paddling out, I noticed that I was hitting ground, and as we entered Florida Bay, the canoe bottom was actually hitting sand. I immediately had visions of us stranded in the bay at low tide and told my wife that we needed to abort the mission and head back. I learned two things from this poorly-informed decision: 1. the water is deeper near the shore next to the mangroves. I saw both kayakers and boats out in the bay at low tide near the shore; and 2. You can't see the shorebirds well without getting out into the bight by canoe. I only saw 4 shorebirds yesterday and this was largely why. Here's me laboring while my wife is shooting pics :)
Now that we were fully sated with tasty food and at least somewhat rested, I thought I would make my worst decision of the day. Lets walk down Snake Bight and back. Understand that Snake Bight is 1.5 miles each way and makes the Bataan Death March of walking down to the Dead River at IBSP and back seem like a party. The main difference between the 2 is that at IBSP you can watch for flyover birds on the lake AND you can see how far away the Dead River is. The Snake Bight Trail, at least when we were on it yesterday, had no birds to hear or look at and the scenery rarely changes. You can't see the end and it makes me crazy wondering how far I still have to walk. Compound that by the fact that it was hot, I had to wear rain gear, a hood, and netting on my head to keep from being eating by the hordes of mosquitoes, and you've got yourself a recipe for a really good torture sequence. It was brutal. I had to apologize profusely for making my wife, who never complained once (and she HATES bugs) endure that trek. And swore I would never make her suffer that hell again. There are also 0 shorebirds visible well enough to ID from the end of the trail at low tide. You can definitely see that there are many out there however, and I thought I saw a Whimbrel, but heat shimmer was too distorting.
At this point, I still wanted to see if I could get some more shorebirds/terns so we headed back to the Flamingo visitor Center and I scanned the water for more birds. Best birds were 2 COMMON LOONS out in the bay, but not much else. There was a spit of sand that held many BLACK SKIMMERS and LAUGHING GULLS but the only terns were CASPIAN and ROYAL TERNS and there were 0 shorebirds. Really?.....0? Yes, 0. Also had 1 AM. WHITE PELICAN which was a good bird for the day. Then I headed to the Amphitheatre which I had never been to before but which had some great ebird data. Unfortunately the only shorebird there was 1 WILLET, and the only other bird of note was my only SAVANNAH SPARROW of the day. My wife was cashed by this time, understandably, and we had pretty much seen every site in Flamingo. It was around 6pm at this point, so we began the trek back home to Islamorada. Here's where I made my best decision of the day to stop at all the roadside stops on the way back that required little to no walking. This allowed me to pick up my lifer WHITE-CROWNED PIGEONS on the far side of Nine-mile Pond. Identifiable but cruddy looks even through my scope, but a lifer nonetheless. Also had COMMON GALLINULE, BLUE-WINGED TEAL, and probably the best bird of the day, a GREATER SCAUP with its large forehead, on West Lake. Along the way we also stopped at Paurotis Pond with its large WOOD STORK colony, and got a nice shot of a guy in the parking lot:
My wife, being the saintly individual that she is, was highly sacrificial in her love yesterday, as well, seeing that she is not a birder AND she enjoys sleep......a lot. For her to stay up for 18+ hours in a row and help me find birds aint really her thang, but she was great and still amazes me after 22 years. She was my official photographer yesterday, so she took some pics of the more easily-viewed birds and a nice selfie for reference :
So, anyway, we started our adventure in Homestead, Fla. at the 24 hr. Starbucks with a nice Hazelnut Latte for the road around 12:15am and headed down SR 9336 toward the glades.
Night birding is also one of my favorite parts of big day birding. The sounds you hear are awesome and even ones you may hear during the day sound so much cooler at night, especially in the Glades. As mentioned in previous blogs, I'm not a big fan of the dark, and venturing into the Everglades with its Florida Panthers, black bears, and large alligators carried with it a certain amount of irrational anxiety, especially since my wife was with me, and I feel the inherent need to protect her from such beasts. Normally I travel in the dark with other men much bigger than I so no worries. If I'm the biggest one in the group at a towering 5'8 150, that makes me worry a bit. It all turned out fine, of course, but there were some "strange-walking -and-rustling-in-grasses-sound" moments that made us quicken our steps a bit. The experience was very cool, though. Unfortunately the bird sounds, while high in number, were very low in diversity. I think we only had 6 night species, and we covered the area from Ernest Coe all the way to the Coastal Prairie Trail at the west end of Flamingo. It's also difficult at night without using playback. Since the use of playback is outlawed at ENP, and all NP's, we had to just listen and pish once in a while. This makes it tough. These were the 6 species we had at night:
1. Chuck-Will's-Widow- the numbers were astounding. 21 birds is a conservative estimate. They were calling everywhere in the pinelands. No whips unfortunately.
2. Clapper/King Rails- also very numerous in the sawgrass areas to the NE. Not sure which of these it was. The habitat favored King Rail, and the calls could have been the first part of "chick-burr" calls, but the sounds were "chick-chick-chick", etc. with no "burr" ever, so it could have been the Kek-kek-kek" of clapper rails, which it actually sounded more like. There were a lot of them, though, probably 8 or 9.
3. Barred owl- had 2 calling adults and 2 fledglings in a known nesting area:
4. grunting Great Blue Heron
5. screaming Osprey
6. Black-crowned Night Heron- quawking
7. saw a Roseate Spoonbill at Eco Pond.
That was it for night birds. The Coastal Prairie Trail, though we only walked out about 100 yes into the prairie yielded nothing but silence.
Once daylight hit, the first conundrum was where to start. I wanted to hear the Seaside Sparrows at Mahogany Hammock, but you need to catch them early. This was my first mistake. Never sacrifice many birds for 1 bird. While I did hear the SEASIDE SPARROWS, but never saw them (they must have been sitting low in the grass), I can't help thinking that hitting Eco Pond and Snake Bight early would have yielded a few migrant warblers and sparrows, of which I had virtually none for the day and was probably my biggest disappointment. In any case, we quickly sped from Flamingo to the main rd. just south of Mahogany to hear the sparrows, then journeyed over to Gate 15 mound. This was my next error. Doing this side route was a total time suck. The biggest problem was that I had never been to this spot before, but the birds seen and heard here according to ebird were awesome, so I thought I might get lucky. Wrong. Though we did have a nice cruising black SHORT-TAILED HAWK on this overcast morning, we got nothing else of note, and since I had no idea where exactly to go, we stopped and turned around. Next visit I will have to get some intel on this area.
From here we went to Research Rd. and had a few good birds, including EASTERN MEADOWLARK, NORTHERN HARRIER, and GRASSHOPPER SPARROW, but no other sparrows, which I was hoping for. From here we headed to the Anhinga Trail where I was hoping for a Bittern or two and some gallinules, but we incredibly whiffed on all of them. I should also say that it has been a really wet year down here, so water levels were high and habitat for rails near the trails was not good. We had 1 COMMON GALLINULE at the end of the day at Nine-mile Pond, but we whiffed on Purple Gallinule. This still amazes me. I've always seen multiple numbers of Purple's on my previous visits here. Can't beat the photo ops of waders and the namesake bird, though, so here's a couple nice ones:
Tricolored Heron
Little Blue Heron
Anhinga
And seriously CLOSE
By now it was 11:00ish and starting to get warm. The bird activity was definitely decreasing, so as we headed to Flamingo, I knew our productivity would decrease. At Eco Pond we saw the usual waders but virtually 0 warblers, save for Yellow-rumps, and no sparrows at all. Best bird here was a basic plumage AMERICAN AVOCET, but that was the only shorebird other than the resident BLAC K-NECKED STILTS. Tough to complain about dozens of Black-necked Stilts, though. Gorgeous birds.
And a couple nice waders:
Tricolored Heron (left) and imm Little Blue Heron (right)
Also, the numbers of singing WHITE-EYED VIREOS here and everywhere else was astounding. We probably had 25 of these birds on they day. These guys along with singing PRAIRIE WARBLERS, and NORTHERN CARDINALS made up almost all of the birdsong on the day.
So, we're starting to get a little warm right now, so we decide to get in the water and take a canoe trip to Snake Bight. It's about 1:00pm and low tide is at 5:00 so I think we have plenty of time, which we did, but we only paid for a 3 hr. trip. I sorely underestimated the time it would take to get out there. I figured about an hour each way, but it would be more like 1.5 each way. This may seem like a long time but you're usually looking at birds along the way, or at least we were the last time we did this. Today was a different story. There were virtually no birds at all near the visitor center and Flamingo Bay was similarly an avian desert. Very unexpected and not well understood......by me anyway. The trip out was long and arduous, but this is really the only way to see the shorebirds well in Snake Bight. This brings up the second problem: I chickened out. As we were paddling out, I noticed that I was hitting ground, and as we entered Florida Bay, the canoe bottom was actually hitting sand. I immediately had visions of us stranded in the bay at low tide and told my wife that we needed to abort the mission and head back. I learned two things from this poorly-informed decision: 1. the water is deeper near the shore next to the mangroves. I saw both kayakers and boats out in the bay at low tide near the shore; and 2. You can't see the shorebirds well without getting out into the bight by canoe. I only saw 4 shorebirds yesterday and this was largely why. Here's me laboring while my wife is shooting pics :)
Best bird of our kayak trip was a nice red phase REDDISH EGRET. Very Sweet bird, but too distant for a photo.
We were pretty hot, tired, and famished at this point so we had a nice leisurely late lunch at the Flamingo Cafe which is seriously understaffed and has your basic greasy diner food, but it definitely hit the spot, and our waitress was very sweet despite being mercilessly overworked (the whole place was packed with people and there were 2 waitresses and 0 busboys).Now that we were fully sated with tasty food and at least somewhat rested, I thought I would make my worst decision of the day. Lets walk down Snake Bight and back. Understand that Snake Bight is 1.5 miles each way and makes the Bataan Death March of walking down to the Dead River at IBSP and back seem like a party. The main difference between the 2 is that at IBSP you can watch for flyover birds on the lake AND you can see how far away the Dead River is. The Snake Bight Trail, at least when we were on it yesterday, had no birds to hear or look at and the scenery rarely changes. You can't see the end and it makes me crazy wondering how far I still have to walk. Compound that by the fact that it was hot, I had to wear rain gear, a hood, and netting on my head to keep from being eating by the hordes of mosquitoes, and you've got yourself a recipe for a really good torture sequence. It was brutal. I had to apologize profusely for making my wife, who never complained once (and she HATES bugs) endure that trek. And swore I would never make her suffer that hell again. There are also 0 shorebirds visible well enough to ID from the end of the trail at low tide. You can definitely see that there are many out there however, and I thought I saw a Whimbrel, but heat shimmer was too distorting.
At this point, I still wanted to see if I could get some more shorebirds/terns so we headed back to the Flamingo visitor Center and I scanned the water for more birds. Best birds were 2 COMMON LOONS out in the bay, but not much else. There was a spit of sand that held many BLACK SKIMMERS and LAUGHING GULLS but the only terns were CASPIAN and ROYAL TERNS and there were 0 shorebirds. Really?.....0? Yes, 0. Also had 1 AM. WHITE PELICAN which was a good bird for the day. Then I headed to the Amphitheatre which I had never been to before but which had some great ebird data. Unfortunately the only shorebird there was 1 WILLET, and the only other bird of note was my only SAVANNAH SPARROW of the day. My wife was cashed by this time, understandably, and we had pretty much seen every site in Flamingo. It was around 6pm at this point, so we began the trek back home to Islamorada. Here's where I made my best decision of the day to stop at all the roadside stops on the way back that required little to no walking. This allowed me to pick up my lifer WHITE-CROWNED PIGEONS on the far side of Nine-mile Pond. Identifiable but cruddy looks even through my scope, but a lifer nonetheless. Also had COMMON GALLINULE, BLUE-WINGED TEAL, and probably the best bird of the day, a GREATER SCAUP with its large forehead, on West Lake. Along the way we also stopped at Paurotis Pond with its large WOOD STORK colony, and got a nice shot of a guy in the parking lot:
We ended up with 80 sp. on the day which was, as always, below my goal of 100, and there were numerous misses, but the biggest misses were Painted Bunting and Purple Gallinule, which are both signature birds. Didn't even HEAR a bunting clearly. Thought I had one at one point but only heard part of a non-repeated song. Bummer.
As in any good Disney movie, though, there must be a happy ending, and the highlights were many, so I will end with those, especially after all my griping about misses and mistakes.
Highlights other than those previously mentioned, were these:
1. a personal best for raptors other than at the hawk watch with these birds:
a. Short-tailed Hawk
b. Red-shouldered Hawk- everywhere
c. Cooper's Hawk- not common here, so this was nice
d. Both vultures
e. Northern Harrier
f. Swallow-tailed Kite- had about 12, but most while driving and all while the camera was not available of course.
g. Bald Eagle
h. Osprey- these are everywhere at Flamingo. And VERY vocal.
i. Am. Kestrel
2. This place is famous for waders and we had many. Can't beat killer looks at ROSEATE SPOONBILLS, REDDISH EGRETS, and WOOD STORKS. WHITE IBISES are trash birds here. We also had a WURDEMANN'S HERON (white morph Great Blue) in Florida Bay.
3. Many BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCHES
4. 4 PILEATED WOODPECKERS
And others I'm sure I missed......
It was really a great experience. Heck, it's the Everglades. And I obviously learned a lot from my mistakes. Hopefully I helped you a little bit if you plan on going there to look for some birds. Thanks for reading, now lets see if I can find that Lake County Barrow's Goldeneye that I missed while basking in the glory of the Everglades......
Here's the list:
See you in April!
Monday, February 24, 2014
The Frozen Tundra
It was cold yesterday....as it has been most of the winter. 20 mph wind gusts in the afternoon REALLY made it feel cold, though. And birds don't like wind much so the numbers of passerines were definitely down. It's been almost 2 months since my last Big Day on 1/3/14 and the birds were definitely harder to come by. As usual there were some nice finds and some notable misses, but it's always a great day to be out birding all day with friends. Jeff Sundberg and Steve Bailey were my compatriots for yesterday's adventure, and it was a pleasure hangin' with them.
The day started at COLSP as always at 2:00am. We started at our favorite owl spot and, for only the 2nd time in my 14 Big Days, we were skunked. It was a clear night with a mild breeze, so the conditions seemed good, but, alas, no owls. Never fear, spot #2 was also pretty reliable, and BINGO, we shortly had a nicely responding EASTERN SCREECH OWL... bird #1. The next bird proved to be a serious challenge.
One of my biggest nemesis birds over the past 14 months has been GREAT HORNED OWL. I've probably missed them as many times as I've seen them, and they are notoriously ambivalent about responding to calls. Yesterday was no exception. We whiffed on them at no less than 6 locations and were leaving #7, when I spotted an owl roadside atop a tree. Unfortunately, as I backed up to see the owl, it flushed, and all we got was the famous rear end shot. No good. We started to leave feeling a bit miffed about our near miss, when Jeff says, "We can always go back and see if we can find it." Great idea, Jeff. A quick u-turn later and we were slowly meandering back to the spot when Jeff spots the owl in a distant tree. Amazing. Bird #2 in hand after some persistent tracking. Whew! I hate missing GHO, so that was a nice win.
Barred Owl is traditionally a difficult bird to get in Lake County, and while there are some at Ryerson and Daniel Wright, they are very difficult to find and very finicky about responding. I've only been successful a couple of times in the past year at getting them to respond. So Saturday during my scouting run, as I'm walking around one of my favorite forest preserves, I hear a Barred Owl call out spontaneously. That was awesome. And yesterday it took all of 3 seconds for Steve's Barred Owl call to get a response that continued for a good 3 or 4 minutes!
Owling is one of my favorite parts of the Big Day, and though we missed on short-eared, saw-whet, and snowy, it was a great start to the day to get 3 owls.
The rest of the day was great, save for the wind. The birds were hard to come by, though. We had to work seriously hard to get our birds. It took us probably 15-20 minutes to get a RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH to respond at Lyons Woods. We missed at 3 locations where I/or others had seen a NORTHERN SHRIKE in the past week before finding one at COLSP where I have not yet seen one this year. It was a lesson in persistence yesterday but we had a few nice surprises. Here are the highlights:
Surprise #1: At a feeder of a friend, we had a calling TUFTED TITMOUSE. A tough bird for Lake County.
Surprise #2: At Bluff Lake bridge on Grass lake Rd. we had a small group of swans, one of which was a beautiful TRUMPETER SWAN right next to the road.
Those were my two new year birds yesterday.
Other nice finds were a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK nicely picked out of almost the same tree as the GHO at the South Unit by Jeff, and 2 RED-THROATED LOONS, also found by Jeff, at the South Unit, and 2 BALD EAGLES, that we thought we were going to miss, at COLSP and the exit roads. We also had 5 HORNED LARKS flying around and landing on the road at Sportsman's Dr. near Campbell airport. FOX SPARROWS are always tough to get in winter, but the feeder's at Bowen Park have been good for this bird for a couple of months.
Frustrations:
1. Raptors were extremely difficult to find. We had about 4 or 5 Red-tails, but only 3 raptor species. It was only the 2nd time I've missed AMERICAN KESTREL in 14 months. Cooper's Hawks are incredibly tough for me to stake out in winter and I haven't seen one for a long time. I have yet to be able to stake out a raptor other than a Rough-leg this year.
2. Rollins was eerily devoid of birds. The cold and heavy snow have driven out the raptors, I believe. If anyone finds anything besides a red-tail there, please ebird or post.
3. We missed 2 birds I had Saturday, YR Warbler and Song Sparrow. Birds we missed from January were Eastern Bluebird, Northern Flicker, and others already mentioned. We had 6 spots yesterday where we had no new birds.
4. We missed Black Scoter and Northern Harrier that Nat Carmichael had at Waukegan. I continue to fail at finding other people's birds. We scoped that place from both piers, too. Black Scoter is definitely a nemesis bird for me in Lake County. I've seen 1 in the past 3 years and it was a 2 second flyby.
5. The CAROLINA WREN at a friend's house, that I have seen, was a no-show yesterday.
6. We had 3 dirty birds yesterday, Belted Kingfisher, GB Heron, and a Thayer's Gull that I got a great look at the underwing of as the gulls lifted off at NPM, but that not all of us could pick out of the flurry of wings. The Kingfisher was flushed by another couple walking along the bridge at Riverwalk Dr. and I was walking ahead of Jeff and Steve, so I heard the bird rattle as it took off, while they missed it. The GB Heron was obscured by some tree limbs as it flushed around the bend of the river, so it was blocked by the others.
Interesting Stat:
Last year we had the same number of species but 10 different birds, so 70 in Lake County, with good weather and a mild winter, is definitely doable in February.
Best spot:
The Riverwalk Dr. trail at the Des Plaines River gave us BELTED KINGFISHER, GB HERON, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD (amazingly spotted atop a distant snag by Steve) which then flew over us, BROWN CREEPER, NORTHERN PINTAIL (male and female pair), AMERICAN COOT, and GADWALL. Except for Gadwall and coot, that was the only spot we saw/heard the others.
2nd best: The South Unit:
We had 2 RED-THROATED LOONS, 5 RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS, GHO, and ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK here.
And the last bird of the day was a beautiful adult GLAUCOUS GULL about 10 ft. away on the ice at the rt. 12 overpass in Fox Lake.
Thanks again to Jeff and Steve for the laughs, the stories, the wipeouts on the ice, and, of course, the awesome birds!
Until March (here's praying for some warmth!)......
Beau Schaefer
Here's the list:
The day started at COLSP as always at 2:00am. We started at our favorite owl spot and, for only the 2nd time in my 14 Big Days, we were skunked. It was a clear night with a mild breeze, so the conditions seemed good, but, alas, no owls. Never fear, spot #2 was also pretty reliable, and BINGO, we shortly had a nicely responding EASTERN SCREECH OWL... bird #1. The next bird proved to be a serious challenge.
One of my biggest nemesis birds over the past 14 months has been GREAT HORNED OWL. I've probably missed them as many times as I've seen them, and they are notoriously ambivalent about responding to calls. Yesterday was no exception. We whiffed on them at no less than 6 locations and were leaving #7, when I spotted an owl roadside atop a tree. Unfortunately, as I backed up to see the owl, it flushed, and all we got was the famous rear end shot. No good. We started to leave feeling a bit miffed about our near miss, when Jeff says, "We can always go back and see if we can find it." Great idea, Jeff. A quick u-turn later and we were slowly meandering back to the spot when Jeff spots the owl in a distant tree. Amazing. Bird #2 in hand after some persistent tracking. Whew! I hate missing GHO, so that was a nice win.
Barred Owl is traditionally a difficult bird to get in Lake County, and while there are some at Ryerson and Daniel Wright, they are very difficult to find and very finicky about responding. I've only been successful a couple of times in the past year at getting them to respond. So Saturday during my scouting run, as I'm walking around one of my favorite forest preserves, I hear a Barred Owl call out spontaneously. That was awesome. And yesterday it took all of 3 seconds for Steve's Barred Owl call to get a response that continued for a good 3 or 4 minutes!
Owling is one of my favorite parts of the Big Day, and though we missed on short-eared, saw-whet, and snowy, it was a great start to the day to get 3 owls.
The rest of the day was great, save for the wind. The birds were hard to come by, though. We had to work seriously hard to get our birds. It took us probably 15-20 minutes to get a RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH to respond at Lyons Woods. We missed at 3 locations where I/or others had seen a NORTHERN SHRIKE in the past week before finding one at COLSP where I have not yet seen one this year. It was a lesson in persistence yesterday but we had a few nice surprises. Here are the highlights:
Surprise #1: At a feeder of a friend, we had a calling TUFTED TITMOUSE. A tough bird for Lake County.
Surprise #2: At Bluff Lake bridge on Grass lake Rd. we had a small group of swans, one of which was a beautiful TRUMPETER SWAN right next to the road.
Those were my two new year birds yesterday.
Other nice finds were a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK nicely picked out of almost the same tree as the GHO at the South Unit by Jeff, and 2 RED-THROATED LOONS, also found by Jeff, at the South Unit, and 2 BALD EAGLES, that we thought we were going to miss, at COLSP and the exit roads. We also had 5 HORNED LARKS flying around and landing on the road at Sportsman's Dr. near Campbell airport. FOX SPARROWS are always tough to get in winter, but the feeder's at Bowen Park have been good for this bird for a couple of months.
Frustrations:
1. Raptors were extremely difficult to find. We had about 4 or 5 Red-tails, but only 3 raptor species. It was only the 2nd time I've missed AMERICAN KESTREL in 14 months. Cooper's Hawks are incredibly tough for me to stake out in winter and I haven't seen one for a long time. I have yet to be able to stake out a raptor other than a Rough-leg this year.
2. Rollins was eerily devoid of birds. The cold and heavy snow have driven out the raptors, I believe. If anyone finds anything besides a red-tail there, please ebird or post.
3. We missed 2 birds I had Saturday, YR Warbler and Song Sparrow. Birds we missed from January were Eastern Bluebird, Northern Flicker, and others already mentioned. We had 6 spots yesterday where we had no new birds.
4. We missed Black Scoter and Northern Harrier that Nat Carmichael had at Waukegan. I continue to fail at finding other people's birds. We scoped that place from both piers, too. Black Scoter is definitely a nemesis bird for me in Lake County. I've seen 1 in the past 3 years and it was a 2 second flyby.
5. The CAROLINA WREN at a friend's house, that I have seen, was a no-show yesterday.
6. We had 3 dirty birds yesterday, Belted Kingfisher, GB Heron, and a Thayer's Gull that I got a great look at the underwing of as the gulls lifted off at NPM, but that not all of us could pick out of the flurry of wings. The Kingfisher was flushed by another couple walking along the bridge at Riverwalk Dr. and I was walking ahead of Jeff and Steve, so I heard the bird rattle as it took off, while they missed it. The GB Heron was obscured by some tree limbs as it flushed around the bend of the river, so it was blocked by the others.
Interesting Stat:
Last year we had the same number of species but 10 different birds, so 70 in Lake County, with good weather and a mild winter, is definitely doable in February.
Best spot:
The Riverwalk Dr. trail at the Des Plaines River gave us BELTED KINGFISHER, GB HERON, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD (amazingly spotted atop a distant snag by Steve) which then flew over us, BROWN CREEPER, NORTHERN PINTAIL (male and female pair), AMERICAN COOT, and GADWALL. Except for Gadwall and coot, that was the only spot we saw/heard the others.
2nd best: The South Unit:
We had 2 RED-THROATED LOONS, 5 RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS, GHO, and ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK here.
And the last bird of the day was a beautiful adult GLAUCOUS GULL about 10 ft. away on the ice at the rt. 12 overpass in Fox Lake.
Thanks again to Jeff and Steve for the laughs, the stories, the wipeouts on the ice, and, of course, the awesome birds!
Until March (here's praying for some warmth!)......
Beau Schaefer
Here's the list:
ake county big day, Lake, US-IL
Feb 23, 2014 2:00 AM - 7:30 PM
Protocol: Traveling
200.0 mile(s)
Comments: w/steve bailey and Jeff Sundberg
60 species
Canada Goose 1
Mute Swan 1
Trumpeter Swan 1
Gadwall 1
American Black Duck 1
Mallard 1
Northern Pintail 1
Canvasback 1
Redhead 1
Greater Scaup 1
Lesser Scaup 1
White-winged Scoter 1
Long-tailed Duck 1
Bufflehead 1
Common Goldeneye 1
Common Merganser 1
Red-breasted Merganser 1
Ruddy Duck 1
Red-throated Loon 2 white face, slender build, upturned bill; 2 side-by-side
Great Blue Heron (Blue form) 1
Bald Eagle 1
Red-tailed Hawk (Eastern) 1
Rough-legged Hawk 1
American Coot 1
Ring-billed Gull 1
Herring Gull (American) 1
Thayer's Gull 1
Lesser Black-backed Gull 1
Glaucous Gull 1
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 1
Mourning Dove 1
Eastern Screech-Owl 1
Great Horned Owl 1
Barred Owl 1
Belted Kingfisher 1Red-headed Woodpecker 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Northern Shrike 1
Blue Jay 1
American Crow 1
Horned Lark 1
Black-capped Chickadee 1
Tufted Titmouse 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Brown Creeper 1
American Robin 1
European Starling 1
Cedar Waxwing 1
American Tree Sparrow 1
Fox Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 1
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 1
Northern Cardinal 1
Red-winged Blackbird 1
House Finch 1
American Goldfinch 1
House Sparrow 1
Friday, January 3, 2014
January 3, 2014: The Big Chill
So, A Year of Lake County Big Days Book II began rather frigidly but with great anticipation at 2:45am this morning as intrepid souls and diehard birders, Nick Minor and Andy Stewart, joined me
at my house to load up the car. The thermostat read -9. It was flat out cold. We were lucky, though, in that there was no wind to speak of for most of the morning, and even though there was a blizzard watch for later in the afternoon, the winds were not overwhelming until we were virtually finished on the day.
The day started very nicely at COLSP with quick responses from both GREAT HORNED OWL and EASTERN SCREECH OWL. Unfortunately that was it for the owls. It was partly my fault, though, because I bailed on heading south to the Des Plaines River area, since we had gotten all other river area birds....or so I thought. Barred Owl is certainly not a given on any day, but I didn't give us the best chance for success there. This will be fixed next month.
The White-crowned Sparrow seen a couple of days before was AWOL from Todd Anderson's feeders, so we headed to the Canoe Launch on Oak Spring Rd. Winner. Almost immediately we had 3 YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS, and as we climbed the trail bridge over the river, we flushed both a BELTED KINGFISHER and a GREAT BLUE HERON! Nice. I should have checked Butler Lake for Swamp Sparrow, though. We missed that bird basically because I thought it would be a slam dunk at Volo. No such luck. So we headed next to Middlefork Savanna where we whiffed on Shrike...again. At this point, I chose to slog through the snow toward the woodland area where the woodpeckers hang out. We picked up a NORTHERN FLICKER here, and had a couple of them at COLSP, but the main target was a RED-HEADED WOODPECKER that I had found a couple of times in the past week. It took a few minutes, but I finally saw it fly in right above my head. Unfortunately Nick and Andy were still out on the main trail so the RH Woodpecker was our first of 2 dirty birds on the day (CACKLING GOOSE was the other since I was the only one who could see it mixed in with the other hundred Canadas). I then decided to try to go to Fort Sheridan for a possible bluebird, titmouse (reported yesterday), or a rare sparrow. We did pish up a SONG SPARROW but that was it. Faye Groh's elaborate feeder setup yielded a couple of WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS but nothing else we needed, so we headed to Waukegan. The Harbor area was completely iced in and we didn't feel like slogging through the snow down to Gov't pier, so we checked the south pier and headed to the north swimming beach area. There were some COMMON GOLDENEYE and a small flock of COMMON MERGANSERS but that was it. The lack of gulls was disappointing as was a big whiff on the very reliable, American Kestrel.
The day had many high points but the best was the trip to the Coal-burning plant in Waukegan. The warm water discharge pond was filled with basically the same birds that we had on the CBC on Wed.
At least 11 sp. of waterfowl were present including TUNDRA SWAN, WHITE-WINGED SCOTER, both SCAUP sp., CANVASBACK, AMERICAN BLACK DUCK, and RUDDY DUCK among others. This place saved us since there was virtually no other waterfowl anywhere. We also had nice looks at a juvenile BALD EAGLE flying along the lakefront.
Big thanks to Faye Groh and Todd Anderson for letting us traipse through your yards and look at your feeders. Also thanks to Richard Biss for his many updates on the RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS at his feeder and the neighbors feeder. We finally got that bird!
Some other highlights:
Best AHA! moment: Nick Minor, "AHA! those are BREWER'S BLACKBIRDS!" (it didn't exactly come out like that, but it was close). Found at the farm on State Park Rd. leading to COLSP. Nick promptly did an about face after finding the Brewer's and found a cruising SHARP-SHINNED HAWK looking very headless and square-tailed as it fluttered past us and gave us all nice looks.
Best Aesthetic moment:
Catching a great look at 3 EASTERN BLUEBIRDS against the snowy landscape along the main park rd. at COLSP. Gorgeous birds!
Biggest misses:
Swamp Sparrow (a gimme every day I've been at Volo in the past 2 weeks), Barred Owl (not a good enough effort).
Best snag:
On our way to Richard Biss' feeders, and while lamenting the miss of a harrier on the day, Andy cries out, "Raptor....and I think it may be a harrier!" Sure enough a male Gray Ghost floats right over us along Cedar Lake Rd. in Round Lake Beach for our 6th raptor of the day. Beautiful.
Another great day birding! Thanks to Andy for his great jokes and to Nick for teaching me that a gallinule is a rail. No lie. We ended the day with 64 species.
at my house to load up the car. The thermostat read -9. It was flat out cold. We were lucky, though, in that there was no wind to speak of for most of the morning, and even though there was a blizzard watch for later in the afternoon, the winds were not overwhelming until we were virtually finished on the day.
The day started very nicely at COLSP with quick responses from both GREAT HORNED OWL and EASTERN SCREECH OWL. Unfortunately that was it for the owls. It was partly my fault, though, because I bailed on heading south to the Des Plaines River area, since we had gotten all other river area birds....or so I thought. Barred Owl is certainly not a given on any day, but I didn't give us the best chance for success there. This will be fixed next month.
The White-crowned Sparrow seen a couple of days before was AWOL from Todd Anderson's feeders, so we headed to the Canoe Launch on Oak Spring Rd. Winner. Almost immediately we had 3 YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS, and as we climbed the trail bridge over the river, we flushed both a BELTED KINGFISHER and a GREAT BLUE HERON! Nice. I should have checked Butler Lake for Swamp Sparrow, though. We missed that bird basically because I thought it would be a slam dunk at Volo. No such luck. So we headed next to Middlefork Savanna where we whiffed on Shrike...again. At this point, I chose to slog through the snow toward the woodland area where the woodpeckers hang out. We picked up a NORTHERN FLICKER here, and had a couple of them at COLSP, but the main target was a RED-HEADED WOODPECKER that I had found a couple of times in the past week. It took a few minutes, but I finally saw it fly in right above my head. Unfortunately Nick and Andy were still out on the main trail so the RH Woodpecker was our first of 2 dirty birds on the day (CACKLING GOOSE was the other since I was the only one who could see it mixed in with the other hundred Canadas). I then decided to try to go to Fort Sheridan for a possible bluebird, titmouse (reported yesterday), or a rare sparrow. We did pish up a SONG SPARROW but that was it. Faye Groh's elaborate feeder setup yielded a couple of WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS but nothing else we needed, so we headed to Waukegan. The Harbor area was completely iced in and we didn't feel like slogging through the snow down to Gov't pier, so we checked the south pier and headed to the north swimming beach area. There were some COMMON GOLDENEYE and a small flock of COMMON MERGANSERS but that was it. The lack of gulls was disappointing as was a big whiff on the very reliable, American Kestrel.
The day had many high points but the best was the trip to the Coal-burning plant in Waukegan. The warm water discharge pond was filled with basically the same birds that we had on the CBC on Wed.
At least 11 sp. of waterfowl were present including TUNDRA SWAN, WHITE-WINGED SCOTER, both SCAUP sp., CANVASBACK, AMERICAN BLACK DUCK, and RUDDY DUCK among others. This place saved us since there was virtually no other waterfowl anywhere. We also had nice looks at a juvenile BALD EAGLE flying along the lakefront.
Big thanks to Faye Groh and Todd Anderson for letting us traipse through your yards and look at your feeders. Also thanks to Richard Biss for his many updates on the RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS at his feeder and the neighbors feeder. We finally got that bird!
Some other highlights:
Best AHA! moment: Nick Minor, "AHA! those are BREWER'S BLACKBIRDS!" (it didn't exactly come out like that, but it was close). Found at the farm on State Park Rd. leading to COLSP. Nick promptly did an about face after finding the Brewer's and found a cruising SHARP-SHINNED HAWK looking very headless and square-tailed as it fluttered past us and gave us all nice looks.
Best Aesthetic moment:
Catching a great look at 3 EASTERN BLUEBIRDS against the snowy landscape along the main park rd. at COLSP. Gorgeous birds!
Biggest misses:
Swamp Sparrow (a gimme every day I've been at Volo in the past 2 weeks), Barred Owl (not a good enough effort).
Best snag:
On our way to Richard Biss' feeders, and while lamenting the miss of a harrier on the day, Andy cries out, "Raptor....and I think it may be a harrier!" Sure enough a male Gray Ghost floats right over us along Cedar Lake Rd. in Round Lake Beach for our 6th raptor of the day. Beautiful.
Another great day birding! Thanks to Andy for his great jokes and to Nick for teaching me that a gallinule is a rail. No lie. We ended the day with 64 species.
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Why Big Days?
Well, it's almost that time to begin another year of Big Days in Lake County to see if I can best my totals from last year. As I have been preparing for my Jan. 3, 2014 Big Day run, I reflected a little bit on why I like doing Big Days. So here goes.......
I think one of the primary reasons I enjoy Big Days is because they're competitive. I'm a very competitive person, and I like the challenge of trying to be the best. We have a large number of very skilled birders in Illinois so it's a big accomplishment to me to work hard to attain the levels of success enjoyed by other Big Day birders before me. As of right now there are no records by month of Lake County Big Days save for the month of May, so I have set goals for myself based on the Northern Illinois records. Even though it is much easier to visit a variety of habitats if one is doing a Big Day over the northern half of Illinois in its entirety, and so get many more species, I believe that it should be possible for me to get to 3rd highest for the region. So I have set my goal to be in the top 3 according to the IOS Lister's Corner for each month for Northern Illinois. This has proven to be a lofty goal as I only achieved this one month (June) in 2013. Lister's Corner publishes the top 5 regional Big Days for each month. I reached the top 5 for 8 out of the 12 months, which isn't too bad, but I'm hoping I can improve on those numbers for 2014. My biggest goal for 2014 is to crack the top 2 for a Lake County Big Day in May. I finished with the 4th highest total last year and am hoping to do much better this year. Some of the totals are incredibly high, though, so if I can just improve upon what I did in 2013, that will be a success in itself.
I also enjoy Big Days because of the challenge of putting together a solid route and sticking to a time schedule. This has really been the biggest challenge for me. Lake County is tough to get through quickly, as is any largely suburban/urban area, and it's natural areas are widely spread out once you get off the lakefront, so it really is tough to figure out which places to go to and which places to skip. I have struggled with the "when" of the lakefront for most of the year. When do I hit the lakefront? Do I start there, or do I finish there? Generally speaking, the modus operandi of a Big Day is to get the dawn chorus or woodland species/songbirds early in the morning and hit the bodies of water later in the day since shorebirds, waterfowl, and gulls don't really care about time of day as much. On Lake Michigan, however, the birds are moving across the water early during months of migration, and tend to be less active, or non-existent, later in the day. Either way birds will be missed, so in solidifying my route from month to month, I try to cut my losses. This has been challenging. I also don't want to be on the road too much, so I try to find places close together as much as possible. Another challenge to birding Lake County is that there are few places where you can just drive up and get birds. In Cook County, you can pretty much avoid walking long distances, except at Palos perhaps, but in Lake County you need to walk, bike, and canoe to get to the best spots. Looking at some of the ABA Big Day records yesterday, I noticed that a lot them had "miles by car: hundreds; miles on foot: less than 5." Not possible in Lake County to do this unless you are willing to miss a number of good spots. I usually cover over 10 miles out of my car during Big Days. It's a lot of fun, but it also sucks up a lot of time. It essentially becomes The Amazing Race to find your target birds. This has really forced me to get to know my county well.
That leads me to my next reason for loving these Days. I have learned quite a bit about birding in Lake County over the past couple of years and have spent time exploring the county trying to find underbirded or previously-unknown spots. One of my favorite spots that was pretty much unknown to me 3 years ago is Nippersink Marsh. This place is fantastic in late summer during dry years for shorebirds, but I had never heard of it before 2010 for the most part. There are a number of things that are frustrating about birding Lake County but there's no question that it has some nice birding areas. One of the more frustrating aspects to birding Lake County is the fact that there is great habitat on PRIVATE PROPERTY and one needs to know the property lines to avoid trespassing. I have had trouble with this one more than once in the past couple of years. I've also gotten permission to bird some areas that I had never known previously, as well, so that has been rewarding. The adventure continues, however.
When you get right down to it, Big Day birding really fits my personality. I'm a pretty fidgety person, and I can't stand still for very long or I feel like I'm missing something somewhere else. I suck at the hawk watch or at a lake watch unless things are moving a lot. I definitely need to learn to enjoy slowing down and appreciating the birds more, but the Big Day fits right into my wheelhouse of flitting nervously from one birding locale to another. This doesn't work so much for my birding companions, however, so I can be annoying in my "hurry up" mode. Apologies to my birding compadres for incessant hassling. It's really exciting for me to see how many species I can find in any one time period, though, so the Big Day fits this mentality nicely.
Big Days also force me to be a better birder. In order to maximize the number of species seen, one must be adept at ID'ing birds by sound and picking up field marks/behavioral cues quickly in the field. I think that I have improved greatly over the past couple of years in both of these areas. Thrush call notes have specifically been something that I learned this year which helped a great deal. I also learned a great deal about birding at night. It's amazing how many species are active at night and can be ID'd before sunrise. I looked at the youtube video the the Sapsucker team put together for their record-braeking big day this year, and I think they had 35 or 40 species before dawn! And many of them were waterfowl which I never thought of trying to get at night before. Some sparrows also are calling at night. I got Henslow's and Grasshopper Sparrows at night more than once last year. Pretty cool.
I also love the social aspect of Big Day birding. ABA rules require you to have at least one partner on Big Days, so it essentially becomes a team sport. I have been lucky to be able to share my Big Days with 5 very skilled birders for various parts of my Big Day Year. I have learned something from all of them, and have enjoyed getting to know them better over the course of the past year. It's sometimes difficult to work personal/family schedules into the Big Day, so I've been very appreciative of the time that they have taken to join me on my quest. It's been a lot of fun, and I look forward to spending more time with them, and possibly adding some new cohorts for 2014.
Then there's the adventure. The unknown. The bird that you found that blew your socks off.....or the one you missed that you never thought you'd miss in a million years. Big Days are full of surprises and adrenaline rushes, as well as incredible frustration. It runs the gamut of emotions but that's what really can make you feel alive. Nothing beats finding a new county bird on a Big Day!
Lastly, I think doing County Big Days is good for the environment and good for science. It obviously cuts down on the number of miles driven over an entire region or state, and the data collected from these Big Days can be very valuable in getting accurate pictures of distribution of species at different times of the year in different habitats. I like to think I'm doing some important research that will ultimately help in establishing natural areas for our avian delights.
Looking forward to some great birding in 2014. Have a happy holiday season and go get 'em!
I think one of the primary reasons I enjoy Big Days is because they're competitive. I'm a very competitive person, and I like the challenge of trying to be the best. We have a large number of very skilled birders in Illinois so it's a big accomplishment to me to work hard to attain the levels of success enjoyed by other Big Day birders before me. As of right now there are no records by month of Lake County Big Days save for the month of May, so I have set goals for myself based on the Northern Illinois records. Even though it is much easier to visit a variety of habitats if one is doing a Big Day over the northern half of Illinois in its entirety, and so get many more species, I believe that it should be possible for me to get to 3rd highest for the region. So I have set my goal to be in the top 3 according to the IOS Lister's Corner for each month for Northern Illinois. This has proven to be a lofty goal as I only achieved this one month (June) in 2013. Lister's Corner publishes the top 5 regional Big Days for each month. I reached the top 5 for 8 out of the 12 months, which isn't too bad, but I'm hoping I can improve on those numbers for 2014. My biggest goal for 2014 is to crack the top 2 for a Lake County Big Day in May. I finished with the 4th highest total last year and am hoping to do much better this year. Some of the totals are incredibly high, though, so if I can just improve upon what I did in 2013, that will be a success in itself.
I also enjoy Big Days because of the challenge of putting together a solid route and sticking to a time schedule. This has really been the biggest challenge for me. Lake County is tough to get through quickly, as is any largely suburban/urban area, and it's natural areas are widely spread out once you get off the lakefront, so it really is tough to figure out which places to go to and which places to skip. I have struggled with the "when" of the lakefront for most of the year. When do I hit the lakefront? Do I start there, or do I finish there? Generally speaking, the modus operandi of a Big Day is to get the dawn chorus or woodland species/songbirds early in the morning and hit the bodies of water later in the day since shorebirds, waterfowl, and gulls don't really care about time of day as much. On Lake Michigan, however, the birds are moving across the water early during months of migration, and tend to be less active, or non-existent, later in the day. Either way birds will be missed, so in solidifying my route from month to month, I try to cut my losses. This has been challenging. I also don't want to be on the road too much, so I try to find places close together as much as possible. Another challenge to birding Lake County is that there are few places where you can just drive up and get birds. In Cook County, you can pretty much avoid walking long distances, except at Palos perhaps, but in Lake County you need to walk, bike, and canoe to get to the best spots. Looking at some of the ABA Big Day records yesterday, I noticed that a lot them had "miles by car: hundreds; miles on foot: less than 5." Not possible in Lake County to do this unless you are willing to miss a number of good spots. I usually cover over 10 miles out of my car during Big Days. It's a lot of fun, but it also sucks up a lot of time. It essentially becomes The Amazing Race to find your target birds. This has really forced me to get to know my county well.
That leads me to my next reason for loving these Days. I have learned quite a bit about birding in Lake County over the past couple of years and have spent time exploring the county trying to find underbirded or previously-unknown spots. One of my favorite spots that was pretty much unknown to me 3 years ago is Nippersink Marsh. This place is fantastic in late summer during dry years for shorebirds, but I had never heard of it before 2010 for the most part. There are a number of things that are frustrating about birding Lake County but there's no question that it has some nice birding areas. One of the more frustrating aspects to birding Lake County is the fact that there is great habitat on PRIVATE PROPERTY and one needs to know the property lines to avoid trespassing. I have had trouble with this one more than once in the past couple of years. I've also gotten permission to bird some areas that I had never known previously, as well, so that has been rewarding. The adventure continues, however.
When you get right down to it, Big Day birding really fits my personality. I'm a pretty fidgety person, and I can't stand still for very long or I feel like I'm missing something somewhere else. I suck at the hawk watch or at a lake watch unless things are moving a lot. I definitely need to learn to enjoy slowing down and appreciating the birds more, but the Big Day fits right into my wheelhouse of flitting nervously from one birding locale to another. This doesn't work so much for my birding companions, however, so I can be annoying in my "hurry up" mode. Apologies to my birding compadres for incessant hassling. It's really exciting for me to see how many species I can find in any one time period, though, so the Big Day fits this mentality nicely.
Big Days also force me to be a better birder. In order to maximize the number of species seen, one must be adept at ID'ing birds by sound and picking up field marks/behavioral cues quickly in the field. I think that I have improved greatly over the past couple of years in both of these areas. Thrush call notes have specifically been something that I learned this year which helped a great deal. I also learned a great deal about birding at night. It's amazing how many species are active at night and can be ID'd before sunrise. I looked at the youtube video the the Sapsucker team put together for their record-braeking big day this year, and I think they had 35 or 40 species before dawn! And many of them were waterfowl which I never thought of trying to get at night before. Some sparrows also are calling at night. I got Henslow's and Grasshopper Sparrows at night more than once last year. Pretty cool.
I also love the social aspect of Big Day birding. ABA rules require you to have at least one partner on Big Days, so it essentially becomes a team sport. I have been lucky to be able to share my Big Days with 5 very skilled birders for various parts of my Big Day Year. I have learned something from all of them, and have enjoyed getting to know them better over the course of the past year. It's sometimes difficult to work personal/family schedules into the Big Day, so I've been very appreciative of the time that they have taken to join me on my quest. It's been a lot of fun, and I look forward to spending more time with them, and possibly adding some new cohorts for 2014.
Then there's the adventure. The unknown. The bird that you found that blew your socks off.....or the one you missed that you never thought you'd miss in a million years. Big Days are full of surprises and adrenaline rushes, as well as incredible frustration. It runs the gamut of emotions but that's what really can make you feel alive. Nothing beats finding a new county bird on a Big Day!
Lastly, I think doing County Big Days is good for the environment and good for science. It obviously cuts down on the number of miles driven over an entire region or state, and the data collected from these Big Days can be very valuable in getting accurate pictures of distribution of species at different times of the year in different habitats. I like to think I'm doing some important research that will ultimately help in establishing natural areas for our avian delights.
Looking forward to some great birding in 2014. Have a happy holiday season and go get 'em!
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