Tufted Titmouse!!

Last week Sue Tinkle found a Tufted Titmouse at the Oak Spring canoe launch in Libertyville. That same day Nick Minor, Pat Palmer, and I went over there to find it. However, we could do no better than to stand on one side of the Des Plaines River while the bird called repeatedly from the other side in a private backyard. I went back a few days later and heard nothing. Yesterday, I decided to go back and see if I could find some Yellow-rumped Warblers that had been found a few days earlier in the same area. As I walked along the path near the river it turned west. Just as I rounded the corner I heard a distinct "peer-peer-peer." It was the elusive titmouse! I scurried back to the river and started doing my own "peer" calls. The bird then stopped calling. What I found to be interesting about this bird was that pishing and repeating its calls seemed to scare the bird away. So I stopped calling and just started scanning the area with my bins. Couldn't see much, though, since the riverbank was thick with branches. I didn't see or hear anything for a few minutes so I walked away. As soon as I left, I heard him again but this time he was on my side of the river. I ran up the bridge and finally saw the TUFTED TITMOUSE singing atop a bare branch. Woohoo! Lake County Lifer #279!