Vespers galore!

Today is Good Friday. The day that Jesus died for our sins. He's been my friend and savior for many years, now, and I thank him again for his ultimate sacrifice. As I venture out to look for birds I am constantly reminded of the blessings he has bestowed on me and the wonders of God's creation.
  My goal this morning was to find Vesper Sparrows and Pine Warbler. I was 1 for 2. The warbler I knew would be a stretch. It's still about a week early and with north winds blowing, new migrants were not likely. Vespers, on the other hand, have been seen in a number of spots already, including my destination, Ft. Sheridan preserve. Ft. Sheridan is a vast expanse of grassland with wooded ravines running along the north and south edge. I honestly don't bird here much, but it's a great place for sparrows, and I think I may spend more time here in the coming few weeks as I take my best shot at finding LeConte's Sparrow and a Smith's Longspur, both of which have been found at Ft. Sheridan in the past.
  Anyway, Vesper Sparrows have always been a tough bird for me to find in Lake County, and when I do find one, it's an isolated bird singing in some old cornfield usually. I've actually only seen one once that wasn't in corn stubble. Something that Jim taught me about Vespers is that they love burned areas. Last year he found a Vesper in a newly-burned area at Almond Marsh. It was just my luck today that Ft. Sheridan had just recently been burned, and it proved too much for the Vesper Sparrows to resist. I have never seen so many VESPER SPARROWS in one place before in my life. There were at least 6 and I think 9 or 10 is probably more likely given the number of birds flying around the edge of the burned area.
  When I got out of the car, I decided I would walk through the grassland on the north edge and head west. Then I would double back and head east through the center. The burned area was adjacent to the parking lot and I had to walk through it to get to the north edge of the preserve. In so doing I flushed a couple of birds but they flew far and I didn't get a look at them. As I neared the ravine on the edge of the burn, I heard a Vesper Sparrow singing. I got decent looks at it, but then another flew in with it. Then I heard one singing behind me in the burned area and another singing further west along the ravine. There were at least 6 birds in that immediate area and probably more. It was awesome.

These are my pictures I took this morning. They're not the best, but you can see some of the diagnostic features of the Vesper Sparrow. The bold white eye ring and the white stripe extending downward from the side of the bird's bill (malar stripe) stand out and ID the bird as a Vesper. The lack of an obvious crown stripe also further separates it from any similar species like a Savannah Sparrow, for example, which were also very plentiful.
  My next stop was McDonald Woods in Lindenhurst to check for Pine Warblers. It was pretty birdy but nothing out of the ordinary save for at least 4 singing Field Sparrows. The Pine Warblers were a no show, but I did have nice looks at a Red-breasted Nuthatch right above my head. There was also a 2nd bird calling in the background.

Tomorrow south winds. Hooray. Hopefully a Louisiana Waterthrush will show up :)