IL Lifer #317

Seeing as I'm doing a Lake County Big Year, the chances of me doing any birding outside of Lake County this year are pretty slim. However, the chance to get a state lifer that's fairly close, would be one of those rare occasions. So today I ventured out to North Branch on Keystone Rd. in McHenry County to find that rare bird. Now, it is important to know here that I'm horrible at finding other people's birds. Notoriously bad. Pathetic even. My success rate is probably 25%. It's so bad, in fact, that it often prevents me from even trying. I'm probably the only lister in Northern IL that didn't even attempt to go find the Black-throated Gray Warbler that was at Elsen's Hill last year or the year before. It was there for 2 WEEKS and I couldn't get myself to drive out to DuPage Co. because I was convinced that was the day it would be gone. Anyway, I went out today thinking this one might be easier than most because other people had just seen the bird and it was an open grassland with no trees to hide behind. Wrong. As I'm walking up the hill to the sacred birding location, I'm met by Paul Sweet and Jenny Vogt who tell me that they just saw the bird about 10 min. ago. So I'm thinking it's in the bag. Paul graciously volunteers to show me the spot and look with me for a few minutes before he heads to cooler climes. Unfortunately we see no bird. 30 minutes later I still have not seen or heard the bird. I should have known this would happen. It's about this time that I start thinking about how long I'm going to stay. At that same moment I see Steve Bailey and Darrell Shambaugh walk over the hill into view and the target bird immediately flies up into the air calling! Great looks at IL Life Bird #317 LARK BUNTING!

Next time I'll just call Steve and see what time he's coming :)