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
