tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83506943135617000902024-03-05T15:57:55.024-08:00Wildcat Birdingbeauschaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07538027493688457172noreply@blogger.comBlogger88125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8350694313561700090.post-30578872126247461762019-03-10T15:28:00.001-07:002019-03-10T15:31:12.604-07:00Long-tailed Ducks Present!March 10, 2019<br />
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I’m usually not a big fan of wind (no pun intended) but since today’s winds were westerly with a slight southerly component, I figured that some birds could be moving, so I headed to the best wind block and my favorite lakewatch spot in northern Lake County, North Point Marina Yacht Club. Andy Stewart and Steve Mulhall had already been ticking off species for about 30 minutes before I got there due to my forgetting about DS time, so I had some catching up to do. Usually west winds aren’t the greatest for a lakewatch in Lake County, or anywhere on the west side of the big lake, but we had a unique geologic/weather/structural phenomena to help us out this morning. Since the birds prefer open water in case they want to rest and get some food, they don’t fly as much over the pack ice. The pack ice had been blown out into the lack by the strong westerly winds, so that created a little channel that many of the ducks were flying through and were thus much closer than they usually would be with this direction of wind. See aerial view diagram below. The birds were flying between the ice at the top and the breakwall for those not familiar with the yacht club.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjCWcg3u3dq0T90955wgVT44nNvkYy7mXBvrXDm24vm4-RNQEJNvB1HHZtOLSHztbICeEgNh1mKrC7WhMHUz5DnAsge9VUFOLiFCswOAuLtG8DlCUW9YRgDvyka7FpUPnXJqQohksOAg/s1600/B04DDADF-0DFA-4FB4-9621-47F462B14CE5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1386" data-original-width="1536" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjCWcg3u3dq0T90955wgVT44nNvkYy7mXBvrXDm24vm4-RNQEJNvB1HHZtOLSHztbICeEgNh1mKrC7WhMHUz5DnAsge9VUFOLiFCswOAuLtG8DlCUW9YRgDvyka7FpUPnXJqQohksOAg/s320/B04DDADF-0DFA-4FB4-9621-47F462B14CE5.png" width="320" /></a><br />
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I was there with Steve and Andy, and later Gustavo Ustariz, for 2 hours. For at least 90 minutes the LONG-TAILED DUCKS were streaming by as either individuals or groups of 2-15 every few minutes, and many of them landed in the water. I put down 56 on ebird but this was a very conservative count of birds that I didn't see land since I didn't want to double count. There were probably over 100. This is the only time I can remember ever doing a lakewatch and having ANY bird outnumber RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS as flybys. It didn't happen today either, but it was pretty close. I definitely have never seen this many LTDU (LONG-TAILED DUCKS) in my life. It was especially cool because most of them were close by and, even though the looks were fleeting, we had nice views of the white heads and long tails of many males...something else you don't often see.<br />
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<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Long-tailed-duck.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Long-tailed-duck.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
Male LTDU (internet photo)<br />
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So the LTDU flight was pretty epic, but even more so to me anyway, was the RED-THROATED LOON that flew right into my scope view as I was scanning the lake. I have been looking for that bird all winter, but like many birds this winter (most notably Northern Shrike and Short-eared Owl), they just haven't been around here in Lake County, so that was another highlight of the morning.<br />
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<img alt="File:Red-throated Loon (30766262093).jpg" height="218" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c1/Red-throated_Loon_%2830766262093%29.jpg/800px-Red-throated_Loon_%2830766262093%29.jpg" width="320" /><br />
Red-throated Loon (internet photo)<br />
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The last highlight were the puddle ducks. We had a NORTHERN SHOVELER, 5 AMERICAN WIGEON, AMERICAN BLACK DUCK, and I had 12 NORTHERN PINTAIL, though the others had more I believe. Also a flyby GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL and a calling KILLDEER ( no shorebird shutout!) made our lakewatch pretty successful. All in all a pretty great morning. Bring on Spring!<br />
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<a href="https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S53671723" target="_blank">ebird list</a>beauschaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07538027493688457172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8350694313561700090.post-91665089963566145762016-06-12T10:58:00.001-07:002016-06-18T16:55:00.526-07:00The Southern Illinois Experience - June '16 My wife told me this past spring that she and my daughter would be taking a girls' weekend at the beginning of June. My initial thoughts of "Wow. Sounds fun....except I will miss you guys" quickly switched over to "Wow. Sounds fun, and I WILL miss you guys, BUT what a great chance to take a June Southern IL birding trip!" In all fairness, my in-laws live in Collinsville, so we make a trip down there at some point almost every summer. I spend most of my time down there looking for birds, mostly in the Collinsville area, but I make a few trips farther south as well. In any case, I have never done just a birding trip at the peak of the breeding season down there, so I was excited about that prospect. Plus, birding in S. IL is such a completely different experience than birding Lake County. I was juiced to go find some cool stuff.<br />
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I was initially planning on a solo trip because I really didn't think anyone would want to be trapped in a car with me for 3 days, but Nat Carmichael stepped up and said he was ready for an adventure. Thus began our Southern Illinois Experience.<br />
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I'm a pretty fervent (some would say "obsessive" and not be totally wrong) researcher of bird distribution, weather, and all things birding-trip-related, so I spent countless hours searching ebird records, researching sleeping arrangements, and consulting Joshua Little, Matthew Winks, and Keith McMullen about various birds and places. By the way, countless thanks to those three for their help. Trouble with ebird records, though, is that they're only useful when lots of people are reporting sightings. Southern Illinois doesn't have lots of people. So.....some sightings were a month or more old. Not really helpful. Consequently, I had to use habitat and past experience to try and find some birds. That was fine, just not as efficient as what I'm used to. My best research find, however, BY FAR, was that almost all (except basically those in the Chicago area for some reason) Walmart Supercenters allow free RV and car parking overnight in their lots. WHAT?! Are you kidding me? For someone as cheap as I am, sleeping for free was too amazing to pass up. If you don't care about sleeping with your seat folded back and head on a pillow, this is for you! It was great...especially the Sat. night after we completed an exhausting Big Day in S. IL. We popped Nat's sun/moonroof open and fell asleep being serenaded by the peenting of 2-3 COMMON NIGHTHAWKS <br />
<a href="http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/516732" target="_blank">nighthawk sounds</a>.<br />
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Yes, we are definitely birding geeks. One piece of advice, though. Don't park next to any RV's or leave space for them to park near YOU. We made the latter mistake and had an RV air conditioner blaring in my ear for the entire night. Not good. Otherwise, the experience was top-notch, though.<br />
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The itinerary for the weekend was basically to start early Fri morning and drive to Hennepin for first light, then head to all the spots at Emiquon/Lake Chautauqua, finish the day looking for anything at Lake Springfield then do a Southern Illinois Big Day on Saturday. Sunday.....breathe.....and drive home.<br />
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Highlights:<br />
Fri:<br />
Hennepin gave us sweet looks at about 5 COMMON GALLINULES but that was it.<br />
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We heard a YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD but we couldn't find any at all. No rails, bitterns, or interesting waterfowl other than RUDDY DUCKS. Was expecting a little more, maybe unrealistically, but Hennepin has always been amazing in the past.<br />
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Next we headed to Double T, a place I have never been, to find an UPLAND SANDPIPER. Getting an Uppie in Lake County is pretty unheard of, so I was looking forward to a chance to find one of these guys. We got to the corner of Cypress Rd. and Co. Rd 21 in lovely Canton, IL, and some guy with really white legs (that's actually me) was scanning the soybean fields:<br />
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As we got out of the car, we heard a calling NORTHERN BOBWHITE <a href="http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/196496" target="_blank">bobwhite call</a>. Then scanning of the field found a lone sandpiper sitting still in a dirt hole. Not a great look and pretty distant, so it was a great relief when the bird decided to fly in pretty close to us.<br />
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For some nice looks:</div>
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Eventually we had 2 of them!<br />
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Nice stop #2! Continuing on with Nat at the controls and me eating a lot and playing some great 80's tunes, we headed to Emiquon. Unfortunately, we didn't have the same luck that others had with some of the rarities here, and I was woefully ill-prepared for the swarms of biting flies and gnats on the South Globe trail, so that little walk was cut short. We did manage to find the SNOWY EGRET at the North Globe tract, but that was about it. </div>
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Our journey to the flycatcher was a little longer than anticipated because we forgot how to count and went the wrong way on 1500N. S we turned around and thanks to info on location of the nest at the top of the north tree we were able to spot the birds. Eventually one of them flew to the wire for some nice photo ops:</div>
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SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER:</div>
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Our search for the WESTERN KINGBIRDS was equally satisfying. We had great looks at 3 kingbirds at the Havana substation.</div>
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Maybe the best birds of the day we saw on a random roadside on our way out of the Havana area. I saw some white waterfowl in a grassy area which I originally thought were barnyard ducks but we pulled over to check them out and saw 5 SNOW GEESE! Not exactly the bird you expect to see in June.</div>
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Lake Springfield was next but this was before the latest BB Whistling Duck sighting so we knew nothing of it. All we found at Lake Springfield was a lot of boats and repaving/road construction at least 1/2 the way around the lake. Not thrilled by that. This was also the first stop where we really found out that the most common swallow in southern Illinois is CLIFF SWALLOW. We saw probably hundreds of them over the course of the weekend. By contrast, we saw <b>1 </b>TREE SWALLOW. Pretty amazing.</div>
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We decided to overnight at the Four-star Marion Walmart Supercenter parking lot, which was actually incredibly packed with cars and RV's at 9:00pm. It was here that we discovered the preferred habitat for COMMON NIGHTHAWKS as they called continuously through the night until early morning. We slept pretty well in the folded back front seats of Nat's luxurious Toyota Highlander, and awoke at 2:00am to begin our Southern IL Big Day at Fern Clyffe State Park. We got to the park around 2:30ish and were promptly greeted by a loudly barking dog (at 2:30am?) and a loudly calling CHUCK-WILLS-WIDOW about 20 ft. away from the road. We also had a WHIPPOORWILL and a calling EASTERN SCREECH OWL here. Our best best birds of the night, though, were three juvenile BARN OWLS all calling within the same area around a known nest site. </div>
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<a href="https://soundcloud.com/gnaticus/barn-owl-audio" target="_blank">barn owl fledglings</a></div>
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The route for the rest of the day went like this:</div>
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Daybreak:</div>
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1. Mermet Lake- disappointing; got virtually none of the marsh birds I was hoping for other than a distant grunting VIRGINIA RAIL that was one of 2 dirty birds that we had.</div>
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2. A couple of failed attempts for Swainson's Warbler but a couple of nicely chuckling YELLOW-BREASTED CHATS and a singing PRAIRIE WARBLER were next. Best birds as we searched for the Swainson's were a couple of lounging MISSISSIPPI KITES:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj35LW5M_udS-KX7nb8uC3Z7dBGPRaAIpIKOJgKw6IomXnUjkut2XkKBLIw37r3fEeHC6S6xulsH1ws81ydd6h19kxFSVT_l6NvIE6f-JJp-rGBafk1Y8qkbf5kB0jzwgdDDiV2WSZvRw/s1600/Mississippi+Kites.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj35LW5M_udS-KX7nb8uC3Z7dBGPRaAIpIKOJgKw6IomXnUjkut2XkKBLIw37r3fEeHC6S6xulsH1ws81ydd6h19kxFSVT_l6NvIE6f-JJp-rGBafk1Y8qkbf5kB0jzwgdDDiV2WSZvRw/s640/Mississippi+Kites.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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3. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: The complete lack of waders. We scanned Little lake Rd. and saw nothing but dry fields. One fluddle had 15 GREAT EGRETS and some AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS. I may have given up too early in that I didn't check Neunert Rd., but everything looked SOOOO dry that I thought time would be better spent checking Monroe County...that was even drier, so LITTLE BLUE HERON was the only other wader we had on the entire day. Huge bummer.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiulMh5e5SIBBxC5kUpYvtgZWQvn1L-vSgRf50NZfhDY_81kKkG6AdPC1MC6wyx8T0YBawV5t1E2gE0fgkJygNNNzceOuanqV4XFyseyEOu9jiFrdHe2zbGwjy7aNNjan2lgcCTY7hVJQ/s1600/Little+Blue+Herons_Cahokia+Mounds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiulMh5e5SIBBxC5kUpYvtgZWQvn1L-vSgRf50NZfhDY_81kKkG6AdPC1MC6wyx8T0YBawV5t1E2gE0fgkJygNNNzceOuanqV4XFyseyEOu9jiFrdHe2zbGwjy7aNNjan2lgcCTY7hVJQ/s400/Little+Blue+Herons_Cahokia+Mounds.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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MOST ENTERTAINING BIRD SIGHTING:</div>
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On our way to Monroe Co., Nat spotted a group of vultures over the road. We pulled over to check them out and had 7 TURKEY VULTURES and our only BLACK VULTURE of the day:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdmn-LMg8_RwfGHvcC8Xsc-ZfUf9JqDIvzXdMQZvxA2SWYP57-CY0ReKcaJp7G3e34vJmPD45LmxqtjaAoTPvZZZCyV26HNFGFHOEw0f9MFM3u3F1MK0cUj9k8wBVsIWjNkySuC2TUWg/s1600/Black+Vulture+by+Gun+Range.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdmn-LMg8_RwfGHvcC8Xsc-ZfUf9JqDIvzXdMQZvxA2SWYP57-CY0ReKcaJp7G3e34vJmPD45LmxqtjaAoTPvZZZCyV26HNFGFHOEw0f9MFM3u3F1MK0cUj9k8wBVsIWjNkySuC2TUWg/s400/Black+Vulture+by+Gun+Range.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The entertainment came as we were watching the vultures. All of sudden we heard GUNFIRE! Hit the deck! So we got down and were looking around while the gunshots continued. And then we saw that we were parked in front of a gun club. Hilarious. I thought that Black Vulture was gonna be our last bird of the day....and year...or life. Yikes.</div>
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4. BEST SPOT OF THE DAY: Hands down was the campground road leading up to and past the Pine Hills Campground at Pine Hills - Larue. It was loaded with singing warblers at 10:00am. Incredible. We also had a LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH land on the road right in front of us to give us nice looks at his overall whiteness in underparts and bold eyeline. The drive gave us 5 KENTUCKY WARBLERS, 3 HOODED WARBLERS, 2 WORM-EATING WARBLERS, 3 YELLOW-THROATED WARBLERS, 2 CERULEAN WARBLERS. and our only PILEATED WOODPECKER of the day (really?!). What a great place. You have to go there if you're in SW IL. </div>
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5. MOST VOCAL BIRDS OF THE DAY: NORTHERN PARULA and ACADIAN FLYCATCHER. Seemingly every stop with a wooded area had multiples of these birds singing.</div>
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6. NUMBER OF FARM VEHICLES PASSED ON ROADS: 9. I just made that number up but it seemed like more. Every stretch of road had these huge farm vehicles that looked like AT-AT walkers from Star Wars.</div>
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7. BEST MISSED PHOTO OP: Driving down Bluff Rd. we had a RED-SHOULDERED HAWK grab a snake and literally fly right alongside the car as it passed us going the other way. It was too cool.</div>
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8. STRANGEST TRAFFIC SLOWDOWN AND BIG DAY OBSTACLE: These two trucks were coming off a freeway ramp with enormous, make that GARGANTUAN, cylinders that looked like they belonged on a spaceship. The trucks carrying them couldn't make the turn off the ramp without taking out the median, so they had to go backward a little, then forward, then backward......for 5 MINUTES....EACH TRUCK. Amazing. The stress caused Nat's nose to start bleeding. </div>
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9. 2nd BEST SPOT: The birding mecca of Front St. in East St. Louis. We finally found the PAINTED BUNTING after missing it the night before. It was pure luck that we found it, also. It wasn't singing, but as I was scanning the trees, a small bird that looked red flew from one cottonwood to another. Only problem was that it was buried in the leaves. It finally made its way to the outer leaves, though, where we were able to get a fleeting but decent look at the red belly and purple head before it flew back into the trees. Great bird! On the way out we passed by a pair of WESTERN KINGBIRDS for the 4th and 5th westerns of the trip. Definitely a record high for me for 1 year, not to mention 1 weekend.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo1hF8Y63IztoiCSGuhsPOcPUJ9lblD0ToKxYDnJdqdyg3-Z1VnaPWvRs9CgUVw2WjXJzc0A2hG1FU6FaoNazhbFOsLak1VvG9urYuX1P-Xl-GwVkvJ1YTW5cdyCnVbw2K_b96eTujng/s1600/Front+Street+Western+Kingbird.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo1hF8Y63IztoiCSGuhsPOcPUJ9lblD0ToKxYDnJdqdyg3-Z1VnaPWvRs9CgUVw2WjXJzc0A2hG1FU6FaoNazhbFOsLak1VvG9urYuX1P-Xl-GwVkvJ1YTW5cdyCnVbw2K_b96eTujng/s400/Front+Street+Western+Kingbird.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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From here we went over to Monsanto Ave. for only our 2nd shorebird of the day, a BLACK-NECKED STILT.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjutFVt8TdOn_nhsMwTM9Q0tcrDEKIjdUSZKh_bmo8Y4EQqYqVAe_OeI3mpB7nRrlj04oMTCr5rdYngoRfbtBBukHQWP96uAtp-ZVqPesbSh0RKHJhsBBfVa3jk5eTP7ASQlB9k0NRU4Q/s1600/Black-necked+Stilt_Sauget.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjutFVt8TdOn_nhsMwTM9Q0tcrDEKIjdUSZKh_bmo8Y4EQqYqVAe_OeI3mpB7nRrlj04oMTCr5rdYngoRfbtBBukHQWP96uAtp-ZVqPesbSh0RKHJhsBBfVa3jk5eTP7ASQlB9k0NRU4Q/s400/Black-necked+Stilt_Sauget.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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We also had our only EURASIAN COLLARED DOVES of the day in this area.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXQnh6JTV1L3jdaT5msM8h2tp5Ylfn-qNYs5oFyaLy7jLMTMfr6nXYGZ4KpddSiCwUR9GL9ILSRhvBaNymubtDFLyiaqsj-MvN7Mg8u8rWjVgetabuTExI1da4AzTCKnmlolUr59uO4g/s1600/Eurasian+Collared+Doves_Cahokia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXQnh6JTV1L3jdaT5msM8h2tp5Ylfn-qNYs5oFyaLy7jLMTMfr6nXYGZ4KpddSiCwUR9GL9ILSRhvBaNymubtDFLyiaqsj-MvN7Mg8u8rWjVgetabuTExI1da4AzTCKnmlolUr59uO4g/s400/Eurasian+Collared+Doves_Cahokia.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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So our day had pretty much come to an end with only 2 stops left, Carlyle Lake and Prairie Ridge. At Carlyle we had OSPREY, BALD EAGLE our only HOUSE WRENS of the day, and this <i>Sterna </i>tern that I didn't have my scope to look at:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6eE4LDMd7rnDXaYXFjGilXKZx7-RA0fYvu00PxvrxOlQ2OhQAgWjl4FoD1-RkoqR-pNljOGSXf910e8dSAiloV6zVqlIKPM3_KWcLQVzq4jIgUJPvVr08y8SF0Sx7bmEk_EGzmO47SA/s1600/Carlyle+Tern.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6eE4LDMd7rnDXaYXFjGilXKZx7-RA0fYvu00PxvrxOlQ2OhQAgWjl4FoD1-RkoqR-pNljOGSXf910e8dSAiloV6zVqlIKPM3_KWcLQVzq4jIgUJPvVr08y8SF0Sx7bmEk_EGzmO47SA/s640/Carlyle+Tern.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I think it looks more like COMMON TERN since the wings look longer than the tail to me and the primaries are real dark. The head looks like it's more black toward the back of the head, I think, but the chest is really white and first year Forster's can have darker primaries, so I'm leaving it as <i>Sterna </i>sp.</div>
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10. LAST SPOT: Jasper Co Prairie Chicken area- No prairie chickens but we did have our only HENSLOW'S SPARROWS and our only TREE SWALLOW of the day.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMNzT5QxQIlRmhpitSsUkJN6ZJWM1qU50572YMBRNEPQIm1ZoyjUpGFVcfmQN8Y7cFig4seF1JG9WwaooLDw2XP7l6-cXkpY5he9XbfKVOrTMHPHQvQJPVNmSgT6u_aMFlPVA-Pn_uEQ/s1600/Tree_Swallow_End_of_day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMNzT5QxQIlRmhpitSsUkJN6ZJWM1qU50572YMBRNEPQIm1ZoyjUpGFVcfmQN8Y7cFig4seF1JG9WwaooLDw2XP7l6-cXkpY5he9XbfKVOrTMHPHQvQJPVNmSgT6u_aMFlPVA-Pn_uEQ/s400/Tree_Swallow_End_of_day.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I thought I would try and call in a Bell's Vireo as it was getting dark, but instead I was able to call in this:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDOSH-FQj227OIfKxb640I8kl-NtrtjHMN5INE5HDo2UlMGLSg4U05J8vlUNEvo4RE96d-t5J0YepwEgPR21R1Wln9Y6dfAMDgW_9hn2hLHQP96DlMD8EsClZmb6SDvw19dzda6uRQgQ/s1600/Freight+Train.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDOSH-FQj227OIfKxb640I8kl-NtrtjHMN5INE5HDo2UlMGLSg4U05J8vlUNEvo4RE96d-t5J0YepwEgPR21R1Wln9Y6dfAMDgW_9hn2hLHQP96DlMD8EsClZmb6SDvw19dzda6uRQgQ/s400/Freight+Train.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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That pretty much shot down our Bell's Vireo attempt, so we ended the day with 110 sp. after getting the COMMON NIGHTHAWKS at the Effingham Walmart where we spent a peaceful night #2.</div>
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THE MISSES: These were pretty laughable by N. IL standards. but the habitat in the south is different, and I didn't give us enough open land in our route so we missed the following:</div>
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HOUSE FINCH (whatever...), HERRING GULL (never thought it would happen), GREEN HERON, EASTERN BLUEBIRD !?!?!?, SEDGE and MARSH WREN, SWAMP SPARROW, SORA, etc. Those were just some of the notables. Need to tweak the route a bit for next time.</div>
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Not too bad for a pretty new area, though. It was loads of fun with some great birds and great company. Thanks to Nat for absorbing the burden of most of the driving and for the <b>awesome</b> photos. </div>
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Here's the list:</div>
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<a href="http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S30188567?share=true" target="_blank">southern IL Big Day</a></div>
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<br />beauschaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07538027493688457172noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8350694313561700090.post-46746348110438064682015-05-18T18:14:00.000-07:002015-05-18T18:30:53.810-07:00May 2015...The Biggest of the Big Days 5/17/15<br />
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As I've mentioned before, I began doing Big Days in January of 2013. There were many things about the Big Day that appealed to me. As a former college athlete, I'm pretty competitive, so trying to see more birds than other people was inherently attractive to me, and the challenges were many which made it even more appealing. Thus began the string of Lake County Big Days that brought us to yesterday, May 16, 2015. It was indeed a Big Day.<br />
Weather is always the key for Big Days during migration, or any Big Day, really, so yesterday was wrought with anticipation. There were Sw-Se winds predicted to some degree or another overnight along with possible rain. South winds combined with rain always present the chance for a fallout of sorts, so that thought was in the back of my mind as we headed out at 12:15am. Amazing how soon I forget this. One personality flaw that I'm still working on is that I'm a big baby when it comes to poor weather. My philosophy has always been if the weather is good, its a great day no matter how many birds we see. If the weather is brutal, then mental anguish sets in. This was the scenario yesterday around 4:30am. I seriously was considering calling it quits at 7:00am because I was tired of dealing with rain for 2.5 hrs....and the rain wasn't even bad. My teammates, Andy Stewart and Eric Lundquist, were especially resilient and without saying much, just continued to bird like nothing was happening, so I just followed along and tried to enjoy the birds. The rain eventually stopped and it became fairly nice for a time. As it turned out, I believe the rain did bring some birds down. It's really interesting to me how Joe Lill's team had such a different experience than we had. There must have been a short window of activity in the morning that we benefitted from and they missed. Don't know how else to explain it.<br />
So our sojourn began at 12:15 at Rollins where it was much harder than expected to get both rails. Eventually we had multiple SORAS and 2 VIRGINIA RAILS at one marshy spot along the trail. We also had many peenting WOODCOCKS (yes, they were woodcocks and not nighthawks), and at least 10 singing HENSLOW'S SPARROWS. We ended the night with all 3 expected owls, WHIPPOORWILLS, and the best bird, a COMMON GALLINULE on private property that "sang" its ascending whinny loud and clear about 50 ft. from us.<br />
<a href="http://www.xeno-canto.org/174645" target="_blank">gallinule call</a><br />
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We finished the nighttime hrs at Daniel Wright Woods when Eric deftly picked out a silent, staring BARRED OWL from the trees. I never would have seen that bird. Eric easily nabbed at least 4 birds on the day that I would have completely missed. Love teamwork. So as the rains began around 4:30 and we continued to try to get a response from the Barred Owl, the thrushes began singing/calling. We had a singing WOOD THRUSH almost immediately and a VEERY sounded off a little later. My favorite, though was the wiry song of a Gray-cheeked Thrush followed by ascending "weer" calls.<br />
<a href="http://www.xeno-canto.org/147739" target="_blank">gray-cheeked thrush call, song</a><br />
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We later saw a trailside SWAINSON'S THRUSH to knock off the expected thrushes. As sunrise began, it was still raining but apparently the birds didn't mind too much, though the song was definitely at a minimum. Activity was brisk, however, and with Eric and ANDY's sharp eyes and ears we were able to nab many of the easier warblers. Actually the only notable warbler misses we had on the day IMO were Golden-winged, Pine, and Cape May. We also had visuals on all of them except HOODED, PROTHONOTARY (had 3 of them singing at close range), and CONNECTICUT which were heard only. The Connecticut was especially frustrating because it sang repeatedly in a shrub right in front of us but wouldn't respond at all to pishing and when I played its song, it shut up permanently. Eric was the only one to hear the Hooded, so it became 1 of our 3 dirty birds for the day.<br />
Our 3 heard only warblers:<br />
<a href="http://www.xeno-canto.org/237267" target="_blank">hooded warbler</a><br />
<a href="http://www.xeno-canto.org/178215" target="_blank">prothonotary song</a><br />
<a href="http://www.xeno-canto.org/181481" target="_blank">connecticut warbler</a><br />
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More about the warblers. The best spot was the south ravine at Ft. Sheridan. It was crawling with birds. Best were a singing BLACK-THROATED BLUE, CANADA, and a bird I'm 90% sure was a Kentucky Warbler, but I only saw it naked eye at about 20 ft. My eyes aren't great so I tried to get bins on it and it dove never to be seen again. It definitely was all yellow with a black mask and no white that I could see. The 3 of us actually commented on how many birds there were. We saw, and heard, A LOT of birds Saturday. That was the only thing that made the poor weather bearable to me.<br />
My top 4 seen warblers on Sat:<br />
1. 3 BLACK-THROATED BLUES (a personal record for 1 day)<br />
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2. 3 CANADA WARBLERS- always tough for me to see.<br />
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3. CERULEAN- story forthcoming<br />
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4. Yellow-throated- only seen 2 other years in Lake County by me.</div>
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internet photos</div>
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We ended the day with 27 Warbler sp. which ties a personal best for me in one day.<br />
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So stage 1 for the day was the warblers. Stage 2 was the lakefront itself with associated beaches. This portion of our trip began at Waukegan and really was pretty good. Things didn't get poor until we reached the South Unit at IBSP. At Waukegan we had most of our shorebirds with 6 sp. at the Pershing Rd. mudflat. This is possibly the most productive shorebird spot in the county other than the beach itself. We also had the Connecticut warbler singing along this road in a shrubby clump. From here we ventured to Midwest Gen to look for the PEREGRINE FALCON. I saw nothing after looking hard and neither did Andy. As we were pulling out to leave, however, Eric snags the bird soaring and we all get on it in time to see it glide slowly in to the nest box. Very nice.<br />
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Lyons was good (a BTB Warbler and 3 visual PINE SISKINS) but the greatest potential for "good stuff" was the South Unit.....and the beach was totally fogged in....and the temp had dropped about 10 degrees. No shorebirds....except a DEER-DEER-DEERing GREATER YELLOWLEGS, No RB Merganser, No Chat seen by 2 people in the past 2 days, and I was only able to hear the LARK SPARROW sing once. We did have a good amount of activity along the middle trail though including scads of flycatchers. Traill's (none here were singing, though we did add Willow later), the yellowest YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER I've ever seen, and many LEAST FLYCATCHERS. The campgrounds surrendered a gorgeous YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER and a very vocal RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH.<br />
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The North Unit gave us BLUE-HEADED VIREO for all the expected vireos and 2 good ducks, 3 RING-NECKED DUCKS and 3 RUDDY DUCKS. North Point Marina was completely fogged in so no water birds here at all.<br />
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We then headed west where we nabbed VESPER SPARROW, BLACK TERN, YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD, AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN, WILD TURKEY, TRUMPETER SWAN, BALD EAGLE, and LESSER YELLOWLEGS.<br />
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Best Had-to-be-there moment:<br />
We were driving through COLSP when I heard a singing CERULEAN WARBLER.<br />
<a href="http://www.xeno-canto.org/222345" target="_blank">cerulean song</a> This was in the middle of a crowded campground. We quickly pull over and 3 guys fly out of the car like the A team. The people in the campground thought they were being raided. It was pretty funny. Great bird. Had some nice looks also.<br />
We finished the day in near dark at Rollins with Gadwall and a tu-tu-tu -ing SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER <a href="http://www.xeno-canto.org/76194" target="_blank">short-billed call</a>.<br />
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It was wild. Thanks again to my teammates Andy Stewart and Eric Lundquist for a lot of great birds and good laughs. We ended the day with 164 sp. which, I believe, is a new Lake County record. Pretty exciting stuff!<br />
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Here's the list:<br />
<a href="http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S23497500" target="_blank">Big Day list</a><br />
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<br />beauschaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07538027493688457172noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8350694313561700090.post-68351299241815423882014-12-11T03:45:00.000-08:002014-12-11T03:45:05.371-08:00The Small Day So on Dec.7, Steve Bailey, Andy Stewart and myself tackled my 24th consecutive Lake County monthly Big Day......and it was unfortunately a very forgettable day. I had my 2nd worst total in the 24 months on Sunday (the worst was 1/26/13 by 1 bird) with 54 sp. Birds were just really difficult to find. It seemed like mid-winter except warmer. The weather was actually pretty nice which, of course, is the kiss of death for my birding adventures. The lakefront didn't have much, and we didn't hit enough feeders during the course of the day. This is a problem I need to rectify on future winter big days. This and the lack of berry bushes on our route were a couple of issues. The route definitely needs some tweaking.<br />
We started at 5:15 am at Pine Dunes and had probably our biggest highlight of the day right off the bat. In the span of 15-20 minutes we had 2 whinnying EASTERN SCREECH OWLS, 1 adult GREAT HORNED OWL, and a barking N. SAW-WHET OWL not 10 ft. from us and about head high. If only the rest of the day could have played out this nicely. We headed over to Rollins but got skunked yet again on Short-eared Owl.<br />
It started to get brighter around 6:45 so we scanned for waterfowl on Third Lake quickly and headed over to Deep Lake. The day before I had some nice waterfowl here, but today the lake was almost completely frozen, and the Canvasback that was here yesterday was reportedly shot by the hunters on the lake. We did manage to find a male RING-NECKED DUCK and 7 MUTE SWANS in with some mallards but that was it. On to the lakefront.<br />
Thought I would detour down Crawford Rd. on our way to the lake to see if we could get Steve his County turkeys. We drove past Millburn school and down to Kelly Rd. without seeing a bird. As soon as we turned the corner at Kelly Rd., however, we almost ran into a flock of 15 WILD TURKEYS meandering in the middle of the road. We could have literally reached out the window and touched them as we drove past. Unfortunately, that was about as good as the birding got for the rest of the day.<br />
The lakefront was dead. Midwest Gen, which, In January had given us a ton of good birds, had barely any birds on it with 6 LESSER SCAUP being the best birds. NPM had virtually nothing other than the regulars. No flyovers and only a couple of RUDDY DUCKS in the harbor and slip. Waukegan had a HORNED GREBE in harbor but there was nothing in the lake itself and the gate to the south end was once again locked (?!?!!). The South Unit campground pines gave us BROWN CREEPER, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, and PINE SISKIN, but no Fox Sparrows or yellow-rumps.<br />
Ft. Sheridan and Ryerson gave us nothing other than a HOUSE FINCH, though Red-headed Woodpeckers were found by another birder that afternoon. That proved to be a big miss for us on Sunday. There were 6 SONG SPARROWS at Ft. Sheridan and a ton of gulls at the North Unit. I was able to pick out 1 THAYER'S GULL at the North Unit but it promptly was covered up by another gull so I couldn't share it with my cohorts, so that became our only dirty bird for the day. There were also no less than 5 adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS in the bunch.<br />
Middlefork proved to be a great stop. We found a distant AMERICAN KESTREL, a noisy BELTED KINGFISHER sitting very close to the bridge, and a flyby GREAT BLUE HERON for our only individuals of those 3 species for the day. At Independence Grove we had 2 AMERICAN BLACK DUCK, but we could not pick a Cackling Goose out of the many geese at either IG or Third Lake. This was disappointing because there almost certainly was at least one of these birds in there. We finished the day at Rollins/Third Lake with misses on Short-eared Owl and Northern Harrier.<br />
At dusk we tried for rails at the north creek/marsh and had a weird eek call in response to the tape. It didn't sound quite right to me for Sora, but what else could it be? We were all thinking this until later, Eric Walters told me that Virginia Rails also squeak. I listened to that squeak, and it sounded a little more like what we heard in my opinion. In any case, we couldn't tell for sure, so it went down as rail sp. Still pretty cool, though.<br />
We finished out the day with our old friend, the BARRED OWL at Lakewood FP, who began calling as soon as Steve started his call. It took all of about 1 minute to get a response. Love that bird!<br />
So Dec. ended with very few hard-fought birds and a lot of big misses. Major misses were Cedar Waxwing (not enough berry bushes), Northern Harrier, Swamp Sparrow, Wood Duck and Canvasback that I had the day before at Deep Lake, Red-headed Woodpecker, Fox Sparrow, and Cackling Goose. <br />
One thing about winter Big Days, they really make you appreciate the common birds. Our last daylight bird was an AMERICAN ROBIN at Third Lake, and I almost wet my pants when Andy called it out as we were driving by! Never been so happy to see an American Robin!<br />
Not sure yet what my plan for 2015 will look like but I'll let ya know. Good Birding! and thanks again to my awesome birding team of Andy Stewart and Steve Bailey.<br />
Here's the list:<br />
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53 species (+1 other taxa) total</h5>
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Canada Goose</h5>
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Mute Swan</h5>
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Gadwall</h5>
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American Black Duck</h5>
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Mallard</h5>
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Redhead</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Ring-necked Duck</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Greater Scaup</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Lesser Scaup</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Bufflehead</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Common Goldeneye</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Hooded Merganser</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Common Merganser</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Red-breasted Merganser</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Ruddy Duck</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 44px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 43.890625px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Wild Turkey</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="obs-comments" style="line-height: 1.3em; margin-top: 0.3em; padding: 0px;">
group of 15 at well-documented site</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Horned Grebe</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Double-crested Cormorant</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Great Blue Heron</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Red-tailed Hawk</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 44px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 43.890625px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
rail sp.</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="obs-comments" style="line-height: 1.3em; margin-top: 0.3em; padding: 0px;">
high-pitched eek call sounded like it could be either sora or virginia rail</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
American Coot</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Ring-billed Gull</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Herring Gull</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 44px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 43.890625px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Thayer's Gull</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="obs-comments" style="line-height: 1.3em; margin-top: 0.3em; padding: 0px;">
large apical spots, dark gray primaries, dark eye</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Lesser Black-backed Gull</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Mourning Dove</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Eastern Screech-Owl</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Great Horned Owl</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Barred Owl</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Northern Saw-whet Owl</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Belted Kingfisher</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Red-bellied Woodpecker</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Downy Woodpecker</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Hairy Woodpecker</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
American Kestrel</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Blue Jay</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
American Crow</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Black-capped Chickadee</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Red-breasted Nuthatch</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
White-breasted Nuthatch</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Brown Creeper</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
American Robin</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
European Starling</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
American Tree Sparrow</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Song Sparrow</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
White-throated Sparrow</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Northern Cardinal</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
House Finch</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="spp-entry"><th style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 1.5em; vertical-align: top;"><h5 class="se-count" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.251998901367188px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
1</h5>
</th><td style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; font-size: 13px; height: 24px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="se-hd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="inner bd" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 605px; zoom: 1;">
<h5 class="se-name" style="float: left; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Pine Siskin</h5>
<div class="rs-action" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<a class="btn-minor" href="" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; float: right; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center;">Delete</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
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<a class="button btn-minor" href="http://ebird.org/ebird/edit/checklist?subID=S20824165" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); border-bottom-left-radius: 25px; border-bottom-right-radius: 25px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 25px; border-top-right-radius: 25px; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 1px 0px; color: #333333; display: inline !important; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 8px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none;">Edit Species List</a> beauschaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07538027493688457172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8350694313561700090.post-83474848667434676722014-11-02T19:13:00.000-08:002019-03-10T13:58:52.087-07:00North Winds Ho! Yesterday, 11/1, Andy Stewart brought his Lake County Big Year with him to join Steve Bailey and me for round 23 of the Lake County Monthly Big Day Spectacle. And what a spectacle it was.....in more ways than one. The big challenge for me on this Big Day was trying to figure out how to deal with the wind. I really don't like wind...at all. It knocks my scope over, makes using my scope useless, makes otherwise beautiful days COLD, makes my eyes all blubbery, and makes birds hide. Unless, of course, they are WATER birds with a tail wind on Nov. 1. In that case, it's off to the races! So I had to suck up my dislike for wind and use this to our Big Day advantage. I wasn't sure how it would go, though.<br />
Usually on a Big Day, you start with nocturnal birds at some o-dark-thirty hour of the morning before hitting your best spot for birds at daybreak. This spot is usually a woodland or wetland area filled with vocalizing birds, but not on this day. Yesterday's gale force northerly winds blew a lot of birds out of here. BUT they also set the scene for great lake movement. So I decided to flip our Big Day and start at the lakefront for a 2hr. lake watch and hit the woodlands later. Also, since the winds Friday night were fairly horrific but were supposed to be calm Saturday night, I decided to do our owling at the end of the day instead of the beginning. I've never done a Big Day that way before so I was a little unsure how our energy level would be at the end of the day. Not sure that this strategy would be that great in May or June, but in November when you have 6 hrs to play with at the end of daylight, that's plenty of time to find owls, so that was the plan for our November Big Day.<br />
I have to say that I'm pretty happy with the way our day played out except we should have hit Third Lake before we went to Almond Marsh. We started our Lakewatch at 7am at the yacht club of North Point Marina (awesome wind block!) and immediately had a few streams of small gulls flying by. The lighting was so bad, though, that we couldn't tell if they were Bonaparte's or Franklin's Gulls. Fortunately we had a BONAPARTE'S fly right into the yacht club harbor for great looks later on. The birds started slowly at daybreak but by 7:30 there was a steady stream all going NORTH!!?? Whaaaat? Why? Why would birds be flying north into a 25-30mph headwind in fall? If anyone can explain that one to me, I would love to hear it. Anyway, the birds kept coming. Mostly RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS, but we had some close flyby WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS, a RED-THROATED LOON just outside the harbor flying in slo-motion against the wind, a couple of COMMON LOONS, oodles of ducks too far away to ID and some dark-winged scoters that were also too far away to ID to species. This is probably the most frustrating thing to me about the lake watch.<br />
Surf and Black Scoters almost NEVER seem to fly close enough to shore to get a decent look at them. I have only once been able to ID flyby Black Scoters, only because I saw the pale cheek patches on the female. So our day started off with some pretty nice birds. We then headed to Waukegan to see if we could find anything else and hopefully get the Laughing Gull and Harlequin Duck that had been around for a few days. The South Port Authority lot was locked (???) Another baffling phenomenon. Why the high security at the port authority? Never in past years have a noticed the gate locked here with the frequency of this year. So, we WALKED AROUND the gate, and checked the south pier for the Laugher to no avail. I don't think that bird was seen by anybody this weekend.<br />
The channel showed no Harlequin so we headed over to North beach to check for shorebirds.....but there was NO SHORE. The waves had swallowed the beach. Literally. The pier was similarly inundated with water and so began our first spectacle of the day....no shorebirds. We had 1 species, and that was because Andy was able to pick 3 KILLDEER out at Independence Grove as light was running out. Contrast this with the 7 shorebird sp. we had last year. Biggest bummer of the day for sure. Still we had no Harly, so we checked the pines and had a nice BROWN CREEPER to go along with the plethora of GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS on the day. While we were there we also checked the channel and saw a suspicious brown bird sitting with a female GREATER SCAUP near Government pier. We walked closer and the bird dived, of course. So we waited, and waited.......and waited some more. Where the heck is this bird? It seemed like a good 10 minutes before we saw it pop up somewhere and then fly in right in front of us. Nice! So we had some classic looks at the female-type HARLEQUIN DUCK before taking off to the Bowen Feeders and Lyons Woods, where we got our necessary woodland birds. At IBSP South we had multiple flocks of PINE SISKINS totaling 150-200 birds and 1 of our 2 HERMIT THRUSHES on the day. We missed Purple Finch, however. The trails and beach were surprisingly dead. The North Unit gave us roadside WINTER WREN, HERMIT THRUSH, and FOX SPARROW but no shrike.<br />
We finished our day heading to Rollins, which has historically been good to us on many levels. We needed lots of ducks and Rollins gave us RUDDY DUCK, SHOVELER, a wheezing WIGEON, AMERICAN BLACK DUCK, LESSER SCAUP, GW TEAL, over a hundred HOODED MERGANSERS, a PALM WARBLER (our only warbler sp.), and our best bird of the day, a NORTHERN GOSHAWK that Steve Bailey saw stoop on a duck and miss and then get chased into a tree by a noticeably smaller NORTHERN HARRIER. We had some extended scope looks at the bird, but he only showed his backside and turned his head to look at us every few seconds. Finally he dove and disappeared into the woods. That's the first Goshawk that I have ever seen away from the hawk watch.<br />
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At this point, light was running out and we still needed a lot of birds. Panic set in. Should I go to Third Lake or skip it and go straight to Almond Marsh? Hit Allegheny Ballfields first or last? There were too many questions to answer. In the end, we chose to go to Almond directly and skip Third Lake. This proved to be costly because Third Lake is a popular roosting spot for waterfowl and it was loaded with ducks when we came back to get short-eared owl (which we missed) a little later. Almond had nothing. Zippo. Nada. No Mute Swans, even, so for the first time ever, we missed Mute Swan on a Big Day. Yikes. Independence Grove proved to be a nice stop, however, as it gave us GREAT BLUE HERON, LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL, and KILLDEER.<br />
Off we headed to Allegheny ballfields where we found.....a LOCKED GATE. Are you kidding? What's with locking gates to open fields and parking lots? you can WALK into these places. Why lock the gates? Incredible. So we crossed the street and drove down Sportsman's Dr. where we had at least 4 or 5 calling HORNED LARKS for our last daytime bird. After missing on Short-eared Owl but incredibly getting calling SORA AND VIRGINIA RAILS for the first time ever in November for me, we headed to the newest owl mecca of Lake County, Pine Dunes FP. In the span of about 10 minutes we had a cat-whining NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL and 2 EASTERN SCREECH OWLS to finish of a 4 owl day for us.<br />
It was another fantastic day of birding with 2 great birders and some beautiful weather once we left the lakefront. The comparison between last year and this year is also a pretty amazing spectacle. We had 78 sp. this year and 79 last year but we had <b>19! </b>species last year that we missed this year. Pretty amazing.<br />
Thanks again to Steve and Andy for a great day!<br />
Here's the list:<br />
<a href="http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/email?subID=S20408882" target="_blank">the list</a>beauschaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07538027493688457172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8350694313561700090.post-30357089182717426112014-10-12T18:22:00.001-07:002015-10-25T14:21:23.738-07:00October Sky.....and Frost! 10/12/14<br />
It would be hard to beat an early fall day like yesterday. Though it was a little chilly in the morning at 37 degrees, there was little to no wind, and the sun was shining brightly throughout the day. It was truly a great day to be out looking for birds......and I was excited to be out there. I hadn't spent any appreciable amount of time birding since Sept. 28. I was literally going through "birding withdrawal." <br />
I was a little cranky, twitchy, and suffering from even more ADHD-like symptoms than usual, which is saying a lot for me. My wife would try to talk to me, and I seriously couldn't remain attentive for longer than a couple of minutes without having to get up and move around. It was pretty sad. So yesterday I was pretty thankful to be able to reconvene with my birding compadres, Andy Stewart and Steve Bailey, for our October Big Day.<br />
Ideally one would do the October Big Day the first weekend of the month, but since I was visiting my kids at college last weekend, we were forced into the second weekend. Consequently, I wasn't expecting much, but yesterday proved to be a nice little surprise. It was a lot of fun.<br />
As we did last month, we started at Rollins. We started a little earlier this month, though, since I wanted to do an exhaustive search for saw-whet owls. So we started at 1:00am at the Discovery boardwalk and immediately had a responding VIRGINIA RAIL and not 1, but 2, keeking and whinnying SORA rails. At the same time we had an adult GREAT HORNED OWL calling in the background. So in the span of about 3 minutes, we had 3 birds! We later added WILSON'S SNIPE "Skype"ing as it flushed trailside, multiple KILLDEER, grunting GADWALL, whistling GREEN-WINGED TEAL, and CANADA GEESE before we left. We did miss Short-eared Owl, unfortunately, but still a nice start to the day.<br />
The owls were really the stars of the night, as they usually are, but they are also notoriously finicky at times. Not last night. We had 8 or 9 GREAT HORNED OWLS on the night, 1 EASTERN SCREECH OWL at COLSP, our BARRED OWL friend at Lakewood, and the star of the evening, a loudly whining (at about 10 ft. away) NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL at Pine Dunes FP on Edwards Rd.<br />
<a href="http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/176698" target="_blank">saw-whet whine</a><br />
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This sound is always so cool because you never hear anything like it. I've had saw-whets making this whine right over my head before, looked up, and seen an owl staring at me. It's awesome. Very cool birds.<br />
We ended the owling with a nice Egg McMuffin/coffee stop in Waukegan and headed over to Daniel Wright to get our surprise bird of the day. We waited about 30 minutes before it started to get light out. Around 6:15 I played my iphone calls and songs for a WOOD THRUSH just in case some were still around. after a couple of minutes we heard the "eek calls" of 3 Wood Thrushes and I heard a distant "bup" volley to seal the deal as we added a tough bird to our list.<br />
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<a href="http://birds.audubon.org/birds/wood-thrush" target="_blank">wood thrush eek calls and bhp volleys</a><br />
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We then scooted over to Ryerson to try our hand at some warblers. Make no mistake. It was COLD at 7am. The temp was below 40, and I was freezing......as well as having flashbacks of last winter. I was wearing long underwear, pants, 2 shirts, 1 hoodie, and an airtight jacket....and I was still cold. Needless to say I didn't think there would be much bird activity. Boy, was I WRONG. Having learned my lesson from last month, we concentrated our efforts on warbler alley, the north trail that runs alongside the river. In order to get there you have to walk either through vegetation or around the visitor center. We walked through the frost-covered vegetation to the trail and immediately had birds leaping, scurrying, and flying in all directions. As we walked to the river, we had 2 of our better birds for the day fly right over us as we looked at the dark bodies, tan heads, and white underwings of a pair of AMERICAN BLACK DUCKS, and then Steve heard a RUSTY BLACKBIRD that Andy and I missed. Things were definitely looking promising as we headed down the alley. And the gauntlet of birds continued. It was spectacular and frustrating at the same time. Spectacular because there were so many birds to look at, and frustrating because, well....., there were so many birds to LOOK AT! And most looks were fleeting and partially leaf-obstructed, as usual. We had TENNESSEE, multiple MOURNING, ORANGE-CROWNED, and NASHVILLE WARBLERS to go along with the numerous sparrows and HERMIT THRUSHES. This is the way birding should be ALL THE TIME! We were having a great time so it was really tough to pull ourselves away and head to the next stop, but we eventually managed to leave and head to Ft. Sheridan for RED-HEADED WOODPECKER and also pick up the loudly ringing chip of a NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH coming from the ravine. Alas, I was the only one to hear it, so that became our 3rd dirty bird of the day. It was also our last.<br />
Most spots we hit were very productive save for the South Unit at IBSP, which gave us only an unidentified flycatcher which was badly backlit and flew away quickly before we could get good details.<br />
Other Highlights:<br />
Most dangerous moment- At the North Unit we were looking at birds when a couple came up behind us and said, "coming through." What does that mean? you're riding down the middle? "Through" to me means between objects, so I stepped right to get out of the way and almost had wheels going up my back. I was just a little miffed by this, so I made sure to instruct the couple that you supply the direction you're riding on such as, "on your LEFT." This would make such accidents unlikely. In any case, all parties escaped without injury, so that was a small victory. Be careful out there.<br />
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Favorite birds:<br />
The aforementioned Saw-whet and Wood Thrush, American Pipit and Black-throated Green Warbler at Waukegan, the 9 warbler species we had, Northern Pintail at American Way marsh, 7 Nelson's Sparrows on the day, and 6 Orange-crowned Warblers on the day, 12 Sparrow species, 4 finch sp.<br />
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Biggest misses:<br />
Cooper's Hawk. I can't seem to find a convenient place to find this bird. Will have to solve that riddle soon; Harris' Sparrow was gone, Solitary Sandpiper (there at 7:30, gone at 8:30. Really????? Amazing), Lesser Black-backed Gull (see Solitary Sandpiper), Short-eared Owl (I know they're here, and if I could have gone back to Rollins at 6:45, I would have had them, but I had to chaperone the LHS Homecoming Dance from 7:30-10:30), all the ducks at Ft. Sheridan (big faux pas on my part; didn't even think to check there), no vireos AT ALL, marsh wren and sedge wren were AWOL, only 4 shorebird sp. ( we had 10 last year!)<br />
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We finished with 99 species, which for the 2nd month in a row, put us in the top 3 for a N. IL Big Day. Thanks again to everyone for their ebird and IBET/IBF posts. These are invaluable resources.<br />
Here's the list:<br />
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<a href="http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/email?subID=S20205012" target="_blank">Big Day List</a><br />
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<br />beauschaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07538027493688457172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8350694313561700090.post-89807614878761959272014-09-15T18:53:00.001-07:002014-10-12T11:18:19.144-07:00The September Dirty Bird Debacle Steve Bailey, Andy Stewart, and I meandered our way through myriads of birds on Sunday, Sept. 14 for my 21st consecutive monthly Big Day. The weather was beautiful, though a bit chilly in the early morning hours as it dropped to 41 degrees! I'm definitely not ready for bone-chilling cold again.<br />
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We started the day at Rollins Savanna at 2:00am and promptly ticked off both VIRGINIA and SORA RAILS. This was a big lift since these birds have been a tad difficult to get since May. We also heard a juvenile GREAT HORNED OWL doing a very high-pitched squeal that sounded rather odd to me, so I was hoping we would get another one. We heard 2 other juveniles during the course of the night, and had nice looks at 3 adults during the day/night. No adults were calling, though, which was interesting given the number we had last month (only 2 weeks ago).<br />
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We then were off to Lakewood. Steve let fly with his famous Barred Owl call but we heard nothing initially. Then on about the 3rd try, we heard our buddy off in the distance. Definitely clearly audible but, also, definitely not close. He's been moving around quite a bit these days. At COLSP we had 2 calling EASTERN SCREECH OWLS, so the only bird left for us was the Whip. We arrived at IBSP around 4:30 and played the call. Shortly we had a nicely responding EASTERN WHIPPOORWILL behind the nature center. A great start to the day with all of our expected nocturnal species. We finished the evening at Middlefork trying for a Least Bittern or King Rail but no luck. We also had numerous calling SWAINSON'S THRUSHES flying over us during the night, but we could not hear anything else. A nicely silhouetted GREAT HORNED OWL in the wetland tree was our last bird of the evening hours.<br />
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We started the day at Daniel Wright where we had no less than 4 calling WOOD THRUSHES and a kekking COOPER'S HAWK. We then headed quickly over to Ryerson where my first tactical error occurred. With visions of Warbler Grandeur dancing in my head on the heels of Doug Stotz's post yesterday about his 20 Warbler species, I figured we would head to the river where Doug had most of his birds. This probably would have worked well had it been May.....and the birds were singing. In September, when the birds are definitely NOT singing, however, this is a recipe for advanced frustration. There were definitely birds around us, but they were not visible and the leaf cover is too dense around the river to see much, so we ended up not being able to ID very many. We hurried back to the Brushwood parking lot and were able to get a couple of species, but nothing even close to what I was expecting, and our vireo count was a whopping 1....not the beginning I had hoped for. I should have done Warbler Alley on the west side of the preserve along the river. Birds congregate here in the morning sun and they are close. The leaf cover isn't nearly as dense either. Lesson learned. I also missed a HOUSE FINCH! while going to the bathroom. Really? That was only the beginning of the Dirty Bird Debacle.<br />
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Stop #3 was at Ft. Sheridan which continues to be probably my 3rd favorite birding spot after Rollins and COLSP. We had the usuals although we missed orioles on the day. Best bird here was a MOURNING WARBLER that I unfortunately didn't get Steve and Andy on quick enough before it disappeared for our second dirty bird on the day. This was the challenge. Getting all 3 of us on quickly moving warblers, falcons, and kinglets proved to be a very frustrating endeavor during the course of the day. We also had 3 or 4 RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRDS in the jewelweed tangle along the path. We then moved over slightly to the Openlands preserve where CHIPPING SPARROWS had been reported a couple of weeks ago on ebird. Andy did some stellar scouting on Saturday and found a small flock very close to the road which was still there Sunday morning. That was a great bird to get seeing as I missed it in August. Steve also found a nicely singing WHITE-THROATED SPARROW that Andy had also locate day before, so some timely scouting paid off for us early.<br />
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Waukegan was interesting. We initially got there, picked up our AMERICAN KESTREL family, and then saw only SANDERLINGS, SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS, and a SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER on the beach along with some HOODED MERGANSERS. This actually proved to be pretty good seeing as we had none of these shorebirds anywhere else. We were definitely hoping for something rarer, like a Red Knot or Buffie or Whimbrel, but nothing like that ever appeared. The weather was probably too nice. The pines area was almost completely devoid of birds, with the exception of a small clump of shrubs behind the locked fence area of the water plant. This shrubby clump had 5 or 6 birds in it, that stayed very hidden for most of the time, but we eventually found a couple of warblers and what I'm fairly certain was a YB Flycatcher, but I never saw the back of the bird to rule out Least Fly so that bird remained UF. On the way out, Steve noticed a couple of birds on Government Pier to the south, so we scanned them quickly and had nice looks at 2 RUDDY TURNSTONES just before someone flushed them. On the way back out we checked the fenced in prairie and had a juvenile BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD, our only one of the day. Near the parking area pavilion were some secluded warblers and sparrows. Andy was able to dig up a WILSON'S WARBLER but neither Steve nor I was able to get on it before it disappeared. Another dirty bird. So Andy decided to walk around to the back of the shrubby area to flush birds toward us. In so doing, he flushed an AMERICAN WOODCOCK. All I could see was some wings flapping as the bird disappeared. Another dirty bird. This was getting ridiculous.....and it would get worse. A BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER in the fenced in pond area was a nice gift on our way out. A trip down Clayton Ave. toward Bowen Park netted us a nice flock of RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS and 2 COMMON GRACKLES, the only ones of the day. The main goal, though, was to find the Peregrine. We stopped at Doehringer Rd. to check out the stacks for the Peregrine. I don't know where those guys were looking, but right in front of me flies the PEREGRINE FALCON into the back of a tree. We could not find him, though, since he was on private property behind a closed fence. Another dirty bird. Amazing....and disturbing. On to Lyons Woods where we had a yanking RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, a GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH, and nice looks at a foraging PINE WARBLER that also responded nicely to its song by flying right in to a tree right in front of us. While watching the Pine, Andy Yells out that he has a MERLIN flying overhead. Steve gets on it but I couldn't see anything and the bird disappeared over the trees. ANOTHER DIRTY BIRD????!!! Seriously? This is killing me.<br />
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We headed to IBSP hoping for some good warblers. It was now around noon and our warbler count was about 6 sp. Not real encouraging. No worries, though, because IBSP delivered the goods. We walked out and back along the middle trail beyond the locked gate and had literally flocks of birds moving all along the trail. We were here for 2 hours getting birds. Of course we also got more DIRTY birds. Andy found an OVENBIRD and a RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET but the birds were moving around quickly and both disappeared before I could see them. We saw a lot, though, and ended the day with 17 warbler species, most of which we got here between noon and 2pm. Pretty unbelievable.<br />
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The rest of the day played out like this:<br />
North Unit- Belted Kingfisher, Least Flycatcher, and Yellow-throated Vireo snagged by Andy at eye level in the clump near the gate.<br />
Spring Bluff- Swamp Sparrow<br />
Rt. 173- Bald Eagle<br />
COLSP- Osprey<br />
Rt. 59 and Grand Ave- Turkey Vulture<br />
and then......ROLLINS! As always, Rollins came up huge. Even though the shorebird habitat is nonexistent save for a small, muddy island. We still got 3 shorebird sp. there. AND in the process of walking around the pond searching for our absentee Nelson's Saprrow, Steve flushes a beautiful AMERICAN BITTERN that EVERYBODY had nice looks at. Great bird. We then pulled out GREAT EGRET, BOBOLINK, SANDHILL CRANE, LINCOLN'S SPARROW, NORTHERN SHOVELER, NORTHERN PINTAIL, PURPLE MARTIN, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, GADWALL, and PIED-BILLED GREBE. On the way out we had nice looks at 4 or 5 MARSH WRENS. By now it was only about 45 minutes to sunset, so we quickly headed to Almond Marsh and picked up BC Night Heron and 2 female AMERICAN WIGEON, as well as a couple of cruising COMMON NIGHTHAWKS. With darkness creeping in, we headed to Allegheny ballfields and just had enough light to see and hear a small flock of HORNED LARKS in the bare dirt and scrubby weedy edges of the fields at the top of the hill.<br />
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It was another stellar day birding with some great weather and great compadres. The dirty bird element was frustrating but not debilitating. We finished with 122 species and 8 dirty birds. The 5% rule only allows us 6 dirty birds so we had to take 2 birds off of our list to give us 120 species. This put us 3rd for a Northern Illinois Big Day. I've only been able to accomplish this 1 other time, last year in June with Jeff Sundberg, so Sunday was truly a great day. Thanks again to Steve and Andy for the laughs, the great stories, and some awesome birds. The next Big Day in October will find temps even cooler, so I'm a little sad at bidding the summer weather farewell. There were a lot of great birds, though. Thanks for reading and I'll see you in October!<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Lake county big day, Lake, US-IL</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Sep 14, 2014 2:00 AM - 10:30 PM</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Protocol: Traveling</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">200.0 mile(s)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Comments: w/steve bailey and andy stewart</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">122 species </span><br />
<br style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;" />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Canada Goose 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Mute Swan 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Wood Duck 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Gadwall 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">American Wigeon 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Mallard 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Blue-winged Teal 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Northern Shoveler 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Northern Pintail 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Green-winged Teal 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Hooded Merganser 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Pied-billed Grebe 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Double-crested Cormorant 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">American Bittern 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Great Blue Heron 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Great Egret 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Green Heron 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Black-crowned Night-Heron 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Turkey Vulture 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Osprey 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Cooper's Hawk 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Bald Eagle 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Red-tailed Hawk 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Virginia Rail 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Sora 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Sandhill Crane 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Black-bellied Plover 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Semipalmated Plover 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Killdeer 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Spotted Sandpiper 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Lesser Yellowlegs 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Ruddy Turnstone 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Sanderling 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Least Sandpiper 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Pectoral Sandpiper 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Semipalmated Sandpiper 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">American Woodcock 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Ring-billed Gull 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Herring Gull 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Caspian Tern 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Mourning Dove 1</span><br />
FERAL PIGEON 1<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Eastern Screech-Owl 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Great Horned Owl 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Barred Owl 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Common Nighthawk 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Eastern Whip-poor-will 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Chimney Swift 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Belted Kingfisher 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Red-headed Woodpecker 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Red-bellied Woodpecker 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Downy Woodpecker 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Hairy Woodpecker 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Northern Flicker 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">American Kestrel 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Merlin 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Peregrine Falcon 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Eastern Wood-Pewee 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Alder/Willow Flycatcher (Traill's Flycatcher) 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Least Flycatcher 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Eastern Phoebe 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Eastern Kingbird 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Yellow-throated Vireo 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Red-eyed Vireo 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Blue Jay 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">American Crow 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Horned Lark 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Purple Martin 1 juvenile bird; dark, large swallow, long periods of gliding, brownish-gray throat on otherwise white underside.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Tree Swallow 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Barn Swallow 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Cliff Swallow 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Black-capped Chickadee 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Red-breasted Nuthatch 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">White-breasted Nuthatch 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">House Wren 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Marsh Wren 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Eastern Bluebird 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Gray-cheeked Thrush 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Swainson's Thrush 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Wood Thrush 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">American Robin 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Gray Catbird 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">European Starling 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Cedar Waxwing 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Ovenbird 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Northern Waterthrush 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Black-and-white Warbler 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Tennessee Warbler 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Nashville Warbler 1</span><br />
MOURNING WARBLER 1<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Common Yellowthroat 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">American Redstart 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Cape May Warbler 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Magnolia Warbler 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Chestnut-sided Warbler 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Blackpoll Warbler 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Palm Warbler 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Pine Warbler 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Yellow-rumped Warbler 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Black-throated Green Warbler 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Wilson's Warbler 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Eastern Towhee 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Chipping Sparrow 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Field Sparrow 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Savannah Sparrow 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Song Sparrow 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Lincoln's Sparrow 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Swamp Sparrow 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">White-throated Sparrow 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Northern Cardinal 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Indigo Bunting 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Bobolink 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Red-winged Blackbird 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Common Grackle 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Brown-headed Cowbird 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">House Finch 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">American Goldfinch 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">House Sparrow 1</span><br />
<br />beauschaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07538027493688457172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8350694313561700090.post-7334338172336081252014-09-01T15:55:00.001-07:002015-04-09T18:36:16.247-07:00 Bring on the Warblers!!!8/31/14<br />
Yesterday ace photographer, Nat Carmichael, and I embarked upon my August Big Day for 2014. Last year August proved to be a troubling month for me. I had some time management and planning issues due to less sunlight time that I forgot to take into consideration. So this year I fixed the route planning, but not the time management issues.....though for a different reason. I haven't been out birding in 6 days, which is an eternity for me. Since I started school on the 18th, it's been very busy around my house, so I haven't been able to get out much. So yesterday I was basically chomping at the bit to just get out and see some birds. Consequently I spent WAY too much time gawking at my favorite birds, the warblers. Yes, THEY'RE BACK! Woohoo! As we all know, finding warblers is challenge number 1 as they dart back-and-forth willy nilly through the foliage. This requires time. Challenge number 2 is ID'ing them after finding them. Some first year female birds can have odd color variations, usually muted but sometimes bright yellow, which make birds look very confusing, indeed. For example, I had a first year female ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER (early, I know) that looked like the bird in The Warbler Guide (Peterson) p. 50, except the the throat and chest (which is all that I saw) were the brightest yellow I have ever seen on an Orange-crowned. The head was gray-green, but hooded, with a nicely-broken bold eye-ring. So I'm thinking, Is this a MacGillivray's Warbler!?! I don't think it was, but I had to search repeatedly for the bird, which never sat still long enough for a pic. This was definitely a time suck. I also wanted to get some nice pictures for the blog and take advantage of Nat's photo skills. This also put us behind a bit. But, whatever. It was fun. So anyway, it was a great day, as always, but we missed going to 4 spots that would definitely have added birds, and we missed.....this is really embarrassing......a ROCK PIGEON! Are you kidding me!? Yes, that's right, I didn't get to either of the 2 good spots in Lake County for Rock Pigeon. That's the kind of day it was.<br />
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Nat and I began our BirdQuest at 2:00am at Rollins. Have I ever said that I love this place? I do. Got a whining juvenile GREAT HORNED OWL for bird #1 followed closely by a bird we missed last month, a SORA, squeaking from the east trail marsh. Interestingly we had 3 Soras on the day. I'm guessing these were juveniles exercising their calling capabilities or running around in plain sight because juveniles think they're invincible. Wait, are we talking people or birds?<br />
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Next stop was our Barred Owl spot.....and our first disappointment of the night. Alas, my Barred Owl friend, who has been with us all year so far, failed to come out and play last night. We were a little downtrodden after this unfortunate event. To add insult to injury we got no new birds at either Volo or COLSP either. These places have both been money in the past so this was especially difficult to swallow. Next stop was our favorite private residence, which has an incredible cattail marsh, and also has delivered for us on our Big Days. Fortunately, today was no exception or I might have quit and gone home......just kidding. We had a grunting VIRGINIA RAIL and a distant whinnying EASTERN SCREECH OWL to give us two big birds for the evening. High fives were exchanged and an immediate lifting of the spirits commenced. The last nocturnal bird we were hoping for was a whippoorwill. We missed this bird last year in August, so I wasn't confident of our chances, but as soon as we got out of the car at IBSP we had a roadside calling WHIPPOORWILL, no taping required. How 'bout it! So we ended our nocturnal sojourn with all the owls, including an amazing 12 Great Horned Owls, save our Barred Owl, all the rails, a spontaneously calling Whippoorwill, and some nice mojo coming into daybreak.<br />
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Usually I start on the Des Plaines River for songbirds and then hit the lakefront. This time, however, I decided to start at Waukegan. The thing about Waukegan is that if you're not the first person there, the birds often flush and sometimes are not seen again. I was determined to get there first, so Nat and I were there ready to go at 6am.....and we STILL weren't first. People were there before sunrise for cryin' out loud. We didn't miss anything, though, and had nice looks at an adult BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER as we walked down the beach.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8gzkjw7BxWI9NTdPOfqAyZxTpys2YqGodGFctf5XQT1As9lFatZyJ3QZtExq485hyy4mrcpMIfziJtUrd0kt3dDWuODKJUfGPfmxYdrfAn2kE433sgH6A_1gRNDcokyX2_eWYcOQVDQ/s1600/Black_bellied_plover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8gzkjw7BxWI9NTdPOfqAyZxTpys2YqGodGFctf5XQT1As9lFatZyJ3QZtExq485hyy4mrcpMIfziJtUrd0kt3dDWuODKJUfGPfmxYdrfAn2kE433sgH6A_1gRNDcokyX2_eWYcOQVDQ/s1600/Black_bellied_plover.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
(all photos in this blog post courtesy of Nat Carmichael)<br />
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Also had some SANDERLINGS and a SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER but no Ruddy Turnstone or Red Knot. Walking the beach takes time, though, so we were pushing to get to the pines and check for songbirds. As we were walking back to the parking lot a pair of BREWER'S BLACKBIRDS flew by us given away by the all black male and gray female combination. Nice bird. In the pines the best birds were a group of juvenile BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS foraging on the lawn and our only dirty bird of the day, a RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH which Nat saw but would not show its face for me. There were warblers in the air but the only one we could ID in a tree was a BLACKPOLL.<br />
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We headed to IBSP South next which was the most time-consuming stop of the day other than Rollins. We were at the South Unit for close to 2 hours. We checked 3 places along the beach for Buffies but were shut out. We had a nice pocket of warblers, though, along with multiple SWAINSON'S THRUSHES and a VEERY. We definitely had lots of nice birds but the loss of time hurt us in the end. Other highlights:<br />
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Best warbler spots: IBSP South and the south ravine at Ft. Sheridan. We ended with 12 sp. of warblers. The best being the aforementioned Orange-crowned at Lyons Woods. Lyons also gave us a nice BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO.<br />
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Best Shorebird/waterbird spot: Rollins as usual, though we got PIED-BILLED GREBE at Almond Marsh. Here's a few shots from Rollins:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwHqs-VnO8fSuIwR6RTegQ3zL2tUFj9pN_GnIRpmITg3F6rsAj39Bfkxac7hEd8zRWPpuuz5tmm493SB8xPqI9FdSrqx-5m2FRta25LcC82gy2LYs4JwL4eICc3MVz-VD9kNcWBZ1i_A/s1600/Pintail_and_Dowitcher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwHqs-VnO8fSuIwR6RTegQ3zL2tUFj9pN_GnIRpmITg3F6rsAj39Bfkxac7hEd8zRWPpuuz5tmm493SB8xPqI9FdSrqx-5m2FRta25LcC82gy2LYs4JwL4eICc3MVz-VD9kNcWBZ1i_A/s1600/Pintail_and_Dowitcher.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
Female Northern Pintail and juvenile Short-billed Dowitcher<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihny10byB8ZbKNwaB3kzX1EQ3uMAtlkiTWIymLSemMXhOFG19jw6BWg5rVB4ZYp39Q8TBsTH2KLrbl8Sp3jxAcqROzdaS7jw9zMhre58JFZx-RwLlLWLLfhMexoqgLJdhGw55DhIuO6A/s1600/Stilt_sandpipers_lesser_yellowlegs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihny10byB8ZbKNwaB3kzX1EQ3uMAtlkiTWIymLSemMXhOFG19jw6BWg5rVB4ZYp39Q8TBsTH2KLrbl8Sp3jxAcqROzdaS7jw9zMhre58JFZx-RwLlLWLLfhMexoqgLJdhGw55DhIuO6A/s1600/Stilt_sandpipers_lesser_yellowlegs.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
2 Stilt Sandpipers (bottom birds) with Lesser Yellowlegs<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWJ6EpfDpnr1JtR-hYchmzXZpgqR0SObN4GDtyYwxN_XXnKUhyphenhyphenSXS86UOcKG5HRJWE1GfnGTT8Rq9_JtkOHkHJyq-qIV39vbu9Q-aE27wPROeC6CTerXM-j5iwiNCoBBATJl_F-bmZHw/s1600/Yellowlegs_Bairds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWJ6EpfDpnr1JtR-hYchmzXZpgqR0SObN4GDtyYwxN_XXnKUhyphenhyphenSXS86UOcKG5HRJWE1GfnGTT8Rq9_JtkOHkHJyq-qIV39vbu9Q-aE27wPROeC6CTerXM-j5iwiNCoBBATJl_F-bmZHw/s1600/Yellowlegs_Bairds.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
Lesser Yellowlegs with Baird's Sandpiper<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8W1N4QUKx_bxYCVROEu6uxSsUyqUXUNasYet89M9TcTFPKWhWjCFp3zQbpRWowxRAXcknfT3zOAyB418h75sK5WfVm-CHCC9euwp92Ss928By7cg_UmlT7r8ukMNtGEXBT3x7KBSTQQ/s1600/Cranes_herons_shoveler.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8W1N4QUKx_bxYCVROEu6uxSsUyqUXUNasYet89M9TcTFPKWhWjCFp3zQbpRWowxRAXcknfT3zOAyB418h75sK5WfVm-CHCC9euwp92Ss928By7cg_UmlT7r8ukMNtGEXBT3x7KBSTQQ/s1600/Cranes_herons_shoveler.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
Great Egrets, Great Blue Heron, and Northern Shoveler<br />
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Most People- COLSP and Fairmont Shores. The goldfinch trail literally had a person come by every 30 seconds to a minute for the first 5 minutes we were on the trail. OK that's an exaggeration, but it SEEMED like it was that many. We got the LAST parking spot at Fairmont Shores to check for Bald Eagle, which we whiffed on, but I've never seen that place crowded on a Sunday night before, though I guess Monday being Labor Day would make a difference. Here's a couple of nice shots from COLSP.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL-glpuHhElwAL6Od-IjrjcTJ4WMlkb3BWQPDE-EHbJAOM8EfmZmWnyePDgHovA1oan_lJT0MqVLvZD1PwNDqfjHUP3CLtT8uPWS7CwJC52iPbqJ1pu_KOw5J5NJJ-oCsu3IulX8pUqw/s1600/Nighthawk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL-glpuHhElwAL6Od-IjrjcTJ4WMlkb3BWQPDE-EHbJAOM8EfmZmWnyePDgHovA1oan_lJT0MqVLvZD1PwNDqfjHUP3CLtT8uPWS7CwJC52iPbqJ1pu_KOw5J5NJJ-oCsu3IulX8pUqw/s1600/Nighthawk.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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Not-so-Common Nighthawk</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg4-u6SyqOhXFqtiuHQjfKZhTUCw83mwotg1JAVZ2GfbENByMKV6cetKGAB3uB99Qo4CQt0qoqhJ2vBSKJQP12Vumz1XULp74xg5AwUurGL_JvR3gxYXbfvrMoI9wHEbHYF1ef4zoNSA/s1600/Osprey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg4-u6SyqOhXFqtiuHQjfKZhTUCw83mwotg1JAVZ2GfbENByMKV6cetKGAB3uB99Qo4CQt0qoqhJ2vBSKJQP12Vumz1XULp74xg5AwUurGL_JvR3gxYXbfvrMoI9wHEbHYF1ef4zoNSA/s1600/Osprey.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
Osprey<br />
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Unleashed dogs- only 2. both at Ft. Sheridan. We had good luck with dogs.<br />
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Constant Companions: American Goldfinches. They were everywhere and in most spots were the only vocalizing birds. Cedar Waxwings were a close second.<br />
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Wader Heaven- At Almond Marsh, we had all 4 waders, which isn't big news, but it's still cool. Here's a nice Black-crown shot:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtTZXzkdEHmdGZXpd63YK2YawphCBB9nlBGvVhFs5XRnoNdqGcAWX7OwfTgqVjgmiVhzp5CHXHznkddlrEEvS9MYQs7mjQpMtxD2q4EIJ-Q1syLn_o_CFBpzcoeCMTCqBKaLwuorzqUg/s1600/Black_crowned_night_heron.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtTZXzkdEHmdGZXpd63YK2YawphCBB9nlBGvVhFs5XRnoNdqGcAWX7OwfTgqVjgmiVhzp5CHXHznkddlrEEvS9MYQs7mjQpMtxD2q4EIJ-Q1syLn_o_CFBpzcoeCMTCqBKaLwuorzqUg/s1600/Black_crowned_night_heron.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
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Unfortunately, the big misses were glaring:</div>
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Rock Pigeon, Chipping Sparrow, Dickcissel, Purple Martin, Brown Thrasher, Horned Lark, Barred Owl, Solitary Sandpiper, Bald Eagle, Cooper's Hawk, Belted Kingfisher, Scarlet Tanager, Yellow-throated Vireo, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Henslow's Sparrow, Hooded Merganser, Sedge Wren, Eastern Meadowlark, Common Grackle........yikes.</div>
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But it was great to be out birding with Nat, the weather was fantastic for a change, and the warblers are back. We finished with 105 sp. which was 6 better than last year, so I reached goal #1. All is good with the world.</div>
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See you in September!</div>
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Here's the List:</div>
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<h5 class="rep-spp-total" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">105 species</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Canada Goose 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Mute Swan 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Wood Duck 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Gadwall 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Mallard 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Blue-winged Teal 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Northern Shoveler 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Northern Pintail 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Green-winged Teal 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Wild Turkey 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Pied-billed Grebe 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Double-crested Cormorant 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Great Blue Heron 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Great Egret 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Green Heron 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Black-crowned Night-Heron 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Turkey Vulture 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Osprey 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Red-tailed Hawk 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Virginia Rail 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Sora 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Sandhill Crane 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Black-bellied Plover 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Semipalmated Plover 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Killdeer 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Spotted Sandpiper 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Lesser Yellowlegs 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Stilt Sandpiper 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Sanderling 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Baird's Sandpiper 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Least Sandpiper 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Pectoral Sandpiper 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Semipalmated Sandpiper 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Short-billed Dowitcher 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Ring-billed Gull 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Herring Gull 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Caspian Tern 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Mourning Dove 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Black-billed Cuckoo 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Eastern Screech-Owl 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Great Horned Owl 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Common Nighthawk 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Eastern Whip-poor-will 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Chimney Swift 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Red-headed Woodpecker 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Red-bellied Woodpecker 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Downy Woodpecker 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Hairy Woodpecker 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Northern Flicker 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">American Kestrel 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Eastern Wood-Pewee 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Willow Flycatcher 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Least Flycatcher 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Eastern Phoebe 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Eastern Kingbird 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Warbling Vireo 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Philadelphia Vireo 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Red-eyed Vireo 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Blue Jay 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">American Crow 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Tree Swallow 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Bank Swallow 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Barn Swallow 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Cliff Swallow 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Black-capped Chickadee 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Red-breasted Nuthatch 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">White-breasted Nuthatch 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">House Wren 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Marsh Wren 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Eastern Bluebird 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Veery 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Swainson's Thrush 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">American Robin 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Gray Catbird 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">European Starling 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Cedar Waxwing 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Black-and-white Warbler 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Tennessee Warbler 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Orange-crowned Warbler 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Common Yellowthroat 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">American Redstart 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Magnolia Warbler 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Blackburnian Warbler 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Chestnut-sided Warbler 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Blackpoll Warbler 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Palm Warbler 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Black-throated Green Warbler 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Wilson's Warbler 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Eastern Towhee 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Field Sparrow 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Savannah Sparrow 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Song Sparrow 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Swamp Sparrow 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Northern Cardinal 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Indigo Bunting 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Bobolink 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Red-winged Blackbird 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Brewer's Blackbird 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Brown-headed Cowbird 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Baltimore Oriole 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">House Finch 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">American Goldfinch 1</span><br style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">House Sparrow 1</span></h5>
beauschaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07538027493688457172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8350694313561700090.post-86226888515603406392014-07-14T18:05:00.000-07:002014-09-01T09:41:23.437-07:00Ya Just Never Know What Ur Gonna Get.....7/14/14<br />
Yesterday Andy Stewart and I journeyed forth on my 19th straight monthly Big Day, 18 of those in Lake County. As always it was filled with surprises and frustrations, but it ended up being my 2nd most rewarding Big Day (after May) of the year.<br />
The day started rather bleakly and with a great deal of uncertainty. I have never started a big day in the rain before, and I wasn't about to this month, but at 12:00 midnight it was raining and only a few minutes earlier there had been some nasty thunderstorms and wind. We were currently under a tornado watch until 1am. Not exactly ideal conditions for nocturnal forays to hear birds. I was ready to cash it in right there at 11:30pm and go back to bed, but the radar showed the storms to be moving fairly quickly. Sure enough the rain was all but done by 1:00am. I called Andy and picked him up at his house at 12:45. After loading the car up, we headed to our first stop, Bowen Park. Bowen has since been ousted by COLSP as my favorite place for EASTERN SCREECH OWL, but I wanted to go east to west and start daybreak at Grant Woods. This necessitated starting at Bowen to maximize our chances for screech owl. Cue the first major frustration of the Big Day: powerless iPod. I made sure to check my iPod for power before leaving the house and it showed a full green battery. So I THOUGHT I was good to go. However, no sooner did I pull said iPod out of my pocket and turn it on, than the "charge battery" light went on. NOOOOOO! This ticked me off quite a bit, but I still had my iPhone which WAS powered up. It's not very loud, though, which is why I like the iPod w/speaker. Anyway, I played the tooting and whinnying calls a couple of times with no response. After about 5-10 minutes, I decided to play the "squeals and bill snaps" choice from the Sibley App. I didn't even get through half of it before a screech owl flew right over our head squealing. I had never heard this call from a screech owl before, so it scared the bodily fluids right out of me momentarily, but then became probably the coolest birding moment of the day. Pretty nice bird #1 at 1:27am.<br />
From here we headed to the South Unit where we had a juvenile GREAT HORNED OWL making begging calls not far from the visitor center, and a distant, but clearly audible EASTERN WHIPPOORWILL calling. 2 great birds, but we were disappointed with 0 rails. IBSP is always a great rail spot, so getting none was a little disturbing. We then headed to Spring Bluff where we had our only Sora in June. Today we got nuthin except a nicely hooting adult GREAT HORNED OWL, which was a bird that Eric Lundquist and I missed last year. So we had 2 owls and 1 whip but 0 rails as we headed west. Our private residence for Common Gallinule gave us no gallinule but it did give us a nicely grunting VIRGINIA RAIL. No Sora, though. Deja vu. In June we struggled to get this bird, as well. Since when is Sora a tough bird? I had them through September last year with no problem. I wasn't liking our Sora-less landscape in Lake County right now. Sure enough, neither COLSP nor Volo Bog, another great rail spot, surrendered a Sora, which became our first big miss of the day. Big Disappointment soon became Jubilant Elation, however, as our ever-faithful BARRED OWL took all of 1 second to respond to my "who-cooks-for-you" call at Lakewood FP. Love that bird. So we ended the night with all 3 owls, which was 2 better than last year. Nice.<br />
DAYBREAK:<br />
Friday and Saturday this week I put in a lot of time into scouting, and I found some pretty nice birds, so I wanted to maximize my chances for getting them on Sunday obviously. I thought that the best way to do this would be to hit Grant Woods first and then Daniel Wright before heading to the lakefront. This strategy added a couple of birds, but should have given up more. At Grant Woods, we heard/saw our only BROWN THRASHER and OVENBIRD of the day, but the Alder Flycatcher and Pine Warbler were silent and invisible. I knew the Alder would be tough, but I thought we would get the Pine. As it turned out, we missed 5 birds yesterday that I had on Friday. That was incredibly frustrating. It makes me wonder what the actual point of scouting is???? Scouting for habitat and probability is useful, I suppose. I need to realize, though, that birds are fickle. Just another of the challenges of Big Day Birding. So on to Daniel Wright which gave us our only HOODED WARBLER as a "good" bird. Off to the lakefront where we got nothing of note at Waukegan except CASPIAN TERN, a beautiful buffy-chested juvenile PEREGRINE FALCON at the Midwest Gen, a calling YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO in the woods at Lyons Woods (we had another YB fly in right in front of us at Middlefork), LARK SPARROW, BREWER'S BLACKBIRD, and a calling BELTED KINGFISHER at IBSP South (Andy also spotted one fishing from a wire off of 173), BLUE GROSBEAK at the North Unit, and a pair of HOODED MERGANSERS in the slip at NPM. Biggest miss at this point was Grasshopper Sparrow. Not sure how we missed that bird. We were there around 10:00am. Maybe they were siesta-ing by then? Who knows. Anyway we headed west to Kelly Rd. and Crawford Rd. where, at 1:00pm, I was not hopeful of getting a Vesper Sparrow. However, joy-of-joys, our last stop on the way out I heard a singing VESPER SPARROW off the road by a farm building. Woohoo! Andy missed hearing it, though, so that was our 2nd dirty bird of the day (I heard a couple of Yellow Warblers earlier as well). At East Loon Lake we had 2 BLACK TERNS (we had 5 at the boat launch at COLSP) but our golden spot for Yellow-headed Blackbird, which I had on Friday, gave us nada after looking for 15 minutes. That was probably the toughest miss for me because I know that bird is there. We headed to COLSP hoping for a bundle of birds that we needed.....and we got most of them, which was awesome. COLSP is a great place to bird and consistently gives you SCARLET TANAGER and YELLOW-THROATED VIREO, which it did yesterday as well. It was the only spot for these birds as well as ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK, and OSPREY. Best bird here, though, may have been a low-flying flyover PECTORAL SANDPIPER- our first migrant shorebird of the day.<br />
After leaving Chain-O-Lakes I played my Shot-in-the-Dark Card and strolled over to Sullivan Lake to check for swans. We saw 1 bird on the lake, but it was a good one, a beautiful adult TRUMPETER SWAN. Hadn't seen that bird for a few months so that was a big pick-me-up. Over at Lakewood the CLAY-COLORED SPARROWS were still buzzing away at 3:30 in the afternoon, which was awesome as well.<br />
The Make-or-Break spot for us has always been Rollins, though. It's by far the best waterfowl spot, and this year, the ONLY shorebird spot in the county. And today it did not disappoint. We had 6 shorebird species here with the best being 2 SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS. We also had 2 RUDDY DUCK males and a calling PIED-BILLED GREBE. The big question I have, though, is "where, o where, have the Blue-winged Teal gone?" I have not seen one of these birds since the beginning of July. Don't ever remember them being tough to find in July. I had 8 of them last year. Hope this isn't a nasty harbinger of some sort, along with the dearth of Soras.<br />
With a couple of stops left we headed to Almond Marsh for BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON and GREEN HERON (also another HOODED MERGANSER), to Independence Grove for PURPLE MARTIN, and then to Fort Sheridan. We still needed Baltimore Oriole and Red-headed Woodpecker. Strangely enough, we had probably 5 or 6 ORCHARD ORIOLES but no Baltimores, so we hopped on our bikes and slowly rode around the wood-chip trail near the south ravine by the parking lot. In about 5 minutes we had a great look at a head-high male BALTIMORE ORIOLE followed by nice looks at an adult RED-HEADED WOODPECKER.<br />
We finished off the day at Middlefork looking at a YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO and then sipping gatorade on the patio of a friend while we watched her hummingbird feeder to no avail.<br />
I stopped at Rollins on the way home for 2 HENSLOW'S SPARROWS which had eluded us on the day, so that gave us 3 dirty birds: Vesper Sparrow, Yellow Warbler, and Henslow's Sparrow.<br />
It was a pretty awesome day, and we did pretty well, but I'm always thinking how it could have been better. We missed 3rd place for a Northern Illinois Big Day by 1 bird and 2nd place by 7. I can't help thinking we had a good shot at 2nd place if we would have gotten the 5 birds I had on Friday. Those plus a coot, Bw Teal, and grasshopper sparrow give us a tie for 2nd which would be spectacular. I'll take 108 for a July Big Day in one county, though. A day which beat our June Big Day of 104.<br />
Thanks again to my compadre, Andy Stewart, whose good-natured temperament and patience even out my spastic personality, and whose sharp eyes always pick up a good bird when we need it (can you say distant turkey vulture?). Thanks also for hauling that heavy scope through vegetation for an hour and a half! Thanks also to all the people who responded very quickly and clearly to my many emails. Your help is greatly appreciated.<br />
As always, Good Birding!<br />
<br />
Here's the List:<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">lake county big day, Lake, US-IL</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Jul 13, 2014 1:30 AM - 9:30 PM</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Protocol: Traveling</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">200.0 mile(s)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Comments: w/andy stewart</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">108 species</span><br />
<br style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;" />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Canada Goose 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Mute Swan 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Trumpeter Swan 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Wood Duck 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Gadwall 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Mallard 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Hooded Merganser 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Ruddy Duck 1 male, non-breeding w/white cheek patches</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Pied-billed Grebe 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Double-crested Cormorant 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Great Blue Heron 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Great Egret 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Green Heron 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Black-crowned Night-Heron 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Turkey Vulture 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Osprey 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Red-tailed Hawk 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Virginia Rail 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Sandhill Crane 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Killdeer 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Spotted Sandpiper 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Solitary Sandpiper 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Lesser Yellowlegs 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Least Sandpiper 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Pectoral Sandpiper 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Short-billed Dowitcher 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Ring-billed Gull 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Herring Gull 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Caspian Tern 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Black Tern 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Mourning Dove 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Eastern Screech-Owl 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Great Horned Owl 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Barred Owl 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Eastern Whip-poor-will 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Chimney Swift 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Belted Kingfisher 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Red-headed Woodpecker 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Red-bellied Woodpecker 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Downy Woodpecker 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Hairy Woodpecker 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Northern Flicker 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">American Kestrel 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Peregrine Falcon 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Eastern Wood-Pewee 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Willow Flycatcher 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Eastern Phoebe 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Great Crested Flycatcher 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Eastern Kingbird 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Yellow-throated Vireo 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Warbling Vireo 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Red-eyed Vireo 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Blue Jay 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">American Crow 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Horned Lark 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Northern Rough-winged Swallow 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Purple Martin 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Tree Swallow 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Bank Swallow 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Barn Swallow 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Cliff Swallow 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Black-capped Chickadee 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">White-breasted Nuthatch 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">House Wren 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Sedge Wren 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Marsh Wren 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Eastern Bluebird 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Wood Thrush 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">American Robin 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Gray Catbird 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Brown Thrasher 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">European Starling 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Cedar Waxwing 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Ovenbird 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Common Yellowthroat 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Hooded Warbler 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">American Redstart 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Yellow Warbler 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Eastern Towhee 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Chipping Sparrow 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Clay-colored Sparrow 1 continuing</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Field Sparrow 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Vesper Sparrow 1 continuing</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Lark Sparrow 1 breeding at this site; singing</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Savannah Sparrow 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Henslow's Sparrow 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Song Sparrow 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Swamp Sparrow 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Scarlet Tanager 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Northern Cardinal 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Blue Grosbeak 1 continuing</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Indigo Bunting 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Dickcissel 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Bobolink 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Red-winged Blackbird 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Eastern Meadowlark 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Brewer's Blackbird 1 continuing</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Common Grackle 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Brown-headed Cowbird 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Orchard Oriole 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">Baltimore Oriole 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">House Finch 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">American Goldfinch 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica-LightOblique; font-size: 18px;">House Sparrow 1</span><br />
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<br />beauschaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07538027493688457172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8350694313561700090.post-1164428119539769072014-06-02T17:43:00.002-07:002014-06-03T03:17:09.555-07:00Hello, Summer!.........Goodbye, Migrants! 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.<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
We still felt good about our night birds as we headed into daybreak despite missing gallinule.<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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:<br />
RYERSON- GREEN HERON (only one of the day), and a LINCOLN'S SPARROW showing its buffiness nicely. 0 migrant warblers......again.<br />
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.<br />
St. MARY'S- no RB Nuthatch which I had Saturday and the previous week; HAIRY WOODPECKER<br />
LAKEWOOD- CLAY-COLORED SPARROW, PURPLE MARTIN<br />
GRANT WOODS NORTH- BLUE-WINGED WARBLER, ALDER FLYCATCHER, no pine warbler which I had Saturday.<br />
FAIRMONT SHORES- BALD EAGLE<br />
COLSP- OSPREY, no pelican, no turkey<br />
PRIVATE RESIDENCE- YH BLACKBIRD<br />
CRAWFORD RD.- no vesper, HORNED LARK<br />
ROLLINS- HOODED MERGANSER (thanks, Al!), WB NUTHATCH (only one!)<br />
ALMOND MARSH- BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON<br />
Lakefront- BREWER'S BLACKBIRD, no Lark Sparrow, CASPIAN TERN (NPM)<br />
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Biggest misses:<br />
There were many but other than those previously mentioned were:<br />
Belted Kingfisher, American Kestrel, Cooper's Hawk<br />
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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!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S18658067" target="_blank">the list</a><br />
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<br />beauschaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07538027493688457172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8350694313561700090.post-1532096988567181922014-05-20T03:18:00.000-07:002014-05-20T03:28:58.985-07:00The 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.<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69HCm6JQcdg" target="_blank">Grasshopper Sparrow</a><br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
The Rest of the Story:<br />
Com Ed- no peregrine.......again. I don't think it exists. Just sayin'. I'm 0-93 on this bird this year.<br />
Lyons- no RB Nuthatch. Or anything else. Really?<br />
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.<br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLKLCqN8WS0" target="_blank">Prairie Warbler</a><br />
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Nicely done, Jeff!<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
North Unit- CLAY-COLORED SPARROW seen and heard north of Sand Pond Rd. bridge along the gravel trail. No YB Chat, however.<br />
NPM- Cliff Swallow colony but nothing else of note. No Willow Flycatcher calling.<br />
Headed west:<br />
Crawford Rd.- HORNED LARK, VESPER SPARROW<br />
Private Residence- YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD, COMMON GALLINULE<br />
COLSP- WILD TURKEY, OSPREY, AM. WHITE PELICAN, WOOD THRUSH<br />
East Loon Lake- BLACK TERN<br />
Rollins- N. SHOVELER, PB GREBE, RUDDY DUCK, COMMON NIGHTHAWK<br />
Almond Marsh- RING-NECKED DUCK, HOODED MERGANSER, BC NIGHT-HERON<br />
I. Grove- PURPLE MARTIN<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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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.<br />
Summary:<br />
26 Warbler sp. (my all-time high in Lake County), 13 sparrow sp., 11 waterfowl sp., 2 grebes, 7 shorebird sp.<br />
Thanks for reading. See you in June. It's coming quickly!<br />
<br />
Here's the List:<br />
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S18458099<br />
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<br />beauschaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07538027493688457172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8350694313561700090.post-91666022201843571432014-04-27T16:11:00.003-07:002014-04-27T16:20:21.919-07:00Is it Spring Yet?4/26/14 <br />
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.<br />
This was in stark contrast to the way the day began, however.<br />
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:<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TS14omsrEc" target="_blank">woodcock peenting</a><br />
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.<br />
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'.<br />
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.<br />
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!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7FqNLmdtBus85bEkyAJJDEw1G6Zt-14S5gi8lFuGwgjEewHn_osIXhzczmMWyQW3xxl36JW3pFEerrTc5EQfrlPgxlYm6BtJYyfnmeAVpUZaMja5pcz58Bp1DX2NCE_dgHprTz_jBEQ/s1600/P1030093.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7FqNLmdtBus85bEkyAJJDEw1G6Zt-14S5gi8lFuGwgjEewHn_osIXhzczmMWyQW3xxl36JW3pFEerrTc5EQfrlPgxlYm6BtJYyfnmeAVpUZaMja5pcz58Bp1DX2NCE_dgHprTz_jBEQ/s1600/P1030093.JPG" height="476" width="640" /></a></div>
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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.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmCw3D1JphRU7zHcwWGSGVhF_gnnQ6LDZWDjCSxVQXesCQcc6jp6SjdBmmoydlRyb_lAkvoEu3zaTqVmzJkZx0rHRjem-qWFsLai4qdX3OiMsTkTTEKB5Ap2N4Da-dB1bkBtAxcJcCvA/s1600/P1030092.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmCw3D1JphRU7zHcwWGSGVhF_gnnQ6LDZWDjCSxVQXesCQcc6jp6SjdBmmoydlRyb_lAkvoEu3zaTqVmzJkZx0rHRjem-qWFsLai4qdX3OiMsTkTTEKB5Ap2N4Da-dB1bkBtAxcJcCvA/s1600/P1030092.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></div>
male<br />
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female<br />
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:<br />
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2 Lesser Scaup (left) with at least 2 Greater Scaup (male-top, female- far right)</div>
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Red-headed Woodpeckers<br />
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:<br />
Best Bird: WILLET<br />
Best site: IBSP South or Ryerson<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
Warbler sp: 5 (yr, palm, oc, tenn, parula)<br />
Sparrow sp: 11<br />
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. <br />
Biggest misses: Cedar Waxwing, Vesper Sparrow on Crawford Rd, Rusty Blackbird on Goldfinch Trail, Common Loon, no wrens of any kind.<br />
Thanks, Andy, for awesome finds, great jokes, and a hazelnut latte.<br />
Thanks everyone for reading. Here's to some warmth in May......please!<br />
<a href="http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S18093624" target="_blank">The List</a><br />
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<br />beauschaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07538027493688457172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8350694313561700090.post-56103388996576576722014-03-25T11:06:00.001-07:002014-03-25T15:30:58.486-07:00Big 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.<br />
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 :<br />
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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. </div>
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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:</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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3. Barred owl- had 2 calling adults and 2 fledglings in a known nesting area:</div>
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4. grunting Great Blue Heron<br />
5. screaming Osprey<br />
6. Black-crowned Night Heron- quawking<br />
7. saw a Roseate Spoonbill at Eco Pond.<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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:<br />
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Tricolored Heron<br />
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Little Blue Heron</div>
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Anhinga</div>
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There were a lot of gators as well. Many were doing a lot of grunting and sounding very prehistoric. A couple were seriously big:<br />
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And seriously CLOSE</div>
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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.<br />
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And a couple nice waders:<br />
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Tricolored Heron (left) and imm Little Blue Heron (right)<br />
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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.<br />
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 :)<br />
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Best bird of our kayak trip was a nice red phase REDDISH EGRET. Very Sweet bird, but too distant for a photo.</div>
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).<br />
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.<br />
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:<br />
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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Highlights other than those previously mentioned, were these:</div>
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1. a personal best for raptors other than at the hawk watch with these birds:</div>
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a. Short-tailed Hawk</div>
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b. Red-shouldered Hawk- everywhere</div>
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c. Cooper's Hawk- not common here, so this was nice</div>
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d. Both vultures</div>
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e. Northern Harrier</div>
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f. Swallow-tailed Kite- had about 12, but most while driving and all while the camera was not available of course.</div>
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g. Bald Eagle</div>
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h. Osprey- these are everywhere at Flamingo. And VERY vocal.</div>
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i. Am. Kestrel</div>
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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.</div>
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3. Many BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCHES</div>
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4. 4 PILEATED WOODPECKERS</div>
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And others I'm sure I missed......</div>
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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......</div>
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Here's the list:</div>
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<a href="http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S17586986" target="_blank">Everglades Big Day</a></div>
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See you in April!</div>
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<br />beauschaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07538027493688457172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8350694313561700090.post-66665537159744512862014-02-24T03:31:00.002-08:002014-02-24T18:09:28.223-08:00The 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.<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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!<br />
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.<br />
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:<br />
Surprise #1: At a feeder of a friend, we had a calling TUFTED TITMOUSE. A tough bird for Lake County.<br />
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.<br />
Those were my two new year birds yesterday.<br />
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.<br />
Frustrations:<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
5. The CAROLINA WREN at a friend's house, that I have seen, was a no-show yesterday.<br />
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.<br />
Interesting Stat:<br />
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.<br />
Best spot:<br />
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.<br />
2nd best: The South Unit:<br />
We had 2 RED-THROATED LOONS, 5 RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS, GHO, and ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK here.<br />
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.<br />
Thanks again to Jeff and Steve for the laughs, the stories, the wipeouts on the ice, and, of course, the awesome birds!<br />
Until March (here's praying for some warmth!)......<br />
Beau Schaefer<br />
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Here's the list:<br />
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ake county big day, Lake, US-IL<br />
Feb 23, 2014 2:00 AM - 7:30 PM<br />
Protocol: Traveling<br />
200.0 mile(s)<br />
Comments: w/steve bailey and Jeff Sundberg<br />
60 species<br />
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Canada Goose 1<br />
Mute Swan 1<br />
Trumpeter Swan 1<br />
Gadwall 1<br />
American Black Duck 1<br />
Mallard 1<br />
Northern Pintail 1<br />
Canvasback 1<br />
Redhead 1<br />
Greater Scaup 1<br />
Lesser Scaup 1<br />
White-winged Scoter 1<br />
Long-tailed Duck 1<br />
Bufflehead 1<br />
Common Goldeneye 1<br />
Common Merganser 1<br />
Red-breasted Merganser 1<br />
Ruddy Duck 1<br />
Red-throated Loon 2 white face, slender build, upturned bill; 2 side-by-side<br />
Great Blue Heron (Blue form) 1<br />
Bald Eagle 1<br />
Red-tailed Hawk (Eastern) 1<br />
Rough-legged Hawk 1<br />
American Coot 1<br />
Ring-billed Gull 1<br />
Herring Gull (American) 1<br />
Thayer's Gull 1<br />
Lesser Black-backed Gull 1<br />
Glaucous Gull 1<br />
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 1<br />
Mourning Dove 1<br />
Eastern Screech-Owl 1<br />
Great Horned Owl 1 </blockquote>
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Barred Owl 1</blockquote>
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Belted Kingfisher 1</blockquote>
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Red-headed Woodpecker 1<br />
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1<br />
Downy Woodpecker 1<br />
Hairy Woodpecker 1<br />
Northern Shrike 1<br />
Blue Jay 1<br />
American Crow 1<br />
Horned Lark 1<br />
Black-capped Chickadee 1<br />
Tufted Titmouse 1<br />
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1<br />
White-breasted Nuthatch 1<br />
Brown Creeper 1<br />
American Robin 1<br />
European Starling 1<br />
Cedar Waxwing 1<br />
American Tree Sparrow 1<br />
Fox Sparrow 1<br />
White-throated Sparrow 1<br />
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 1<br />
Northern Cardinal 1<br />
Red-winged Blackbird 1<br />
House Finch 1<br />
American Goldfinch 1<br />
House Sparrow 1</blockquote>
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<br />beauschaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07538027493688457172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8350694313561700090.post-21860915345846430982014-01-03T17:28:00.002-08:002014-02-24T18:10:23.919-08:00January 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<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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!<br />
Some other highlights:<br />
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.<br />
Best Aesthetic moment:<br />
Catching a great look at 3 EASTERN BLUEBIRDS against the snowy landscape along the main park rd. at COLSP. Gorgeous birds!<br />
Biggest misses:<br />
Swamp Sparrow (a gimme every day I've been at Volo in the past 2 weeks), Barred Owl (not a good enough effort).<br />
Best snag:<br />
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.<br />
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.beauschaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07538027493688457172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8350694313561700090.post-53132803399994177032013-12-15T03:54:00.001-08:002014-01-09T17:20:39.511-08:00Why 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.......<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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!<br />
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.<br />
Looking forward to some great birding in 2014. Have a happy holiday season and go get 'em!beauschaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07538027493688457172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8350694313561700090.post-67740195947857123882012-12-31T15:55:00.002-08:002014-04-27T17:40:19.479-07:00The Lake County Big Year 2012 in Review Well, the Big Year has drawn to a close, so it's only fitting that some time be spent in reflection on the past year. There are a number of thoughts that cross my mind right about now, so I will try to present them in some orderly fashion. Firstly, I would like to give thanks to all my birding compadres and all of you who have taken the time to read my blog. I greatly appreciate it. To my birding pals, especially my Lake County brethren, Al Stokie, Jim Solum, and Adam Sell, thanks for helping me either directly or indirectly to see some pretty nice birds this year. Also thanks to the Hawkwatch crew of Sell, Sweet, and Berardi. I would have missed even more if not for you guys. Thanks. Also thanks to Todd Anderson for getting the word out so quickly on that EVENING GROSBEAK. That was the only lifer I had this year, and it was only seen that one day. Got pretty lucky on that one. So.....what other reflections are appropriate at this time? I like lists, so let's go that route:<br />
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Best Bird: Obviously a tough one as I had a few county lifers, but I only had 1 ABA lifer, an EVENING GROSBEAK. Coolest bird of the year. A close second was the big rush I got from seeing a SWAINSON'S HAWK give us killer looks as it flew over Adam Sell, Paul Sweet, and myself at the Hawkwatch. I think 2nd runner-up would be the BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPERS that I never in a million years thought I would get in Lake County. I actually had them on multiple days in 2 different locations. I love those birds.<br />
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Bird I worked the hardest to get: No question. Black-billed Cuckoo. I must have searched for that bird all summer in every possible location that had suitable habitat. Ryerson/Daniel Wright Woods, Chain O Lakes SP, IBSP North and South, Grant Woods.....you name it. When I finally saw that bird in Late August, I did the Happy Dance. I got great looks at the buffy throat, too, which was key for me.<br />
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Most Frustrating Miss: This is tough. I think I had 3 birds that were frustrating for different reasons. I have never worked so hard to find a bird and been so close so many times without getting an identifiable look as I did with my search for a Long-eared Owl. I searched every possible habitat on public land in Lake County and flushed no less than 4 owls that I was pretty sure, based on size, were Long-eared. I never saw enough of the bird, due to distance or obstruction, to tell which owl it was, though. Still bugs the snot out of me that I couldn't get that bird. It also bugs me that we have all kinds of great Long-eared habitat in Lake County......all on private land. Public land has almost none. It was also frustrating that I missed the Whimbrel at Waukegan Beach even though I was there the day Al saw it, but I didn't walk down to the end of the beach, and I didn't go back the next day because I figured it would be gone. Dumb. Lastly, the Mississippi Kite at the hawkwatch I missed about 5 or 6 times. Yeah..that was irritating.<br />
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Luckiest Find: Just the fact that I got my bins on a NORTHERN GOSHAWK as it passed by and got great looks at it, just as Vic Berardi yelled out, "GOSHAWK!" If I would have had any trouble finding it at all, which is normal for me, I would have missed anything but a butt shot. Was really happy about that one.<br />
Runner-up would have to be the FRANKLIN'S GULLS that flew by me in about 5 seconds about 30 ft. off the shoreline at NPM. I got nice looks even though they were brief. Incidentally, I got both those birds on the same day. Must have been my lucky day :)<br />
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Unexpected Surprise: The number of CAROLINA WRENS I saw/heard this year. This bird was a county lifer for me this year, and I had them in at least 5 different locations. Amazing. Runner up would be the number of RED-THROATED LOONS that I saw this year. I had at least 5 on the water and a number of fly bys. This bird is usually a tough bird for me to find every year.<br />
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Unexpected Difficulty: BLACK SCOTER. Even though I saw this bird, it was a fleeting fly by and that was the only time all year that I saw one well enough to ID. Never saw any actually on the water.<br />
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Misses for the year that other people had:<br />
1. Purple Sandpiper- Jan<br />
2. Harlequin Duck- Feb<br />
3. Northern Mockingbird (2)- Apr, May<br />
4. Yellow-throated Warbler (at Rollins no less!)- May<br />
5. Whimbrel- Aug<br />
6. Swallow-tailed Kite- summer/fall<br />
7. Mississippi Kite- hawkwatch<br />
8. Say's Phoebe- hawkwatch<br />
9. Lark Sparrow- (2) Jun, Aug<br />
10. Greater White-fronted Goose- (2) March, Oct.<br />
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ABA Lifers:<br />
1. Evening Grosbeak<br />
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Illinois Lifers:<br />
1. Evening Grosbeak<br />
2. Laughing Gull<br />
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Lake County Lifers:<br />
1. Evening Grosbeak<br />
2. Carolina Wren<br />
3. Swainson's Hawk<br />
4. Tufted Titmouse<br />
5. Harris' Sparrow<br />
6. Yellow-crowned Night Heron<br />
7. Laughing Gull<br />
8. Buff-breasted Sandpiper<br />
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Favorite Birding Location:<br />
1. Rollins Savanna- right near my house and all habitats, though not as much for forest birds.<br />
2. Geotube in Grass Lake- amazing oasis for shorebirds/water birds during migration. Had 1 state lifer here and 3 or 4 more rare birds this year.<br />
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It was a challenging year, but very rewarding. At the beginning of the year I was hoping for 250 and even as late as Oct. I wasn't thinking I was going to surpass 255, so I'm really happy to have reached 261 which was good enough for 2nd place all time to Eric Walters' 265.<br />
Thanks again for following along and best wishes for 2013!<br />
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<br />beauschaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07538027493688457172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8350694313561700090.post-74221593897528737272012-11-19T18:01:00.001-08:002012-12-30T18:50:28.935-08:00Beautiful Weather Bird Today I took my customary trip down to the lakefront to look for rare birds. I was determined to take my time today and not overlook anything of importance. I started at Sterling Lake and Ethel's Woods looking for Greater White-fronted Goose. No go. Then I headed to North Point Marina to check for any number of possibilities. I started by walking down to the far southern point past the locked gates.<br />
This area at the southeastern tip of the marina has great rocky shoreline for Harlequin Ducks or Purple Sandpipers. Unfortunately neither were present. It also happens to be an excellent spot for watching lake birds fly by or for scanning the lake for waterbirds. As I was scanning I saw large numbers of RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS both flying and in the water. As I was watching a small group of these birds fishing with some gulls, I noticed 2 birds close by but separated from the group. They looked shorter bodied and chunkier with big heads. This could be interesting, so I increased the magnification to 50x and was able to see the white cheeks, triangular head, brownish neck, and the best field mark, the bright yellow dagger-like bill of 2 RED-NECKED GREBES!!!! An excellent bird for Lake County and Big Year bird #261. Woohoo! The lighting was excellent and I was fortunate to have such good looks at a high magnification.<br />
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Red-necked Grebe internet photobeauschaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07538027493688457172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8350694313561700090.post-86931480129895897582012-11-18T11:00:00.000-08:002013-11-03T00:18:44.241-07:00After the Cold Front I still needed Golden Eagle and Northern Goshawk so far for the year, so my plan for today was to hang out at the hawk watch all day after checking the regular lakefront spots for ducks and gulls. After the passage of a cold front and accompanying low pressure is traditionally the best time for a good hawk flight and also the best chance to see a Franklin's Gull in the fall. So I started off my morning routine, as I usually do, by going to Waukegan Beach. There is rarely anything at Waukegan, and today was no exception. Zilch. Next stop was IBSP South. I pulled into the parking lot at the employee entrance right next o the beach where you can overlook a nice section of the lake and scan for waterfowl without walking 2 miles to the Dead River and back. As I got out of the car I heard the "Chit-Chit" of RED CROSSBILLS in the pines around the parking lot. I walked around to get a better look and 9 of them flew out of the pines and bolted. Nice bird. I then scanned the lake. There was a huge raft of scaup/redhead midway down the beach that, on most days, I would walk down and pick through. Today, however, I had to get to NPM before going to the hawk watch, so I didn't search for the needle in the haystack. I wish I would have after seeing that Montrose had a Harlequin Duck, but I just couldn't do everything. C'est le vie. I did see another distant RED-THROATED LOON, however, which you could tell from the white on its face and it's habit of lifting it's head up when sitting on the water. Nothing else, though, so I headed up to NPM to check the gulls and docks for grebes. Stateline Beach had nothing, so I headed to the south end and parked in the fisherman's parking area. The gates are locked now, so you have to walk to the southeastern tip. This I did. There were a large number of gulls on the docks, but, except for 1 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL, nothing interesting. I walked up to the fisherman's pier and scanned the lake. Nothing on the lake, but then I noticed some birds flying toward me from the NE. They looked like small gulls. What is this!? I followed them carefully as they approached and passed right by me. These birds were twisting and turning and were smaller gulls with pointed wings. I also got a nice look at the tops of the wings which were solid gray with a white border all the way to the tip which had some black in it. I also saw the black masks on the face....FRANKLIN'S GULLS!!!! These birds were definitely migrating as they shot their way past me and down the lakefront. Awesome. Bird #259! And I wasn't even at the hawkwatch yet. Things were looking good.<br />
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Internet photo Franklin's Gulls<br />
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Then I headed over to the Hawkwatch where we saw a couple of juvenile Red-shouldered Hawks and beautiful dark morph Rough-legged Hawk.....<br />
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We watched this hawk for a few minutes as it passed by. Thinking I had a minute to sit down and eat, I pulled up to the picnic table to open up my lunch. Not more than 2 seconds after I swung my leg over the bench, Vic Berardi yells out, "Goshawk....juvenile going left!" I quickly get up and throw my bins up to my face and turned left. Miraculously, I actually saw the NORTHERN GOSHAWK (#260) juvenile pass right next me for, what seemed like a long time even though it was only a few seconds. Great bird and Vic got some awesome photos:<br />
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NORTHERN GOSHAWK #260! Vic Berardi photos<br />
Thanks, Vic, for an awesome bird!<br />
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<br />beauschaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07538027493688457172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8350694313561700090.post-82777581305667474282012-11-13T03:26:00.001-08:002012-11-13T03:26:18.593-08:00The Feeder Bird Sometimes the best birds can be right outside the kitchen/patio/office windows. This doesn't happen to me because I had to take my feeders down due to an ever increasing mouse problem in my house. Consequently I need to check other feeders periodically to find feeder birds, especially finches. Ryerson Woods has a couple of nice feeder set ups, there are a couple in backyards near the path at McDonald Woods, and a couple of private residences that I know of have some elaborate feeding stations. Anyway, feeders became a major focus this fall due to the current finch invasion from the north. One finch in particular, the Evening Grosbeak, would be a lifer for me, so I was pretty excited that some had been seen in the surrounding Milwaukee and Indiana areas. None had been spotted in Illinois up to this time, however.<br />
On this day, as is my custom during the day, I was checking IBET posts during a free period, and saw one from fellow Lake County birder, Todd Anderson. It said that he had seen an Evening Grosbeak at his feeder off and on through the day. My heart almost stopped. Todd lives about 8 minutes from where I teach at LHS, so I quickly emailed him to see if I could come over after school. No problem, he replied. When the bell chimed 3:00, I was out the door and at Todd's house at 3:10. No bird, though. Steve Bailey, Jeff Skrentny, Craig Taylor, and Paul Sweet joined Todd and I as we staked out the feeders. 10 minutes.....20 minutes......still no bird. Finally after about 30 minutes, someone yelled out, "There it is!" "Where," I said. At that time it flew down to the feeder in front and we had great looks at a female EVENING GROSBEAK #258! It eventually flew down right next to the window, so it was real close. Very cool. I know Jeff got some great pictures:<br />
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EVENING GROSBEAK (female) photos by Jeff Skrentny<br />
A very exciting bird to see.beauschaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07538027493688457172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8350694313561700090.post-77399804561233807682012-10-28T13:09:00.000-07:002012-10-28T13:09:54.800-07:00The Challenge of the Lakewatch Last night while doing my night-before-birding prep of checking the weather forecast and reading the latest IBF/IBET updates, the prevailing thought was that today would bring NE winds and provide a nice opportunity for seeing some birds moving over the lake (a.k.a. a lakewatch). The NE winds theoretically blow the birds closer to shore. The challenge with the lake watch, for me, anyway, is twofold: 1.) the wind is blowing right in your face, is cold, and makes your scope and binoculars shake like a leaf; and 2.) the birds are distant, the sun is in the background, and ID is difficult. I've been looking at bird silhouettes quite a bit this fall, and I feel like I have a better, albeit still rudimentary, grasp of some of the shapes of the waterbirds. So today I was ready to find some good birds. I started the morning off at Ethel's Woods looking for a Greater White-fronted Goose but came up empty for about the 56th time in the past month. I've scanned more goose flocks than most hunters. I then headed to North Point Marina to check for Purple Sandpiper, which also was AWOL. I did, however, get some nice looks at my FOS (first of season) SNOW BUNTINGS.<br />
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I then headed over to IBSP South to the concession stand on the north end of the park which blocks the wind pretty well. From about 8:45-10:30am I scanned the lake from this point. There were a large number of birds moving over the lake, but as is usually the case with a lake watch, most of the birds are backlit and too far away to ID. I did get too see a fair number well enough to ID, though, including #257 BLACK SCOTER! Black Scoters are all dark birds with paler underwings. The female has a distinctive pale cheek, while the male has an orange knob on his bill. I've only seen 1 male ever. He was a cool bird, though. Mostly it's the females that show up in Illinois for some reason. Today was no different, though I may have had a first year male with a dull bill. I had 1 bird that was darker than the other two which were grayish-brown. They did fly close enough for me to see the pale cheeks on 2 of the birds and ID them as female-type Black Scoters.<br />
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INTERNET PHOTO<br />
Other Highlights:<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 15px;">Black Scoter-3</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="line-height: 15px;"><br />Surf Scoter- 10 (ID'd by their thick bodies and block-shaped heads in silhouette at 30x. They were at about 300-400 yds)</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="line-height: 15px;"><br />White-winged Scoter-21 (easy ID. All black birds at about 200yds. flying with the water behind them. Easy to see the white secondaries)</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="line-height: 15px;"><br />Red-throated Loon- 2 (ID'd by the thinner, seemingly longer neck and smaller body but still the hunchbacked shape and slower wingbeats of a loon. Too silhouetted to see the coloration)</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="line-height: 15px;"><br />Common Loon- 9</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="line-height: 15px;">Loon sp. 34</span><br style="line-height: 1.22em;" /><span style="line-height: 15px;">Red-breasted Merganser- 150+</span><br style="line-height: 1.22em;" /><span style="line-height: 15px;">Horned Grebe-1</span><br style="line-height: 1.22em;" /><span style="line-height: 15px;">Common Goldeneye-5</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="line-height: 15px;">A great day to see some uncommon lake birds!</span></span></span>beauschaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07538027493688457172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8350694313561700090.post-35220984056704706962012-10-20T18:13:00.002-07:002012-10-25T19:48:50.760-07:00The Return to the Hawkwatch Today's forecast was for WNW winds following the passage of Friday's cold front. This is the usual recipe for a pretty good day at the Illinois Beach State Park Hawkwatch at the north unit on 17th St. and Sheridan Rd. I got to the hawkwatch around 10:00am after stopping at Waukegan Beach to look for Franklin's Gull and Purple Sandpiper (no and no), IBSP South to check for scoters and grebes (saw none), and NPM to check for the same. Nada. Best birds I had on the morning before the hawkwatch were flyover AMERICAN PIPIT, LAPLAND LONGSPUR, PURPLE FINCH, and HORNED LARK along with 21 CANVASBACK off of Stateline Beach.<br />
I had a small catastrophe at Waukegan Beach where I saw Al Stokie, Adam Sell, and Nate Schirmacher. Somehow my scope fell off my tripod and into the sand. I didn't think it would be too bad because it was sand, but when I tried to look through it, all I saw was eternal blackness. The lenses were knocked off kilter, so now I have to send it in for repairs. Bummer. So I had no scope for the rest of the morning which made looking for waterfowl on the lake pretty futile.<br />
So I headed to the Hawkwatch where Paul and Janice Sweet, Adam Sell, and Nate Schirmacher were busy logging the day's eyeful of raptors. I got there around 10:00am and things got progressively better for the hour or so that I could stay. Normally, the hawkwatch is an incredibly frustrating experience for me. I can rarely stay very long, else I completely neglect my family, so it always seems that the real gems are seen right after I leave. This happened to some degree again today as 2 Goshawks were seen after I left and 1 flew by us while we were watching another bird! (really?), but I did get to see the real beauty of today's Hawkwatch extravaganza, my county lifer SWAINSON'S HAWK! #256. I'm not sure who saw it first. It seemed like Paul and Adam were on it at the same time exclaiming how this could be something "good." They made the Swainson's call shortly thereafter, but I needed the bird to fly almost directly over us and give us some sweet looks before I could absolutely tell that it was a Swainson's. Fortunately, Adam was nice enough to let me use his scope since mine was kaput, so I was able to get great looks. Unfortunately, I was so engrossed in the bird that I forgot to give the scope over to Nate. Sorry, Nate! It was a 2nd yr. immature bird and a real beauty!<br />
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internet photo<br />
Thanks to Paul and Adam for this awesome bird today!<br />
<br />beauschaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07538027493688457172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8350694313561700090.post-31814367108344871642012-10-16T20:29:00.000-07:002012-10-16T20:33:21.859-07:00The Dark I don't like the dark. Never have. I have just never outgrown the horror movie mentality that the dark holds all manner of rotten things. Consequently, looking for owls in the early morning before sunrise is especially stressful since every creaking limb or rustling leaf freaks me out. So this morning I thought I would head out to my favorite owl spot in Lake County, Lyons Woods, to look for my favorite owl, the saw-whet. I packed myself with iPod, iPhone, flashlight and headlamp and headed into the forest preserve about 5:30am. There was actually a fair amount of moonlight so it wasn't too bad. Yesterday there were some NW winds before they turned south last night, but the early morning this morning was one of the few times that it hasn't been windy in the past 2 weeks, so I figured I had a decent shot at hearing an owl.<br />
I found my first spot and leaned up against a large spruce tree to the side of the trail. I played the barking calls and cat whine calls from my iPod and waited. 2 minutes. 5 minutes. Nothing. I played the toots, and some more whine calls. More waiting......and more nothing. Then I hear a very clear bark...right in front of me. I scan with the flashlight but couldn't see anything. Branches were too dense. No doubt it was a saw-whet. It was too brief a call for me, though. I needed something more diagnostic, so I kept trying. I walked farther down the trail to another spruce stand and played the bark and whine calls again. After waiting a few minutes, I thought I heard some sounds coming from farther ahead on the trail so I walked down further and moved off trail under another spruce. I played the combo of calls again and waited. The next sound I heard nearly gave me a heart attack. It was a PERSON walking along the trail! What the heck is a person doing here in the darkness? There can't be another crazy owl-watcher out here.....can there? Two thoughts immediately went through my head. Either this guy is some creep looking for an innocent victim or coming back from some drug party somewhere OR he's going to see me and freak cuz he thinks I'M some kind of lunatic. In either case, I don't want to be seen, so I scrunch up next to the tree and hope he walks right by. As it turns out, there are 2 guys who are out walking their dogs. NOW I'm hoping that the dogs don't sniff me out and start barking or anything. I rotate around the tree as the four of them walk by me. No sound from the dogs. I wait until they're out of hearing distance and let out a deep sigh. That was close! I then play the calls 1 more time. Almost immediately I hear a loud whine come from right above my head!<br />
<a href="http://www.xeno-canto.org/sounds/uploaded/ARFGONJCBJ/NSWOscream12-26-09.mp3" target="_blank">whine</a><br />
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I look up with my flashlight and see nothing. I move to a different angle and try again. This time, about 15-20ft up I see a white form with a roundish head. The brightness of my flashlight and the large number of branches made it tough to see, but I saw the owl look down at me and move his head a couple of times before flying off. A NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL! #255. Very cool.<br />
beauschaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07538027493688457172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8350694313561700090.post-84913995792777869652012-10-14T12:17:00.002-07:002012-10-14T12:17:31.526-07:00The Search for the Needle in the Haystack It's October so it's peak time for Sparrows, the beginning of waterfowl migration, and peak migration for most raptors and owls. Having checked reports from Wisconsin, and seen large numbers of geese moving, I decided that my best chance for a new bird would be to scan flocks of Canada Geese for a Snow Goose or a Greater White-fronted Goose, both of which I still need for the year.<br />
Scanning goose flocks is a painstaking and potentially dangerous activity. Most of the time you only see hundreds of Canadas and usually the flocks are adjacent to busy roads, so getting hit by someone is a real possibility. Once in a while, though, you get lucky and find that diamond in the rough...that needle in a haystack, so the risk pays exciting dividends.<br />
Last Sunday was one such day. I had finished checking out the lakefront and was on my way home. I usually take 9th Ave. to 173 when I'm returning from North Point Marina as I was today. On the corner of 9th and Lewis is a small church with a small pond. This pond often has geese in it. This day was no exception. As I passed by and glanced at the flock, something white caught my attention. I quickly pulled into the church parking area and glassed the pond with my bins. Walla! Right in front of me was #254, a SNOW GOOSE!<br />
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Another benefit to searching through the goose flocks is that you may find some other good birds. Tuesday I was at Independence Grove for lunch and happened to see a large group of loafing Canadas on the swimming beach. I went down to take a look at them and again saw something white. I figured it was another Snow Goose, but after I got my scope on it, I saw that it was actually the much rarer ROSS' GOOSE! Not a new bird for me, since I had Steve Bailey's bird in the spring, but a great bird nonetheless, and the first time I had ever seen two Ross' in one year in Lake County.<br />
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internet photo<br />
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The main difference, aside from the fact that the Ross' is Smaller, is the bill. The Ross' Goose has a small, cute, pink bill with an obviously purple base to it while the Snow Goose has a big honker of a bill with a black "grin" or line separating the upper and lower mandibles. Pretty sweet bird!<br />
Since I still need A GWF goose, I continue to search through more flocks. Yesterday I saw a sizeable group on the east side of Rt. 45 in Lindenhurst, so I pulled off the road, which fortunately has a large shoulder, and scoped out the birds. Off to the left, at the top of a ridge, I again saw something white. I trained the scope on the birds and was treated to the sight of my 2nd TRUMPETER SWAN of the year.<br />
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There were actually 4 birds. So I, once again, find a nice bird but miss my target. Such is birding. Today the weather is pretty horrible, so hopefully I will be able to find something nice tomorrow. Good Birding!beauschaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07538027493688457172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8350694313561700090.post-30409037860331003822012-09-29T12:16:00.001-07:002012-09-29T12:16:32.095-07:00The "Grass" Plover #253 This morning I had a birding appointment with my good friend, Jim Solum. Since we had west winds overnight we decided to hit the lakefront and hope for some good sparrows or shorebirds. We headed first up the beach which looked incredibly vacant save for some gulls. The habitat on the beach looked great, however, with a few small sandbars and some nice algae mats. Unfortunately, we saw no shorebirds as we headed north. Jim is very adept at hearing flight calls and picking up flying birds. Usually I just stand there in awe as Jim calls out all these birds flying over us. I've gotten pretty good at picking them out over the last couple of years, though, and I was right with him today as we heard LAPLAND LONGSPURS and PINE SISKINS flying over us. Felt pretty good about that :) We continued to the small beach pond where we saw the ever-present juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron and a juvenile Pied-billed Grebe. While we were standing there a MERLIN flew right by us. We were lucky enough to see a second bird later in the morning, so that was pretty cool. Nothing else noteworthy, though. We decided to head back to the pier and parking lot. As we walked down the beach talking, I was paying minimal attention to what I had already determined to be "nothing on the beach." I should know better, though. At Waukegan there can be nothing one minute and something amazing the next minute. As we're walking Jim suddenly exclaims, "Plovers ahead flying along the beach!" Plovers were our target birds for the day, specifically AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER and BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER. These birds can be tough to ID in juvenile plumage since they look very similar. The one easily distinguishable feature is the color of the axillaries, or "armpits," in flight. Black-bellied Plovers have black armpits and Golden Plovers have gray armpits.<br />
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American Golden Plover<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPbDWAGhi-z8_V9fywihRzjreZ9QLLKx7h32Oj9FAnaIKvMq4jNU3J5CYnjMRKOrLx9b5IkZ3uKbseYpyfVXgvXyzQFHGKOpz3AJW-eIzoyhoPNVs1P3ssjIK_tJEgVWvEfuFohQ7gVg/s1600/BBPLd911.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="472" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPbDWAGhi-z8_V9fywihRzjreZ9QLLKx7h32Oj9FAnaIKvMq4jNU3J5CYnjMRKOrLx9b5IkZ3uKbseYpyfVXgvXyzQFHGKOpz3AJW-eIzoyhoPNVs1P3ssjIK_tJEgVWvEfuFohQ7gVg/s640/BBPLd911.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
Black-bellied Plover<br />
(internet photos)<br />
As our birds turned and flew away from the beach and then came toward us, we could see that 2 of the birds had black armpits and one of the birds had pale armpits. The paler bird was also slightly smaller than the other 2, another characteristic of American Golden Plover. So, even though we didn't get extended looks, we saw the bird well enough to ID it as an AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER #253!<br />
I was doubtful about getting a chance to see this bird as it is normally found on sod farms along with other "grasspipers" like Upland Sandpipers and Buff-breasted Sandpipers. Amazingly, there are 0 sod farms in Lake County, so I thought my chances were slim of seeing any of these 3 birds. I know they show up on the beach at times, but that's always iffy, so I'm really happy I was able to see 2 of the 3 of these birds this year (missed Upland).<br />
On the way out we stopped in the pines and along the parking lot to look for sparrows. We had 1 GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH, and 3 LINCOLN'S SPARROWS as highlights.<br />
Thanks to Jim for another great morning of birding!beauschaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07538027493688457172noreply@blogger.com0