Sat 26 May 2007
Information about the Crane Count in April and the Spring Bird Count in May have been added to the website - www.ncios.org/birding.html .
As always, if there are any corrections, additions, or suggestions, please contact Eddie Callaway at birdfreak@birdfreak.com.
Fri 25 May 2007
Today, I took Dakota and my niece Sammie to Kishwaukee Forest Preserve to look for the Brood XIII Cicadas. We found them! They were covering the tree trunks in some areas. We saw a lot of different birds eating them up and had a lot of fun.
Here are the birds we saw eating the cicadas this afternoon:
Eastern Kingbird
Sun 20 May 2007
Here is the list so far for the weekend of birding. There are 121 species. If anyone saw any bird in the county from Friday the 18th to Sunday the 20th that is not on the list, let us know and we'll add it! Thanks for all that helped build up the list!
Updated: May 20th, 2007, 9:00 PM
Sat 19 May 2007
Hello,
This evening around 5:30 p.m., Eddie and I went to Deer Run Forest Preserve to walk through the prairie fields. We were pleased and surprised to find many different kinds of sparrows there.
Grasshopper Sparrow
Directions to Henslow's Sparrow: Take path from horse trail parking, turn right and follow the field until near the second treeline to the north (the taller grass part).
There are also Sedge Wrens, Bluebirds, and Indigo Buntings.
What a great find! Hopefully, some will be nesting and we'll see them all summer!
On the Bioblitz today at Anna Page Conservation Forest, Jack Armstrong spied a Yellow-breasted Chat and heard a Pileated Woodpecker! What a great day!
Tue 15 May 2007
Hi there!
We are going to partake in an event to claim
Winnebago County
as the
birdiest county
in the interior of the USA. We have some strong competition such as Texas...but hey! it will be loads of fun anyway! The
Bioblitz
on Saturday should help with the species count too.
Our goal is to amass over 150 species. If anyone would like to join us in this fun bird search, send an e-mail to veery@birdfreak.com. If you are birding anywhere in Winnebago County on May 18th, 19th, or 20th, please post or e-mail your sightings. We don't want to miss any!
Also, does anyone know of a good place to find shorebirds in
Winnebago County?
Mon 14 May 2007
We (Jennie, my Dad, Arizona the Doberman, and myself) took a nice hike at Rock Cut State Park along the bike path from the dam. There were several nice birds easy to see in the stretch from the dam to the second bridge. We heard and/or saw: Baltimore Orioles, Indigo Buntings, Scarlet Tanagers (including a pair), Wood Thrushes, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Blue-winged Warbler, American Redstart, Black-and-white Warbler, Great-crested Flycatcher, Yellow Warblers and more.
Scarlet Tanager
We also found the Cerulean Warbler around the fishing pier area but did not see the Yellow-throated Warbler by the picnic area pines. A nice morning to spend on a day off from work!
You can read about our trip to Horicon Marsh this weekend on our birding blog .
Wed 9 May 2007
We had our first Lincoln's Sparrow and Eastern Pewee this morning. It's hard to stay indoors for more than a few minutes with all the bird song outside. We're being deafened by Tennessee Warblers from dawn to dusk.
Tue 8 May 2007
We had a Cape May Warbler in our yard today along with a Veery, two birds we missed on the Spring Count. Our giant Elm tree is bringing in the warblers - Magnolia, Blue-winged, Chestnut-sided, Nashville, & Tennessee. We also had an Ovenbird and two Indigo Buntings. Maybe I can snap some photos tomorrow!
Sun 6 May 2007
Jennie, Tim and I participated in the Spring Bird Count and we covered the area of Nygren Wetlands to Sugar River and north.
We tallied 91 species and 1,043 individual birds. We had 17 warbler species, 8 sparrow species, and 5 types of woodpeckers.
Highlights at Nygren Wetlands: Yellow Warbler, 8 Soras, Common Yellowthroat, Ruddy Duck, Sandhill Crane, White-crowned Sparrow, Louisiana Waterthrush, Northern Harrier, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak.
Highlights at Moody Marsh: Warbling Vireo, Marsh Wren, and Sora.
Highlights at Sugar River Forest Preserve: Yellow-throated, Blackburnian, Hooded, Magnolia, Black-throated Green, Black-and-white, Palm, Yellow-rumped, Golden-winged, Blue-winged, Nashville Warblers, American Redstart, Common Yellowthroat, and Northern Waterthrush. Non-warblers included Scarlet Tanager, Baltimore Oriole, Pileated Woodpecker, Bobolink, Great-crested Flycatcher, Wood Duck, Yellow-throated Vireo, Blue-headed Vireo, and Green Heron.
Highlights at Sugar River Alder Tract: Lark Sparrow, Baltimore Oriole, Gray Catbird, Cerulean Warbler, Eastern Kingbird, and Savannah Sparrow.
We had a blast and hope we can be a part of this area again next year!
Sat 5 May 2007
Big morning for us, the Blue-winged Warbler (lifer), Solitary Sandpiper, Scarlet Tanager, Yellow, Nashville, and Palm Warblers were still below the dam. Near the Solitary Sandpiper we saw 2 Pileated Woodpeckers. Later in the morning we sighted a Pileated flying south of the dam, but I assumed it was 1 of the 2 we saw earlier. There were several Wood Thrushes singing along the path just below the dam.