NCIOS - North Central Illinois Ornithological Society

We got our first Juncos of the fall yesterday and today I saw them hop up from the roadside in a couple of places. I bet they are everywhere.

Larry Balch and I went out to Westlake Nature area this morning to see if we could find any Nelson's Sharp-tailed or LeConte's Sparrows. Upon arrival, we discovered that we were unable to cross the limestone dam in the center of the ponds because beavers have adopted it and improved it. The stones are now buried under mud and sticks of the beaver dam, and the water level upstream is quite a bit higher by at least a foot than previously. It wasn't possible to cross the dam with the new dam there. The dam, if not disturbed, is going to keep the water level higher and probably make quite a change in vegetation and birdlife around the upstream ponds.

We walked to the back pond via Smith Road. Flushed an American Bittern and several Soras. Warblers weren't much, but we had 4 Cape Mays. Also around was a Marsh Wren and several Sedge Wrens.

We hiked at Rock Cut State Park this morning. We got there around seven. I went with my Uncle Eddie, my Grandpa and two birders Jan and Marjorie. The five of us saw quite a few warblers and Dark-eyed Juncos(!).

It was kind of chilly but got warmer near the end of the hike and it was sunny. I had a great time. I posted on my blog too about the trip.

Bird List

1. Blackburnian Warbler
2. Black-and-white Warbler
3. American Redstart
4. Black-throated Green Warbler
5. Tennessee Warbler
6. Nashville Warbler
7. Common Yellowthroat
8. Magnolia Warbler
9. Blue-headed Vireo
10. Red-eyed Vireo
11. Dark-eyed Junco
12. Northern Cardinal
13. White-throated Sparrow
14. Field Sparrow
15. Song Sparrow
16. Chipping Sparrow
17. American Goldfinch
18. American Robin
19. Swainson's Thrush
20. Eastern Bluebird
21. Turkey Vulture
22. Great Blue Heron
23. Mallard
24. Canada Goose
25. Double-crested Cormorant
26. Belted Kingfisher
27. Pied-billed Grebe
28. Eastern Phoebe
29. Eastern Towhee
30. Ring-necked Pheasant
31. Black-capped Chickadee
32. House Wren
33. European Starling
34. Mourning Dove
35. Downy Woodpecker
36. Red-bellied Woodpecker American Crow
37. Blue Jay
38. Common Grackle
39. Cedar Waxwing

To make up for the missed field trip to Illinois Beach, I am having an impromptu field trip to Rock Cut State Park on Saturday, Sept 27th. If you wish to attend, show up at the small parking lot near the north entrance (highway 173 stop light) - it is the first parking lot you come to by some coniferous trees. Please meet at 7:00 AM and we will hike for as long as we like.

The north area of the park has a lot of interesting habitat and is definitely under-birded.

If you have any questions, email me - birdfreak@birdfreak.com.

- Eddie

Barbara and I drove over to Bloom School around 9:15 on Sunday morning. John Longhenry and Mary Kay Rubey were there with their cameras already set up. Vic and Ann Berardi, from the IL Beach SP hawkwatch, were there, too.

The juvenile kite was perched in the dead branches at the top of a Siberian Elm, where he sat for almost the entire hour that we were there. After nearly 25 minutes, the adult male Kite came in with food about 3-4 times to feed it. Mary Kay reported that 3 kites were seen by her husband on Saturday morning, so the female must have still been around, although we did not see her in the hour that we were there today.

About 9:30, a lot of raptor activity started. Migrating Broad-winged Hawks started to fly up from the north, so they must have been leaving their overnight migration roosts. I counted 24, but there could have been a few more or less. Also seen was an Osprey and a Peregrine Falcon. The Osprey circled in a kettle of Broad-wings, but the falcon zoomed through at high speed, flapping all the way. One of the neighborhood Cooper's Hawks made a brief appearance around 10:15.

Given all of the migrating raptors seen from this site, it seems to be a good hawk watch location.

I don't know if these count as sightings or not,but I was at Colored Sands Forest Preserve
bird banding station Saturday 20 and was fortunate enough too see these birds:
Golden-winged ,Teenessee,and Chestnut-sided Warbler,also A Red-eyed and Philadelphia Vireo
along with several others.
Here are 2 pictures of the Golden-winged Warbler.
Augie

Wednesday at about two o'clock the kitelet was still present in the top of a tree in the schoolyard. It was fed a cicada and a praying mantis by one of the adults while I watched. I stopped in the school and talked to the front office staff. I offered to prepare a display panel on the kites with some photos, a range map and a couple of paragraphs about MKs in general and these MKs in particular. The staff thought that was a great idea. I'm going to put it together and it will go in the library which all students visit once a week. Never let a "teachable moment" slip by!

Barbara and I checked the airport quarry pond along Belt Line Road south of the Rockford airport, where we found a pair of Black Terns flying over the pond on the airport side of the road. They then crossed the road and flew over to the larger pond in the locked quarry. Also present were a pair of Caspian Terns, an Osprey, hundreds of swallows of several species, a few shorebirds (Greater Yellowlegs and Semipalmated Sandpipers), Great Egrets, and the other usual species. We noted that the large dead tree that was a favorite perch for Bald Eagles is no longer there, so it must have fallen down.

Barbara and I drove over to Bloom School during a lull in the rain this morning (9/13)around 11:30 a.m. The juvenile kite was flying around the school in a fairly wide pattern, then perched in a honey locust tree in front of the school on Brendenwood. Not long afterward, the female adult showed up and perched nearby on top of a spruce. Shortly, the adult male flew in with a cicada in his beak and fed the juvenile. He returned with another cicada before we left just before noon.

UPDATE: *** Cancelled ***
Regrettably, I have decided to cancel the field trip due to the poor weather forecast which includes flash flood warnings in Lake County (where IBSP is).

As your humble leader of the field trip this Saturday, September 13th, 2008 to Illinois Beach State Park, I have decided a meeting place and time.

Meeting Place: TARGET parking lot located on Highway 173 and Alpine Road
Time: 6:45 AM - we will try to leave sharply at this time as it is about a 2 hour drive to IBSP

If you plan on attending you can email me - birdfreak@birdfreak.com or call my cell phone: 815-323-0011 (there is a typo in the printed field trip list)

Birds we plan on seeing: migrants of all kinds, shorebirds, possible Gustavian Ike blown rarities, etc.

Scopes would be nice to bring (I'll have mine but it isn't the greatest).

Thanks, and I hope a lot of birders will make it!!

- Eddie Callaway