NCIOS - North Central Illinois Ornithological Society

Last year Jennifer Outcalt and I (along with a few others and help from the banding station) spent three consecutive days trying to find as many species as possible in Winnebago County. While we could no way bird for 72 straight hours, the goal was and is again to bird as many hours as possible during those 72 hours.

While Jennie and I will be hitting many of the area's top birding spots, we could certainly use some help especially to nab some of the "trickier" birds or rare birds. With dozens of miles of trails to cover and many miles of roads to get there, we will not have enough time for many of the forest preserves and other birdy areas.

So, if you'd wish to help out, email me for details -- birdfreak [at] birdfreak.com -- or just record any birds you see during the three days and email them to me.

DATES: Friday, May 23rd through Sunday, May 25th
LOCATION: Anywhere within Winnebago County
GOAL: Species, not number of birds - 150

We are only counting species so this is a little less intense than the Spring Bird Count and doesn't require the paperwork. I'll post the final list on NCIOS as well as http://birdfreak.com.

We (my dad and I) had Moody Marsh for the Crane Count and were not disappointed with cranes. We had 13 cranes calling, 6 doing the unison call, and a flock of 21 flying over. (Later we counted ~40 in same place as Larry Balch).

Other birds at our count area: 2 Soras, 2 American Bitterns, tons of pheasants, Bufflehead, Hooded Merganser, Ring-necked Duck, Wood Duck, Northern Shoveler, Ruddy Duck, and 80+ Blue-winged Teal. (Most of the ducks were in the flooded fields along Moody Rd).

Afterwards we headed to Sugar River Forest Preserve where we had a singing YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER and 9 Pine Warblers. A couple Brown Thrashers, & Eastern Towhee.

At home in the yard we had a Brown Thrasher and a House Wren to bring our total day species total to 60.

Update:

Some Photos

1. Yellow-throated Warbler
2. Pine Warbler
3. Chipping Sparrow
4. Moody Marsh
5. Nygren Wetlands

The Great Backyard Bird Count is this weekend and any sightings can be submitted easily on the GBBC website .

This is a great citizen science project that helps determine how birds are doing all over the country. You can count birds anywhere, not just your backyard!! Sightings can be submitted anytime for each of the four days.