While doing the Lake Summerset BBS this morning, I discovered a male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker at the intersection of Best and Avy School Roads north of Pecatonica. It was drumming on an old telephone pole about 2 poles south of the intersection. There is a swampy thicket of scrubby trees very close by the telephone pole. The bird was being very territorial, so I suspect that it is nesting, or attempting to nest. If you get out there early in the morning (I saw it close to 0630) please look for it/a female/young. YB Sapsuckers do nest in IL, but rarely. Most recent sightings are along the Mississippi River. While Barbara and I were leading an IOS field trip to Spring Lake, in Carroll County, last spring, we found a pair of sapsuckers attending a nest cavity in a tree near the water.

Meanwhile, on the BBS, found only 1 Bobolink (on Maize Road, west of Farwell Bridge Road) in a pasture that was a much larger pasture last summer but has been mostly converted to corn field. Lots of Great Egrets around Pecatonica, including several egret nests that are visible in the Great Blue rookery that you can see from the intersection of Pecatonica and Blair Roads-look to the southwest). Double-crested Cormorants are flying around over the flooded areas north and west of Pecatonica. I suspect that they are nesting out there somewhere.

Two Swamp Sparrows were calling from the south side of Blair Road at Pec Wetlands across from the brown machine shed that is on the north side of the road, and 2 Sedge Wrens were calling from west of the shed on the north side of the road.