More Birds Than Degrees!

I've hiked many a trail alone through grizzly country. I've had a flat tire on a remote mountain road, miles away from civilization and cell service. I've chased a sow Black Bear into the woods only to find that she had a couple cubs with her. I've scrambled to find a camping spot in the dark along the flooded Mississippi after plans A, B, and C had failed.

Today ranks as one of the crazier adventures I've been on. Frustrated that the weather was preventing me from going south or heading to Kane, I was still determined to at least do some birding today. So, I headed to Cook County with the hopes of scrounging up a roosting owl or a decent gull. Most of all, I just wanted to get some birds on my 2014 Illinois list! I did not have any specific goals regarding numbers, and I was quite content when I found that I had ended the day with 34. Not bad on a day in which the temperature took a long time just to break into the positive digits.

The first challenge of the day occurred when I got inside my car a little before 7 this morning, and found that there was more ice on the inside of my windows (every last one of them) than there was on the outside. Have you had the joy of scraping the inside of your vehicle's windows? If you have, then you know that ice scrapers were designed specifically for the angle on the outside of car windows. Needless to say, this was not the beginning that I had hoped for.

As I hit the road, I turned on the radio only to hear report after report of traffic delays and accidents. Hmm, had I made the right decision after all? At that point I was already out so I figured I would go ahead and proceed for the time being, and turn around if it got too crazy. Fortunately, on our brand new snow tires (Christmas gift), I did not have a single problem on the roads all day.

At my first spot (which will remain nameless due to the sensitivity of the species seen), I poked around in a little woodlot, hoping to come across something roosting. Black-capped Chickadees and Red-breasted Nuthatches were calling off and on as I meandered in and out of snow covered trees. The snow was about a foot deep most of the way, making the hiking cumbersome, and less than stealthy. I found a couple spots where deer had bedded down the night before and stood there a few moments. Eventually, I found my first owl. It was about thirty feet up in a tree and facing away from me, but based on its size alone I was pretty sure what it was. I wandered around to get a better angle, and in the process it turned its snow-coated face to look at me - definitely a Great-horned. As I looked closer, I saw two feet handing down below the owl, but they were clearly not owl feet. The feet belonged to a rabbit, actually. The Great-horned was sitting on, and almost entirely covering, its catch from last evening. Pretty cool!

Happy that I hadn't been skunked, but still wanting more, I kept searching the woods. Downy Woodpecker, Northern Cardinal, and American Goldfinch all made a showing. And then there was movement. I had accidentally flushed an owl, and it was flying right at me. It was medium sized (actually seemed quite small in comparison to the bulky Great-horned) and its orange face flashed before my eyes before it banked and dove off back into the woods. Long-eared Owl! It wasn't the most satisfactory look, but it was diagnostic enough to make the call, and I celebrated state lifer #290!

Having nailed my main target, I started to head back to the car. I didn't want to flush the owl again and I was ready to get out of the cold. I had looked into frostbite a little bit last night and came to the firm conclusion that I wanted nothing to do with it. Thankfully there was hardly any wind to speak of at this first location, but after being out for close to an hour, it was time to get in the car. On the way out of the area I had my county lifer Rough-legged Hawk. One of my last birds for 2013 is one of my first for 2014 in the state!

I then headed to the Calumet River, which I have not birded before, so part of the time was spent just learning my way around. The river was totally frozen over from the Stony Island overlook, and not a single gull was to be found. Back at the bend of the Little Calumet, the best bird was a Mute Swan, which was joined by Mallard, Gadwall, Ring-necked Duck, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, and what I estimated to be 250 Common Mergansers. There was obviously more, but a thick layer of fog/cloud hovering over the water made it difficult to see.

Calumet Park left much to be desired in the way of road conditions, but I did get several Redhead, Greater Scaup, and Red-breasted Mergansers to add to the day's total. I then checked a couple spots along the lakefront and was unable to come up with a Snowy, which was a bummer, but not a big miss this winter.

My final stop was back at the Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center, where the feeders were alive with activity. Blue Jay, White-breasted Nuthatch and Red-bellied Woodpecker were all new for the day, as was Tufted Titmouse, another nice county lifer! I made my way inside the well-heated center, and sat down at a little table to watch the feeders. Birding from inside, why had I not been doing this all day!? Happy with an adventurous, modestly productive day, I headed back.

I left my camera in the car almost the entire day because I didn't want to risk it getting damaged in the cold. I got it out briefly at the feeders and snapped a couple shots. I usually see Blue Jays in the tops of trees, squawking and rarely coming close enough to photograph. And when they do get close enough, I usually have something more interesting to look at. So, on this quieter day, it was nice to slow down and appreciate the beauty in the details of this common, outgoing bird.

Blue Jay

Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center, Cook Co, IL

January 7, 2014

Tufted Titmouse

Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center, Cook Co, IL

January 7, 2014

Here are the numbers for 2014:

ABA: 90

Washington: 79
Illinois: 35
Idaho: 30

On the Board | Four and Counting

Miracle of all miracles, we got in to Chicago last night without a single delay.

And then, this:

This was the view from our bedroom window this morning. Ice crystals on the window, thankfully on the outside. Wind chills in the -40s kept me inside much of the day, and I was bummed as it seemed that my first full day in Illinois was going to pass without a chance of seeing a single bird.

I eventually mustered up the courage to go clear off the car and see if it even wanted to run anymore. Digging a path out of the two foot barrier of snow that had firmly secured itself behind our vehicle was also on the list of chores. I bundled up and braced for the worst. The car successfully started up without much effort, and I proceeded to scoop/brush/scrape the snow and ice off the chilled car for the next 10 minutes, at which point I was surprised that I actually didn't feel that cold. 

After digging out enough of a pathway for our hardy Sonata, I decided to take it for a spin around the block just to make sure it was actually in working order. I may or may not have been hoping for a bird to pop out along the way. As I turned around in the Northside Park parking lot, some movement caught my eye. A bird! It was one of two American Robins eating berries in a tree - not a bad first bird 2014. A European Starling also joined them. When I got back, I made a quick drive through campus and found a Red-tailed Hawk soaring in the stiff breeze. It made a close swoop by our apartment window after I got inside. And, as I sat down to write this, a Canada Goose flew by as well.

Not much, but four species is better than none. And, now I know that our car is in good enough shape to get out tomorrow. And get out tomorrow I will! The plan as of right now is to spend the day in Kane County on Tuesday and head south to the Champaign area on Wednesday. I'm hoping to bag a couple rarities to get the year off to a good start. We'll see if this cold has run them off or not.

Go Midwest, Young Man

Well, I didn't get much birding in yesterday, but some American Crows (what a thrill!) in town brought me up to 82 for the year, and some Bohemian Waxwings were a nice state and Spokane County addition for 2014.

And now, it appears that we've picked the worst possible day to try to fly back to Chicago. Constant snowfall, followed by the coldest temperatures in 30 years, including wind chills dipping down to -52 degrees sometime tomorrow. I'm thinking it'll be a miracle if we actually go to sleep in Illinois tonight. Phoenix is one of our layovers, so I'm hoping we get "stuck" there overnight. Either way, I will not be birding in Illinois tomorrow the way I had been planning to. I'm thinking it'll be a slower start than I wanted in my quest for 300 in Illinois; it should be interesting to see what challenges are created by the severe whether, and what it will take to overcome them. Stay safe out there!

Year list totals:

Washington: 79

Idaho: 30

ABA: 82

January 3: Slow Day

After heading south for a day and staying local for a day, today's plan was to head north and west into Steven's and Lincoln counties. We were hoping to focus on woodland birds in the morning and get out to the west plains for the late afternoon. It was a great plan. Only, the birds didn't get the memo. It would be a lot easier to just not blog about today and wait till my next exciting sighting to post, but I'd like this blog to accurately reflect the natural ebb and flow of this crazy hobby.

If you've been birding for longer than week, you know that slow days happen. It seems to be a more frequent phenomenon in winter, but it's liable to occur at any time. Thankfully, we've already had such a great start that we really can't complain. But still, there's something about two great days that makes you expect the next one to be just as good.

I started the day knowing that an average outing would get me to 85, and above average would put 90 in reach. 11 hours, 340 miles, and 16 eBird checklists later, I'm at 81.

Our most productive stretch of the day came before the sun even rose, which is not totally out of the ordinary. We worked the fields by Chewelah and Valley and quickly nailed Red-tailed and Rough-legged Hawk, Northern Harrier, Merlin, Bald Eagle, and Cooper's Hawk on our way to another nice raptor day. We also found our first of four (!) Northern Shrikes on the day. As we made our way up behind Waitt's Lake, we ran into fog for the third straight day, and struggled with little birds yet again. But here we did find the first year bird of the day, Northern Pygmy Owl! It was actively calling as we got out at one of our stops, and we were even able to get some decent looks at it, which is not always the case with these diminutive denizens of the forest. Yet for all our efforts, we couldn't manage a woodpecker other than a flicker, a single nuthatch, an interesting corvid, or Chestnut-backed Chickadee.

Northern Pygmy-Owl

Waitt's Lake, Steven's Co, WA

January 3, 2014

Our next target was a White-headed Woodpecker that had been reliable for my dad all throughout the Fall. We worked Martha Boardman Road for a while in search of it, and came up instead with only a couple crossbills. Tough dip. The rich ponderosa forest was almost entirely devoid of sound; quite strange. The road descends into a creek bed, where a Northern Flicker was a welcome sight - that's how dead it had been. This prompted us to get out and look around, and in quick succession we had American Dipper, Bewick's Wren, and all three nuthatches - White-breasted being #80 for the year.

The next target was a wintering Ferruginous Hawk at Sprague Lake, which had also been reliable recently. We should have known better. The location was quite a distance out of the way, and coming up empty was a real bummer. We got Horned Larks along the way, which was an expected year bird, but even they were pretty sparse in areas where we normally get large flocks. And no Snow Buntings were to be found. This fancy male Ring-necked Pheasant was a sight for sore eyes as we passed through the tiny town of Edwall:

Ring-necked Pheasant

Edwall, Lincoln Co, WA

January 3, 2014

We made our way back up to Hawk Creek Canyon, hoping to get a Clark's Nutcracker. Again, we missed. Mountain Chickadee was our only addition for the day, though another calling Northern Pygmy-Owl was a nice Lincoln County bird. Nearby was our third Northern Shrike of the day - for all those days you go looking for a shrike and miss, today we found four, crazy! That is the essence of birding.

Northern Shrike

Lincoln Co, WA

January 3, 2014

From there, we headed to the west plains hoping for the late afternoon to produce some magic. In the process, we rounded out a nice raptor day as our Red-tailed tally ascended to 36, Northern Harrier to 12, and Rough-legged to 22!

Rough-legged Hawk

Lincoln Co, WA

January 3, 2014

The loop around Old Kucks and Mayberry Roads has historically been a great spot for winter specialties such as Gyrfalcon, Snowy Owl, and Short-eared Owl. In keeping with the rest of the day, we missed all three. I did spot a Prairie Falcon though, which was definitely a nice consolation. Another three falcon day, too! Here are some poor pics of it. That falcon profile is unmistakable. The light brown coloration was more obvious in the field, but you can kinda make it out here. And you can barely see those black axillaries in the distant flight shot.

Prairie Falcon

Lincoln Co, WA

January 3, 2014

For the second time in three days, Great-horned Owl was our final bird of the day. We got one for Lincoln and Spokane County, and finished the day at 44 species. That really puts yesterday in perspective, when we racked up 46 in just a few hours in a small radius within Spokane County!

Still, 81 is a great number after just three days - I wonder how long it'll take me to hit 81 in Illinois. Given the current conditions there, I'm thinking it could take quite a while. As of right now, I'm almost considering not going back. Not really, of course. But maybe.

January 2: Spokane County

Since I'm doing a big year there, I was initially bummed about not being able to start the year in Illinois, but given the current weather there, and the success I've had here so far, I'm definitely glad it'll be a few days before we head back to the frigid Chicagoland. This morning, a few hours spent birding within the borders of Spokane County yielded 46 birds, 18 of which were new for the year - gotta love starting over again! The best woodland treats were flyover Cassin's Finch and Red Crossbills, and the waterfowl highlights were Trumpeter Swan, Redhead, and Northern Pintail. An unexpected Northern Shrike and an American Dipper were also birds I was not necessarily counting on getting before heading back to the Midwest. I didn't really have a set number in mind for these first few days in Washington, but I'm surprised that 90 is already within reach for tomorrow's journey.

Not many pics today, but here are a couple that turned out well:

Redhead (young male)

Wandermere Pond, Spokane Co, WA

January 2, 2014

Ring-necked Ducks

Wandermere Pond, Spokane Co, WA

January 2, 2014

Trumpeter Swan

Spokane Co, WA

January 2, 2014

American Dipper

Little Spokane Confluence, Spokane Co, WA

January 2, 2014

Two days, 78 species. I'm excited to get one more day of birding in while we're still in Washington

January 1: Off to the Races!

Well, I could not have asked for a much better start to 2014. From long-staying rarities to some unexpected wintering species, the highlights were many. Here's the play-by-play on how the year list got to 60 on the first day of the year.

6:03 am: A cup of coffee in the belly and another in hand, we hit the road with a total of zero birds for the year.

7:02 am: We're out of Spokane and into Whitman county. It's still a while till the sun will rise, but there's enough light to see our first bird. On winter mornings, the first bird 95% of the time is Common Raven, which was on my mind as some winged thing caught our attention. But the large silhouette belonged to an owl, and not a great-horned. The slightly elongated wings, slower wing beat, and heart-shaped face meant that our first bird of 2014 was a Barn Owl! Little did we know it would be the first of four owl species on the day. Exciting start!

7:22 am: Our journey south has brought us to Steptoe Butte. As we climbed to the top (Washington has this stuff called elevation, Illinois should really look into it someday), we were greeted with a stunning sunrise and great views of the rolling hills of the Palouse. And not many birds. It was pretty chilly and there was just enough breeze to keep the little birds quiet. Our first of many kestrels and red-tails, and our only Rough-legged Hawk of the day were all present though.

9:21 am: We picked up some common stuff in a couple little towns as we continued south, then made our way across the border to Moscow, Idaho, where a Northern Hawk Owl has been hanging out for a month now. There's always a sense of nervousness when approaching a rare bird that's been around for a while. Will this be the day it takes off? Was this a wasted trip? About five seconds of searching gave us a visual confirmation that our trip had not been in vain. We found the owl in the midst of its mid-morning rodent breakfast, watched it perform some impressive aerial acrobatics, and enjoyed close range views of this beauty. It's an owl that's shaped like falcon and even flies like one, loaded with personality, and check out those huge feet! What a bird!

Northern Hawk Owl

Moscow, Latah Co, ID

January 1, 2014

10:33 am: We could have stayed with the hawk owl all day, but when you're listing, there eventually comes a point when you have to move on from even the most amazing birds. The last bird on the sunny plateau was a Merlin I somehow spotted atop a telephone pole while we were cruising along the highway. Falcon #2 for the day.

Merlin

Nez Perce Co, ID

January 1, 2014

11:08 am: We descended into the foggy Snake River valley and started to pick up our first waterfowl of the day, including both goldeneye, Bufflehead, Lesser Scaup, Wood Duck, and Hooded Mergansers. We crossed the river back into Clarkston, Washington, where we added Horned Grebe, Common Loon, and my dad spotted a female Red-breasted Merganser, a great bird for the area. Quite a few Eurasian Collared-Doves were present throughout the day.

Red-breasted Merganser

Clarkston, Asotin Co, WA

January 1, 2014

Common Loon

Clarkston, Asotin Co, WA

January 1, 2014

Eurasian Collared-Dove

Clarkston, Asotin Co, WA

January 1, 2014

12:00 pm: The rest of the day was spent working the Snake River through Asotin and Whtiman counties. Some of the more interesting wintering birds we encountered along the way were Say's Phoebe, Townsend's Solitaire, Rock Wren, Canyon Wren, Bewick's Wren, Spotted Towhee, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and a couple "Slate-colored" Dark-eyed Juncos in with all the "Oregons." Along the way we added Cooper's Hawk and Bald Eagle to our ever growing raptor list, and continued to rack up kestrel and red-tail numbers.

American Kestrel

Asotin Co, WA

January 1, 2014

1:07 pm: Swallows Park had a nice roost of gulls, dominated by Ring-bills, Californias, and Herrings. The highlight here came when I picked out a second winter Mew Gull amidst the Ring-bills! Four gulls in one spot is not bad in eastern Washington.

Mew Gull

Swallows Park, Asotin Co, WA

January 1, 2014

Mew and Ring-billed Gull

Swallows Park, Asotin Co, WA

January 1, 2014

California, Herring, and Ring-billed Gull

Swallows Park, Asotin Co, WA

January 1, 2014

California and Ring-billed Gull

Swallows Park, Asotin Co, WA

January 1, 2014

1:49 pm: Asotin has a location with a couple owl boxes. I had never seen anything in them before, so my hopes were not high. But, as I was checking out one, my dad directed my attention to the second box across the pond, and there was a Western Screech-Owl head popping out!

Western Screech-Owl

Asotin County, WA

January 1, 2014

3:40 pm: We were hoping to pick up Lesser Goldfinch and Chukar along the river, but it wasn't meant to be today. As we followed the Snake, my eyes were glued to the ridges in hopes of finding an interesting raptor. After going a while without seeing much, finally, an eagle flying along the ridge! With a hunch as to what it was, we stopped the car, got out quickly, and looked up to see an empty sky. Bummer. Was it going to reappear? Oh well, maybe we'll see another. Wait, what's that lump on the ground way up there? Yes! The Golden Eagle had lit!

Golden Eagle

Asotin County, WA

January 1, 2014

I got back in the car and looked out the window only to see a light colored falcon speeding through the canyon. My dad and I both got on it in time to see the light brown coloration and black axillaries of a Prairie Falcon! Two great additions in a row! A half mile down the road, we had another Golden Eagle which we got to enjoy in flight for a while.

Golden Eagle

Asotin County, WA

January 1, 2014

4:43 pm: A Great-horned Owl on a telephone pole was our 13th raptor, and 60th bird on the day! While it was a fun day all around, the raptors definitely stole the show. Here's the final break down:

1 Northern Harrier

2 Cooper's Hawk

1 Rough-legged Hawk

35 Red-tailed Hawk

3 Bald Eagle

2 Golden Eagle

23 American Kestrel

1 Merlin

1 Prairie Falcon

1 Barn Owl

1 Northern Hawk Owl

1 Western Screech-Owl

1 Great-horned Owl

I saw a couple birds today that I may not see again for the rest of the year, which is just part of what made it an excellent beginning to 2014!

2014 Goals

At last, 2013 draws to a close. I rounded out the year with a cloudy, damp morning of birding with my dad around the Spokane area. It was rather quiet, but after some extended effort we did get a distant but clear response from a Northern Pygmy Owl, state year bird #221 and ABA #368! I was not expecting to snag two year birds in the final two days of the year at all, what a great way to end! As that soft, steady whistle seeped through a mixed coniferous forest, I had surpassed my previous year's total by 59 species, and my thoughts officially turned to the year ahead.

And now, the goals for 2014. My top priority is to find 300 birds in Illinois. I'm not going to try to set any state big year records, I just want to hit 300, which is a benchmark number in the state that only a handful of people hit each year. My next priority is to get 450 in the ABA area. Between Illinois, a couple stints in the northwest, and a trip with my dad in May to southeast Arizona, 450 is a conservative number, 460 is likely, and 475 would be ridiculous. My out of state travels will make 300 in Illinois more difficult, so a good start the first few months of the year will be crucial. Also, I'm ending this year with 528 on my ABA life list, and I'm pretty sure I'll be able to pass the 550 mark in 2014!

Additionally, my dad, uncle and I are doing a challenge in the four counties closest to us in our respective states. In Texas, my uncle Dell is doing Henderson, Anderson, Freestone, and Navarro. In Washington, my dad is covering Spokane, Pend Oreille, Lincoln, and Steven's. And I'll be doing DuPage, Cook, Will, and Kane. With this competition in mind, I'm hoping to get 200 birds in each of the four counties, and I'd love to get 85-90% of my birds in Illinois within that region. Both of those are pretty lofty goals, and I'm really intrigued to see how it pans out.

It feels a little surreal to be just hours away from starting a year in which I'll see more birds than I've ever seen in a 365 day period. I've done quite a bit of planning for it already (check out the "Illinois 2014" tab above), and have much work yet to do.

I'll be beginning the year with 5 days in Washington. We begin in less than seven hours, so I'm going to ring in the new year by going to sleep. Can't wait for January 1, when every bird counts again!