Little Birder

Thursday, October 30, 2014

September Goodies

Man, life happens and the blog takes a hit! September and October have been really busy with school and work, so the free time I've had has gone to birding more than blogging. Life hasn't exactly slowed down for me to be able to write, but I've been dying to get a post up, so here it is.

September provided some really important birds, including an awesome, unexpected lifer!

The Rufous Lining: Saturday, September 13, was a roller coaster of a day for me. I began the day out on Lake Michigan, in hopes of turning up a jaeger or Sabine's, but adverse weather conditions forced us to turn the boat around. The trip was rescheduled for the next day, but I was unable to go - though they didn't have much of note on the second effort either (just curious, how does this madness happen on Lake Erie while Lake Michigan gets skunked? Are we that polluted over here??).

I cut my losses and wound up having a nice morning of birding at Montrose. But when I got home that afternoon, the fun began. I got a text from Scott Cohrs about a Rufous Hummingbird which had returned to the Andrini's yard. Scott and I met up about an hour later and headed to the yard, where we waited. And waited. And waited. The bird had been seen five minutes before we arrived, so we were starting to get a little nervous when 45 minutes had passed and we had only seen a couple Ruby-throats. Every once in a while, I could a faint ringing that immediately evoked the thought of Rufous, but I wasn't convinced that my mind wasn't just playing tricks on me. At last, a flash of orange scared off a Ruby-throat from the feeder. I followed the orange back up to its perch and was thrilled to see the Rufous sitting there! Shortly after it came back down to the feeder and gave us great views. Though it didn't spread its tail for us, someone got pictures of it doing so the next day, and the notched tail confirmed that this was indeed a Rufous.

Rufous Hummingbird

Kane Co, IL

September 13, 2014

So, a day which was initially disappointing actually turned out to provide a state lifer and a sweet Illinois year bird, #302!

Red Phalarope! Less than a week later, Andrew and I went on a search for a Sabine's Gull out west along the Illinois River. We had a nice flurry of migrant passerines at Starved Rock, then made our way to Hennepin-Hopper. We didn't find our target bird, but wound up with a lifer instead! Andrew spotted a phalarope from the observation tower, and over the course of nearly an hour and a half of watching it, we put together the pieces that added up to a Red Phalarope! It had a very pale, unmarked back that initially had us thinking Wilson's, but we got to see it fly on multiple occasions and it had a stripe down the wing, which Wilson's does not have. From certain angles, we could actually pick up hues of pink along the neck and breast. The bill was heavier than a Wilson's or Red-necked. What really stood out to me was just how pale the bird was. It was not the bird that we were looking for, but an outstanding find and a sweet addition to the life and year list nonetheless! ABA lifer #589, and year #498; Illinois lifer #314, and year #303.

Red Phalarope (not exactly diagnostic, but hey, there it is)

Hennepin-Hopper, Putnam Co, IL

September 19, 2014

Ammodramus Goodness. Back in April, I got the surprise of a springtime LeConte's Sparrow at Prairie Green with Scott - a bird he and Andrew had found a couple days prior. Little did I know, that may end up being my only LeConte's of the year, because as I write, I still don't have one for the fall! Thankfully, the easier Ammodramus sparrow to scrounge up in the fall is the Nelson's. Prairie Green is one of the best places to get to see these elusive little wonders, so I joined up with Scott at the end of September, where we had four altogether. This is really the quintessential fall bird, and every time I see one I'm reminded that this may indeed be my favorite bird. It certainly belongs on any top 5 list. Illinois year bird #304, and ABA #499.

Nelson's Sparrows

Prairie Green, Kane Co, IL

September 26, 2014

Fermi Yellow-crowned Night Heron. Though not a state year bird, this Yellow-crowned Night Heron was a really sweet DuPage County bird, and I'm grateful that it stuck around long enough for me to get to see it! In a year when county birding has had to take a back seat to my ABA and state lists, it's been fun to still see my local county lists consistently grow - a reminder that there's no substitute for a local patch!

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

FermiLab, DuPage Co, IL

September 29, 2014

And with that, I ended September with 304 species for Illinois, and a tantalizing 499 for the ABA. Stay tuned for October highlights and #500!

Saturday, August 30, 2014

A Mottley 300

At last, August drew to a close and I had enough time to get down to Chautauqua NWR, which is one of the hot spots in Illinois for migratory shorebirds in the Fall. And, Andrew was able to get the day off so we got to make the trip together. So he drove out to meet me in Wheaton early Friday morning, and we were on the road before 4 am. I began the day at 298 for Illinois with a couple pretty easy shorebirds that I still needed, so I figured this would be my day to hit 300. But that ended up being only part of the excitement of the day.

Our early departure got us to Eagle Bluff a few minutes prior to 7 am, the overcast sky making viewing conditions good, even if a little darker than we had anticipated by this hour. As we pulled to the parking area, large numbers of waterfowl and waders were readily visible, and we could already begin to see some shorebirds. We got out and began scoping from the parking area, finding many of the expected species in short order. Just a couple minutes into scanning, I found an odd duck. It was among a few Mallards, but clearly wasn't a Mallard. The only regular Illinois bird I could use as a reference point was American Black Duck, but something just felt wrong for Black Duck - both its gizz and the time of year. Naturally, Mottled Duck came to mind as the next best solution.

Suggestively, I asked, "Um, so what does a Mottled Duck look like?" keeping a close eye on the bird through the scope.

"Somewhere between a Mallard and a Black Duck. Black spot at the gape." Andrew replied.

"Yeah, you're going to want to look at this bird."

We walked out the dike to get closer, and what ensued was about an hour long study of the bird. It was generally darker than we wanted it to be, but all the other field marks were adding up to a Mottled: brown markings on the feathers, buffy face and neck, bright yellow bill, a small black spot at the gape visible from certain angles, and when it preened we got our first glimpse at the white trailing edge along the wing, which was again confirmed when it eventually flew off to the north with a few Mallards.

Hesitant to make a premature call on such rare bird for the state, we sent pics to friends, reliable sources, and eventually posted one on the comments section of a Facebook post. The response was overwhelmingly positive in support of it being a Mottled Duck.

My pics are pretty terrible, but Andrew's digiscoped shots are way better; you can see them here.

Mottled Duck

Chautauqua NWR, Mason Co, IL

August 29, 2014

I wasn't counting it quite yet though because we didn't end up absolutely confirming the bird until later in the day once we had left, so we got back on track and went on scouring through the 6,000+ shorebirds. The shorebirds were a blast, and there were a few other nice treats along the way too, including the following assortment of raptors: Red-tailed Hawk, a cool looking immature Red-shouldered Hawk, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, and American Kestrel. We also had a pretty sizable flock of Black Terns. I'd never seen one in this particular stage of molt with an all black head accompanying the white body.

Black Tern

Chautauqua NWR, Mason Co, IL

August 29, 2014

The waders were impressive too! In addition to the common Great Egret, and Great Blue and Green Heron, the south pool hosted a lone immature Little Blue Heron, eight Snowy Egrets, and five Cattle Egrets, the latter two being buddy list birds for us too!

Little Blue Heron

Chautauqua NWR, Mason Co, IL

August 29, 2014

Cattle Egrets

Chautauqua NWR, Mason Co, IL

August 29, 2014

The numbers and diversity of shorebirds were quite the delight. Unfortunately, the massive group of Hudsonians that had been around the week prior had all left by the time we got there. Hopefully another group will show up at some point. But the Mottled Duck more than made up for that loss.

We ended up walking almost the entire way from Eagle Bluff to Goofy Ridge catching some sun and probably losing a few pounds along the way. It was a grueling walk, but the results were worth it. Our shorebird total ended up at 20 species. Among the more common species we had 12 American Avocets, two Ruddy Turnstones, at least one Sanderling, a couple nice groups of Long-billed Dowitchers among the more numerous Short-bills, at least 60 Stilt Sandpipers, nice looks at Baird's and Buff-breasted Sandpipers, tons of American Golden Plovers, and six Wilson's Phalaropes (we had a great Western Sandpiper candidate too, but couldn't quite get good enough looks at it).

Additionally, the birds that officially (at the time) brought me up to 300 for the year were Black-bellied Plover (several of which were still looking real nice in nearly full alternate plumage), and a distant group of Red-necked Phalaropes spinning around out in the middle of the north pond.

The conditions turned from dark and cloudy to sunny and hazy rather quickly, and the great distances at which we were viewing most of the bird life made pics difficult.

American Avocets

Chautauqua NWR, Mason Co, IL

August 29, 2014

Ruddy Turnstone

Chautauqua NWR, Mason Co, IL

August 29, 2014

One last quick stop by Goofy Ridge provided a great last bird of the day, this Olive-sided Flycatcher.

Olive-sided Flycatcher

Chautauqua NWR, Mason Co, IL

August 29, 2014

Once the Mottled Duck was confirmed, it turned out that Black-bellied Plover was officially #300 for Illinois for me this year. I can't think of a better way of celebrating than with my personal best/rarest find of the year in the state. When I initially set out on this venture, I figured it would take most of the year to get there, so accomplishing it in just under eight months feels like quite the feat. I'll of course be finishing out the year to see just how many I can get. I'm setting my sights on 310. If the Fall is a good rarity season and it turns out to be a decent winter for finches, I could see 315 as an outside possibility.

I'm also just three birds away from 500 for the ABA this year too, so I should be hitting that goal in the next couple months.

ABA 2014: 497

Illinois 2014: 301!

Thursday, August 28, 2014

FINALLY Getting Back To It

And just like that, I went almost two months without blogging. Crazy.

July was a month of rest in many respects. The first part of it was spent back in Washington (posts about that trip to come), and the rest here in Illinois where I laid low for a bit before getting back to work. My birding adventures during this time were brief but productive.

Not a year bird, but a sweet county bird, this American Avocet put on a nice show for many and was a much appreciated addition for all those Kane County Big Year birders out there.

American Avocet

Kane Co, IL

July 18, 2014

At the same fluddle three days later I picked up a bird that was objectively less exciting, but more significant for my Illinois tally - my first Short-billed Dowitcher of the year.

Short-billed Dowitcher

Kane Co, IL

July 21, 2014

One of the birds I was committed to tracking down before getting back to work was a Yellow-crowned Night Heron, which I had missed on a couple trips down south earlier in the year. So, when this one showed up in Champaign, I jumped on it quickly.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Champaign Co, IL

July 22, 2014

With the usually reliable DuPage shorebird spots taking their precious time to get back to suitable water levels, I decided to get up to Lake County and join the resident expert Beau Schaefer for some birding at Rollins Savannah and a couple other local spots. We had a great morning which included a very cooperative Sedge Wren and my target bird for the day - first Stilt Sandpipers of the year.

Sedge Wren

Rollins Savannah, Lake Co, IL

July 25, 2015

Stilt Sandpipers

Rollins Savannah, Lake Co, IL

July 25, 2015

So July ended, my Illinois total at 296.

Which was good, because August has been one of the busiest months of my life.

I knew it was going to be busy, so I had hoped to be in a place where I could add a species here and there when a brief window of time opened up. Thankfully, that's exactly what happened. Amidst training, welcoming students back, and a weeklong time of training up at Wheaton's camp in northern Wisconsin (where our group flushed a family of Ruffed Grouse on a backpacking trip, yay!), I found a couple very short opportunities to get out.

I made a couple trips to the sod farm out in Kaneville, where a pair of Blue Grosbeaks arrived and nested successfully in late summer.

Blue Grosbeak

Kaneville Sod Farm, Kane Co, IL

August 8, 2014

But they weren't the main attraction. On the morning of August 17th - my birthday - Scott Cohrs texted me that there was a Buff-breasted Sandpiper at the sod farm, so after church that morning Jen and I headed that way. I dropped her off to do a little shopping in Geneva then popped out to the sod farm. The conditions were hot and muggy, the looks were distant and hazy, but after a few scans through the property a little buff-colored bird emerged among the hordes of Killdeer, its head characteristically bopping back and forth as it scurried along the turf - there it was! Hopefully I'll see another soon and be able to get a pic, but it was a satisfactory look for me!

And then a really sweet thing happened, though it didn't seem like it would turn out well at first. In the middle of check-in week at our dorm (a dorm of 600 underclassmen, so, it's just a little crazy), a Red Knot showed up at Montrose. This news was like a punch to the gut. A rare bird and a notorious one day wonder, the Red Knot was one that I could very easily miss because of the busyness of August. I wrote this one off and hoped I'd get another shot down south later in the Fall. But it stayed. A couple days. Several days. And all of sudden I had a couple hours free on Monday morning and was heading there before dawn, dodging the rush hour traffic. I arrived at Montrose to find this beauty feeding in the pond along the pier. This was only my third time I've ever seen one. The first encounter was a group of alternate plumaged birds in Washington with my dad many years back. The second was last year, also at Montrose, with a bird that was further along in its Fall molt, pretty much a solid gray coloration. So, the transitionary plumage of this bird was new for me. The early morning sun made for a wonderfully saturated scene.

Red Knot

Montrose, Cook Co, IL

August 25, 2014

So, my plan to pick up just a few here and there has turned out to work quite well. School has started back up now, which actually means more flexible hours for me, and I'll be using my first free day tomorrow to head to Chautauqua. I can almost taste 300...

ABA 2014: 497

Illinois 2014: 298

Monday, June 30, 2014

Southern Florida

Saturday, June 21: On the last morning of Jen's conference, I stayed closer to Orlando and hit a couple local spots. I didn't get a single year bird, but it was a fun morning of birding nonetheless, and I did find a few new state birds. The first was Hal Scott Park, where I failed to find a Brown-headed Nuthatch, but did have good numbers of Bachman's Sparrows. I almost stepped on this brightly colored grasshopper, which was the first of many.

Southeastern Lubber Grasshopper

Hal Scott Regional Preserve and Park, Orange Co, FL

June 21, 2014

Next it was on to Orlando Wetlands, which I wish I had discovered earlier in the trip because it was a rather impressive location. I finally got to see a Purple Gallinule here, and it didn't take long to pick up a Least Bittern calling. This big allgator was on the bank, looking like he was having a good chuckle about something. Who knows what kinds of jokes gators tell themselves to pass the time.

American Alligator

Orlando Wetlands, Orange Co, FL

June 21, 2014

This was the highest concentration of Anhingas I saw all trip.

Anhinga

Orlando Wetlands, Orange Co, FL

June 21, 2014

I liked the following pairing of birds because they represent local breeders, but also two of the rarer birds I've been happy to see in Illinois this year.

Glossy Ibis and Black-bellied Whistling Duck

Orlando Wetlands, Orange Co, FL

June 21, 2014

Black-bellied Whistling Duck

Orlando Wetlands, Orange Co, FL

June 21, 2014

And I got a nice look at a pretty good sized softshell that had meandered out onto the trail
.

Florida Softshell Turtle

Orlando Wetlands, Orange Co, FL

June 21, 2014

I drove back into town, picked Jen up, and we hit the Florida Turnpike to head south. On the way we stopped by Juno Dunes Natural Area to try to relocate the Bananaquit from a couple days prior, but apparently it was just a one day wonder. There were frigatebirds overhead though, and a nice Gray Kingbird along the way. And we found a big Gopher Tortoise ambling along.

Gray Kingbird

Juno Dunes Natural Area, Palm Beach Co, FL

June 21, 2014

Gopher Tortoise

Juno Dunes Natural Area, Palm Beach Co, FL

June 21, 2014

Then we popped over the dunes to get our first look at the Atlantic Ocean. We had each only seen it looking out the window of a plane flying over, so it was cool to actually look out across it from a warm, white sand beach.

But the moment was short lived, as we still had a long drive to get to Key Largo. We didn't realize just how far it was beforehand, and it ended up being a heck of a haul roundtrip to be down there less than 24 hours. Not as big of a fan of long road trips as I am, Jen was really a trooper.

We eventually arrived in the keys, and I was amazed at the numbers of Gray Kingbirds along the power lines. Loggerhead Shrikes began increasing in numbers too. And then lifers started happening - White-crowned Pigeons were flying over in considerable numbers, their stark white caps set off from their dark bodies. Then I saw a starling sized bird hop up from the road, but its flight and wing pattern were foreign to me. When it landed on a line, I saw yellow around the eye extending to the bill - Common Myna. Another exotic, but hey, it counts.

After checking in to our little cottage at the quaint Seafarer Resort and Beach, we headed west and had a nice seafood dinner at Robbie's in Islamorada. We left there in time to catch a beautiful sunset over the Gulf of Mexico as we drove further west out Highway 1 to Marathon, where we arrived just in time for a couple more birds. A drive around the Sombrero Golf Club got us to a flock of Least Terns, and as I picked through them a larger tern with a black bill and a relatively longer, forked tail emerged - Roseate Tern! The bird was diving in and out behind some trees over a pond, and that combined with the constantly decreasing daylight made it frustratingly impossible to photograph. But it was an awesome lifer to snag just in the nick of time!

On the way back we stopped by the Marathon airport. I found a spot to park near the airstrip, stopped the car, and began listening. First came the "bzeeewww" of a Common Nighthawk, which seemed promising. Sure enough, just moments later came the "piti-pit-pit, piti-pit-pit" of an Antillean Nighthawk! I was a little surprised at just how raspy the call was. Jen, who earned her Wife of the Century badge on this long day of travel, also got to hear it.

Sunday, June 22: While Jen got ready the next morning, I made a quick Starbucks run to get us some breakfast. On the way I pulled down to the Key Largo Kampground to turn around, and much to my delight I had a pair of Black-whiskered Vireos singing away! I got out, and in the process of tracking them down, a Mangrove Cuckoo sounded off! I stood there absolutely shocked that these two specialties had cooperated so nicely in the tiny sliver of time I had this morning. I had to get moving so I only saw the vireo briefly and had to leave the cuckoo as a heard only bird, but I was still thrilled about my fifth and sixth lifers in the keys.

Jen and I had a leisurely rest of the morning, enjoying our breakfast on the beach at Seafarer. Our stay included free kayak rentals, so we grabbed a couple and paddled around the bay for a little bit. Jen spotted a big iguana on another section of beach, so we paddled over to investigate and found two others with it. A Prairie Warbler sounded off here. The ever present frigatebirds of the keys were gliding overhead, and we got to kayak right up to some Least Terns sitting on buoys. The morning sun, warm water, and breeze off the Gulf made for a refreshing morning in between long drives. But we still had one more bit of fun on the docket before the trip back to Orlando - Everglades National Park.

On the way, I saw a funny looking cowbird on a line and was able to pull over real quick to look at it. I was hoping for a lifer, but found an equally as good bird for the region - Bronzed Cowbird. I didn't expect to have this guy in both Arizona and Florida this year.

Bronzed Cowbird

Miami-Dade Co, FL

June 22, 2014

In Everglades National Park, we began at the Anhinga trail, where its namesake greeted us at the front pond. The short trail had a really nice assortment of birds and wildlife, considering the muggy midmorning conditions, and less than ideal time of year for the region. People were complaining about the bugs, but compared to my southern Illinois experience a week prior (which wasn't as bad as I had anticipated, actually), I didn't think it was bad at all.