Birdfreak: The Bird Conservation Blog

Cornell Sound Recording Workshop

If you haven’t familiarized yourself with Cornell, now would be a great time. Their website is one of the best in the birding world but they also offer many wonderful programs including this sound recording workshop (which we wish we could attend).

Press Release From Cornell:

­From June 7 to 14, the annual Sound Recording Workshop offered by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology returns to San Francisco State University’s Sierra Nevada Field Campus in the spectacular surroundings of the eastern foothills of California’s northern Sierra Nevada mountains. Participants learn state-of-the-art techniques for capturing bird sounds, guided by experts.

The Sound Recording Workshop fee of $895 covers tuition, class materials, ground transportation, food, and lodging. A $100 deposit is requested to reserve a space, which is limited to 20 students. Registration and payment are due by May 31. Learn more at: The Macaulay Library or contact Tammy Bishop at (607) 254-2198 or macaulaylibrary@cornell.edu.

This certainly sounds like a fun and education opportunity (and if they are full there’s always next time!)

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CNP Update: Still going…

Another week at the Callaway Nature Preserve and we are still finding warblers and other migrants. Two new species have arrived, a Yellow Warbler and a Philadelphia Vireo which is new for the Callaway Nature Preserve Life List! (number 98!) There are more nesting hopefuls…one very energetic pair of Gray Catbirds and a busy Common Grackle that was spotted gathering shavings from the fallen Willow Tree.

A pair of Scarlet Tanagers gave a surprise courtship display right on the cable wire and while they probably won’t nest here, maybe they will find a suitable nearby forest preserve.

Male Scarlet Tanager

On the plant side of things, the Wild Columbine and Wild Geranium are blooming alongside the Bluebells. The Cupplants (aka bird magnets) are growing fast. It is going to be a wild year at the CNP!

Swainson’s Thrush, hanging out at the CNP

2 Comments | Posted in » Callaway Nature Preserve

Spring Bird Count 2008 - Part Three

The final part of three recounting our May 10th Spring Bird Count. We went in search of Clay-colored Sparrows and a variety of marsh and night birds.

Our initial search for Clay-colored Sparrow was a bust. Luckily, we were invited to check out another area with a couple of world-class birders and within a half hour we had a highly energized Clay-colored Sparrow defending his territory. This sparrow was our 11th species of sparrow for the day!

Our next stop was a marshy area where we went in search of rails and bitterns. We found four Soras and four Virginia Rails plus a Green Heron. It is amazing how well rails can hide even after they flush in plain view.

Before night fell, we headed back to one of our original areas with Dan Williams (who is the definition of expert birder) to get set up for some night birding. As we waited for darkness, we heard Grasshopper and Lark Sparrows.

We had moderate hopes of finding out if any Barn Owls resided in the area but the tape playback went unanswered. However, we did add American Woodcock and Whip-poor-will and heard a fairly close Barred Owl.

To round out our day we headed to a farm where we had permission to drive down a grass-track between farm fields and out to a marshy area where we were wishful for Yellow or Black Rails. Unfortunately, neither were found but the excitement of our 16th hour of birding, standing in the dark in an unfamiliar area in the middle of nowhere was exhilarating.

For the day we tallied 105 species of birds, 8 more than last year and our new goal to beat. We counted 1,349 individual birds but probably missed one or two.

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Spring Bird Count 2008 - Part Two

Part two of three of our Spring Bird Count wrap-up we recount the wonderful birds we found over a 4+ hour hike at a way cool preserve called Sugar River Alder.

Before heading to our next stop, Sugar River Alder Forest Preserve, we had a quick lunch break by the Sugar River. A Baltimore Oriole sang the entire time and we had our first Eastern Towhee of the day.

Sugar River Alder is a wonderful preserve with a lot of miles of trails to cover. We were keyed up to cover the majority of them but the going was slow as we observed a wide variety of species. Some of the main highlights were our one and only American Redstart (!) and four Red-headed Woodpeckers.

There were several times during our trek that we were wishing the camera wasn’t in the car. Scarlet Tanagers perched twenty feet away, Indigo Buntings sang recklessly in our faces, and a pair of Lark Sparrows mated unabashedly in full view.

Baltimore Orioles were everywhere creating a few odd remarks:
“Just another oriole.”
“I can’t hear that warbler over the oriole!”
“Are there any ‘non-orioles’ in that tree?”
Of course, we can’t complain since they are such beautiful birds!

As 5:00 rolled around, 1/2 of our team headed home but we (Birdfreak and Veery) still had a few more hours so we went off in search of Clay-colored Sparrows before hitting some marshes and night-time spots.

Stay tuned for part three to find out if we were successful on the sparrow and what night birds we found, plus totals from our 16 hour day!

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Spring Bird Count 2008 - Part One

In part one of three we discuss the morning highlights of the 2008 Spring Bird Count which took place May 10th in the entire state of Illinois.

We began the long day of birding by getting up at 0400 and were at our first stop at around 0530. Last year we began here earlier but with plans of a late night, we decided the extra sleep was a good thing. Our goal was to see what was about at Nygren Wetlands, a property belonging to the Natural Land Institute, a local organization that does wonderful things for conservation.

Nygren Wetlands

The Birdfreakmobile at Nygren

We had a wonderful mix of birds at Nygren, our first of the day being a Common Yellowthroat. By the time we had left, we had seen or heard nearly 40 species including a few that were only seen there.

Our next stop was a road with a mix of flooded farm fields and mud flats. We were looking for American White Pelicans (no luck) and intended for a quick stop which turned into over an hour of some really interesting finds.

Best finds along this road were an American Pipit, Pectoral Sandpipers, Lesser Yellowlegs, Sandhill Cranes (pair), and a group of Bobolinks!

American Pipit

The biggest highlight though was a flock of 12 Cattle Egrets, a first for us in our county and a pretty unusual find (and something we were unsure about until we found out another group had the same flock!).

We eventually pulled ourselves away from this area and made it to our next stop, Sugar River Forest Preserve. We had high hopes of a lot of warblers but with numerous flooded trails, we were not so lucky. We were able to add Golden-winged, Yellow-throated, Chestnut-sided, and Cerulean Warblers to our list, so it was still successful.

Stay tuned for part two of our Spring Bird Count - more warblers and some other nice finds (although we took no more photos the rest of the day).

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Spring Count Preview - Harris’s Sparrow

While scouting for our upcoming Spring Bird Count (Sat, May 10) we checked out a cool area that we’ve never been - Rockton Bog. This “bog” is actually a sedge meadow but it was plenty wet, yet a bit devoid of birds.

Cool fern at the Rockton Bog

We checked out a few other areas to get our bearings for tomorrow’s big day before heading to a local gem, Severson Dells Forest Preserve, where there were reports of Harris’s Sparrow and Summer Tanager (both rather rare in our area).

There was no sign of a Summer Tanager but the Harris’s Sparrow showed up immediately!

This was through a window so the quality wasn’t so great

This is a lifer for Birdfreak and will hopefully stick around for tomorrow’s count (although this is actually not in our counting area so hopefully someone else finds it).

We plan on being thoroughly exhausted after tomorrow but hopefully will have tons of birds to report (although perhaps not many photos since we will be “extreme” birding).

Tags: Harris's Sparrow

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Phriday Photo - Blue-headed Vireo

A bird knows nothing of gladness,
Is only a song machine.
- George MacDonald, “A Book of Dreams”

5 Comments | Posted in » Birding

CNP Update: Migration Mania

This past week has ranged in temperature from 37 to 80. It has rained, stormed, and gone from high to low humidity and then back to high. Through it all, the birds are still traveling. Warbler fever is definately going around here in Northern Illinois….does anyone else feel a bit crazy yet?

Friday started off a big sweep of new species for the year at the Callaway Nature Preserve. Scarlet Tanager, Indigo Bunting, Nashville and Chestnut-sided Warbler were a few of the first to be spotted.

Indigo Bunting Bathtime

Magnolia, Blue-winged and Golden-winged Warblers arrived just yesterday morning, singing and eating. A Common Yellowthroat and Nashville Warbler continuously sang for about six hours Wednesday, along with White-throated Sparrows, American Robins, and American Goldfinches chiming in. Occasionally adding to the mix were Red-eyed Vireo and Gray Catbird. A very nice melody!

Lincoln’s Sparrow

The most exciting this week? A brand new bird altogether for the CNP; Lincoln’s Sparrow! He has been hanging around with the White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows. Swainson’s Thrush and Veery are back, maybe they will be singing in the morning, one of the best song combos to hear in the spring.

Magnolia Warbler

New Arrivals

1. Baltimore Oriole
2. Black-and-white Warbler
3. Blue-winged Warbler
4. Chestnut-sided Warbler
5. Chipping Sparrow
6. Common Yellowthroat
7. Golden-winged Warbler
8. Gray Catbird
9. Indigo Bunting
10. Lincoln’s Sparrow
11. Magnolia Warbler
12. Nashville Warbler
13. Red-eyed Vireo
14. Rose-breasted Grosbeak
15. Scarlet Tanager
16. Tennessee Warbler
17. White-crowned Sparrow
18. Yellow-throated Vireo

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Female Rose-breasted Grosbeak

3 Comments | Posted in » Callaway Nature Preserve

ConserveOnline - Meeting Place for the Conservation Community

ConserveOnline is a free online community for conservationists. Maintained by the Nature Conservancy, ConserveOnline offers the ability to post data, documents, images, maps and other resources; announce upcoming meetings or events and host discussions in your workspace; search for documents within a selected list of conservation organization websites.

The new ConserveOnline allows conservationists anywhere easily manage their local knowledge flow, via free and fast coordination and document management tools; identify other individuals and organizations who are doing similar work; grow the existing global library of conservation tools, techniques, and experiences; discuss how and where to channel resources for the greatest conservation impact; and share successes and failures to ensure that proven strategies – not failed approaches – are repeated and strengthened.

ConserveOnline has been recently revamped and looks to be a great tool for conservation organizations all over. In a simple search for Blue-winged Warbler we found 24 results with various articles about this species. As more organizations sign up, this resource will only improve, although the information overload is a bit heavy.

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Rare Birds Yearbook 2008

Subtitled “the world’s 189 most threatened birds”, Rare Birds Yearbook 2008 is a depressing yet wonderfully crafted reference book. The birds featured are the rarest of the rare, some of which have not been seen for many years and may well be extinct.

These 189 birds are all classified as Critically Endangered according to IUCNredlist.org. Many of these disappearing birds are starting to make a comeback while others are struggling to get the conservation they deserve.

However, this reference/rare bird guide offers insights into ways we can all help reduce the risk of many of these birds from vanishing forever. Of course many of these birds are far away from our home, but supporting the conservation organizations that are working in foreign lands, can help where we can’t.

Each of the 189 birds is given a 1/2, full, or 2 pages of information. Most of the birds have photos and each has an overview map, conservation information, and what is needed to conserve the species.

Inside the Rare Birds Yearbook

Much of the data comes from Birdlife International, the premiere international bird conservation group. By purchasing this book, over $6.00 goes to Birdlife International to help fund their Preventing Extinctions initiative which intends to raise $39,000,000 over the next five years. This is certainly a lofty goal, but reachable with all the countries and organizations involved.

Besides the species accounts, there are stories about four “species-finders”, those that quest to find new birds or rediscover old ones. Also of value is the large list of conservation organizations, complete with contact information, that are partners of Birdlife International.

For those with the time and money, there is even a list of birding tour companies that will take you to see many of the rare birds listed in the yearbook. Supporting ecotourism is certainly a great way to ensure strong conservation efforts get put into place.

Birdlife International has around 2.5 million members and 8 million supporters among the 100 plus organizations all over the globe. We urge you, as bird conservationists to donate and support them by going to www.birdlife.org.

Unfortunately, sales channels in the U.S. are still a bit lacking but you can purchase Rare Birds Yearbook 2008 from www.rarebirdsyearbook.com or Buteo Books.

1 Comment | Posted in » Reviews

Deer Run Bird Survey #10

First off, our good friend Tim did another Deer Run Bird Survey (survey 9.5) at the end of April, adding four new species to the list: Northern Waterthrush, Solitary Sandpiper, Swainson’s Thrush, and Vesper Sparrow. He found 183 total birds and 42 different species!

Friday was Deer Run Bird Survey number ten, our first May survey. A storm was rolling in, so we were booking it!

Virginia Bluebells

There were wild Bluebells and other flowers all over the place (including a bit of Garlic Mustard). Even with the impending storm, birds were active and singing.

New for the D.R.B.S. - Eastern Kingbird

We counted 420 individual birds of 51 species and added eleven new ones for the survey:

1. Black-and-White Warbler
2. Chestnut-sided Warbler
3. Common Yellowthroat
4. Eastern Kingbird
5. Grasshopper Sparrow
6. Henslow’s Sparrow
7. House Sparrow (!)
8. Least Flycatcher
9. Nashville Warbler
10. Red-breasted Merganser
11. White-crowned Sparrow

Our grand total now stands at 3709 individual birds of 89 species!

Eastern Meadowlark

Lots of Wildflowers

1 Comment | Posted in » D.R.B.S.

Nestwatch.org Citizen Science Project

Nestwatch is a newly launched citizen science project from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Funded by the National Science Foundation, Nestwatch promises to be not only fun but also scientifically valuable.

Of course, to truly make this project work, your help is needed. All materials and instructions are available at www.nestwatch.org. Anyone can help and if you are worried about disturbing birds, there are details about how to monitor safely.

As Peter Marra from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center puts it,

“Each and every observation is important because it helps scientists measure the impact of such things as climate change and habitat destruction. Without citizens across the country collecting this information for us it would be almost impossible to track these large-scale destructive processes.”

Please sign up at www.nestwatch.org

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is dedicated to interpreting and conserving the earth’s biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds.
Please become a member if you are not already - www.birds.cornell.edu

Tags: Cornell Lab of Ornithology

No Comments | Posted in » Bird Conservation Movement