Entries from April 2007 ↓

Despite birding every day for the last week, we decided to do our Blogger Bio Blitz at our own preserve, the Callaway Nature Preserve. The C.N.P. is a 1/4 acre in size and is located in Rockford, a city of 150,000+.

First of all, our bug expert is only nine and he slacked off a bit, so our numbers are low there.

Insects

House Fly
Mosquito
Boxelder Bug
Wood Tick
Bumble Bee
Sweat Bee
Gnats
Cabbage Butterfly
Monarch Butterfly
Tiger Swallowtail

Our expert also found three different types of spiders, some earth worms and a few grubs.

Earth Worm

Our plant list includes:

Trees

American Elm
Mulberry
Weeping Willow
White Ash
White Pine
Mountain Ash
Sycamore
White Birch
Silver Maple
Flowering Dogwood
Red Oak
Bur Oak
Cedar

Shrubs

Nannyberry
Lilac
Weigilia
Juniper
Cranberry Viburnum
Arrowood

Prairie Smoke

Flowers and grasses

Cupplant
Sunflower
Compass Plant
Prairie Dropseed
Prairie Rose
Little Bluestem
Prairie Smoke
Royal Catchfly
Cardinal Flowers
Creeping Phlox
Allium
Monarda
Iris (various types)
Tulips
Morning Glory
Peoni
Yucca
Wild Senna
Virginia Bluebells
Blue Lobelia
Lily of the Valley
Solomon’s Seal
Virginia Creeper
Prairie Trillium
White Trillium
Yellow Trillium
Hosta
Ground Ivy
Violets, white and purple
White Dragon Flower
Hyacinth
Columbine
Tiger Lily
Lavender
Thistle
Dandelion
Daffodil
Mock Orange
Garlic Mustard (Not welcome! On the removal list)
Fern

Eastern Towhee

Birds

House Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Cooper’s Hawk
Chimney Swift
American Robin
Hermit Thrush
Brown Thrasher
Northern Cardinal
Bluejay
American Goldfinch
House Finch
American Crow
Downy Woodpecker
Red-belly Woodpecker
White-breasted Nuthatch
Mourning Dove
Common Grackle
European Starling
Brown-headed Cowbird

White-throated Sparrow

Animals

Bunny
Red and Gray Squirrel
Feral Cat (on the removal list)
Socks (Blue Healer Mix)
Max (Golden Retriever)
Arizona (Doberman Mix)

Our local bird banding station, Sand Bluff Bird Observatory, perhaps the finest in the midwest, had a surprising visitor today. A Lazuli Bunting showed up; the first one banded here! Normally Lazuli Buntings are found west of northern Illinois in places like Nebraska and the Dakotas.

Lazuli Bunting

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Swamp Sparrow (was originally called a Lincoln’s Sparrow by the bander)

Another view of the Lazuli

While birding today with our local birding club, NCIOS, a waterthrush was discovered and luckily we brought along our birdJam loaded iPod. We quickly found the song for Louisiana Waterthrush and it was a perfect match! birdJam’s software is great because it removes the voice from the start of each track and also allows for easy finding of the bird in question. Full Review

Today I also got my free shirt from birdJam because I filled out their survey. The survey results also came in and are pretty interesting. 35.1% of people surveyed said they don’t use birdJam to call in birds. There is a lot of debate about this, but for the most part tape playback (of any sort) is OK when used with caution. In high traffic areas or for rare/nesting birds it is not a good idea. Also, in inclement weather or when hawk migration is heavy, it should not be done.

For the most part, following the rules of pishing, owl calling, etc. should be followed with sound playback. We played the sound enough for our group of birders to hear for verification and got a short reaction from the waterthrush and then we moved on.

It is time once again to hype up the awesome Internet Bird Collection (IBC)!
They now have 3590 species and 14118 videos! Amazing!
When we posted about the IBC back in January, they had 12,000 videos covering 3,259 species.

This is such a fun way to review migratory birds before they arrive. There are quite a few videos of New World Warblers such as the Chestnut-sided Warbler and the Yellow-breasted Chat. My favorite clips to view on the IBC are the ones that show the birds singing. I can’t get enough of the Winter Wren song.
The IBC keeps growing but still no Road Runner. Still, one of the best sites to view good quality birds, species by species.

The Birdfreak Team’s new camera came in today and I am already pleased. It’s a Canon EOS Rebel XTi. I only had time to shoot for a half hour or so before it was too dark to bother, but it is easy to use and focuses so much better than my old camera.

The first photo was Arizona who was overly curious (as he always is).

Then it was outside for some views of our native plants.

White Trillium

Prairie Trillium (I think)

Royal Catchfly

Royal Catchfly is a fairly rare plant and we planted over a dozen last year.

Wild Columbine

We’re looking forward for this to flower so it will be full of hummingbirds.

Virginia Bluebells

We like to refer to these and the large quantities of hosta as “Thrush Bait”.

The moon is telling me to get inside and do some research. Hopefully tomorrow the White-throated Sparrows will be ready for their photo shoot. And I’ll be posting pictures of some more of our natives.

To celebrate Earth Day, Rock Valley College hosted the Community Earth Day Celebration that featured many conservation and wildlife organizations.
The Birdfreak team volunteered to organize the booth of our local birding club, the North Central Illinois Ornithological Society (NCIOS).



We had never done this before and weren’t sure what to expect. Many of our favorite local conservers attended such as the Natural Land Institute and the Severson Dells Nature Center. Everything ran smoothly and we even recruited three new members to the bird club!

Part of the Bird Conservation Alliance

The Wisconsin Society for Ornithology was organized in 1939 to encourage the study of Wisconsin birds. The aims have since expanded to emphasize all of the many enjoyable aspects of birding and to support the research and habitat protection necessary to preserve Wisconsin birdlife. WSO strives to alert members and the public to situations and practices that threaten Wisconsin’s bird populations.

The Wisconsin Society for Ornithology (WSO) has over 1500 members, some from other states and countries. They have many events and festivals, including their annual convention which includes many cool field trips, presentations, and even youth birding activities. On May 17-20, they will hold their 68th convention.

The WSO’s Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas has published a large amount of data online, including many maps. They have a wonderful image library of pictures, and an audio library of sounds.
The WSO does survey work such as the Nicolet National Forest Bird Survey and partners with The Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative.

For more information on birding Wisconsin, check out Mike’s Birding & Digiscoping Blog and
a Peregrine Falcon Webcam from Dairyland Power Cooperative.
The WSO is a great organization to join. They continue to work hard in the interest of birds.