Entries from June 2007 ↓

Off Highway 70 in Winnebago County, Illinois there is place to pull off and view a rather large natural area. Since it was on the way to Four Lakes Forest Preserve, we decided to stop there and have a look.

Can you spot the Bald Eagle? An exciting find. We also saw plenty of Canada Geese, a Great Blue Heron, Eastern Kingbirds, Eastern Meadowlarks, and a very dramatic Killdeer. (Of course, he had a broken wing).

This overlook is a cool place to stop with a spotting scope, especially when waterbirds are passing through. We aren’t sure who manages the land, but we do know that the plaque says “In Memory to Bill Howard Senior” and it was dedicated by the employees of Blacktop Construction Company.

A perk to attending full-time summer school is that I (Veery) get Fridays off and I have been using this day to take my son and oldest neice birding. Today we went to Four Lakes Forest Preserve here in Winnebago County, Illinois.

Four Lakes Forest Preserve is 168-acres of four small man-made lakes. The biggest draw to this area is fishing, but it is usually a quiet place to bird in the morning hours.

This is the District’s most popular fishing area. Fish stocked include: bluegills, channel catfish, largemouth bass (catch & release on bass at this location), walleye, brown bullheads, redear sunfish, northern pike, golden and silver shiners, fathead minnows. –Winnebago County Forest Preserve District

With all of these fish (and plenty of frogs) come the Great Blue Herons and Belted Kingfishers. One pair of Belted Kingfishers was nesting at the farthest end of the lakes and we saw them coming and going, rattling loudly. We found Baltimore Orioles, Eastern Wood Pewees, Warbling Vireos, and Cedar Waxwings as well.

The weather was a bit cool today, but the birds were really active and fun to watch. Four Lakes a good place for morning birding, when birders, fishermen, and fisher-birds are the main occupants.

Born on June 27, 1740 in England, John Latham was the first to scientifically name and identify many Australian birds earning him the title of “Grandfather” of Australian ornithology.
John Latham was one of the creators of the Linnean Society of London, a society of those who studied taxonomy. He wrote A General History of Birds in 1895.

What would the world be like without the hauntingly beautiful song of the Wood Thrush?

The decline of birds has been a hot topic of late with numerous newspapers and blogs posting opinions about Audubon’s report. Birds have been declining overall ever since settlers first came to America. The wildlife and natural resources were so bountiful that no one could possibly imagine running out of land to cultivate or wildlife to hunt. Heck, birds were an accessory for hats and mammals like bison could be hunted just for the fun of it.

Time passed and people continued to alter the land and introduce new problems, like DDT, to the already weakened environment. Many birds nearly left this planet for ever and some were not so lucky. There’s always an excuse, always something a bit more important. Ivory-billed Woodpeckers should never have been pushed to the brink. Whether or not they still exist, there was plenty of opportunities to protect and save the species. But the general population won out over “just some bird”.

So now we are in the present time and yet the same story repeats itself. Birds are declining and it’s not just the rare, “niche” birds. Now common birds like Field Sparrows, Eastern Meadowlarks, and Common Grackles are on the list. How ironic (and disgusting) would it be if a species like Red-winged Blackbirds suddenly disappeared? Nah, could never happen. That’s what they said about the Passenger Pigeon.

Nearly everyone goes about their daily lives unconcerned about the birds. They’re just birds afterall. They can fly somewhere else if their prairie gets plowed or their forest gets cleared. Unfortunately, birds are struggling to survive all the dangers that are imposed on them.

Fortunately, there is still hope. Birds are declining, yes, but birds are amazing creatures. They have a drive that is rivaled by nothing else. How can something that weighs less than a wadded up piece of paper migrate hundreds, even thousands of miles? Why is it that when a prairie is restored, the birds return?

It will take more than just birders and nature-lovers to fix what is broken. No longer can people just sit back and hope the situation will right itself. Everyone needs to become pro-active. Every decision should be made with careful consideration of the effects they will have on the environment. No longer can we sit back and think we are doing enough.

Until the newspapers are reporting massive increases of birds, we must continue the fight. We hope soon enough we won’t need to ask, Where are all the birds?

The following videos were taken at Deer Run Forest Preserve in our home county, Winnebago, in northern Illinois. This preserve has many sparrow species - Henslow’s, Grasshopper, Savannah, Vesper, Field, Lark, Chipping, and Song, along with Dickcissels. The cicada invasion is finally winding down, so it is easier to hear the birds songs. The video quality isn’t that great but the sound picked up nicely. Enjoy!

Henslow’s Sparrow

Grasshopper Sparrow

Video taken by Veery

Prairies are one of the most under-conserved land areas in Illinois and elsewhere in the Midwest. Wetlands, forests, and riparian areas have all gotten extensive attention. So why not the prairies? Illinois at one time consisted of 22 million acres of prairie compared to 14 million acres of forest. These 22 million acres were part of a massive grassland biome that stretched from Indiana to Nebraska down to Texas and up to Canada. By 1900, most of the prairies in Illinois were destroyed and today less than 1% of the prairies remain in remnants.

It is not possible to return to the days of vast expanses of prairie in Illinois. It is interesting, exciting, and even a little romantic to read about them, but they are gone forever. Today, we need to protect, manage and learn from the prairie remnants and plant to look forward to the prairie’s future in restoration. - Illinois Department of Natural Resources

The Illinois DNR paints a pretty grim picture and while it might be true that we will never have what we once had, the Prairie State still has a chance to return to some of its glory. All around our county (Winnebago) in northern Illinois, there are large farmlands for sale. There are still more farmlands with developer signs planted prominantly by the roadside. What needs to happen is the county or state should be buying up this land to convert it prairie.

Lark Sparrow

The conversion of farmland to prairie has already been done and has worked well in the past. Prairies can draw in a lot of tourism but their real value is what they do for the environment. Prairies consist of deep-rooted plants that help with water filtration and also reduce the amount of carbon put in the air.

Using prairie plants will reduce noise, conserve gasoline and oil, reduce pollution, and help to reduce accidents associated with lawn mowers. –Illinois DNR

There is a great site with many links about Illinois Prairies. Prairies provide some of the coolest birding. Many restored prairies are small in size, but still seem to bring in many species. At one of our local preserves, Deer Run, there is a nice grassland that has nesting Henslow’s, Grassland, Savanna, Lark, and Vesper Sparrows along with Dickcissels.

There are many acres of farmland for sale within Winnebago County and nearby Boone and Dekalb Counties. We see land for sale all over the place. Most of it will probably become businesses and sub-divisions. It is easy to envision a vast prairie taking its place, though nearly impossible to make a reality. We hope that some of this land can go back in time and become prairie again, while it is still even a possibility.

Not counting cool Kenn Kaufman and other great birders and authors, we tried finding a well-known celebrity bird-lover to feature on a post. We were looking for someone who is well known among the non-birders. We found exactly one, and his specialty is the Bald Eagle. I know, there are many features done on the Bald Eagle, after all it is one of the most popular bird species in the United States. Can you imagine the help birds would get if even ONE big name was an actual birder?

Stephen Colbert, who hosts The Colbert Report on Comedy Central LOVES Bald Eagles and talks about them on his show. Last night, some of the Birdfreak Team caught Colbert explaining that there should be a National Bald Eagle Day and of course we agree. He even had someone from the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, Minnesota on the show to talk about them. Very cool, especially when late night (and early and middle-of-the-day) talk shows usually have one or two topics featuring Paris Hilton (who probably won’t ever become a birder).

Are there any other potential celebrity birders out there? The Birdfreak Team will have to keep searching. There must be someone out there that could promote birding and conservation to its fullest. Who knows? Maybe with the help of Laura Erickson and Birdchick we really can have our first nationally-known celebrity birder.