Entries from April 2008 ↓

This week’s photo is courtesy of mesquakie8, our local birding friend and fantastic photographer.

Eastern Meadowlark, up close and personal at Sand Bluff Bird Observatory in Winnebago county, Illinois

View large size

If you’ve never been bird banding before, we strongly suggest you go. It isn’t too often you can get these sort of looks at a “common” bird (and rare ones as well).

Big thanks to mesquakie8!!

Another Thursday, another week of new migrants. An Eastern Towhee made an appearance (finally!) along with a Brown Thrasher and the ever aggressive House Wren is back. Monday brought in almost a dozen Ruby-crowned Kinglets and a few more Hermit Thrushes as well.

The Downy Woodpecker couple is still working on their hole.

The highlights this week are the returning and budding plants, such as the Wild Columbine and Bluebells. The dripper has been put out and we eagerly await the next wave of migrants.

White-throated Sparrow

New Spring Arrivals

1. House Wren
2. Northern Flicker
3. Eastern Towhee
4. Brown Thrasher

Common Loon at Rock Cut State Park (with camera shutters and a lot of wind & rain in the background)

Common Loon from birdfreak on Vimeo.

Our eighth Deer Run Bird Survey of our year long survey was the best we’ve had yet. The weather was wonderful and we had our highest count of species thus far. This should be topped as migration really hits, but we’re happy with what we saw Sunday. Technically, DRBS #7.5 happened on the 6th of April but was done by local birder (and great friend) Tim Young. He added three new species for the count: American Coot, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, & Golden-crowned Kinglet.

D.R.B.S. #8 started off with a bang as we netted Brown Thrasher and Eastern Towhee (new for the count).

Brown Thrasher

We counted 330 individual birds of 39 species and added five new ones for the survey:

1. Rusty Blackbird
2. House Wren
3. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
4. Eastern Towhee
5. Brown Thrasher

Our total for the survey now stands at 2,948 individuals of 62 species.

Wood Duck

Hermit Thrush - never get tired of these!

Read more about what we are doing with our Deer Run Bird Survey.

A great way to promote bird conservation is to celebrate and encourage the future generation of great birders. What better way to discuss young birders than by finding out what they personally think and feel? This is our third interview with a young birder, Cassidy Bird Nut.

White-breasted Nuthatch for this Bird Nut

1. What age were you when you started birding? What is your current age?
I was 5 when I got interested in birding and birds. I currently am 13.

2. How did you get started in birding?
I got interested in birding on a trip across the US in our car when I was 5. I taught myself to read in National Geographic’s Birds of North America.

3. What is your favorite bird?
My favorite bird is the Golden Eagle, I finally saw the majestic bird in Denali National Park in Alaska.

4. How often do you go birding?
As often as I can; I never stop birding!

5. Who do you go birding with?
I usually go birding either alone or with my family.

6. Is there a bird club in your area and are you a member?
In western Massachusetts there are some bird clubs: the Hampshire Bird Club (I was a member) and a bird club in a nature building called the Hitchcock Center (I was also a member of that club and went on numerous “field trips” to places around the area).

7. Do you have a life list and if so, how many are on it?
I do have a life list and it is at 554 (including Mexico).

8. Do your family or friends also enjoy birding?
My family (including my grandparents) also enjoy birding and they drive me places.

9. Is the environmental field (including birding) part of your future career goal?
The environmental field (mostly birding) is very important for me and it is my main future career goal.

10. How would you get other young people interested in birding?
I would get other youngsters like me into birding by either starting a bird club or helping them identify birds in the field.

Check out Cassidy Bird Nut’s amazing blog!!

A big thanks goes out to Cassidy Bird Nut and if any other young birder (12-18) wants to be featured, contact us [birdfreak at birdfreak dot com]

Whether we call our passion (obsession) bird-watching or birding, there is no question what warbling is - the quest to find those flittery little migrants known as Wood-Warblers. Yesterday wasn’t a top day of warbling, but we spotted our first warblers of the season (besides the nearly year-round Yellow-rumped Warblers).

We spent some time between counting cranes and Dakota’s baseball practice visiting Sugar River Forest Preserve, a fantastic warbling hotspot.

Yellow-throated Warbler - nests at Sugar River

Pine Warbler - aptly named in this shot

Pine Warbler - telling the Chipping Sparrows to stop sounding like him

The warbling season has begun and we know it will be a busy one!!

Today was the 2008 International Crane Foundation Crane Count and we were positioned in a wonderful location known as Moody Marsh. We began our count at 5:30 in the morning, a perfect time for birdsong, especially during migration.

Moody Marsh (taken with the video camera)

Our first birds were a group of Northern Shovelers that were not pleased to be disturbed and took off in annoyance. As we settled in for our two-hour count, we were delighted to hear Soras and American Bittern. Of course, we were supposed to be counting cranes and there were plenty to count!

Sandhill Cranes

The goal was to determine how many pairs of Sandhill Cranes were “unison” calling. We heard six pairs, a pretty good number for our area. In all, we saw or heard 40 cranes.

Sandhill Cranes

We spent the rest of the morning birding which we’ll talk about tomorrow!!