Low Warblers in High Places
May 26, 2008
Article in: Bird Conservation
This is the part one of six of Birdfreak’s 72-hour birding extravaganza. Our goal was to find as many bird species as possible within Winnebago County, Illinois.
Olive-sided Flycatcher at Rock Cut State Park
We began our 72-hour birding event at 0330 at Pecatonica Wetlands in the hopes of finding bitterns and rails. We struck out on both families, but we did find a Sedge Wren. Our first official bird, heard along the drive, was an American Robin. The first warbler of the count was the Common Yellowthroat.
Our next stop was a short jaunt through Pecatonica River Forest Preserve where we found Henslow’s Sparrows and Wood Thrushes, but none of the warblers that were present earlier in the week.
Blue-winged Warbler at Rock Cut State Park
Next, we headed to Rock Cut State Park, a wonderful large park with many miles of trails to cover. Here we found the bulk of the first day’s totals including three Blue-winged Warblers, one Yellow-throated Warbler, and a Blackpoll Warbler.
Veery at Rock Cut State Park
One of our goals here was to find Cerulean Warblers, which nest at the park. Success! At four different locations we saw singing Ceruleans. We also saw three singing Veeries, and a photogenic Chestnut-sided Warbler.
Chestnut-sided Warbler at Rock Cut State Park
Unfortunately, the camera’s battery died right after the Chestnut-sided Warbler so we went photoless until later in the evening.
After having lunch and checking a few more spots, we headed home for a much needed nap in preparation for the night-time birding activity at Deer Run Forest Preserve.
Sunday Photo – Shorebirds Find a Fuddle
May 25, 2008
Article in: Updates
In our county we have a general lacking of shorebird habitat. However, when there is a good amount of rain timed right, farm puddles form. These “fuddles” become magnets to shorebirds and thanks to notification by a birder friend, we were able to see two lifer shorebirds for both Birdfreak and Veery {Hudsonian Godwit and Dunlin}.
Hudsonian Godwit, Dunlins, & Short-billed Dowitchers
The godwit is in the front by himself, the Dunlins are back left and the dowitchers are the two on the right.
Note: We are out in the field on our 72-hour bird count and will be posting our findings in the upcoming days. Stay tuned!!
Saturday Photo – Northern Cardinal with Character
May 24, 2008
Article in: Updates
This Northern Cardinal lost a lot of feathers around his eyes but still managed to find a great looking mate. We believe his mate is the same female two years ago that had no crest and who we nicknamed “crestless”.
Note: We are out in the field on our 72-hour bird count. We will be posting about our findings in the days to come so stay tuned!!
Phriday Photo – Black-throated Blue Warbler
May 23, 2008
Article in: Photography
Perhaps our favorite warbler for two reasons: 1) He looks cool and 2) Only time we’ve ever seen him is in our backyard!
Just add water and warblers magically appear!
Note: We are out in the field for our 72-hour bird count. We will recap the three-day event in a few days. Besides checking bird sightings we will be away from the computer.
CNP Update: Wilson!
May 22, 2008
Article in: Birding
Migration seems to be delayed by 5-10 days in our area but has been steady and extremely enjoyable. This past week we have had more new year birds for the Callaway Nature Preserve.
One of the highlights was a group of Wilson’s Warblers, a little yellow warbler with a neat black cap that looks like slicked back hair.
Wilson’s Warbler – taken at a forest preserve, not our backyard
Note: Updated photo because originally posted the same one as the other day 
The other major highlight was a Black-throated Blue Warbler that hung around all day Wednesday.
Other notable birds included: Chestnut-sided and Magnolia Warblers, Ovenbird, Swainson’s and Gray-cheeked Thrushes, and a lot of activity with the local nesters: Downy Woodpecker, Gray Catbird, House Wren, and Northern Cardinal.
Water-logged Ovenbird
72 Hour Bird Count Preview
May 22, 2008
Article in: Bird Conservation
May is our favorite time of year as thousands of colorful, amazing birds make their way into northern Illinois. Last year we decided to enter the birdiest county contest for our county, Winnebago, which involved doing a 72 hour consecutive block of birding. (Of course, we didn’t bird for all that time, but any birds counted during that period by anyone in the county, counted.)
Unfortunately, nothing came of the contest but it was still a blast to search for birds all over the county. We ended up with 123 species and learned a lot about our local and migrating birds.
Socks came along last year for a successful search of sparrows
This year we will be doing it again, this time with no contest to enter, but instead a personal goal of 150 species. While it will be difficult to reach this goal, we know we can beat last year’s total.
We will be doing the count from Friday May 23rd to Sunday May 25th and will post our findings in the following days.
Last year’s 72 hour count:
Video Wednesday – Jeff Corwin and the American Alligator
May 21, 2008
Article in: Videos
This video was shot on our Nikon Coolpix 5100 so the quality isn’t that great but it is of Jeff Corwin discussing crocidilians and a group of kids holding an American Alligator!
Jeff Corwin Shows us the American Alligator from birdfreak on Vimeo.
Deer Run Bird Survey #13
May 20, 2008
Article in: Bird Conservation
Making our third survey of the week, we did Deer Run Bird Survey #13 on Sunday, May 18th. It was by far our best survey yet in number of species as well as warbler diversity.
Wilson’s Warbler
We spent over six hours hiking and covered more than 7 miles. We were delighted to find four Henslow’s Sparrows and pleasantly surprised to find a Bobolink. Other interesting finds included Yellow-breasted Chat, Black-billed Cuckoo, and many Empidonax Flycatchers. We had 18 warblers total and four vireos.
Bobolink
We found a Red-breasted Nuthatch (a little late for them to still be here). Another cool find was a Gray-cheeked Thrush singing and hopping around in the brush. We found 674 birds of 85 species. That brings our overall total species count to 121 and 4925 individuals.
New Birds for the Count:
- Black-billed Cuckoo
- Black-throated Green Warbler
- Blackburnian Warbler
- Blue-headed Vireo
- Bobolink
- Chimney Swift
- Gray-cheeked Thrush
- Louisiana Waterthrush
- Red-breasted Nuthatch
- Sharp-shinned Hawk
- Willow Flycatcher
- Wilson’s Warbler
- Yellow-breasted Chat
Barred Owl
