Entries Tagged 'Bird Counts' ↓
May 31st, 2008 — Bird Counts
May 30th, 2008 — Bird Counts
This is the part five of six of Birdfreak’s 72-hour birding extravaganza. Our goal was to find as many bird species as possible within Winnebago County, Illinois.
We started our third and last day a bit later, departing for Sugar River Alder Forest Preserve at 0600. We were in search of warblers, Red-headed Woodpecker, and Lark Sparrow. We still could not find a Red-headed but we did add a Kentucky Warbler and found the Lark Sparrow.
Lark Sparrow
After several miles of hiking, we headed down the road to yet another Winnebago County Forest Preserve, Colored Sands. Here we met up with two bird club members and together found a overzealous Prothonotary Warbler and heard another Black-billed Cuckoo. Lucky for us, our birding friends found a Red-headed Woodpecker earlier in the day so we could add it to the list!
Prothonotary Warbler checking us out
Storm clouds were moving in so we decided to cool down the hiking by driving to the southern part of the county and closer to home. We drove along a gravel road along the county line (Ogle/Winnebago) and found Western Meadowlarks (in our county).
Gravel road where Western Meadowlarks live
A storm quickly came up and blew dust into our open windows, caking every surface of the car, bins, camera, and faces with dust. We waited out the storm and then headed to one last place for warblers…
The Birdfreak Volvo covered in crud
May 29th, 2008 — Bird Counts
This is the part four of six of Birdfreak’s 72-hour birding extravaganza. Our goal was to find as many bird species as possible within Winnebago County, Illinois.
Anna Page Park
We birded Anna Page Park after Sugar River Forest Preserve on day two. It was 70 degrees when we began our hike in search of more vireos and a Yellow-breasted Chat. We never did find a chat, but we first heard and then saw a Bell’s Vireo. This completed all seven vireos possible in Winnebago County: Red-eyed, White-eyed, Philadelphia, Yellow-throated, Blue-headed, Warbling, and Bell’s.
Bell’s Vireo at Anna Page Park
The team took a short rest in the afternoon and then headed over to Oak Ridge Forest Preserve. Our main goal was to find Red-headed Woodpeckers and a few more warbler species but struck out on both accounts. The highlight here included a dried out grassy field holding over 25 Eastern Kingbirds…we left when we started to become delusional over finding a Fork-tailed Flycatcher.
After a short hike at nearby Rotary Road Forest Preserve we decided to call an end to day two of our 72-hour count.
May 28th, 2008 — Bird Counts
This is the part three of six of Birdfreak’s 72-hour birding extravaganza. Our goal was to find as many bird species as possible within Winnebago County, Illinois.
We started the day at 0330 but hit a road block when we were unable to negotiate the tricky lock at Nygren Wetlands where we got permission to enter for the count. We walked instead to the nearby overlook and heard Wilson’s Snipe, Sora and a Swamp Sparrow.
We headed over to Sugar River Forest Preserve. A Yellow-crowned Night-Heron was reported there but we had yet to find it. They are seldom seen in Winnebago County. Our luck changed when we were rewarded with excellent views of the heron.
Our one clear shot of a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
As we hiked about we found Broad-winged Hawk and Red-shouldered Hawk, both regularly seen at Sugar River Forest Preserve. A really close sighting of a Yellow-billed Cuckoo made up for the lack of warblers and chillier than average temperatures.
Yellow-billed Cuckoo at Sugar River Forest Preserve
We added a few new birds on the way to Anna Page Park, including two Great Egrets.
May 27th, 2008 — Bird Counts
This is the part two of six of Birdfreak’s 72-hour birding extravaganza. Our goal was to find as many bird species as possible within Winnebago County, Illinois.
After resting up, we headed over to Espenscheid Memorial Forest Preserve in hopes of finding a White-eyed Vireo. Success! We believe this bird is or will be nesting here.
We then jetted over to Blackhawk Springs Forest Preserve where last Tuesday Birdfreak found a Clay-colored Sparrow. He was there singing away…could we hope for nesting?
Sunset at Deer Run Forest Preserve
With a new bird high, we headed to Deer Run Forest Preserve. Our plan was to stay until dark. A long hike to where we once found a Yellow-breasted Chat went chatless. A lucky alternative was a close encounter with a Black-billed Cuckoo!!
We had new finds of Orchard Oriole and Savannah Sparrow. Henslow’s Sparrow hiccuped as darkness fell. A familiar peent alerted us to American Woodcocks which we observed displaying. Other night birds included Barred and Great Horned Owls and a Common Nighthawk.
Sunset at Deer Run Forest Preserve
May 26th, 2008 — Bird Counts
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.
May 22nd, 2008 — Bird Counts
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:
