Entries Tagged 'Rare Birds' ↓

Green-breasted Mango

Poor lighting and not the best shot, but this is the best shot I took

We decided to head up to Beloit, Wisconsin for a second try at the Green-breasted Mango. On Thursday we saw it but missed out on a photograph. Today was much better as we got excellent views both on the feeder and off. The mango ate briefly and then flew right past us, landed briefly less than 20 feet away and then took cover in a large tree. That was where I could see the front of the bird in the sunlight.

Before we arrived to see the Mango we spent the morning birding at a wonderful Winnebago County forest preserve called Sugar River Alder. This is in the extreme northwest of our county in Northern Illinois and a place we don’t get to that often. We have been there a few times this year, most notably on our spring bird count. This is a place we will definitely try to return to more often.

The birds were everywhere. Warblers, flycatchers, Eastern Towhee, both Cuckoos, plus many others. We didn’t keep a list but just enjoyed all the wonderful birds at eye-level. It was one of those birding days that you feel so glad that you’re a birder.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Turkey Vultures warming up

Black-throated Green Warbler

As I am writing this a Red-breasted Nuthatch is checking out some logs we moved by our dripper. Gotta love the nuthatches!

~Birdfreak

Today after work we headed up just across the border into Wisconsin to try and see the Green-breasted Mango that was sighted in a residential backyard. Here’s how it went down.

Veery was late getting back from school due to a tanker truck that rolled over on the highway. Traffic was backed up for miles and miles so she wasted a lot time sitting in traffic. But once she arrived, we headed up to Beloit, Wisconsin to a nice woman’s backyard feeder where a Green-breasted Mango had been putting on a show for over two months! We first got wind of the story as it broke on the Wisconsin Birding Network after positively being identified just a few days ago.

We were successful in seeing the bird but not in capturing a photo. The bird decided it was better off staying away from the feeder (of which I had my camera pre-focused on). There are some great photos of this bird, our favorite from Field of View.

However, we did get some photos of the many Ruby-throated Hummingbirds that were battling over the feeder.

Click on the photos to get bigger views!!

We are planning on making another trip up there this Saturday (after doing some birding in that area) so hopefully we’ll get a picture!!

We’ve decided to buy a duck stamp for every rare bird we go see. Normally we don’t like chasing birds (although we have nothing against others doing it) but this one was too close to pass up!