Today, I went with my Mom and my Uncle Eddie to see a Spotted Towhee that was seen on a farm in nearby Ogle County, Illinois. When we got there we met the owners who were super nice. They are nature lovers and had lots of neat deer photos to show us.
Spotted Towhee - Photo by Birdfreak
We immediately saw the Spotted Towhee inside of a barn. He bounced around on the hay bales and flew around the rafters. He looked healthy and happy.
Eddie took a lot of photos, but I did not take any this time. It was exciting to see a new bird in the middle of January, and this is my second lifer this year! My other lifer was a Thayer’s Gull.
Spotted Towhee - Photo by Birdfreak
My Mom got a phone call about a Mississippi Kite spotted a couple miles away from my house. We decided to try to find it because it is pretty rare around northern Illinois.
When we got there we found a group of people pointing in to the sky. That is how we found where the Mississippi Kite was. This is a really cool LIFER for me! 
There was two of them and they were soaring around and they flew really low and we got a great view. I got some really cool photos.
Photo Life List
- Wild Turkey
- Ring-necked Pheasant
- Turkey Vulture
- Green Heron
- Pileated Woodpecker
- Common Loon
- Yellow Warbler
- Yellow-breasted Chat
- American Robin
- Mississippi Kite
I was allowed to join a field trip to the Cape Cod National Seashore off the coast of Massachusetts. We had to take a boat to reach the salt marsh and then even had to wade a bit to reach the island from the boat. It was very cool.
Me on the boat to see cool birds! - photo by Birdfreak
I got an amazing number of LIFERS - but you will have to wait until tomorrow to read more about them. This post is about the cool birders and bird bloggers I met while on this field trip.
I met a birder and bird blogger named Corey Finger of 10,000 Birds. The Arctic Tern we saw was new for both of us!!! Corey is a really good birder and a very nice guy. I enjoyed talking to him.
Corey of 10,000 Birds - photo by Birdfreak
Another bird blogger I met on this trip was Julie Zickefoose. We talked about Horseshoe Crabs and Piping Plovers. We also saw a lot of both of these on this trip. She was very nice to talk to and a super good birder.
I also met bird blogger Sharon or Birdchick. I thought she was really good at birding and was fun to be around.
Birdchick - photo by Birdfreak
Ben from 600 Birds and John from Born Again Birdwatcher were both really nice too. Another young birder, Helena from Adventures of Bird Girl was also there. It was exciting to be around all of these birders and a lot of them are also bloggers which was so great.
Ben and John - cool birders - photo by Birdfreak
There were three guys from Swarovski too, Rob, Dean and Clay. Clay was the main guy heading the field trip. They were so very nice to us. Rob looked for Horseshoe Crabs with me and we found a lot of cool things on the beach. We even waded in the shallow water and talked a lot. I like that all the great birders did not treat me like a little kid on this trip and made me feel like a part of the group.
Rob and Dean from Swarovski - photo by Birdfreak
Clay - photo by Birdfreak
the whole gang - photo by Birdfreak
I was so lucky to be able to go on this field trip. It was one of the most amazing trips I have ever gone on and I saw a ton of birds, including a lot of LIFERS!!
Caspian Tern - Birdfreak
While looking for waterbirds in flooded farm fields (fuddles), A large bird flew by. I immediately knew it was a tern because I saw Forster’s Terns and Black Terns at Horicon Marsh. The bill sticks out in a unique way and the colors are so bright and great.
My uncle helped me with the identification and THIS IS A LIFER FOR ME!! Two of them flew right over us and then they were gone.
Caspian Tern - Birdfreak
