Phriday Photo – Lark Sparrow
July 18, 2008
Article in: Photography
A wonderful bird of open fields and prairie/grasslands, who can resist the face of a Lark Sparrow?
Long Walks and Western Meadowlarks
May 30, 2008
Article in: Bird Conservation
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
Deer Run Bird Survey #9
April 29, 2008
Article in: Bird Conservation
This is our ninth Deer Run Bird Survey and the best “migrationally” speaking.
Sparrows (eight kinds) and warblers (four) were the main attraction. Deer Run is an excellent place for sparrows due to all the grasses in the restored prairie.
Lincoln’s Sparrow
Savanna Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
A huge surprise was one of our favorite birds, a Prothonotary Warbler
Not a surprise was this Palm Warbler
Despite cloudy weather, the birds were quite photogenic, including this Eastern Towhee.
Total species sighted: 40 [a new high count]
Total birds counted: 194 (a bit low but the mini flocks of sparrows were hard to count)
New for the survey, 12 species:
- Chipping Sparrow
- Gray Catbird
- Lark Sparrow
- Lincoln’s Sparrow
- Northern Rough-winged Swallow
- Ovenbird
- Palm Warbler
- Prothonotary Warbler
- Savannah Sparrow
- Spotted Sandpiper
- Barn Swallow
- Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Survey numbers up to this point:
Total Species: 74
Total Birds: 3,142
Next up, May and more migrants!!
