Rock Cut State Park Christmas Bird Count Year 4 – Final Results
January 5, 2012
Article in: Bird Conservation
We have completed collecting data from our field teams for the 4th Rock Cut State Park Christmas Bird Count. Here are the results.
Part of our group of Birdfreaks
The first three years:
Year 1 – 47 species, 11,952 birds
Year 2 – 44 species, 3,637 birds
Year 3 – 32 species, 1,072 birds
Year 4 – 54 species, 8,659 birds
We are happy to announce we tallied a record number of species for this count circle! This brings the average number of species to around 44 per year.
Always good to have some kids along on a CBC
Dakota and Sammie
Total number of birds were up from the last 2 years as well. This is due to another large number of Canada Geese: 5,712.
Some big highlights:
1 Golden Eagle and 1 Ross’s Goose were both highly unexpected and new for the circle.
2 Northern Shrikes, 3 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, 3 Hermit Thrushes, 1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, and 1 Pileated Woodpecker were all nice finds.
American Robin silhouette
The only real disappointment was that the Lesser Black-backed Gull sighted during the count week was not relocated. It goes in the books as a CW (count week) bird, but would have been a great species #55.
Fourth Rock Cut Christmas Bird Count – Initial Report
January 2, 2012
Article in: Bird Conservation
For the fourth year now the Birdfreak Team has run the Rock Cut Christmas Bird Count. We started the count in 2008 and each year we have attempted to refine where we send counting parties.
Downy Woodpecker
The Birdfreak Team took a couple good-sized preserves and also checked Rock Cut State Park briefly (to assist a team there). Here are some of our findings. We will have a full report once all the data is collected from the other teams.
Northern Shrike
The weather was chilly but no precipitation and absolutely no snow cover (a first for the count). We hiked for several hours and drove only a short while (to the other locations).
Our team recorded 30 species and 469 individual birds. Diversity was definitely up but numbers down.
Cedar Waxwing
Our areas didn’t really have water like some other parts of the circle so waterfowl numbers (geese and ducks) should increase our species and total birds.
Red-bellied Woodpecker
The best bird for our group was one of the first ones we saw: a Northern Shrike!
Later in the day we were informed of a wonderful sighting of a Golden Eagle from a party not “officially” on the count but in our circle. This is a great find for this still young count.
Eddie and Stacia
Rock Cut State Park Hawk Watch – 2011
October 18, 2011
Article in: Birding
October 15, 2011 at Olson Beach, Rock Cut State Park, Winnebago County, Illinois
Cooper’s Hawk in flight (birdfreak.com file photo)
About ten to twelve members of the NCIOS turned out at Rock Cut State Park on Saturday morning with the purpose of counting migrating hawks. It was a sunny morning but a brisk wind over Olson Lake kept Bird Club members huddled in their windbreakers, hats, and yes, even gloves.
Hawks counted (not exact figures—this Counter had to leave before the Count was officially over):
- 10 Red-tailed (at least one juvenile)
- 6 Sharp-shinned
- 5 Cooper’s
Three of the Red-tails were probably residents, but we don’t know for sure.
In addition to the hawks that were counted, NCIOS members observed 2 Great-blue Herons, 2-3 Ring-billed Gulls, 1 Pied-bill Grebe, 1 White-tailed Deer drinking from the lake, plus numerous Turkey Vultures, Tree Swallows, crows, and starlings (some of whom were harassing the Red-tails.)
Rock Cut State Park Birding Trails
September 12, 2011
Article in: Birding
We just found out that one of our favorite birding spots, Rock Cut State Park, may have officially designated birding trails. Two women are working to establish four birding trails, one to highlight each season.
The trails would be restricted to foot travel only to allow for birders, including groups, to have it to themselves. They are even hoping to post signs with information on what birds to look for.
They are seeking recommendations on what trails to use and can be reached at:
Robin Atwater – robinatwater4530@aol.com and Genevieve Clemens – freckleface2@yahoo.com
We are going to try and come up with some areas we love and also will be making our photos available if they so desire to use them for signage.
Thanks to Barbara Williams of NCIOS for posting this information here.
Nesting White-eyed Vireos – Photos Galore!
July 16, 2009
Article in: Birding
I took the new dog Bella hiking at one of our favorite places: Rock Cut State Park. After discovering a snake (Bella sniffed but was otherwise indifferent to it) we struggled to find any birds that were photo-friendly. Nothing! Thankfully, near the end of our hike, we were alerted by a commotion of scolding from the sometimes shy yet boisterous, White-eyed Vireo.
Lurking in the bushes was vireo #1
Then a second one popped up carrying a large morsel for a hungry mouth
After a few shots, I was given the cold, uh shoulder…
However, the first bird was ready for a closeup
I never found an actual nest but their behavior was conducive to nesting and I decided to not disturb them further. A great way to end what started out as a ho-hum birding trip.
Learn more about White-eyed Vireos from Cornell’s All About Birds.
Rock Cut State Park Christmas Bird Count
December 30, 2008
Article in: Bird Conservation
Sunday, December 14th, was our first Christmas Bird Count (CBC) of the winter. The Rock Cut State Park CBC [count code ILRC] is a brand new count, covering Rock Cut State Park and much of Boone County Illinois. The Birdfreak Team is completely in charge of creating, organizing and compiling this new count.
Groups were assigned areas and we had 19 participants. The weather forecast was unusual; a high of almost fifty degrees, windy (30+ MPH) and rainy. The hardest obstacle on this count was the ice from melted snow that covered many of the trails and parking areas.
Herring Gulls digiscoped at many many feet away
Being that this was the first count EVER for this area, we didn’t know what to expect. Contained in the 15-mile diameter circle are several great forest preserves and a lot of country roads and open fields. With the wind keeping birds down, we managed a respectable 47 species. Area coverage was incomplete, so it is highly likely we could have topped 50 species.
Of course, Christmas Bird Counts aren’t the same as “Big Days” in the sense that it isn’t the number of species but the exact (well, as close as possible) count of the birds in a given area on a specific day. We tallied 11,952 individual birds, 62.39% of these being Canada Geese.
While nothing extraordinarily rare was spotted, several good finds included 3 Yellow-rumped Warblers, 4 Northern Shrikes, and 26 Pine Siskins. Next year we plan to do more scouting and spread the teams out a bit more to find even more birds.
Gulls Eating A Fish
Phriday Photo – Rock Cut State Park in HDR
June 20, 2008
Article in: Photography
One of our favorite birding spots is Rock Cut State Park. It consists of over 3,000 acres of prime birding habitat and attracts a lot of visitors (which is good and bad).
This photo is HDR – High Dynamic Range – which is a unique way to photograph by merging various exposures into one, “high dynamic range” shot.
Note: Birdfreak and Arizona are camping this weekend and hope to find a lot of nesting warblers along the Sugar River in western Winnebago county.
April Snow Brings Lotsa Loons
April 12, 2008
Article in: Birding
Common Loon
This morning we were bound and determined to make a short trip to Rock Cut State Park. By the time we arrived, it was fiercely snowing. We were rewarded with not one Common Loon, but ten as well as a dozen Great Blue Heron. Photography was a challenge, but we managed to get some shots of a cooperative loon.
Diving Common Loon
That was the only real photo-op we had and the trip was cut short by 8 freezing hands and wet gear.
Bad weather birding is often rewarding!
