On Saturday I had the wonderful opportunity to bird with Dan Williams. Our destination was Afton Forest Preserve, a nicely restored farmland in DeKalb County, Illinois. This avian oasis has been the location of numerous rarities including Vermillion Flycatcher, a bird I saw a few years back while attending college at N.I.U. Our target bird
Tag: birding Illinois
More New Natives at the C.N.P.
The Callaway Nature Preserve is expanding again in the never-ending process of grass removal. Little by little, the C.N.P. has grown with a few new natives every year. Small in size and surrounded by houses and streets, this little preserve houses numerous backyard birds and provides a safe stopover for plenty of weary migrants. We
Afton Forest Preserve
This past Monday, some of the Birdfreak Team hit the trails of Afton Forest Preserve in Dekalb County, Illinois. It was windy with on and off rain, making it a tad difficult to hear where the birds were coming from. We did hear Bobolinks, Sedge Wrens, and Common Yellowthroats as well as Red-winged Blackbirds and
Gardeners Are Birders Too – Ruby-throated Hummingbird
It makes sense that many gardeners love birds; most gardeners love nature. One of the most popular bird species gardeners plant for are the hummingbirds. For us in the midwestern United States, we only get one type of these small wonders; the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Which is enough to fuel gardeners to plant native flora just
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Blogger Bio Blitz
Despite birding every day for the last week, we decided to do our Blogger Bio Blitz at our own preserve, the Callaway Nature Preserve. The C.N.P. is a 1/4 acre in size and is located in Rockford, a city of 150,000+. First of all, our bug expert is only nine and he slacked off a
Canon EOS and Some Native Plants
The Birdfreak Team’s new camera came in today and I am already pleased. It’s a Canon EOS Rebel XTi. I only had time to shoot for a half hour or so before it was too dark to bother, but it is easy to use and focuses so much better than my old camera. The first
Winter Wonderland at the C.N.P.
This reminds me of a post on December 1st, 2006… This is how our personal nature preserve looked today after the snow moved through. Now it is raining… Virginia Creeper
Illinois Migratory Thrushes
Illinois has seven regularly occuring thrushes, five of which are long-distance migrants: Wood Thrush, Swainson’s Thrush, Grey-cheeked Thrush, Hermit Thrush, and Veery. American Robins and Eastern Bluebirds (also in the thrush family) are year-round residents or short-distance migrants. Wood Thrush One of the most common of the migratory thrushes, the Wood Thrush is easily identified
