Each spring I try to participate in the annual Spring Bird Count in northern Illinois. In the last 15 years I may have missed two or three. Counting birds is a great excuse to get out and go birding, even if life is extra busy. This year I headed out into the field with my
Tag: spring bird count
2011 Spring Bird Count – Kieselberg Forest Preserve
While Eddie (the main Birdfreak) is busy planning a wedding and Jennie and Dakota are attending the Biggest Week in American Birding, Susie and Dad took charge of the Spring Bird Count for the Birdfreak Team. Susie recaps… Bird counts are always intensive, fast, fun birding, and you can almost always count on unseasonably cold
Continue reading 2011 Spring Bird Count – Kieselberg Forest Preserve
Spring Bird Count 2008 – Part Three
The final part of three recounting our May 10th Spring Bird Count. We went in search of Clay-colored Sparrows and a variety of marsh and night birds. Our initial search for Clay-colored Sparrow was a bust. Luckily, we were invited to check out another area with a couple of world-class birders and within a half
Spring Bird Count 2008 – Part Two
Part two of three of our Spring Bird Count wrap-up we recount the wonderful birds we found over a 4+ hour hike at a way cool preserve called Sugar River Alder. Before heading to our next stop, Sugar River Alder Forest Preserve, we had a quick lunch break by the Sugar River. A Baltimore Oriole
Spring Bird Count 2008 – Part One
In part one of three we discuss the morning highlights of the 2008 Spring Bird Count which took place May 10th in the entire state of Illinois. We began the long day of birding by getting up at 0400 and were at our first stop at around 0530. Last year we began here earlier but
Spring Count Preview – Harris’s Sparrow
While scouting for our upcoming Spring Bird Count (Sat, May 10) we checked out a cool area that we’ve never been – Rockton Bog. This “bog” is actually a sedge meadow but it was plenty wet, yet a bit devoid of birds. Cool fern at the Rockton Bog We checked out a few other areas
Winnebago County Spring Bird Count Results
The results are in from the Spring Bird Count and they are a rather mixed bag. First of all, Winnebago County had 164 species, the sixth lowest total in the last 10 years but ten more species than 2006. At least 12 missed species were seen during our 72-hour birding event (but that was two
Spring Bird Count
The spring bird count went really well. We had a HUGE area to cover and three team members to do it, but everything went pretty much according to plan. We started the day off checking Nygren Wetlands, a property owned by the Natural Land Institute, a wonderful local organization. Nygren is 705 acres of pristine
