July 2017

Ah, I am finally caught up with blog posts!

Now, I have started a two-week music camp called "The Encounter" which culminates in choral and operatic performances in conjunction with the Sun Valley Summer Symphony in which my parents play here in Idaho.

The flight here by myself was nice:

And I'm having a blast!!! Soooo much fun! All smiles here!

After camp, I have ten days of birding, hiking, and enjoying nature here in the Sun Valley area - so stay tuned! This camp is quite busy, though, so I might not post until after camp.

Good birding!

Henry
World Life List: 929 Species (no recent life birds)

What a fantastic trip! I just returned from a 10-day tour of Italy with the Voice of Chicago ensemble of the Chicago Children's Choir. We had many stellar performances, intercultural exchanges, and life-changing moments. Here are some of the highlights through my photographs:

First lunch in Italy!

Touring Modena, Italy:

Meeting an Italian immigrant, Abrahim, from Nigeria:

Visiting Dante Allegri's tomb:

Meeting new friends from the Cometa school was made easy through my knowledge of two years of Italian language:

Amazing boat tour of Lago Como!

Cathedral in Bologna:

Evening photoshoot!

The Voice of Chicago bass section!

On our last full day in the country, we performed at the Ravello Festival which is located on the side of a huge mountain cliff overlooking the breathtaking scenery of the Amalfi Coast. It was truly the most magical location at which I have ever performed.

So although it did have its ups and downs, it was overall an enjoyable tour! You can't beat traveling with the Chicago Children's Choir!

Good birding!

Henry Griffin
World Life List: 929 Species (no life birds)

On July 2, I birded Bartel Grassland Forest Preserve with my good buddy Jonathan Bontrager from Indiana in hopes of finding a rare species called a King Rail, a bird that would be a life bird for him!

EASTERN MEADOWLARK singing:

And after a bit of walking and sweating in the sun, we found our bird!!!!!

A VIRGINIA RAIL was also present:

As well as Rail chicks, of which we're unsure as to the species. King or Virginia? Any thoughts?

This Beaver was also nice, a "life mammal" for me!

Bird-of-the-day goes to the adult King Rail, an awesome find for Illinois!

Also a quick note - due to my departure from IBET, migration reports will not be posted there in the future, but instead onto my migration blog (which you can subscribe to receive the reports in emails):
ilmigration.blogspot.com

Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 929 Species (latest life bird as of 6-8-17: Least Bittern)

June 8:

I birded with Carolyn S at Illinois Beach State Park in hopes for finding my life-bird LEAST BITTERN, an elusive tiny species of heron.

Right near the parking lot for the Dead River Trail, we found this male SUMMER TANAGER:

NORTHERN FLICKER:

We walked up onto an observation deck above a marsh and BOOM! My life bird LEAST BITTERN popped out of the marsh and then immediately back down, not to be seen again. Life bird, and one that's eluded me for years!!

TREE SWALLOW:

RED-HEADED WOODPECKER:

GRAY CATBIRD:

Male ORCHARD ORIOLE:

EASTERN KINGBIRD:

Male BALTIMORE ORIOLE at his nest:

YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO:

Presumed Blue Grosbeak X Indigo Bunting hybrid:

My visual life bird YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, a species I have only heard, and not seen, before!

Bird-of-the-day for June 8 is a tie between the Least Bittern and the Yellow-breasted Chat.

June 20:

Led a bird walk for the Junior Naturalists Camp at Dominican University into Thatcher Woods which turned out to be lots of fun!

Fawn White-tailed Deer:

The best bird was this female HOODED MERGANSER in the Des Plaines River:

Red-eared Slider and Painted Turtle:

Bird-of-the-day for June 20 is the Hooded Merganser.

June 25:

I birded the Palos Preserves with my Uncle Mory. Our first stop was Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center where our target bird was a male Prairie Warbler that had been seen there, which would be my first sighting of that bird in the country.

Male ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK:

Male RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD:

And we found it! The PRAIRIE WARBLER gave some phenomenal views!

Then, it was off to Swallow Cliff Forest Preserve where we had this female PILEATED WOODPECKER:

And this male ACADIAN FLYCATCHER:

Bird-of-the-day for June 25 goes to the Prairie Warbler! It was a great month of breeding bird season birding.

Good birding,
Henry

On June 2, Eddie Kasper and I headed over to the Palos area to scout out for an all-day "Big Day" on June 4 where the two of us and two other young birders would try to find the greatest number of birds as we could during one whole day of birding within Cook County.

Male AMERICAN GOLDFINCH:

Our best find was this BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO, a seldom-seen species that perched pretty nicely in the canopy before flying off:

Before we knew it, our alarm clocks rang at 3:30am on June 4 and four extremely drowsy young birders (Eddie, Jake, Isoo, and myself) piled into the car parked just outside Eddie's house where we had all crashed that night.

We made it to our first stop, Buttonbush Slough, a smidge behind schedule at 4:10am (because it's an all-day affair, the event must be planned out impeccably to the minute beforehand with little margin for error). We kicked off our day with AMERICAN ROBIN and were soon nicely on track, gaining our target VIRGINIA RAIL heard calling at the Slough.

Next, it was off to McClaughry Springs Woods where we successfully called in our BARRED OWL, whose eyes you can see shining in this photo. A pair or even possibly a trio of them then proceeded to call their eerie monkey-howls which echoed through the forest at the early hour of the morning.

A GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER came to investigate:

Swallow Cliff Woods was slower than expected, although we did pick up a heard-only ACADIAN FLYCATCHER, and then it was off to the Ford Road/Cap Sauer area where we quickly scoped out these OSPREY on their nest platform:

A calling PILEATED WOODPECKER was also noteworthy at this location.

Then, it was off to Orland Grassland (North) where we picked up a good number of open land species including HENSLOW'S SPARROW:

After Orland Grassland North and South, we headed over to Plum Creek Preserve, where we had BOBOLINK:

And male BLUE-WINGED WARBLER:

At Eggers Grove on calumet, we dipped on Yellow-billed Cuckoo and the hoped-for Yellow-crowned Night-Heron but we did have its more common BLACK-CROWNED relative flyby:

American Toad:

MUTE SWAN family at Indian Ridge Marsh:

MONK PARAKEET at the Chicago Skyway Bridge:

After a full day of birding, we only finally picked up ROCK PIGEON on the north side at about 4:45pm.

Raccoon at Jarvis Bird Sanctuary:

Male EUROPEAN STARLING at Montrose, common but pretty:

Male PROTHONOTARY WARBLER at Skokie Lagoons:

WILLOW FLYCATCHER at Paul Douglas Forest Preserve, where we also picked up our hoped-for COMMON GALLINULE.

AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS, GREAT EGRETS, and DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS at Baker Lake:

PEREGRINE FALCON near Western Springs:

Beautiful red-morph EASTERN SCREECH-OWL at Miller Meadow Forest Preserve:

This GREAT HORNED OWL, as well as an AMERICAN WOODCOCK and COMMON NIGHTHAWK, all at Miller Meadow, provided a grand finish to the 18-hour, 100+ mile, 98-species young birder big day!

Overall, it was an extremely enjoyable day. Although we wanted to get around 120 species, two factors which were extremely bad traffic due to the beach at Montrose, as well as the high temperature which quieted bird activity fast, limited the count to 98 for the day.

Bird-of-the-day in my opinion goes to the hooting BARRED OWLS at the beginning of the day, which were absolutely magnificent.

Good birding,
Henry