September 2020

Friday mid-day I left Oak Park for a whirlwind one-night trip to central and southern Illinois for birds and herps. My destinations for friday: Kankakee River State Park, Busey Woods, and Lake Shelbyville!

But first, in the morning I led an Oak Park Bird Walk for birders Laura and Karen. There was a great amount of passerine activity including TENNESSEE WARBLER:

BLUE-HEADED VIREO:

And again, a COOPER’S HAWK sighting:

AMERICAN REDSTART:

ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK:

You can see this is a molting male SCARLET TANAGER due to the limited red feathers still left on this bird’s body. A cool individual and beautiful bird altogether!

EASTERN WOOD-PEWEE:

After a great walk, packing, and a short nap, I was on the road. I arrived to Kankakee River State Park in the 2 o’clock hour and very soon found my hoped-for lifer Southern Two-linee Salamanders!!! This is one of the few places in the state to find this species, so I was stoked. They are beautiful, sleek, orangeish salamanders with handsome striping going down the length of their bodies. Unfortunately, all three I found slithered away too quickly for photos (dang! kept me from recording on iNat) due to their slippery nature and their adept habit of scurrying under rocks. Still, a cool sighting!

Green Frog in that same area:

Next stop, Busey Woods in Urbana for Smallmouth Salamander. I made it a bit after four and very quickly found my lifer Smallmouth Salamander!!! Definitely my most efficient stop of the day and awesome to see a new herp. This salamander has discreet but very pretty grayish spotting on its sides contrasted with the otherwise black body. Awesome!!!

After getting just one, it was off to Lake Shelbyville an hour SW of Champaign in hopes of Red-necked Phalarope. I arrived right at sunset and had limited time — AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS abounded.

And some waterfowl flew over (I’m thinking these are possibly American Wigeon but too hard to tell), but no Phalarope. I later found out I had simply gotten lost and gone to the wrong place. Gah! Lake Shelbyville is huge with many access points, and it is literally in the middle of nowhere. With the sun set by the time I got back to the car, I had oficially dipped on the Phalarope. Plus, I later got a text from Colin telling me at a totally different place on Lake Shelbyville he had a Sabine’s Gull today which would have been a lifer for me. Too bad I didn’t have cell reception when he sent that text otherwise I could have re-routed to get a lifer...DOUBLE GAH!!!!! Well, that’s how it goes sometimes...

Anyway, Southern Two-lined & Smallmouth Salamanders in one day still make for a successful day. Plus the wonderful morning bird walk. It was time to go to sleep in my car camping spot in Effingham, IL for the night.

DAY 2 — saturday I woke up at 6:50 in order to make Colin Dobson’s pelagic at Carlyle Lake which had been rescheduled to 9am due to winds. After a breakfast at Cracker Barrel, I drove the hour to Carlyle Lake and was there in plenty of time for the pelagic. Our group of seven masked birders was soon happily out on the lake, searching for birds in the 70-degree, windy conditions. Some flyby STILT SANDPIPERS were nice:

And we came to a sandbar that had a massive roosting flock of RING-BILLED & BONAPARTE’S GULLS, AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS, FORSTER’S TERNS, and more.

Forster’s Terns in flight:

Bonaparte’s Gull:

COMMON TERN roosting on the sandbar with Ring-billed Gulls:

An Illinois lifer for me was this LAUGHING GULL, quite a nice find up here that is much less rare down on the Gulf & Atlantic Coasts.

And a great Larid species for the day was a small pod of BLACK TERNS (more grayish in their nonbreeding plumage). As you can see, there was a lot out on the lake.

And suddenly, Colin got excited because he spotted his target bird for the boat trip: PARASITIC JAEGER! A big, bulky brown sea bird with white wing flashes and a strong flight. Super cool! My photographic lifer of this species as the other times I’ve seen this type my photos have been crap.

Here it is passing another pontoon.

And chasing a Ring-billed Gull which this species does quite often:

It was a great pelagic! Even though I didn’t get my hoped-for Sabine’s Gull, the Parasitic Jaeger was a wonderful successful target. Next stop: “Rice and Rails” two hours south in East Cape Girardeau, IL.

RICE & RAILS
I arrived mid-afternoon to a smoky Cape Girardeau from a bushfire across the Mississippi, and found the appointed rice field to have a combine working its way up and down the field, flanked on either side by eager birders checking all of the rails it was flushing from the harvesting of the field. It was quite a show as we would follow the combine and every once and a while a rail would pop up, somebody would shout, and we would get our binocs on it as quick as possible. I wanted to make sure to experience this since a few days prior, two would-be life birds had been sighted: the mega-rail Black & Yellow Rails.

Juvenile SORA flying away from the birders. So many of these.

And I apparently made it just in time for the only VIRGINIA RAIL sighting of the day, awesome!

After a while, the farmer drove over to a distant field which I took as my cue to leave since it didn’t seem like we were going to get anything else in terms of rail diversity. Other birders stayed for over eight hours on a careful vigil that day apparently there was a possible Black Rail later in the evening, but it couldn’t be confirmed.

So, I headed over to the world-famous Snake Road where I briefly visited with Isoo earlier in the summer, though it was crazy being there all alone, and in much different conditions with smoke hanging in the air. Still, I had my target salamanders to see, plus any snakes that might be found along the world-famous road.

I totally lucked out and one of the first logs I flipped contained two of my lifer Cave Salamanders, my most hoped-for amphibian pf the trip! AWESOME! This brilliantly-patterned species usually sticks to rock crevices but, as evidenced by this individual, will also shelter under nearby logs. It was just ten feet away from a large limestone wall.

Further down the road in a little spring I found a Long-tailed Salamander which is another great species to see — I only got it my first time this spring!

And beautiful, gentle Gray Rat Snake crossed the road at one point, at least I got one snake at Snake Road! Late in the day is not a great time for snake observation.

And one last salamander of the day is this Eastern Newt.

Soon, it got a bit too dark to go herping since venemous snakes lurk in those woods (Cottonmouth, Copperhead, & Timber Rattler), so I followed the road back to my car and made the grueling six-hour journey back home to Oak Park. It was a super fun one-night tour of Illinois and I was able to see some great birds & herps, and was very thankful for my safety during the journey.

More to come — I have a lot of catching up to do on here.

Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 1119 Species

It sure has been a crazy couple of days of birding, adventure, and herping. And boy am I behind on posting about some epic birding! Thursday morning, Montrose birder Bob Hughes pronounced it the “best day of the season” for Montrose yet, so of course I was over there around noon for a pleasant afternoon of birding. Pleasant quickly turned into intensely fun as upon just walking past Cricket Hill, I was bombarded by wave upon wave of warblers and other migrants moving through the trees. PHILADELPHIA VIREO was great:

As was this tad-early BROWN CREEPER:

As I said, warblers abounded. BLACK-AND-WHITE:

OVENBIRD:

A nice CAPE MAY!

MAGNOLIA:

An EASTERN PHOEBE was present as well.

I finally made it to the beach where the BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS from wednesday were still there.

One and possibly two NELSON’S SPARROWS in the panne dune wetland area were my best birds of the day, but true to their nature, they were extremely shy and avoided photos, running on the mud between the thick marsh vegetation.

Back in the hedge, a COOPER’S HAWK was patrolling — he had many snack options thursday, that’s for sure.

Great looks at an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER:

CHESTNUT-SIDED:

LEAST FLYCATCHER:

GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH:

There is always this one puddle that forms on the path in the Magic Hedge and it never fails to draw birds in between being flushed by passerby. This NORTHERN FLICKER was enjoying the company of several SWAINSON’S THRUSH:

A brief view at a nice GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER and a completely botched photo opportunity. Dang.

RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH:

AMERICAN REDSTART:

DARK-EYED JUNCO:

PURPLE FINCH:

As you can see, it was quite the assortment of birds! Bird-of-the-day to the Nelson’s Sparrow with runner-up to the Golden-winged Warbler. Both crappy views but miles ahead of the other species in terms of scarcity. Next post: my insane weekend trip!

Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 1119 Species

Upon waking up to the news that a tired, young Purple Gallinule had been chased into the Magic Hedge at Montrose by a Peregrine Falcon (and yet it survived!), I knew I had to twitch this Illinois rarity. The last one detected at Montrose was in 1999, and as Montrose is a good measure for the rarity of any given Illinois bird, it was a no-brainer.

I was in the car headed there in the 11 o’clock hour after some errands and after completing my tightest parallel park ever, I made the 10-minute walk into the Point — the Gallinule had been roosting thick in the back side of the hedge.

I arrived to find a few confused birders looking into the exact bushes where it had been seen earlier, and the situation seemed dire as the bushes at Montrose can be so incredibly thick. Luckily, birder Leo Miller came to the rescue and spotted the non-purple Purple Gallinule (it is an immature bird). It was an incredible spot — the original finder, Bob Hughes, saw it because it was a strange-looking bird chased into the hedge by a Peregrine. Had it been chased in at any other moment, this rarity would have likely gone undetected! I’ve only seen these guys in Florida before — super awesome. This bird was so sleepy, presumably getting a rest from being chased by a falcon hundreds of miles away from its home range. Hope it survives.

I left the area quickly so as not to stress the bird and headed to the beach area where I dipped on Nelson’s Sparrow and American Pipit but did find the continuing BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS:

Peek-a-boo!

I had a busy afternoon so I had to leave quickly, but on the way out I did get distracted by a pocket of passerines — SWAINSON’S THRUSH:

A nice slightly-early DARK-EYED JUNCO — sure sing of winter:

Warblers are still moving through of course — PALM:

COMMON YELLOWTHROAT:

And last but not least, a nice ORANGE-CROWNED!

Bird-of-the-day to the Purple Gallinule with runner-up to the Black-bellied Plovers!
Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 1119 Species

This past weekend I led two successful bird walks: a Thatcher Woods bird walk for Oak Park Bird Walks, and a Columbus Park walk for the Chicago Ornithological Society.

At the Thatcher Woods walk we headed straight to the field north of Chicago Ave because the sunlit western edge of the field can be great for passerines in this early mornings. And that it was — SCARLET TANAGER in its nonbreeding outfit:

EASTERN WOOD-PEWEE:

A NASHVILLE WARBLER gave nice low looks — the passerines were rather low due to cooler temps, as the bugs tend to be lower down then.

The weirdest SAVANAH SPARROW I’ve ever seen — this one had an affinity for perching in the tippy-tops of trees:

HOUSE WREN:

YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER:

It was a great walk! On sunday, I led a walk with Aerin Tedesco for the Chicago Ornithological Society at Columbus Park! It was nice to bird with a group of folks with whom I haven’t birded before (apart from Aerin). There were a number of passerines flitting around in the shrubs bordering the lagoon including this SWAMP SPARROW:

And NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH:

BLACKPOLL WARBLER:

We got great looks at this RED-SHOULDERED HAWK which presumably is one of the residents at this park.

It even caught a squirrel and ate it!

Another raptor present was this immature COOPER’S HAWK:

My bird-of-the-day for sunday was this beautiful YELLOW-THROATED VIREO that gave the group some of the best looks I have ever seen. Cool!

Stay tuned — I have another walk friday morning, and friday afternoon-saturday I’m headed to southern Illinois with Tian to do some herping at Snake Road, possibly look for some rare Rails and a Whooping Crane if it stays, and I will go on Colin Dobson’s pelagic at Lake Carlyle which always has the chance for Jaegers, Phalaropes, and Sabine’s Gulls. Fingers crossed!

Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 1119 Species

So, it has been yet another week of productive fall migration birding. A nice afternoon walk on tuesday yielded not only birds but butterflies such as this Eastern Black Swallowtail:

American Painted Lady:

And a GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH was a nice bird for the neighborhood:

On a wonderful Oak Park Bird Walk the following morning on wednesday, we saw many of the Gray-cheeked’s look-alike, the SWAINSON’S. Notice how much fuller this bird’s eyering is.

RED-EYED VIREOS were passing through in numbers:

Several warblers showed themselves as well, including a male BLACK-THROATED BLUE at the end of the walk.

On thursday, the NNE winds were conducive to lake watching so Tian and I headed to Park 566 at Lake Shore Dr and 80th St, approximately. This is an undeveloped park that juts out into Lake Michigan and therefore has great birding and lake watching potential. View from the park:

Many DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS winged their way past:

CASPIAN TERN:

The only slightly notable species out over the lake was a total of 8 BONAPARTE’S GULLS of which I only managed barely-identifiable photos.

On this chilly morning today, I was off to Cowles Bog in the Indiana Dunes where I guided Kim H for three hours. There was a great amount of bird activity around! On the path there was an EASTERN TOWHEE:

NORTHERN FLICKER:

LEAST FLYCATCHER:

RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH:

BAY-BREASTED WARBLER:

LINCOLN’S SPARROW:

This warbler gabe me a scare as it looked Black-throated Green-like, but I noticed the pretty dark auricular patch seen in the first photo. Then later I noticed in a photo I got of it flying away, it only appears to have white on the outer three tail feathers. Then again, all the extensive black on the throat...Within the range for BTNW, or is there a possible hybrid situation here? A recent presumed hybrid TOWA X BTNW appeared in the Chicago area, looking very much like this bird. TBD! An exciting find when you can’t immediately ID.

WHITE-THROATED SPARROW, my first of the season:

BLACKPOLL WARBLER:

RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD poofing up due to the cool temps!

EASTERN BLUEBIRD:

CEDAR WAXWING:

Another nice surprise was this early GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, wasn’t expecting this for a couple more weeks!

RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS were active today, calling and flying through:

A migrating NORTHERN HARRIER flew over, too:

SANDHILL CRANE:

Back in the trees over the parking lane was an absolute stunner of a bird: PHILADELPHIA VIREO, definitely one of my favorite migrants!

GREAT BLUE HERON:

Ended the tour this morning with 63 species, a super enjoyable walk. Bird-of-the-day to the early Golden-crowned Kinglet & Philadelphia Vireo with runner-up to the TBD warbler, always fun when that happens! Stay tuned: I am leading two more bird walks this weekend, during what should be the peak of warbler migration here!

Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 1119 Species