Great Horned Owl at Caldwell Woods/Bunker Hill Oxbow area

March 23, 2006, 645pm
North Oxbow field rim at Caldwell Woods/Bunker Hill area, Chicago, Illinois

Lynne wanted to go for a short run tonight, I wanted to get outside after sitting at my desk all day, we decided to head up to the Bunker Hill Forest Preserve area north of Devon off of Caldwell Avenue. Lynne could get a short run, I could take the kids and see if the Oxbow area would yeild an American Woodcock or two for me displaying.

First rule of birding with kids, don't expect too much. Second rule of birding with kids, be ready for anything. It was my daughter Anna Grace who was looking toward the east while I was looking to the south with my glasses that yelled "Here comes a funny bird daddy." I whipped around, and saw what I would guess was an American Woodcock, or closely related species, as it was flying just above tree level from Caldwell Avenue toward the Chicago River. Now I have never seen a woodcock before, so I can't count this as a positive ID, but it was the funniest, silliest looking, stubby-tailed, fat long round-bodied, squat-winged flying bird, with a large bill, that I had ever seen. Hopefully it was an American Woodcock, and I will find some in this area later this spring.

Of course, had I been without kids I would have gone the third of a mile to the river to flush this bird out if I could, but I was with a 3 year old and a 9 month old in a stroller, and going across the open field with this stroller was not in my plans.

So we kept puttering about on the upper edge of the Oxbow area of this woods, listening intently for what we could hear, we heard a Northern Cardinal in the distatnce, an American Robin enthusiastically calling for a mate or marking its territory, and we heard what I thought was a Common Nighthawk call, but after getting back to my laptop and checking out the Birds of North America (BNA) website, I decided it was not a Common Nighthawk call, but probably some type of frog instead.

We also found about a dozen Mallard Ducks, and saw more doing flyovers when Anna Grace spotted her mom running up the path to meet us. Lynne took over watching the kids, and I made one last dash down into the Oxbow area to find some American Woodcocks. All of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the large open wings of a raptor moving in from the north to a tall tree on the edge of the field area I was in. As it was the end of dusk, this probably wasn't one of the area Red-tailed Hawks, this was an owl.

Its wings were much broader than a hawk's, and as it settled into a perch at the top of the largest tree on the rim of the field, I could see it's round face and distinctive ears, it had to be a Great Horned Owl. It was. I watched it for 5 or more minutes, and then went back up out of this floodplain field to see if I could find Lynne and Anna Grace quickly enough so they could see this wonder too. I did, and Lynne, who loves owls, was especially appreciative. Anna Grace thought it was so "small." I couldn't quite get her to understand that it was just that it was far away and that we didn't want to get any closer and scare it away. Concept not understood. She saw it, and talked about it all night, probably only because that was what Lynne and I talked about the whole car ride home, and if that is what it takes for her to begin appreciating these wonders, so be it.

Once I pointed it out to them, and we moved a bit closer, we watched for another 10 minutes, and then as silently as it arrived, it spread its wings and very swiftly swooped down from his perch into the field, where it was now almost pitch black, and disappeared from our vision. I don't think I have ever been this close to a flying Great Horned Owl, and it was the first owl I found on my own in the wild, or should I say it found me. Well, anyway, I wasn't following somebody else's directions to find this owl. This one was all ours. Thrilling. And what a wingspan! All just three plus miles from our home.

No "new" birds (don't feel I can count the flyover of the woodcock-like bird), but if you can't appreciate this kind of birding thrill, then you shouldn't be counting species in the first place.

Only 10 birds, total, and a near fall into the river at Bunker Hill Forest Preserve

Bunker Hill Forest Preserve, Chicago, Illinois
North of Devon, west of Caldwell on Chicago's NW side

Sunday, March 5th, 2006, 1030am-12pm

After yesterday's great day in the field in Lake and McHenry Counties, I thought I would take about 2 hours I had in the late morning to check out a familar Chicago running area and see what it might hold for my new birding interest. Unlike yesterday, today it was cloudy, cold with a humid chill in the air. Snow was in the forecast. I thought this might lead to good bird activity ahead of the snow. Instead, I must have missed my window and had a very quiet birding morning.

I parked right inside the Bunker Hill area off of Caldwell, and decided to head south toward the Bunker Hill open area and then swing along the river to see what I could see. Not much.

An American Robin (photo KC Foggin) was right at the path as I entered the area, but then I didn't see or hear anything in the Bunker Hill prairie area. The most interesting find were the bones, skull and hide of a long dead white-tailed deer. I had heard a woodpecker or two, but they sounded like they were on the river side of the path. I meandered that way.

Quickly, I discovered a Hairy Woodpecker male, and right after that a Red-bellied Woodpecker male. Then, as I was looking up for yet a third woodpecker, I slipped on leaves atop a mud patch and found myself dangling over the river perched precariously on my butt and hands on a 5 foot high river bank. It took 15 minutes of carefully negotiating the slippery bank to keep from falling into cold and swiftly moving the river. My gloves or jeans were terribly mud covered after this little birding mishap.

I walked along the river to Devon, and under the bridge were the expected Mallard Ducks, 5 of them, two females and three males. I walked from here back across the path to the Bunker Hill prairie area and forested area to the east of there, and on the way I found a dead raccoon skull and skeleton. Didn't realize how sharp their teeth really were.

By now the snow was coming down gently, and the place was terribly quiet. You could hear the snow landing. A Northern Cardinal (photo Richard Fray), a female Dark-eyed Junco (photo KC Foggin) and nothing else. As I got back to the river and woods near were the car was parked, I swear I heard a hoot of an owl, and I heard it again. But it was almost noon and we promised to take Anna Grace to see Curious George at Webster Place, and it was simply time for me to head home. Reluctantly, I did.

Quiet day, 10 total birds, 6 species and nothing new. Sure hope for a better birding trip the next time I head to Bunker Hill, I hear it can be great for birding.

Glacial Park & Volo Bog finds us Sandhills, Northern Harriers, Northern PIntails, but no Northern Shrikes!

Glacial Park, Wonderlake, Illinois

North of Harts Road, east of 31

Volo Bog, Lakemoor, Illinois
South of Brandenberg Road, west of US12

Saturday, March 3rd, 2006, 815am-3pm

Friday night it was Boy's Poker Night at my friend John's place in Prairie Crossing. It would be the typical cards, beer and really good single malt scotch. There would be no driving the 47 miles home at 1am. Darn, I guess I would just have to stay overnight, and as long as I was that far north, I guess I should just do some birding at Glacial Park and Volo Bog, first thing in the morning, right?

Lynne was fine with this plan, so I shot an email to fellow IBET birder Matt Fletcher who I met last Sunday at North Point Marina, which is part of the Illinois Beach State Park. I love Matt's bird photos, and he seemed like a guy who I could learn from in the field. He lives near Volo Bog and he was willing to take a rookie like myself into the field near his home turf.

It was a bright sunny morning, and before I even left Prairie Crossing I had seen a Downy Woodpecker, Mourning Doves, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Dark-eyed Juncos, and House Finches in John's backyard. On the way out of Prairie Crossing I had to stop at Lake Leopold in Prairie Crossing, where I saw the usual Canada Geese, Mallards, Herring Gulls, Ring-billed Gulls and one 2nd winter Thayer's Gull, the first Thayer's Gull I had ever spotted on my own and the first 2nd winter juvenile I had ever seen. 10 species before I had gone a mile. I was confident I would find the Northern Shrike I had targeted for the day.

On the drive to Glacial Park I spotted a large Red-tailed Hawk on the side of the road having breakfast. I had to pull over and watch for a few minutes. Of course that made me late, and then I got lost in Glacial Park, which may have bummed out Matt, but getting lost there allowed me to find a new bird for my life list, a male RING-NECKED PHEASANT (photo Matt Fletcher). I never knew how fast they could run. By the time I jumped out of the car to get a better look, it was 40 feet away and moving fast. But you can't mistake Ring-necked Pheasants for much else with his red face, green neck and head, white colar and that tail. He was bird #87 for the year, and #69 for Illinois.

I finally met Matt at the main parking lot at 820am, and he had already spotted an interesting looking white bird mixed in with the Canada Geese and Mallards on the marsh pond. As we were walking down to the marsh for a closer look at this mystery bird, Matt casually mentioned that he saw three SANDHILL CRANES (photo Matt Fletcher) on the far side of the marsh. Whoa, wait, stop right there Matt, WHERE? Sure, I had seen these birds before many times, including a day in November of 2004 at Jasper-Pulaski Wildlife Area in Indiana where we saw an estimated 11,000 Sandhills during one sunset. But that was before I was a birder, and I had to see these first. They became life birds #88 and Illinois bird #70.

We got down to the marsh, and just couldn't figure out what the white necked bird with the dark head was. Before we could, either us, or one of the many raptors in the area sent the lot of the geese and ducks flying to the northwest. We would not ID that bird for now. We decided to walk through an oak savanna on the north of the marsh and then over toward the kames on the east of the Nippersink River, I was keen on seeing that Northern Shrike.

On the way to the kames we saw numerous Red-winged Blackbirds. At the kames we saw at least one (juvenile?) Northern Harrier, who disappeared as quickly as we saw him. From the kames we walked north across the marshy area around the Nippersink to a bridge near the campground at the north of Glacial Park. On the way we had Tree Sparrows, Red-tailed Hawks, Sandhills, with one doing a short mating dance for us (photo Matt Fletcher). At the campground

we heard some more sparrows that we never found, and were startled by BLUE JAY (photo Matt Fletcher) that instead of its harsh shrill call, actually whistled a sharp song that neither of us had remembered hearing before. Though I had seen many Blue Jays before being a birder, this was a new bird for this new avocation, and it was bird #89 for the year, #71 for Illinois. But no Northern Shrikes.

On the way south, we IDed a American Tree Sparrow, were surprised to see another pair of Sandhills, were

impressed with a pair of Northern Harriers (photo Matt

Fletcher), startled to see a Great Blue Heron that was north this early, as it was flushed by a woman walking her dog, spotted a lone American Coot, heard and then saw a Downy Woodpecker, saw several Red-tailed Hawks, had a close flyby of yet another pair of Sandhills, saw numerous Red-winged Blackbirds, watched American Crows in a one large flock at the oak savanna, where we also encountered a Red-bellied Woodpecker and a few European Starlings, and then found ourselves in the midst of several Black-capped Chickadees as we tried to get down to the marsh again to find that mystery bird, but no Northern Shrikes.

Could we find that mystery bird from the morning? Eventually, Matt did. We decided it was a duck of some sort when the whole group of Mallards was flushed into the sky. This time it wasn't us, we just weren't close enough. Why did only the Mallards flush, and not the geese? It was because a large hawk we could not ID flushed them. As quickly as it appeared though, it was gone. As it flushed the ducks, Matt, who is one of the best field spotters I have been out birding with, picked up those two ducks among hundreds of Mallards, one had a long tail, white neck, dark head, it had to be the NORTHERN PINTAIL (photo Matt Fletcher) that we thought it might be.

It was indeed. The flock came back, and we got to look at both the male and female Northern Pintail (photo Mike Powell) from both sides of the marsh. Matt even got a few photos of them, including at least one in flight (see above). We went around to the other side of the marsh and got to get a better look, but not before noticing three Red-tailed Hawks on a thermal to our south, a pair of which did the falling mating dance thing, I think it is a mating ritual anyway, I was excited because this was the first time I had ever witnessed this. With a new view on the other west side of the marsh, we were now sure of Matt's ID of the pair of Northern Pintails. He got me yet another bird, number 90 for the year, #72 for Illinois. It was new bird for us both.

Unfortunately, the flock was flushed yet again, this time I got to see both Northern Pintails in flight, and Matt also noticed a pair of Americn Black Ducks, which I did not see. We had a good ID, we decided to head off to Matt's backyard nature area, Volo Bog. Maybe I could find my Northern Shrikes there. But before we left, we saw an American Kestrel make a catch, and watched a pair of American Kestrels at the railroad tracks on the way out of Glacial Park. What a treat this visit had been. We saw 19 species here, 4 of which were new birds for my list. But now it was off Volo Bog for Northern Shikes we go.

On the way, Matt pulled over to watch and listen to a female Horned Lark on Harts road, always a treat. Once at Volo Bog, it just seemed quiet. They had just done an extensive burn there, and the smell of stale burn still hung in the air. It didn't take long for us to hear some Tree Sparrows, Black-capped Chickadees, and a treo of American Crows (photo Matt Fletcher), two preening each other, something I had never seen in the wild.

As we continued walking we spotted a pair of Sandhill Cranes foraging in the recently burned bog, heard and then spotted an Eastern Bluebird, hear and then Matted spotted more Tree Sparrows, followed by some Black-capped Chickadees. As we rounded the back side of the bog, we saw yet another Red-tailed Hawk. Coming back around the floating bog path we found a White-breasted Nuthatch near some pines, a Red-bellied Woodpecker, and then heard some very loud Sandhill Cranes. But there wasn't a Northern Shrike to be found. Ugh! Time was running short!

We were just about back to the parking lot, on the very short elevated path, when I spotted those loud Sandhills. They were 30-40 feet from the path, in an open area where a burn had recently been done, and they were all but posing for us. It was so wonderful to see right into their eyes from that close distance. As we were getting done watching them, we spotted another hawk of some sort, but did not ID it, nor could we find it again.

Matt had to head home to get ready for a wedding, I wanted to take a quick tour on the inside bog walk, and then I had to head home too. I didn't see those pesky to find Northern Shrikes, but I did see 30 species for the day between Prairie Crossing, Glacial Park and Volo Bog, including 4 new life birds:

#87 Ring-billed Pheasant male
#88 Sandhill Cranes
#89 Blue Jay
#90 Northern Pintails male & female

Belted Kingfisher, Common Grackle and two types of hawks

LaBagh Woods & Sauganash Prairie, Chicago, Illinois
North of Foster, east of Cicero & I94

& Ronan & West River Park, Chicago Illinois
Along the Chicago River beginning at Lawrence to Argyle and north

Thursday, March 2nd, 2006, 915-1115am

My neighbor Karen was kind enough to take me out today to take a tour of her warbler route in the LaBagh Woods and Sauganash Prairie areas on Chicago's Northwest side east of I94 and north of Foster Avenue. Her experience suggests that if the warblers are seen at Montrose Beach & Harbor in the Magic Hedge, then they will also be at LaBagh, and no doubt there will be less birders, though there will be more ground to cover in one of Chicago's most unknown urban oasis.

We parked in the east side of the park and immediately walked up to the railroad tracks. Almost as soon as we were up on them we heard and then spotted a Northern Cardinal, two American Robins, a Ring-billed Gull flyover and a COMMON GRACKLE (photo Robert Houde). Okay, it was only a Grackle, but it was a sign that the migration was beginning, and it was bird #85 and Chicago bird #43. Was never quite so happy to see a Grackle, Karen just laughed quietly at my enthusiasm.

During my tour she showed me a number of great areas for warblers, pintails, teals, shorebirds. We spotted a two separate packs of Dark-eyed Juncos, and with her ear and eye, she helped me find American Goldfinches (photo Doug Greenberg) which became bird #44 for Chicago. We also had the unfortunate experience of watching a possum expire from drowning in the river. How the heck did he get himself into that fix? The answer would remain a mystery, and there was really nothing we could safely, or maybe, should have, done, to help it. Still, this just didn't feel like a good nature experience for me.

Before we got to Cicero Avenue, Karen spotted a raptor flying near the river, but we could not find it. We made our way to along the path on the north side of the river until we got to Cicero, where we crossed over the bridge and began a tour of LaBagh Woods.

We walked south to the wetland marsh area and found numerous Mallards in the now very wet marsh area. I heard a whistling bird call we were unable to locate, and though we did not find what was making this call, we did spot the resident Red-tailed Hawk perch slightly to the north of the marsh at the top of a tree. It stayed long enough for us to give it a great look, though at a distance.

Once we completed our tour, Karen humored me with a quick stop at Ronan Park and West River Park to see if I could find the Belted Kingfisher reported there, as well as the Black-crowned Night Herons that were spotted there last night my MJ who posts on IBET.

Two thirds of the way from Argyle toward Lawrence on the east river bank I spotted the BELTED KINGFISHER (photo Robert Hughes) female just as she was about to swallow a crawfish. What a treat to see this. I was spell bound with this bird. I have always had a fascination with kingfishers, this one was no different. How did I know it was a female? Unlike many birds, the female Belted Kingfisher has the color, a unique redish or rufous breast marking. Her crest was impressive and with the irregular clattering rattle she made as she flew along the river, it felt like she was the punk rocker of the Chicago birding world. She would be life bird #86 and Chicago bird #45.

As we moved north, we heard woodpeckers, saw Mallards, a Common Goldeneye, a pair of Herring Gulls in breeding plumage, a Ring-Billed flyover, and Canada Geese. But no Black-crowned Night Herons. And we really looked. Because we did, once we crossed north over Argyle into West River Park, Karen immediately spotted a juvenile Cooper's Hawk (photo Bob Lankford) on the east bank. Long tail, brownish coloring, streaked with brown on a white breast, slight white stripe over the eye. It just let us watch him. I don't think, nor do I know, that this bird would take a Goldeneye for lunch, but I did note that the last two times I had been here there were 15-20 Goldeneyes in the water, including just yesterday. But today there were only three in the river. Did they leave because of the Cooper's Hawk?

While we were watching the Cooper, I spotted a beaver in the water four feet from where we were standing on the bank of the river. There were signs of beaver activity all along the river north of Argyle, but now he was right there for a minute or so before he dove and disappeared. Great to have such a visitor taking up residence in Chicago, gives you faith the river is cleaning itself up after all the years of neglect, BUT, he was wreaking havoc on the small trees and landscaping in this newly planted park area, AND he had begun working on a 40 foot willow on the east river bank, since yesterday, how long would the Chicago Park District put up with this "guest?" Time would tell.

Though I wanted to head back to the Wilson Street Bridge just to our south to see if I could get another look at the American Black Duck x Mallard drake hybrid I spotted there yesterday, but I had to get back to the office and get some work done. It was a good day, two new birds and one new Chicago bird, PLUS the beaver. This birding thing is getting me out to see more wildlife than I had ever noticed in my urban existence, and it put a smile on my face. For today we had found:

#85 Common Grackle
#86 Belted Kingfisher female
and that Chicago River Beaver north of Argyle

Surf Scoter at North Point Marina

North Point Marina
Winthrop Harbor, Illinois

Sunday, February 26, 2006, 1115am

I overslept this morning after watching a movie late with Lynne last night. So instead of getting a reasonable start to my birding day, I only had until about 2pm, I didn't get out the door until 945am. The plan for the day was to visit Van Patten Woods, North Point Marina and Independence Grove. I was especially interested in seeing the larger groups of Snow Geese that had been reported in these areas, as well as the Surf Scoters at North Point Marina, and Sandhill Cranes moving north that had stopped over at Van Patten.

It was a beautiful morning and instead of the very cold weather predicted earlier in the week, it was clear, sunny and not impossibly cold. On the way north, I needed gas, so I thought I would swing by the Skokie Lagoons to see what I could see; Ring-billed Gulls, Canada Geese, a single male Hooded Merganser and three or four Common Goldeneye. I was focused on getting north, so instead of tromping around there, I kept moving north.

On the way I was optimistic about what the day would hold as I saw three Red-tailed Hawks, and one other hawk that likely wasn't a Red-tailed between the I94/294 merge and my exit at 173. I wasn't even really looking. I had never been to Van Patten Woods, so I drove around the whole place with occasional stops to survey the landscape; Canada Geese, Snow Geese and a group of gulls. It looked like a ground burn was recently done in some areas at Van Patten, and I wondered what that would mean for the woods later in the summer.

From there it was a short drive to Winthrop Harbor. Now to find the Surf Scoters. As I was pulling up, a few guys with scopes were packing up, and I caught them in time to ask if they had seen anything of note I should keep an eye out for. They were birders who had attended the Gull Frolic there a few weeks back, and though they weren't overly detailed in their feedback, I did learn that the reported Snow Buntings had not been seen for a few days, and that the Surf Scoters were across the harbor with a group of ducks.

A duck hunting we will go. I love North Point Marina, and that doesn't even include the gulls which I didn't even try to look at today as I don't yet have a scope. Immediately I saw American Coots, Redheads, Common Goldeneyes, Hooded Mergansers, Buffleheads, Mallards, Canada Geese and scaups in more or less four different groups. Though I was looking for the Surf Scoters, it was great to watch the Common Goldeneye males displaying, and the Buffleheads were very active. The Redheads seemed so brilliantly colored with the sun on them from the south.

Once I got to the group of ducks out at the mouth of the harbor I began looking over this, the largest group of ducks, more carefully. Ugh, these ducks were just a bit too far away. I could pick out the Goldeneyes and Scaups, but where were the Surf Scoters (photo Matt Fletcher)? After 30 minutes with my 8.5x44 Swift Audubons, I could pick out two birds that were not like the others. Dark, bodies, one had a white patch on the back of its head/neck, and both had tail feathers pointed upward in a manner that was distinctly different than all the other birds out in this group.

But neither would pick their head up so I could see their faces and bills. How long could I wait them out? Shortly helped arrived in the form of fellow birders Matt F and Kanae H. Kanae had her scope, and after she set it up, we got a great look at the birds, but they still wouldn't show their faces. We exchanged introductions, stories and plans for the day, and waited for them to show their pretty faces. I was the lucky one that got to see them through the scope for the 8-10 seconds they lifted their heads, showed their faces and bills, and gave me the confirmation necessary to add bird #84 to my list, bird #66 for Illinois. It was worth the wait. I felt thrilled to see both the male and female.

As we were all leaving and getting in our cars, I noticed my neighbor Karen was on the other end of the parking lot about to leave too. I thanked her for the guidance on the Screech Owls the day before. She was heading off to see some Pine Siskins at Illinois State Beach. We stopped at Sand Pond, and then the Nature Center at the south entrance, to which I had never been before. It was very quiet except for an American Robin, and I must say the best sighting of the day was the skyscrapers of the Chicago skyline from 50 miles away while we were down at the beach.

Unfortunately, that would pretty much be it for the day. Independence Grove was empty save for gulls and Canada Geese. On the way to the Grove I spotted a Red-Shouldered Hawk which I pulled off to the side of the road to watch for 5 or so minutes until it flew away. From the Grove to home, I saw 7 more Red-tailed Hawks on the side of the interstate including one all the way down at Peterson, something I don't typically see. Usually the last ones I see are on the spur right before 94 merges with 41. Today, I saw two after that point, the second was at Skokie Lagoon.

It wasn't the day of racking up a few new species I had hoped it would be, but I did add one new find;

#84 SURF SCOTER both male and female

Eastern Screech Owl at Morton Arboretum with a Northern Goshawk bonus!

Morton Arboretum
Thornhill area on Alternate Route near parking area P-20A

Saturday, February 25, 2006, 915am & again 1pm

Lynne and I had an appointment to test drive a new car in Elmhurst Saturday mid-morning. As Lynne at least has an interest in owls, I asked if we could head out early and attempt to find the EASTERN SCREECH OWL that had been noted at Morton Arboretum earlier this winter. She was game!!! So we got the kids packed up and drove out to Morton.

Armed with a Morton map my birding neighbor Karen shared with me, we drove over to the Thornhill area to see what we could find. Karen's map and notes made it seem so obvious, but we found nothing. Red-bellied Woodpeckers calling and flitting about, White-breasted Nuthatch, Black Capped Chickadees, American Robins and the obligatory Canada Geese on the drive in, but no owl. I could even find the hole that she said was easy to find in the tree she indicated would have the owl 20 feet off the ground. Nothing.

As we drove away disappointed, we noticed some people with scopes and cameras near Sterling Pond, and I asked one of the gentlemen if he was a birder. He answered an enthusiastic yes. Hopeful, I asked him if he knew where the Screech Owl had been sighted, and again he said yes. Long pause. He offered no help. So I asked him if he could offer me any suggestions to find the owl, and he said he could not, as he promised not to tell anyone where the owl was so it would not be disturbed. How annoying. If you are going to be such an elitist, just lie to me and tell me you don't know. Don't take such an air of superiority, especially after telling me you were shown the bird and did not find it yourself, because you know something I want. What a jerk.

I told him, fine, but that I had a map, I was going to look for the bird, and he could either help me make a low impact sighting, or he could let me meander about and see what I could find, possibly disturbing the very owl he wanted to keep undisturbed. He simply responded by telling me my map looked accurate and that he had seen the owl the last three days after noon sunning itself. Lynne and I left for the car dealership determined to come back when we were done.

Once we left, we drove up 53 and turned right on Butterfield Road to drive east. As we approached a small creek and a bridge that crossed it, I noticed a raptor in a tree on the north side of the road in a large tree on the south end of the Western Acres Golf Course. It was just too big for a Red-tailed Hawk, and I couldn't see a red tail, this bird was gray. A Northern Harrier? Lynne commented that we had a few minutes before our appointment, let's turn around and look she said. I didn't need any more encouragement than that, we did a u-turn and headed back to an access road to a electric utility station and pulled over 50 yards from the subject bird's tree.

This was a big bird. Gray, faint, but distinct narrow barring on the chest and belly, distinct white stripe above the eye, the eye itself was deep red. We watched him in the tree, he watched us and the traffic going past. I grabbed my copy of "A Photographic Guide to North American Raptors," Lynne the "National Geographic Complete Guide of North American Birds." As we looked, debated, looked and debated, I remembered some IBET postings about a NORTHERN GOSHWAK in this area. Was this our treat for not seeing the owl? If only we could see this bird in flight. I no sooner thought it and my wish was granted as he lazily moved up and slowly moved south toward the Morton Arboretum area. The view in flight made us pretty sure I had seen bird #82 for my life list, and #64 for Illinois.

That was a great find, it almost seemed too easy to find, but it was difficult for a rookie like me to ID this bird with 20 minutes of time. Most raptors are still hard for me. At least I have learned to look for red tails, then for brown or gray coloring and general size, and ID from there. Don't know if that is the way I am suppose to do it, but so far it has been working fine for me. And though I will add this to my list, there is always that little bit of doubt because I have never seen this bird species before. Still, as we discussed what we saw, and compared that to our guide books, we felt 95% sure what we watched for 20 minutes was a Northern Goshawk (photo Cheryl Johnson). Hopefully I will see it again soon with someone who is a better birder than I, and I can feel 100% sure I IDed this bird correctly.

It was time to test drive that Prius.

We got done at the dealership by 1115am, then went to Lynne's cousin's house in Elmhurst to pick up the kids. After a short visit, we decided to head back over to Morton for one more try for the Screech Owl (photo Jeff Skrentny) before heading back into the city for an afternoon appointment Lynne had. Glad we did.

We went right back to where neighbor Karen told us to go at Thornhill, and this time, just like she said, the owl was visible from the car as we drove up. Amazing. It was sunning itself quietly in the hole of a big tree that I must have looked at 10 times earlier that morning. In fact it was the third tree I really examined first thing this morning. It simply must not have been out then. Even though I was still upset with Mr Know-It-All-But-I-Am-Not-Sharing-With-You-Birder, at least he shared the tip about being out after noon each of the last three days; that tidbit was probably what tipped the balance for us to go back and try one more time this afternoon. Because we did, we saw the EASTERN SCREECH OWL, bird # 83, and #65 for Illinois.

It was a fruitful morning and early afternoon; we bought a car, visited with family, and saw two great birds:

#82 NORTHERN GOSHAWK
#83 EASTERN SCREECH OWL

First trip to Sauganash Prairie & Edgebrook Woods

Sauganash Prairie & Edgebrook Woods
Northwest side of Chicago south of Peterson east of Central

Thursday, February 23, 2006, 230-4pm

It was a tedious day at my desk, and when I had to run out to do two errands, I grabbed by Sibley's and bins and decided to head to a new birding location, for me, Sauganash Prairie. My new copy of "A Birders Guide to the Chicago Region" gave me the impression it might be a good place to know along the Chicago River just north of our home in West Walker Park. Once there, I remembered being here once in the past on a Nature Conservancy day in the field to help restore the prairie.

It wasn't a good birding trip. After hiking about, all I heard, and then saw was a Northern Cardinal for sure, and a Dark-eyed Junco, I think. Of course there were Mallards on the river, but it was quiet everywhere until I came back to the car. Once back at the car, I could hear birds everywhere north of the woods and prairie in the neighborhood to the north of this natural area. But I could see nothing. I was about to jump in the car determined to check out at least one more neighborhood woods before heading back to the office when to the west, over what is the Edens Expressway, I spotted a Red-tailed Hawk doing aerial maneuvers that were fun to watch. At least I was able to tally this bird for the city, #39 for Chicago.

Frustrated by less than great birding on a great day, I headed over to Edgebrook Woods on the east side of Central Avenue, north of the Chicago River and Indian Road Woods. I drove all the way in, and hopped out to see what I could find on the flats and mature trees by the river. Immediately I found a large group of Dark-eyed Juncos. There had to be 20 or 30 of them, and they were flitting about the whole flat in the lower branches and brush in this area.

While watching them I also saw three Mallards on the river, 3 or 4 Downy (probably) or Hairy Woodpeckers in the trees, plus I heard at least one Red-bellied Woodpecker to the west. I was really excited to tromp around. I eventually found at least 6 Downys, one Hairy, and two Red-bellieds, plus I heard two more calling loudly. And that wasn't all. While I was listening for the woodpeckers, I noticed a large group of 30-40 American Robins move into the woods from the south side of the river, Indian Road Woods. Over on that side of the river I also noted three large White-tailed Deer keeping an eye on what I was doing.

While watching one of the Red-bellieds, I had a good look at a first for me since listing, a WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH (photo Jamie MacArthur). It would be bird number 80 for the year, and number 40 for Chicago. Not a big find, but one I did not yet have on my list, and I didn't find it at a bird feeder, which always seems like a bit of a bonus to me.

Finally, on my way out I heard very thin high note of a bird I did not recognize. Where was it? What was it? A Brown Creeper, then another, moving up and around two of the tall trees in the river flats right as the ground rises to the parking lot. I had seen one of these at Skokie Lagoons on January 31st, but again, these birds would count as Chicago bird #41. At this pace I could have 240 species in Chicago by the end of the year...possible? We will see. For the day, two new Chicago birds and the new find:

#81 WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH

The first Red-winged Blackbirds of the year

Humboldt Park on Chicago's west side
1400 North Sacramento Avenue

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2006, 915am

I had to take Lynne to work today so I could use our car to meet a client this afternoon. After dropping her off I thought I would swing by Humboldt Park on the way home and check out the cattail marsh and lagoon area there to see what was new since my last stop there February 5th.

The marsh area was completely quiet. Nothing but an American Crow in the distance, a few European Starlings high in the trees and a few Rock Doves close to the park district building. Right before I walked under Humboldt Avenue using the pedestrian underpass to view the lagoon, I found one lone White-throated Sparrow on the north end of the marsh.

At the lagoon, like my last visit, there were plenty of Canada Geese, Mallard Ducks and a few Domestic Ducks on the lagoon. I also found a group of American Tree Sparrows in the high brush on the west side of the lagoon near the small lagoon island, but then I heard a very familiar sound, early I thought for the spring, the unmistakable song of a RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD (photo Alejandro Tabini). I spotted two, and heard at least 2 others. I was able to walk up close to one male singing in a tree on the east side of the lagoon pavilion on the south of the lagoon. Spring is coming, and I would imagine soon there will be many other early migrants coming through Chicago. For today, I had my 80th bird of the year, #38 for Chicago, the:

#80 RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD

Volo Bog bust, Greater White-fronted Goose at Diversey

Volo Bog
Lake County, north of Route 120 west of Hwy 12 on Brandenburg Road

Sunday, February 19th, 2006, 4-6pm

Once again this morning I tried to find that darn Harlequin Duck male that had been reported at Belmont Harbor and North Avenue at the Chess Pavilion. After seeing the Snow Geese at Montrose, I thought maybe I should check in between. I went to Diversey Harbor to see what I could find there. No Harlequin Duck, but I did find a Greater White-fronted Goose (photo Jeff Skrentny) swimming in the water close to the rock beach, and that was at least a new Chicago bird, #36 for my Chicago life and year list.

But today was going to be dedicated to a 50 mile trip to the north. After reading a posting about another birders great Sunday afternoon trip a week earlier, I decided to head up to Volo Bog this afternoon to see if I would have any luck seeing the Long-eared, Screech and Great-horned Owls he had seen, plus hope to catch a glimpse of the illusive Northern Shrikes up in that area.

But today was going to be dedicated to a 50 mile trip to the north. After reading a posting about another birders great Sunday afternoon trip a week earlier, I decided to head up to Volo Bog this afternoon to see if I would have any luck seeing the Long-eared, Screech and Great Horned Owls he had seen, plus hope to catch a glimpse of the illusive Northern Shrikes up in that area.

Good thing I like nature and walks. That was all I got. I didn't see or hear a bird of any sort on this beautiful Sunday afternoon and dusk until I did the whole walk around Volo Bog and was heading back to my car. Then with the light too dark to make any positive ID, I saw what might have been a Northern Shrike zipping through the air with some prey in its talons. Why do I think it was a shrike; size and coloring. But I am way too much a rookie to ever know.

So it was 104 miles of driving for a good 3 mile walk. Could be worse, though a cold day, it wasn't the frigid temperatures of yesterday. No owls today so it looks like another trip before I can see those glorious birds at Volo Bog. How bad could that be?


FUN SIDE NOTE...I reported my sighting of the Greater White Fronted Goose at Diversey on IBET, and my posting became my FIRST report that was included in the Chicago Audubon Rare Bird Alert:

Chicago Rare Bird Alert

Downloaded from BIRDCNTR, a service of the National Birding Hotline Cooperative (NBHC), and processed by an automatic mail processor.

Posted on this server Friday, February 24, 2006

- RBA

* Illinois
* Chicago
* February 22, 2006
* ILCH0602.22

- Birds mentioned

GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE...

A WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE was seen at the mouth of Diversey
Harbor February 19th and 21st.

Ring-Necked Duck at Diversey...FINALLY see the Harlequin males!

Diversey Harbor
Chicago on the lake front at Diversey, north end of harbor near inlet

Monday, February 20th, 915am

Was on my way to see the Harlequin Duck male that had been eluding me the last few weeks at North Avenue when I thought I would stop at Diversey Harbor on the way to see if I could see the RING-NECKED DUCK (photo Jeff Skrentny) that had been seen there yesterday. I saw the same duck with a large group of Canada Geese and Mallard Ducks yesterday, but took a quick look at it with it's bill tucked into it's feathers and assumed it was a scaup. It wasn't.

I found it alone in a small open area of water right away, but once again it had it's bill tucked into its feathers. Still, I noted the gray flank, NOT WHITE flank like I should have noted yesterday, which would have clued me in that it wasn't a scaup. After a while it moved away from the moorings and into the water, and I got an excellent look at it's white ringed bill and long neck. Let's hope I learn the lesson to LOOK for the birds I see in the future so I don't miss any more new species I could add to my life list. This would be #79 and #37 for Chicago proper.

After the RING-NECKED I was hoping my luck would hold as I went down to the North Avenue Beach area to see if I could see the Harlequin Duck male that everyone else has seen but me. I did see the two females associated with this group on a stormy Wednesday afternoon, February 8th, but in several attempts to see the prized male Harlequin, I had struck out.

At the beach I did not find them near the Chess Pavilion, but I saw another birder out near the break water with a scope. It was noted area bird photographer and birder Kanae H. She was looking to see the same birds, but she didn't see a thing. After a few short words of introduction, I had to get back to the office, and I left. About 2 hours later I read in IBET that she had seen the duck, however distant, and lamented I missed her sighting by about 2 minutes! If only I could bird all day.

So today, just one new bird, the:

#79 RING-NECKED DUCK



North Avenue Beach Breakwater
Chicago on the lake front at North Avenue

Tuesday, February 21st, 2006, 415pm

FINALLY! After trying Saturday evening at Belmont Harbor, twice Sunday at North Avenue Beach Chess Pavilion, and after having an unsatisfactory look at 5 Harlequin Ducks in a 80mm scope this morning (2 males and 3 females...I thought), I finally saw the Harlequin Duck males this afternoon. I read an IBET post by Greg N that he had JUST seen two males inside the hook of breakwater, and also seen another male and two females (so I didn't get this AMs look quite right...they were a long way off) outside the breakwater with 5 Buffleheads.

As fast as traffic would allow, I zipped back over to the lakefront to see if I could get a look at these impressive birds. As soon as I parked I noticed another birder intently using a scope on the breakwater looking toward its hooked end, he had to be looking at the Harlequins. He was. It was Bob H, a noted birder extraordinaire watching two male Harlequin Ducks at the end of the breakwater.

They were so beautiful. Bob let me look through his scope, and that was a wonderful close up view. It was what I wanted. After he left, I watched the birds for another 30 minutes or so as they dove, and surfaced, dove and surfaced. Were they were there was also a Lesser Scaup and eventually 4 Buffleheads (3m 1f). It was a warm Chicago February, and it just looked like all 7 birds were just having fun before sunset. I would have stayed longer, but I had to get home to be daddy so our nanny could go home, but this time the walk back to the car was one where I had a spring to my step, as I had finally seen the impressive and distinctive beauty of the males of my life bird #62, #25 for Chicago, the Harlequin Duck (photo Ed Teune). It was worth the wait and all the troubles.

Snow Geese & Ross's Geese at Montrose Harbor

Montrose Harbor
Chicago on the lakefront at Montrose

Thursday, Friday & Saturday, February 16-18, 2006

It has been a good week for birding, one that seemed like it would only get better when Thursday afternoon it was posted on IBET (http://BirdingOnThe.Net/mailinglists/IBET.htm) by Kanae H that her neighbor Pamela M had tipped her off that there were some 20 SNOW GEESE at the beach house at Montrose Beach with some 50 CANADA GEESE. Earlier today I had tried to find a half a dozen Snow Geese that were reported in the Chicago River at Addison, but I was unable to find them, so I was hopeful I would get a chance to see this group instead.

As soon as Lynne got home, which was late, I headed off to Montrose Beach & Harbor area. Even though it might be late when I got there, I knew the area had lights and I might still get to see them even though it would be late dusk. I couldn't find them anywhere, and I went home without a sighting. I did have a nice walk around the Montrose Bird Sanctuary for the first time, and I can't wait to see what is there some morning.

Friday morning I read that Bob H, one of Chicagoland's most renowned birding experts, had not only reconfirmed more than 20 SNOW GEESE of both the light and dark morph, including some juveniles of each, but even more unusual for Chicago, two ROSS'S GEESE as well. You can clearly see the size difference with the smaller middle bird, a Ross's Geese, here in flight with Snow Geese (photo Kanae Hirabayashi). I called my neighbor to see if I could borrow her car, and off to the lake front I hurried as I had a lunch meeting with some clients at 1145am.

I got down to Montrose and checked by the beach house, nothing. But while I was there, I heard them, and then saw them in flight behind me. I raced over to the Montrose Harbor, it looked like they landed outside the Harbor in the lake or on the Marovitz Golf Course. I was so excited to see birds number #76 and #77 for the year.

It wasn't that easy.

The group of 30 individuals was in the lake, and though I could easily see the SNOW GEESE, I was having no luck picking out the Ross's Geese. Need to get a scope. As I was walking away, I noticed a lone Snow Goose with a group of 50 or so Canada Geese that had moved into the harbor. I watched him for 5 or so minutes and took some photos of him. Something about his bill and small size just didn't seem right. As they turned around and moved back into the open water of Lake Michigan, it occurred to me that this could be a ROSS'S GOOSE (photo Jeff Skrentny). Bill meeting the feathers at base in straight line, blue-ish bill at back, and no grin patch. This was a Ross's Goose, right here in front of my nose, close to the rocks and an easy study. I took a few more photos through my Swift Audubon 8.5x44 bins with my Cannon Digital and was on my way home to get to that client lunch.

After lunch, early that evening, I had a chance to read what everyone had been posting that day about these birds, and it turns out that in addition to Snow and Ross's Geese with this pack, there was probably one hybrid of the two as well. How fun. It was possible the one I took photos of was that bird. But after sharing it with several birders more experienced than I, most of us concluded that my photos were of a ROSS'S GOOSE, so I did indeed get to see both and that made bird #77 for the year.

But I wasn't satisfied after sleeping on it over night. I wanted to see the Ross's Goose with the Snow Geese to really notice the size difference. Back to Montrose I went on what was the coldest morning in Chicago in years...2 degrees with a wind chill of -18. COLD, cold day to look at birds, my wife Lynne thought I was nuts. In this photo in the lower left corner, you can see both a Ross's and Snow Goose, note the size difference of the smaller Ross's Goose behind the front most Snow (photo Jeff Skrentny).

Once I got down to Montrose, I drove out to the point of the harbor for a first look. They were across the way in the water outside the harbor close to the rock beach behind the Marovitz Golf Course. While I was discussing them with another birder, they took flight and moved to the golf course. I was on my way back. The other birder told me they had counted 27 birds, including one Ross's Goose. That was my target bird. If I could just get a view of the geese together I could be confident I had seen both.

I got over to the golf course, jumped the fence (and slightly ripped my jacket...not as young and spry as I once was I guess) and walked up behind the birds making sure trees blocked me from their view. I got behind a pine tree about 50 yards away and counted 27 birds, and found what seemed like a Ross's Goose with the Snow Geese. But I was too far away for a positive ID. There was one pine tree even closer, so I walked a long way around to get behind it without spooking them and got to within 20 yards of them. What a sight. I was so cold, but I couldn't believe what a good look I had. There were two white morph juveniles, two dark (blue) morph juveniles, 3 dark (blue) morph adults, and several white adults with the distinctive yellow/orange/rusty head. They were all sitting down, eating, then getting up for a step or two before sitting down to eat more. They looked cold.

Where was the Ross's Goose? That is why I was braving this cold. I looked at each bird, and about 8 into it, I found him, significantly smaller, say half or 60% of the size of the Snow Geese, had the short bill with the straight vertical line between the bill and the feathers, as well as the very straight lower bill. I had my Ross's Goose (photo by Ed Tuene), and I could confidently say it was bird #77. Additionally, there was one more bird that sort of looked like a Ross's, but it was too big, with a neck too long, still the bill was distinctly shorter with that vertical line where it met the feathers. Several IBET posters had been talking about a Snow & Ross's hybrid, was this that bird? Probably.

I was too cold for any more detailed observing. My fingers were permanently frozen wrapped around my bins, and I was shivering so much I couldn't hold the bins still despite layers and layers of clothes. I attempted a few digiscope shots with my camera before the battery died, and then hurried to my car to warm up before heading out to count some birds at for the "Great Backyard Bird Count."

A good day, as I confirmed I had seen a Ross's Goose today, and yesterday, which means I saw:

#76 SNOW GOOSE, both dark (blue) and white morph w/juveniles of each
#77 ROSS'S GOOSE
& a likely ROSS'S & SNOW hybrid

Peregrine Falcon & Great Horned Owl

Clark Park vicinity
Chicago River at Addison Street Bridge
& Lincoln Park Zoo

February 16, 2006, 1015-1130am

A posting by Jimmy G got me out today as soon as I took care of some calls and emails for work. He reported 6 Snow Geese on the Chicago River by Gordon Tech where he is enrolled. This I had to see! I got over to the river, parked around the corner illegally on the street in a zoned parking area, and trotted over to the bridge. I began by looking south, just some Canada Geese, Rock Doves and Mallard Ducks. I crossed the street to see what was on the north side of the bridge looking up toward Gordon Tech. Again, nothing, just gulls.

With nothing else to do, I decided to look at the gulls. There were about a dozen gulls, Ring-billed with 2 or three much larger Herring Gulls. But then one of the supposed Herring Gulls turned around and its back was a very dark gray, especially as compared to the other gulls it was with. A Lesser Black-backed? You bet, had the dark streaking on the head, the yellow legs instead of pink ones of a Herring Gull, and it was definitely larger that the Ring-billed Gulls, but just a bit smaller than the Herring Gulls. But it was the dark gray back that gave it away.

And just as I was pleased as could be about this find, my 28th Chicago species, I noticed a hawk/falcon moving rapidly down the river from the north to the south, now taking direct aim at the gulls on the building on the east side of river. They didn't wait to see what its intentions were. They scattered loudly. I couldn't decide what to watch...the LBB Gull or this new raptor. I decided to try and get a look at the raptor, but it was moving so fast that as soon as I got my bins, it was over me and moving south. I eyed it and could see clearly the helmeted head, it must be a PEREGRINE FALCON (photo Neil Fifer).

As I had never IDed this bird on my own, I would not have counted it as a sighting with this quick view. Thanks to him, the gulls were gone now, so I began walking back to my car. When I got to where it was parked on Rockwell Street, that same bird appeared over the river, moving up slowly, and this time I got a great look at it, it was bird number 74 for the year, and number 29 for Chicago, a Peregrine Falcon. I watched it move up slowly, and then glide down toward Lane Tech where it suddenly accelerated toward the NE until I lost it from view.

How cool was that? And to think that these birds had disappeared from Chicago until they were reintroduced in 1980. Now I know of sightings in downtown, at Northerly Island, North Pond and along the lakefront up to Montrose Harbor. I had seen them myself when I had an office across the street from the Sears Tower on the 45th floor and had even seen one take out a Rock Dove 30 stories up from the ground in mid air.

It was now raining rather hard, and I still had one more stop on my list for the morning, the Lincoln Park Zoo, to see the GREAT HORNED OWL (photo Ed Tuene) that had been seen there all winter, who apparently returned after a brief absence. It was really raining hard by the time I parked at the zoo, and I almost didn't make this stop. Glad I did. The owl was reported in a willow by the Flamingo Pond. It took about 2 minutes to find the owl perched uncomfortably with all this rain coming down. Because I could stand in a covered picnic area, I wasn't getting wet, and I could see him easily without my binoculars. But with them I had a wonderful view of the marbled pattern on the feathers, the barred breast, orange-ish face and intense piercing big yellow eyes.

I would have watched him for longer than the 20 minutes I did, had it not been for the rain. How wonderful. He was right there, sometimes watching me, sometimes looking away. I thought to myself as groups of people walked past wondering what the goof with the binoculars was doing, that they had all come to a zoo to see exotic and rare animals, and right here in front of them was this wonderful animal that they wouldn't even look up to see, instead making comments about me and my binoculars when they could just look up and see this marvelous wild and unexpected zoo treat. They didn't. Glad I did.

Now it was raining hard. I was wet, and needed to get back to work. For the day I had one new Chicago bird, and two new birds for my first year as a birder:

#74 Peregrine Falcon
#75 Great Horned Owl

Snowy Owl, Rough-legged Hawk, Bald Eagles and Eastern Bluebirds

LaSalle County near Ransom, Illinois
SE corner of 27th and 19th

& Starved Rock State Park
looking on Plum & Leopold Islands & at Youth Campground

Sunday, February 12, 2006, 1030am to 6pm

We had maps, fed children, and warm clothes. Now we were off to see Snowy Owls in LaSalle County where they had been reported all winter. I wanted us to be on the road by 8am, we were only 30 minutes behind our schedule, and for us, that was great.

Our first significant sighting took place on while we were on I80. Right before Morris on the side of the road was a large hawk, but unlike the typical Red-tail, this one had a white blotchy head and was hopping around on the side of the interstate. Slowing down as much as I could, I noted an almost white breast with dark around the legs, and with a hop I could see feathers that went down to the bottom of the leg. The bill seemed smaller and the eye was very dark. When it took its hop, you could see the underwing was white except for a dark band on the end of the primaries and secondaries, the converts were the same patchy marked brown of the back of the neck.

I did not know what this hawk was, but thanks to the birders I’d meet in 40 minutes, I would learn it was probably a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK (photo DW Williams) that one of the others had seen on the drive down. It was not a bird I could count without a further look. Thankfully, I got that look on the way home at 445pm in about the same area. The second time I was able to pull over and watch it from the side of the interstate, much to Lynne's chagrin. I had a new hawk. By day's end it would be bird #73 for the year, #54 for Illinois.

Driving south on 6 toward Ransom, we first pulled over for a male American Kestrel on a telephone wire, and then a female a short bit later. Right after that treat we noticed a large dark bird casually flying from east to west at about the height of the tops of telephone poles. It was a juvenile BALD EAGLE in its Basic I plumage (Wheeler & Clark). It was bird #1 for my life list, it was now bird #50 for Illinois. Seemed like some kind of American symbolism to me!

When we got to just north of Ransom we immediately decided to stay north of town to start going point to point on a dot matrix map I had created of where all the Snowy Owl sightings had been reported. Our first stop was at the railroad tracks on 18th between 26th and 27th. As we drove up there was another van stopped looking up and down the tracks. It had to be a birder. It was, Tim Smith who told us to go to 27th, take a left and up at 19th we would see several other birders and the SNOWY OWL in the middle of the field there.

As we drove up we saw a man with a scope on 19th just east of 27th, two parked cars and a miniature snowman in the field about 100 yards from the corner of the road on a raised mound of ground that had not been plowed that season. It gave the SNOWY OWL (photo Jeff Skrentny) a slight height advantage over the whole field, and it gave us a great view of him. Both Lynne and I got a good look at the owl, and Tom, a leader for COS, allowed us each a view with his scope. Through it I was able to get this shot.

We had 30 minutes of watching when suddenly the very still Snowy Owl got very active looking every which way. He quietly raised his wings and took to flight toward the south west. Tom and I both watched him gracefully and easily move up and out of our sight. This owl in flight gave the impression of strength and ease as it moved out of view with lazy wing beats that allowed it to move quickly and rapidly away. What a treat. I was giddy with joy high-fiving Lynne once I got back into the car where she was dealing with two squirmy kids, one an 7 month old, the other almost three. We would need to stop somewhere and eat to get them out of the car, but I had found, thanks to IBET, bird #70 for the year, #51 for Illinois.

After lunch in Ottawa, we headed down 71 to Starved Rock State Park. After parking, we walked down to the river and saw half a dozen Bald Eagles (photo Matt Fletcher) immediately in the trees of Plum and also Leopold Islands. We viewed them from the river walk, and then from up at the Starved Rock observatory walk. That was where we had our best look at the adults and two juveniles in the trees of the two islands. Besides the eagles, we also saw more than 30 GREAT BLUE HERONS (photo Scott Linstead) on the tip of Leopold Island, all but one of them on the ground at the tip of the island facing the dam. Though I have seen this bird many times before I was a birder, this would become bird #71 for my life list, and bird #52 for Illinois. On the walk back I also saw a pair of Black-capped Chickadees for good measure. Not the Tufted Titmouse I was hoping for.

We spent a couple of hours at the park, inside and out. Eventually we needed to think about heading home. I had heard from one of the park rangers that a group of Wild Turkeys had recently been seen at the Youth Campground on the other side of 71, so we headed over there to see what we could see. It was quiet, but we did see a group of at least 4 EASTERN BLUEBIRDS (photo Paul Sansom). Both Lynne and I got an excellent look at two birds, and they became bird #72 for my list, #53 for Illinois.

The family was all sleepy, but I still wanted to stop at Buffalo Rock State Park on the other side of the river, just east of Starved Rock, and while they snozed in the car I took a short walk on the bluff where I saw another Bald Eagle, a Red-tailed Hawk, more Great Blue Herons that were chased out of the trees by the hawk, Common Goldeneye, gulls and a few Red-breasted Mergansers.

The drive home gave me the another view of that Rough-legged Hawk, and I also spotted an owl in a tree in late dusk while we were on I80 right before we joined up with I55 going back to Chicago. It was a cold day, but a good day, four new birds for my list, with one new Illinois bird to boot:

#70 Snowy Owl
#71 Great Blue Heron
#72 Eastern Bluebird
#73 Rough-legged Hawk

A Raptor Day; Cooper's Hawk & American Kestrels

Wilson Street Bridge, Chicago
at the Chicago River in Ravenswood

& Northerly Island on Chicago's downtown lakefront
formerly Meigs Field

Friday, February 10th, 2006, 9-11am

Ever since I was a kid, I loved Kingfishers. Until recently I didn't know that there were several species of them, and so when I read that a Belted Kingfisher had been spotted by another urban birder looking south along the Chicago River at the Wilson street bridge, I had to go check it out.

I looked south, I looked north, I looked south again. Nothing. Okay, I shouldn't be so dismissive of Mallards, Rock Doves and Mourning Doves, they use to make me smile. Well, not the pigeons. I also wanted to get down to Northerly Island, and I had a lot of work to do today. No Kingfisher today.

As I began walking toward the car when something stopped me from the corner of my eye. A slight movement, something not quite right on a branch of a tree. I looked and didn't see anything. Why? Because it was right there in front of me, 15 feet away from me, eye level on a large branch sticking out over the river, a COOPER'S HAWK (photos Jeff Skrentny), eating the still steaming remains of a Rock Dove. He wasn't happy about me watching him, he was even less happy about me getting the camera out, but eventually he got use to me and let me watch him eat his tasty dove breakfast. This was a great way to see life bird #63, Chicago bird #26.

Man, I was really excited to have found this treat. Yeah, the first Red-tailed Hawk I saw this year caught a mouse or vole as I was observing him, neat. Here I could see the blood still dripping from the carcass, and the hawk's bill. This was a great metaphor for my work week. I watched for 20 minutes and then decided I would head off to Northerly Island to see if I could continue my raptor day by seeing the American Kestrel and Peregrine Falcon that had been reported wintering there.

This was already a great Monday, maybe it could get even better.

I had never been to Northerly Island, and I had no idea how big this open space was. After I parked I walked south along the inside of the harbor and saw Canada Geese, Common Goldeneye, a Bufflehead and a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers until a low flying helicopter chased them all into flight. At this point I was as far south as I could go before the sewer work that was being done on the south end of the island. I walked over to the path and began walking north when I saw raptor number one. Then number two, then number three.

I didn't know what to focus on first.

One was definitely a male AMERICAN KESTREL (photo Matt Fletcher), you can't miss those colors in the field, even from far off. This wasn't my first time IDing a Kestrel, just the first time since becoming a birder. One of the other three looked kind of like a Kestrel in size and shape, and I after watching her later, I would get a great field observation of the difference's between a male and female American Kestrel, as this couple let me watch them for 30 minutes, from a distance. A distance roughly equal to about a half a football field. Even at this distance they became bird #64 for me, #27 for Chicago.

But the excitement now was the third bird. He moved up off his perch suddenly and as fast as I have ever seen a bird move, he flew toward an American Crow that was flying over the island from east to west toward the convention center. My bird went right at him and the two made contact right over the water. Then another crow I did not see came down to swoop in on my bird. In an instant they all went their seperate ways, the crows to the west, my bird to the south.

I am pretty sure it was a Peregrine Falcon, it and the crow were about the same size, it led its final approach to the crow with its wings bent forward, the head looked capped, the bib was white and the underparts were patterned dark brown and white. I will never know if it was a Peregrine Falcon or not. I just couldn't get a good look at it as fast as it was moving, and it was moving away from me. Still, it was thrilling to watch, I almost got my second kill of the day!

After this intense moment of birding, could I ask for more?

I could. American Kestrels, up close, trying to make a catch, hovering in the air surveying the island, flying playfully with oneanother. I could have watched them all day. But I had to work, and I had to leave now. It was a raptor day, and I had two new birds:

#63 COOPER'S HAWK
#64 AMERICAN KESTREL male and female

Harlequin Ducks in rough seas

Chicago Lakefront at North Avenue
Chess Pavilion

Wednesday, February 8, 2006, 315-340pm

Jacob Spendelow posted on IBET, that on a just finished trip to Chicago, he spotted three HARLEQUIN DUCKS, including a male and two females, on our lakefront close to the breakwater wall, on a short birding excursion he fit in during his trip. As he wasn't well versed in local landmarks, so I emailed him for more detailed directions, though I guessed he spotted them near the Chess Pavilion area at North Avenue. I decided I couldn't wait for his reply to my email. I read his post at 245pm, and immediately got in the car to see if I could find these birds. The Harlequin male is a bird not to be missed, and this is not a diving duck that makes it to our lakefront with any regularity. Even a rookie like me could figure that out from my Sibley's map.

This would be a good bird to chase down a look.

The weather was terribly windy and overcast. When I got to North Avenue Beach I could see that the water was wild and I doubted I would see any Harlequin Ducks in this rough water. I hustled down to the beach area near the Chess Pavilion, accidentally annoyed two Canada Geese on the way, and immediately located two female Harlequin Duck females (photo Jeff Skrentny) bobbing up in down in the three and four foot waves regularly crashing over the breakwater. Just watching them made me dizzy. I thought that at any moment the waves would wash them up on the beach, as they remained only 2-5 feet from the breakwater edge.

They were cautious, but not what I would call skittish. As long as I stayed back 30-50 feet, they were happy to go about diving one right after the other, as they had no doubt been doing before I arrived. But where was the male? No where to be found, and he was the real visual treat. That is the drake everyone wants to see. Couldn't find him anywhere. I looked up and down the beach, nothing. I had a 4pm conference call I had to get back for, and I couldn't find him. Still, I had a new bird, life bird #62, Chicago bird #25. It was a good chase and netted me:

#62 HARLEQUIN DUCK females

Owls at last at Rollins Savanna

Rollins Savanna
Lake County just north of Hwy 120 on Rt 45

February 7, 2006, 445-6pm

After finishing a visit with a client in Buffalo Grove, I decided I had enough time and light left in the day to make a quick trip up to Rollins Savanna to make another attempt at seeing the SHORT-EARED OWLS that were wintering there. They usually came out near dusk, and that would be just about when I could get there.

But before I left Buffalo Grove, I was literally right next to the Buffalo Creek Forest Preserve, and I decided I should at least stop there quickly to know the place. It was very quiet, just some Canada Geese, Mallard Ducks and a Blue Jay feather on the path. This didn't appear to be a great winter birding area, but I counted over 20 bird nests in my short walk, it would be a good place to check out in migration and summer I decided.

Instead of parking at the main parking lot at Rollins, I decided to try the parking lot on Drury Lane on the savanna's north west side at a play lot that didn't have a gated parking lot incase I was there past sunset. I was.

As soon as I got onto the path I spotted a large bird on a tree just west of the path, a short walk south of me. It was a Red-tailed Hawk (photo Jeff Skrentny), juvenile I think, most willing to let me watch him. I took a few photos of him, mainly to study later because I still can't ID my raptors confidently. I'm looking forward to receiving in the mail a new book I ordered that will hopefully help me with that, "A Photographic Guide to North American Raptors."

Suddenly, I was startled by the familiar barks of a Short-eared Owl just over my right shoulder right above me. How could these have been familiar barks if I had never seen this owl before in my life? That would be thanks to BNA, or my Birds of North America Online subscription that had a recording of this barking call which I had been listening to every night for a week. I wanted to see these owls. I wanted to be prepared to find them.

Before becoming a birder, albeit, still a rookie one, I never understood why experienced birders saw so much more than I ever did. Now I know why:

1) They are prepared and know what they might see
2) They watch, or listen actually, with their ears first
3) They watch with their eyes second
4) They look with their binoculars third
5) They look with their scopes last

I had been training my ears for this owl, and now it was barking right over my head. It appeared to be harassing this hawk out of its feeding area. The hawk didn't take long to get the message. One swoop in by the owl, nothing too threatening, but the second swoop was right at his face, and he got the message and left to the southwest. That was a drag, but right here in front of me at close range was my SHORT-EARED OWL (photos Matt Fletcher). It was the best look I would have of this owl all evening. The dark triangles around the eyes were just like the photos I had studied prior to my attempt to see them in the field.

Almost immediately after this one owl flew back toward the center of the savanna, I heard another bark, then a third from the south east middle of the open area. Almost immediately there were three, then 4, then 5 owls in the branches of a tree or two in the middle of the savanna, or flying with long stunningly quiet glides over the field.

Two of the owls in the south area chased out two grayish colored hawks to the northeast in a most amusing show. After reading another birder's IBET posting that night, I would learn of a spat over a vole one of the Short-eared Owls had caught that a Northern Harrier tried to steal. The owls chased the two Northern Harriers out of the central savanna after that. That is what I watched. These birders noted 6 owls, I only noted 5; three on the north which I watched for almost an hour, two on the south that I watched chase away the Northern Harriers.

Five or six, I didn't care; I was watching these wonderful dusk kings of the savanna. I felt honored to be in their space, and I was thrilled to watch their scouting of the savanna. Add that to the 40 White-tailed Deer I also saw, you can be sure I had a great ride back into the city after this sighting of my 61st life bird, and my 41st Illinois bird:

#61 SHORT-EARED OWL

White-throated Sparrows at Humboldt Park

Humboldt Park on Chicago's west side
1400 North Sacramento Avenue

February 5th, 2006, 1115am

After a 5 mile morning run with Mike O, my running partner, I dropped him off and decided I wanted to see what the green space of Humboldt Park had to offer as far as winter birds. I parked at the park district field house off Humboldt Avenue, I was the only car in the lot.

I had only been here once before in the summer, and I didn't really notice the cattail marsh south of the field house. I walked down it on the west side, and saw American Crows, Rock Doves and the ever present European Starlings. But I wasn't looking for these; I wanted to see something I had not yet seen. Finches and Sparrows were what I had in mind. As soon as I got to the end of marsh on the south end, I found what I was looking for, a group of 15-20 American Tree Sparrows. It took awhile to ID them, as they were so skittish and difficult to see in the tall grasses and cattails. But with some patience, eventually several came out on the nearby trees and let me get a clear look at their dual colored beaks, rufous caps, gray head and that dark central spot just below the breast. Seeing them made me feel good about the ID I made of these for the first time Friday at Rolling Savanna in the rain.

Around the bend as I headed north on the east side of the marsh, I immediately noticed a small group of 5-8 Dark-eyed Juncos in a tree right next to the path. Despite the cold, they seemed happy to chatter away in the wind. Other juncos I have seen seemed very skittish; these birds could care less about my presence.

That was it on the marsh side of the park, so I walked under the pedestrian underpass to the lagoon on the east side of the park. As soon as I got under Humboldt Avenue, there were Mallards and Canada Geese to welcome me to the lagoon. But it was a small group of sparrows that flew from the south side to the north side of the inlet to the marsh I was most interested in. From the other side of the water inlet I could see a little yellow between the eye and beak on the supraloral. What sparrow could it be?

I took a look in my Sibley's and learned they were probably WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS (photo Cheryl Johnson). A new sparrow so I was on my way across the bridge to see if I could get a closer look. I did. Clean gray breast, stark white eyebrow, that distinct yellow mark between the eye and dark bill. I would say they were most likely white-stripped adults. There were 10-14 of them in a hedge right at the mouth of the inlet and they let me move close enough to watch them for 10 minutes or so. I would later learn watching a short video online using my subscription at the BNA website (http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/BNA/) that the scratching and digging they were doing was exactly like the birds I watched. It was like they had a video of what I watched. So even though this was my first time IDing them in the field, I was sure I had bird number 56 for the year, #24 for Chicago.

After watching this group I took off to see what else I could find, but besides Ring-billed and Herring Gulls, nothing new. I was cold and tired and hungry, time to go home and call it a morning. I found a new bird all on my own and that is hard for a rookie like me. I had found a lovely little bird:

#56 WHITE-THROATED SPARROW

Herring Gull at Montrose

Montrose Harbor
Chicago on the Lakefront at Montrose

Saturday, January 21st, 2006, 11am

After running today, I decided to take a quick look and see what was around North Pond, Belmont Harbor and then stop quickly at Montrose Harbor. My first two stops netted me Canada Geese, Mallard Duck, Red-breasted Merganser, Ring-billed Gull, House Sparrow, Rock Dove, Hooded Merganser, American Crow, and European Starlings.

When I got to Montrose I immediately heard a Blacked-capped Chickadee near the golf course, and though I did not find it, I also didn't look very hard. I also noticed, now that I was trying to pay attention to gulls ahead of Gull Frolic that would take place in a few weeks at Winthrop Harbor thanks to IOS (Illinois Ornithological Society), a pack of gulls on the ice and on the docks in the harbor. Ring-billed Gulls everywhere, but there was one, no, two, three, four, maybe 9 much larger gulls now that I paid attention and LOOKED. They had to be HERRING GULLS (photo Andy Vidler), and a quick look at my Sibley's confirmed that they were.

I spent most of my time looking at one close Herring Gull adult that showed classic nonbreeding winter plumage. There were three juveniles too, but I didn't have the confidence, or patience, to try and learn what they were. That was fine; I had my second gull of the year, bird number #27 for the year, and #19 for Chicago. And it was just too cold to stay any longer; I was hungry after my run. Nothing else caught my eye, so back to the car I went. On my way, right above my car was an American Robin singing tentatively in the cold wind. It was Chicago bird #20. It was a nice cheery sign that winter doesn't last forever. It put a smile on my face along with my new gull:

#27 HERRING GULL

Three woodpecker day at Indian Road Woods

Indian Road Woods, Chicago, Illinois
East of Central Avenue north of Elston south of the Chicago River

Thursday, February 19, 2006, 315-4pm

I had to run an errand up near the Edgebrook Golf Course so I decided to cross the river and check out the Forest Preserve area on the other side of Central from Edgebrook; Indian Road Woods.

I drove all the way into the main lot, and parked. I got out of the car, and the first thing I heard was the distinctive screech of a Red-tailed Hawk. I would learn that their is a pair of them at the Edgebrook Golf Course from another birder I would meet who was walking up the path as I was walking down it. She also pointed out to me that this area and LaBaugh Woods were great places for warblers in the spring.

I walked down to the Chicago River and just listened. Northern Cardinals singing and woodpeckers rapping. But what kinds of woodpeckers? It didn't take long to find a pair of Downy's. I had never heard them calling or making their contact calls before, but in this old growth mess the seemed happily flitting and calling about. Learning to hear that call would help me know this bird was around in future trips to the field.

What else? It was only a matter of minutes before I got a real treat, a Downy and a HAIRY WOODPECKER (male photo Robert Houde) next to each other on a branch close enough that I could clearly see the difference in the size of the birds and their beaks. Once you see their bills side by side, just once, it is a whole lot easier to identify either in the field when you see them individually. Their bills are very distinctive once you have seen both. Before my time was done, I had spotted both the male with the red mark on his head, and the female without it. I felt pleased to have had this happy coincidence to see the two species together, and to see both the male and female Hairy Woodpeckers. I got bird #25 for the year and #17 for Chicago.

I had to get back to the office, but I had to look from the top of the parking lot just one more time before I headed home. Another Downy, a pair of Hairys, and then a shock of red on the head of something else. A Northern Cardinal? No, ladder back black barring, woodpecker shape and movements, a new bird. A RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER (photo Andrew Shive) just sat there for me to watch for another 5 minutes or so. And while I was watching him a Hairy flew right up next to it, about a foot away, and it was like they were just giving me a size comparison of the two species for future reference. It was bird #26 for my list, and #18 for Chicago.

A Dark-eyed Junco gave me a hello right before I got back into the car, then was on my way back to the office with two new woodpeckers:

#25 HAIRY WOODPECKER male & female
#26 RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER male

My "Big Day" on the lakefront, HA!!!

North Pond, Chicago, Illinois
North of Fullerton between Cannon & Stockton Drives

Belmont Harbor, Chicago, Illinois
Chicago lakefront between Belmont and Addison

Monday, January 16th, Martin Luther King Day, 2006, 10-1130am

I had to take the kids and myself to get flu shots first thing this morning, they were great. Once we got back, I decided it was a nice day for birding and that I would go out to treat myself to a little Jeff time on this federal holiday honoring Mr King.

Where to go? I decided to check out North Pond just north of Chicago's free Lincoln Park Zoo. I had never really looked there carefully even though I have parked right next to it hundreds of times as it is where my running partners often start our Saturday and Sunday runs.

I got there and as I was walking up toward the pond, I heard some Black-capped Chickadees, which would be a new Chicago bird for me. But before I could even think to look for them, I saw a hawk move from one tree to another by the pond. He stayed low down in a large tree near a box that had something to do with the pond's water circulation system so it wouldn't completely freeze over in the winter.

I got within 50 or so feet of him and just began studying him. I had no idea. None. I had never tried to ID a hawk or raptor of any kind ever before, except for a Bald Eagle, and I had no idea where to start. Its back was a lot like a Northern Goshawk juvenile, and it had a faint but distinct lighter stripe above the eye, the eyes were yellowish brown, its beak was yellow with a black tip, the folded wing tips did not reach the end of the banded tail feathers. I watched him, he watched me. I looked in my Sibley's, he looked over the pond. He was faced away from me, so I couldn't see his breast or belly area.

After 20 minutes of this, which was frankly very exciting for a rookie urban birder, the hawk took flight to go a few trees down. That is when I noticed distinct rufous or redish shoulders, and I decided RED-SHOULDERED HAWK (photo Raul Quinones). A minute or two after landing there, he jumped up and moved high into the sky as he started flying south toward the Lincoln Park Zoo. His undersides were orange and barred as best as I could tell. I may never know if this was a Red-shouldered Hawk, how do you ever really know until you have seen something in the field several times and had it confirmed with or by someone else? But for now, I was counting it as life bird #21, Chicago bird #9. If I learned later that this wasn't what I thought, I would have to painstakingly readjust my records.

After it left, I found my Black-capped Chickadees right away, they became bird #10 for Chicago. Then right next to the edge of a pond was a group of Mallard Ducks, but one of the females was a uniform washed out creamy brown color. A hybrid of some sort? Albino? I would learn the coming Sunday from some birders who helped me spot a similar Mallard at North Point Marina, that this was called a leucistic bird, and the condition was known as leucism. It was not rare, but was definitely unusual for Mallard females. I don't know if this is true or not, but I have only been birding for 22 days, and I have now seen two leucistic Mallard females (photo Jeff Skrentny).

Next, I walked to the south end of the pond where there was separate open area of water, and besides a few gulls, Mallards and Canada Geese, there were three ducks hanging out on the far side of the pond. The two had dark heads with white on them, one had his head round with a large white comma on the whole back of the head. The second had a flat head with a white swipe going to the back of his head where he had a crest that almost looked like a punk haircut. Both had black backs, brown rufous sides that looked finely barred, and all three had really narrow bills. HOODED MERGANSERS (photo Paul Wiesike), two males, one displaying his crest, and a female; bird #22, #11 for Chicago.

There were also Herring and Ring-billed Gulls, as well as three large white domestic Mallard Ducks. At least I think they were Mallards by the company they kept. I needed to warm up, so off to the car I went, three new birds here, off to Belmont to see what I could see there.

Once I got to Belmont, I immediately saw a gray bodied brown headed duck with a distinct yellow eye. It was very skittish, but easily enough to identify, a COMMON GOLDENEYE (photo Chuck Roberts). As I walked up the harbor, I also saw several completely different looking ducks with a notable white spot right before the beak below the eye. This, I would learn, was the male Common Goldeneye. Sure they may be common, I would come to learn with more trips into the field, but today they were new for me, birds #23 and Chicago bird #13.

It was getting cold for me, and I had to get some hours in on my desk. But before I left there was one more new bird. It had a black head with a punk feathered crest, a shockingly thin red bill, a dark breast, black back and gray flank and it was very low in the water. There was a differently colored bird that was similarly shaped, must be the female of these RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS, bird #24 for the year and #14 for Chicago.

I took a quick hike up to see the Mute Swans in the harbor, and on the way I saw a Northern Cardinal, several American Crows, some House Sparrows, Rock Doves, and an unexpected male Downy Woodpecker. It was a good morning of birding, a 17 species day with four new species:

#21 RED-SHOULDERED HAWK
#22 HOODED MERGANSER male & female
#23 COMMON GOLDENEYE male & female
#24 RED-BREASTED MERGANSER male & female

Our visit to Prairie Crossing near Crystal Lake to see the Kauck's

Prairie Crossing, Grayslake, Illinois
my friend John & Carrie's house on the north side of Prairie Crossing

Sunday, January 15, 2006, 10-11am

John and Carrie use to live near us in Wrigleyville, but they had since moved to Prairie Crossing near Grayslake almost at the Wisconsin border 45 miles from Chicago's north side. We couldn't just have brunch with them now like we use to. Families made visiting even more infrequent. That John and I loved beer and single malt scotch, sometimes in quantities, made visits an overnight occasion because nobody wanted to drive after that kind of fun.

They had been asking us to come up and visit them and stay the night over the last half year, but, because of the above, we just never made the time. Finally, in early December we finally made plans to visit them in Prairie Crossing on the afternoon of the 14th, and spend the night visiting with our families. It was a great night of beer, billiards, and socializing, as it always is.

Yes, it was a late night, and yes, three kids meant we got up earlier that all of us would have liked. Once we finally had them fed and began working on our breakfast, I grabbed their bins and checked out what I could see at their feeder in the back yard. It wasn't real active, but right off the bat I spotted a dark sparrow sized bird with a light underside. I had no idea what it was, but Carrie did, it was a DARK-EYED JUNCO (photo by Muskrat) and once I started looking, they were everywhere. They would become life bird #18 and Illinois bird #9.

Right after that I found the unmistakable male HOUSE FINCH (photo Robert Houde). I had these at my feeders in the city, and I knew they were not Purple Finches because there whole head wasn't red, and this finch has streaked flanks. The females (photo by Hap) had a plain head without the whiteish eyebrow of the Purple Finch. Yes, I had seen them many times before in my life, but since I started counting, they became birds #19 and Illinois bird #10.

A bit later in the morning John said there is the DOWNY WOODPECKER (photo Mary Claypool) at the feeder, and I had bird #20 or the year, Illinois bird #11. Of course I didn't know it was a Downy, and in Sibleys the Downy and the Hairy both look a lot alike to me. Then I read the description, noticed the bit about the bills, and this one definitely had a smallish bill. What about the small dark bars on the white tail feathers? Yes, they were there too. John was right, it was a Downy Woodpecker, and the red mark on the back of the head meant this was the male.

We had a great visit, and despite John having told me that they had a Bald Eagle at Lake Leopold last year, and a Great Horned Owl in the neighborhood on a regular basis, the best I could do was these three common birds. That was good enough for this wonderful visit with friends we don't see as often as I wish we could, and I had three new birds:

#18 DARK-EYED JUNCO male
#19 HOUSE FINCH male & female
#20 DOWNY WOODPECKER male

Mute Swan at Belmont Harbor on Saturday run

North end of Belmont Harbor
Chicago on the Lakefront between Belmont and Addison

January 14th, 2006, 1145am

This morning's run didn't start out so well. My heart periodically beats irregularly, and occasionally it doesn't make my Saturday run so comfortable. Rarely, I can't finish a run I begin. Today my heart was just a bit off, and I had to ask Mike and Ed if we could take a walking break after both the first and second mile of our run. Not typical.

We began our run to the south and were now at the 6.5 mile marker just north of the Drake Hotel at the North Avenue Beach. I told the two of them to take off and run to the 7.5 mile marker where we had planned to turn around, and I would hope that my heart would get back to normal with a little rest so that I could resume our planned 15 mile run together when they caught back up with me going north.

I walked briskly to the 7 mile marker, and it was there that I saw three ducks that I had noticed the week before. White sides, dark head, I would imagine they were Greater or Lesser Scaups. Probably Greater Scaups, but no field glasses and I couldn't positively make this ID.

Mike and Ed caught up with me where I let them go at the 6.5 mile marker, and my heart was finally beating regularly. From this point on I had a great run.

At Belmont Harbor on the way final stretch south to end our run, I saw the MUTE SWANS (photos Jeff Skrentny) that I have seen in the harbor the last two years, and this year they were with a juvenile. Of course the last two years I didn't know that you ID a Mute Swan by its bright orange bill, both the Tundra and Trumpeter Swans have black bills. I also didn't know that like House Sparrows & European Starlings, these impressive birds, too, are European imports. Makes such an impressive bird feel like a cheap ID once you know that. But for me it would be bird #17 for the year, and for my official life list.

Additionally, again, I noticed several other ducks that were not ducks I could identify. If only I could stop and identify them I would have some wonderful new birds on my life list. But I wanted to finish my run first, and Mike wasn't stopping for any birds anyway, so to the car we went. Once there I wasn't doing anything except going home to get the family ready for an overnight trip to Prairie Crossing near Grayslake to see our friends the Kaucks. Hopefully it would offer some birding opportunities as this is a great natural area 45 miles north of here, and with some luck those ducks would still be there Monday for my run, after which I would take a walk to do some real birding.

So today I got the Mute Swan, an impressive bird for bird #17, but I was more thrilled I knew how to tell it from the Trumpeter Swan, and I couldn't wait to get some new ducks on Monday when I would bring a change of clothes so I could walk the lakefront looking for new birds. Plus there were the birds that we'd see at the Kauck’s in Prairie Crossing this afternoon, I hoped. But for today, my new bird was the:

#17 MUTE SWAN w/juvenile

Mourning Dove at Edgebrook Golf Course

Edgebrook Golf Course, Chicago, Illinois
East of Central, south of Devon, entrance just north of Chicago River

Wednesday, January 11th, 2006, 430pm

Tonight I was doing an errand that took me near the Edgebrook Golf Course parking lot on Chicago's northwest side, and I always go in if I have time when I am driving past to see if I can spot the large 14 point white-tailed deer buck and his group of does that I regularly see there.

There were no deer tonight. Everytime I seem them it amazes me that a group of more than 10 white-tailed deer can be right here in the city, so close to all that is so urban, including a buck that is so impressive. In Wisconsin, where I grew up, a buck that impressive would be a much sought after prize for the hunters I grew up with.

Tonight, all I would see was my first MOURNING DOVE (photo Matt Fletcher), bird #16 of the year, and bird #6 for Illinois. It is easy to spot Mourning Doves here, as there is nothing else quite like them. Not so in the south, but here, even seeing one in a tree top, and then watching it fly to the ground at a distance without field glasses is an easy ID. Besides, I know I will see them again in my yard on the ground below my feeders. Beside my European House Sparrows, they are my most regular visitors. Hey, at least I don't have Pigeons...at least not yet. My latest bird:

#16 MOURNING DOVE

The backyard Cardinals

4100 block of north Monticello, Chicago, Illinois
Monticello & Berteau streets

Monday, January 9th, 2006, 3pm

Finally got around to filling the backyard and front porch bird feeders this morning, and when I checked to see who was eating the seed, I saw the hordes of European House Sparrows that always eat my feed, AND much to my delight, saw two NORTHERN CARDINALS, a female (photo Jose Navarette), note bright red bill and distinct red on wing feathers, and I believe a juvenile male, eating what the sparrows had knocked to the ground in the backyard. They would be birds #15 for the year, and Chicago bird #5.

We have had a family of Northern Cardinals in our neighborhood since we moved into our house here on Monticello on Chicago's northwest side, but to see them now that I was a birder seemed like an especially nice welcome back to the city. I believe one was a male because his feathers had more red tint to the feathers, I would guess the other was a female. Correctly, I guessed I would see more of their group in the coming days...I did. It is always such a thrill to see such brightly colored birds, even though I can't stand the MLB team that takes their name.

Nine days into my new avocation as a birder, I added two more Illinois birds to my Illinois list, and one new bird to my to my life list:

#15 NORTHERN CARDINAL female & juvenile male?

PS...does anyone know what kind of feed a backyard bird feeder like I can use that will keep the sparrows away and attract birds I would be more interested in seeing eat at my feeders on a daily basis?

My first lakefront run as a birder

Running path beginning at Diversey, Chicago, Illinois
Chicago at the lakefront starting Diversey

January 8th, 2006, 815-10am

Back in Chicago, and because I didn't do my normal lakefront run yesterday as I was out very late Friday night, I was out on the lakefront this morning with Mike, my running partner, for a 6 mile run.

We do many of our runs here in Chicago on the unbelievable 18 mile Chicago Park District running path along our beautiful lakefront. This may be the best running path of any major city anywhere in the US, especially after you factor in the bathrooms, half mile markers, available water on the whole path, and, of course, wonderful urban views of our beautiful city. Typically we start just north of the path 4.5 mile marker at the year round water trough that the Chicago Area Runners Association (CARA) recently rebuilt for us runners at the site of an old horse trough watering hole that horse and buggy riders used to water their horses. Don't see those on the path any longer, we runner "Clydesdales" like myself are the only horses using the trough now.

The lakefront path we use begins at the Diversey Harbor Lagoon, and to the north goes past the Belmont Harbor, the Montrose Harbor and two lakefront migrating bird sanctuaries. The birding opportunities are extensive. Recently, I read that over 250 birds either spend part of their year or migrate through the greater Chicagoland area every year. Did I know that?

Anyway, as it was my first opportunity to run on the lakefront path since I began my 2006 birding quest, I was jazzed to see what I could see. I wasn't sure I would be able to ID much, but it would give me some ideas on what to spend more time exploring at a later date.

Exploring at a later date would definitely be the plan...all I positively IDed today was European Starlings and the omnipresent Canada Goose. But I did notice a number of ducks I didn't recognize in the Belmont Harbor, gulls everywhere, and I couldn't wait to get back to explore Belmont Harbor more thoroughly. Including the Rock Doves (Feral Pigeons) I saw at Kimball & Irving Park on the way to the lakefront this morning, I had three additions to my Illinois life birding list: Rock Dove (Feral Pigeon), European Starling, Canada Goose.

One last Colorado bird to say goodbye

Conoco Gas Station on Pena Boulevard, Denver, Colorado
near Denver International Airport

January 5th, 2006, 11am

I thought my birding was done for our Colorado trip, but I got one last easy ID when we stopped to fill up the rental car with gas at the Conoco on Pena Drive at DIA. Flitting about as only they do in such concrete urban places, I saw a host of HOUSE SPARROWS, doing what they do best, eating garbage and scraps of dropped food left by those of us in a rush to fly home. Can't miss the male (photo David Roach) black throat, rufous nape and that white wing bar. Or the females with them, especially with that yellow eye stripe. Another boring bird, but it was #14 for the year.

My expectations had been so much greater, 5 days in Colorado, surely I could do better than 14 birds. But I didn't. And then when I stopped to consider what birds I had positively IDed, they were the birds I grew up with...American Robin, Rock Dove, House Sparrow, Black-capped Chickadee, European Starling, Mallard Duck, Canada Goose, American Crow and the Ring-billed Gull. How pathetic.

At least I was able to spot that Bald Eagle to start my birding career on January 1st, and see the Black-billed Magpie, Stellar's Jay and the Rockie Mountain variety of the Gray Jay. Those were nice finds for a rookie birder like me. But now the Colorado trip was over, and my birding skills were going to have to be honed in Chicago for the next few months. At least there I will have my field glasses by my side!!!

#14 HOUSE SPARROW male & female

Boulder birds near Frasier Meadows

Thunderbird Lake & East Boulder Community Park, Boulder, Colorado
Near Frasier Meadows on Boulder's East side

Wednesday, January 4th, 2006, 10am-3pm

The weather never cleared up yesterday, and eventually we simply had to bite the bullet and hit the road to Boulder for the last part of our visit in Colorado. We would finish it by spending two nights seeing Lynne's mom and Anna Grace's Grandma Jean. The drive from Frisco to Boulder was a pain until we got off of I-70 just east of Idaho Springs where Hwy 6 winds its way into Golden. The snow stopped by the time we got on Hwy 6, but it was windy. In Golden we would catch Hwy 93 to Boulder. It was windy in the canyon down to Golden, but on the plateau from Golden to Boulder it was so wind that day that we saw a semi-truck & trailer blown onto it's side, and a large livestock trailer blown off the pickup truck that was towing, clear across to the other side of the road. Driving the car was like riding a bucking bull.

Despite the wind and snow from Frisco to Idaho Springs, we arrived safely and enjoyed one last Christmas celebration with Lynne's mom Jean, brother Woody, Anna Grace & Robert. Of course, before last night was over, Anna Grace and I took the walk to the small aviary that Frasier Meadows has, and said hello and good night to the 15-20 birds that were kept there for the residents.

After sleeping in late, again, we decided to start our day with a walk from where Jean lived at Frasier Meadows to the park that Anna Grace loved so much near the East Boulder Community Center. Robert, Woody and I were ready a bit ahead of everyone else, so we walked across the road from Frasier Meadows to a small pond there called Thunderbird Lake to see what water foul might be there. Just Mallard Ducks and Canada Geese. The only new find there was the lowly EUROPEAN STARLING (photo Matt Fletcher), bird #10 for the year.

Once Anna Grace, Lynne & Jean got down to join us, we walked from Frasier Meadows across the Hwy 157 pedestrian overpass on Sioux Drive. Once across, we walked to the East Boulder Community Park where AG got to play, and Robert and I would see what birds we could find on the two ponds there. Only Canada Geese, and one duck that I couldn't see well enough to identify as it was on the far side of the pond, and I forgot my glasses. So we walked around to the east side of the building, and knocked off bird #11, the ubiquitous ROCK DOVE (photo Roland Ripoll), or Feral Pigeon, a group of which were on the building's roof. We saw the Natural and Brown adults on the roof.

This was a disappointing birding walk thus far, so I hoped that crossing 55th street to the nature path there would be better birding. Didn't hear much, didn't see much, so we began walking back to meet up with everyone else. On the way back I finally heard some birds, and then saw them in the reeds next to a small pond/marsh area on the east side of 55th street just north of the path. They were sparrows of some kind, and once again, not having my field glasses with me would keep me from a positive ID. I feel they were Song Sparrow's, but without glasses, and without knowing their call, I will have to go back to ID them another day.

By this time Lynne called to see where I was, so we caught up with them and began the walk back. Woody finally spotted the magpies I had hoped to see while I was in Colorado, but again, no glasses, and no positive ID to see that they did indeed have the black bills I expected them to have. In addition to the magpies, I saw a graw jay-like bird about the size of a Northern Cardinal that had a crest and a black necklace. Once again, not having my field glasses cost me a chance to identify another bird.

As we crossed the Hwy 157 pedestrian overpass to head back to Frasier Meadows, I was able to identify one more easy bird, right to the left of the overpass was a pale adult AMERICAN ROBIN sitting in a branch in it's ever so dignified manor welcoming us back to Frasier Meadows. Bird #12 for the year.

After our walk, the day progressed lazily. I was anxious to go attempt more birding. Eventually, Jean and Woody joined me in a drive up to NCAR, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, I had hoped to walk on the trails their might allow me to see a few more birds. So we drove up Table Mesa Drive to its end at NCAR. As we walked from the car to the NCAR building, I saw a few LBTs (little brown things), but didn't see anything long enough to even get my glasses up to my eyes. But the trip was not a loss, because once we got to the trail on the west of the building Woody immediately spotted a BLACK-BILLED MAGPIE (photo Chuck Roberts) that I was able to ID...I got my magpie, it was bird #13 for the year.

Right after that I spotted another American Robin, and then sharp eyed Woody noticed a grey bird right behind the robin. I watched it in the glasses for 10 minutes...I guess it was a Townsend's Solitaire. Bit smaller than the robin, gray overall, it was facing directly at me, white eye ring, black eye & small black bill. But I couldn't see it's wings, and though it was in a juniper tree on a steep dirt bank and it was perching inconspicuously enough, to quote the Sibley's description. I gave up after 10 minutes, it wasn't going to move for me, and well, maybe I just wasn't birder enough to wait this Townsend's Solitaire out.

The phone rang right after I caught up with Jean & Woody, Lynne needed help with Robert who wouldn't nap, so off we went to get him for adventures of a different sort...shopping on the Pearl Street Mall. It was hardly a great bird day, four easy birds:

#10 EUROPEAN STARLING winter plumage
#11 ROCK DOVE (Feral Pigeon) natural & brown adult
#12 AMERICAN ROBIN
#13 BLACK-BILLED MAGPIE

Birds between intense snow showers

Temple Trail, Frisco, Colorado
South side of Frisco, behind Mountain Side Condos at the end of 5th street

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2006, 11am

This morning was no early riser either. But the budding birder in me didn't feel any loss today because when we awoke, we awoke to an intense snow with wildly blowing winds. It was unlikely any birds would be out in weather like this.

After a very late breakfast, the sun finally popped its head out, and though it was still rather windy, we really wanted to take the kids out in the snow for a ride on the sled on the Temple Trail just behind the Mountain Side Condos where we were staying on the south side of Frisco, Colorado, with our friends Rob & Liz.

We bundled up the kids in their winter wear, Robert in a snowsuit that made movement for him impossible, we grabbed the sled and headed for the trail. To get to the Temple Trail, which runs between Breckenridge and Vail (at least...my group ran the Colorado Relay Race on parts of it in September of 2002), we simply had to go out the building, cross the field and the creek to the west of the building, and start heading north on the trail.

As soon as we rounded the building and set eyes on the field, I immediately heard a half a dozen different birds loudly going about their late morning routines now that the wind and snow had let up. As a rookie birder I didn't have the skills to recognize all of them, but I immediately knew one of the annoying loud squawks was a Steller's Jay. Now to just find it. It didn't take long, it flew into a small tree 30 feet away, and well, if you have ever seen a STELLAR'S JAY (photo Tyler Allred), it is hard to confuse its dark or pale blue body and blackish head with that unforgettable crest. It was bird #8 for the year. Now the family wanted to go sledding and didn't care.

So we got moving again, and once we were half way across the field through the extensive 5-8 foot brush, I HAD to stop to see if I could identify the back headed birds hurriedly zipping about in the brush. One finally sat still enough for me to see that it looked like a BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE (photo Matt Fletcher). But then it whistled the distinctive fee-beeeee call and I knew I had my bird, #9 for the year. By this time I had my guide book open, and I noticed that I had to make sure I didn't have myself a Mountain Chickadee instead. For my field observations, for me it came down to the white edged wing feathers and no obvious white eye brow which the Mountain Chickadee has.

I finally satisfied myself that it was my 9th bird of the year once I logged onto the BNA Online site (http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/BNA/) and heard the distinctive fee-bee whistle again there. It sounds nothing like the Mountain Chickadee's call, despite what the guide book might say. After going to the site and listening to the calls online there, I also realized that I was hearing at least one other Black-capped Chickadee making the chick-a-dee-dee call that I thought was another bird. Of course now that I am back in Chicago where I periodically see Black-capped Chickadees in my back yard, I wish I had seen the Mountain Chickadee instead, but it was what it was.

At this point, field guide in hand with an impatient wife and family, I packed up the guide, put on the gloves and we headed to the trail. There we found a small incline to see if Anna Grace was game for going down a hill, and she was. After 3 or 4 short runs down the hill, Lynne asked her if she wanted to go down a bigger hill. She did. The big sledding hill was just across another field, and away we went. On the way I was hearing birds everywhere, the sun was out and so were they. My plan was to get us to the hill and see what I could ID. Problem is the weather changed quicker than we could say Ivory-billed Woodpecker. In an instant it was snowing, the wind was whipping snow in our face and it hurt. We were back in the condo in 20 minutes and didn't see any more birds today, but for today we added two more birds and saw birds 8 & 9:

#8 STELLER'S JAY
#9 BLACKED-CAPPED CHICKADEE

Lynne saves the day, we find Gray Jays

Hoosier Pass Pullover
Colorado, Hwy 9 south of Breckenridge at 11,000+ft

January 2nd, 2006, 3pm

I am not sure that most serious birders would have slept in as late as I did this morning with so many new birds to discover and ID, but we were on vacation and it was our goal to do little and enjoy some time together as a family while we were in Colorado. Our day got off to a slow start, but we did make one nice bird find before our day was done.

After we finished up at the Cherry Creek State Park yesterday, Lynne and I drove with our family from the south side of Denver where it was 55 degrees and sunny at 430pm, to Frisco Colorado, via I-70 and the Eisenhower Pass, 83 miles away, where it was cold, snowing and just under 20 degrees 85 minutes later. That's Colorado.

Once Lynne and I got the family moving the next morning, we wanted to drive past "our mountain," Mt Quandry, on the south side of Breckenridge, to see the place where we shared our nuptials 4 years earlier in September, and then drive up to Hoosier Pass to look at some of the four 14ers of the Mosquito Range that we had hiked to the top of in the past; Mt Lincoln, Bross, Democrat & Sherman.

While we were parked at the pull over at the top of the pass, I noticed a jay like bird flitting about on the other side of some park cars. I immediately grabbed my western field guide and turned to the section on jays. But I couldn't seem to find the birds we were looking at, an unbashful group that had no problem gliding right up to the side of our car. They were about the size of a Blue Jay or Stellar's Jay, but were light grayish white overall, with a mostly gray/white head, dark eyes and short dark bill. These birds did have a slightly darker gray nape, and I thought they might be GRAY JAYS (photos Jeff Skrentny). But in my field guide, the Gray Jays were darker in color. Yet, they made the right weeeoo whistle, and sailing glide while in flight, but they were just too light compared to the drawings in my Sibley's.

I waited patiently for one of them to get close enough to photograph for later ID while Lynne read the description of the Gray Jay over again. Thankfully she was paying attention and noticed on the bottom right of the guide drawings for the Gray Jay, there was a different head for the Adult Rocky Mountains birds. It was a group of Gray Jays playing about, but they were a slight color variation found only in the Rockies. I had bird number 7 for the year, the Gray Jay with the Rocky Mountain coloring.

#7 GRAY JAY Rocky Mountains coloring

The first trip into the field

Cherry Creek State Park and Cherry Creek Lake, Denver, Colorado
Several locations on south and east sides of lake

January 1st, 2006...230-430pm

Once I woke up on New Year’s Day, Carmen told me about my correctly identifying the owl hooting in his yard earlier that morning, and we began talking birds. Turns out he just got himself a Peterson’s Field Guide so he could begin birding too. We both felt that our once robust hikes up Colorado 14ers would be put on hold for a bit as we each now had young families; he a boy that was 3 and a daughter that was 11 months, Lynne & I had Anna Grace at 2 & ¾ years, Robert at 6 months. Both of us felt short hikes, or drives to bird viewing areas might be more likely, for now, than long hikes or climbs up mountain slopes as we did together just a few years earlier.

As we compared notes, and took stock of the day that was unfolding, he suggested we take a short drive down to the Cherry Creek State Park and Reservoir that was less than a mile away. Everybody agreed it would be great to soak up some Colorado sun and take a short hike on this 50 degree New Year’s Day, so we left for the park after lunch.

The day got off to a quick birding start. On the drive over we saw a Great Horned Owl in a tree just inside the park near the West Entrance for the park, but as it was a bird Carmen already had, he didn’t stop the car for a true identification. That darn owl got away from me twice in one day. Why do I guess that this is going to happen many more times in my birding adventures with birds a lot more difficult to find. I gently chewed Carmen out about not stopping once he got us down to the Cottonwood Creek bird viewing area, where he was taking us in hopes to see some water foul on the reservoir. He laughed and asked if I wanted to drive back. I said no, and we hit the trail with families in tow.

We walked into the Cottonwood Creek area, and everywhere we looked we could see bird nests as we worked our way down to the water’s edge. I told Carmen this was going to be a great place to ID birds once migration and mating season arrived. He couldn’t have been more pleased. But today in the Cottonwood Creek area it was windy and nothing was to be seen or even heard. So Carmen suggested we go to the bird viewing area down by the water’s edge about a football field from where we were.

Once we got down to this viewing area I immediately spotted a large bird flying to the northwest from the wetlands preserve in the park that were just to our east. Holy shit, it was a BALD EAGLE. You can’t miss that large dark body, large white head and stark white tail. Of course I had seen many Bald Eagles through the years, especially on my two trips to Alaska, but here was my first 100% verifiable ID of my first bird as a birder: A Bald Eagle.
Carmen and I were thrilled.

Maybe it is because I am a big city boy who seldom sees such things in the city, or maybe it is because I grew up in small town middle America where my parents taught me great respect for such wonders, but I must say it never bores me and always thrills me to see a Bald Eagle in the wild. We watched it fly/soar casually to the center of the reservoir to some open water where it glided to a landing on the ice. Later we learned from others in the park that several other Bald Eagles were also seen there that afternoon. We only saw the one, that was wonder enough.

After seeing the Bald Eagle, we saw that the reservoir was frozen solid on the south side where we were, and Carmen decided we should head to the north east side of the reservoir at Dixon Grove. On our drive over we stopped to see a hawk or raptor of some kind flying on the edge of the wetlands preserve near the park office. Even though we stopped, neither of us was skilled enough to make an identification.

Upon reaching Dixon Grove, we saw quite quickly what our birding for the balance of our day together would be; CANADA GEESE (photo Steve Plant), gulls and crows. Okay, these were not the kinds of birding IDs I have ever read anything about in any of the bird books I have read thus far, but even the great Sandy Komito needed to ID these common birds on his way to 745 birds in his incredible Big Year of 1998.

I never knew how hard gulls were to identify. I never knew how many types of gulls there were. But after some quick work together with our guide books the obvious ID was the RING-BILLED GULL (photo Keith Matts). We settled on this ID because of the four small but distinct white spots on the primaries when the gull was standing, the yellow legs, the dark ring on the yellow bill, and the white tips to on the top and bottoms of the black wing tips when the gull was in flight. Plus it was the only gull likely to be found in the Denver area this time of year. They weren’t shy either, so we got a number of real good looks at these gulls, there were dozens, maybe even two hundred or more of them in this lagoon area.

The 3rd bird ID of the New Year was the AMERICAN CROW (photo Peter Vercruijsse). Again there were several dozen of them right in the area, the caaw was unmistakable, the tail feathers were short and rounded, and the flight was strong and direct. I have seen enough American Crows in my life to know them from the larger Common Ravens. Our 4th ID for the day was any one of the hundreds of Canada Geese I have grown up seeing since my first trip to Horicon Marsh in the late sixties (see first blog entry). On our way back to the car from the beach, I spotted the orange underwing and gray head of a NORTHERN FLICKER (photo Chuck Roberts) in flight. As it turned in its rapid flight I could see its brown back with the bold narrow black bands on its back and upper wings along with its bright white rump. Being familiar with the bird made it an easy ID for bird number 5 of the day.

Finally, as we were driving back around the park to the west entrance, we made a quick stop at a pond to the east of the model plane airfield. There were a number of duck species there, but my 6 month old son Robert began acting up and we needed to hit the road to Summit County to meet our friends Liz & Rob whose condo we were going to stay at in Frisco. I was only able to positively ID a male MALLARD DUCK (photo Paul Vallender) for my 6th bird of the day on my first day of birding. Nothing fancy, but hard to miss the dark green sheen of its head, the white neck ring, and the brown breast. And so day one as a birder concluded with six positive bird IDs of:

#1 BALD EAGLE
#2 RING-BILLED GULL
#3 AMERICAN CROW
#4 CANADA GOOSE
#5 NORTHERN FLICKER
#6 MALLARD DUCK male

Not Al Levantin’s 45 from his 1998 "Big Year" January 1st, but I am not him, nor do I ever expect to be, but I sure appreciated how his story has motivated me to learn more about how to be a birder.

My first bird?

Englewood, Colorado
Denver's south side near Cherry Creek Lake and Cherry Creek State Park

Sunday, January 1st, 2006, 10am

Lynne & I flew to Colorado on New Years Eve for a 5 day visit to Denver, Summit County and Boulder to see friends and family. We had a quiet New Years Eve at Lynne's friends Jeanine and Carmen. That night we stayed in their guest room, and at 530am I awoke to a squirming daughter. She was restless, and it woke me up. Little did I know her waking me up would allow me to identify my first bird as a birder.

As I lie in bed I heard the unmistakable hoot of an owl. It was the unmistakable ho hoo hoo hoododo hooooo hoo of a Great Horned Owl. I heard it distinctly 5 or 6 times. It sounded like it was in Jeanine & Carmen's back yard. When Anna Grace eventually woke up too early, I told her to listen for the hooting of an owl outside. Her focus on this was just what she needed to fall back asleep.

Lynne, Robert and Anna Grace all got up and went downstairs before I did. Anna Grace apparently told her mother that daddy told her to listen to the owl as she tried to fall asleep. Her mom laughed and made some slanderous comment about daddy's new birding quest which host Carmen overheard. He told her that I very well might have heard an owl, as they had a neighborhood Great Horned Owl (photo Carmen Yon) that was regularly spotted on neighbor's roof tops. Lynne couldn't believe it, so Carmen showed her the excellent photos he had taken of the bird, and she could only laugh that I was right.

But as I didn't see the bird, and am only a rookie birder, I can't count this one, at least not yet. I got lucky with this identification. But now I know where I can find at least one Great Horned Owl if I haven't found one before our annual summer trip to Colorado this August. Then I will be prepared to see this owl, instead of just hearing it!

It was just a matter of time before this happened

On a flight from Chicago to Denver with my family

Saturday, December 31st, 2005, 11am

My wife's nickname for me when we were courting back in the mid 1990's was Birdman. Out of my third story condo window in Chicago on the corner of Grace & Freemont, I hung three bird feeders where over the course of a year, I spotted 14 different bird species at my feeders. Eventually my condo association sued me to take them down because of the "mess."

I have watched birds all my life. I continue to watch them today. I have had them as pets several times. I have bird feeders in both our front and backyards. My daughter Anna Grace's first word was "birdz," as I regularly showed her the sparrows, finches and Cardinals that ate at our front porch feeders.

My first recollection of seriously watching birds took place at Horicon Marsh in a November of a year before, or shortly after, my sister Joanne was born in 1967. The water froze early that year, before the height of migration season. The Canada Geese continued to try and land in formation on what they expected to be water. As they hit the ice it was nothing but a tangle of confused and angry wings, feathers, legs, necks and bills. It was one of the most wonderfully riotous natural spectacles I had ever seen.

From that day until now, I would imagine that as active bird watcher I have seen between 150-200 different bird species. I am counting none of them as a birder, I am starting with clean slate as I step into this venture. This may seem silly to some, but really, it is the only way I can build a life list that is accurate and not filled with the inaccuracies of memory.

Collecting has also been a passion of mine ever since my dad and then my grandfather introduced me to coin collecting at age 5 or 6. I collected coins seriously throughout my childhood and into my senior year of high school. I even won some awards for displaying my collection of "error" coins at the 1978 ANA (American Numismatic Association) Annual Show in St Louis. But in college my interest in coin collecting subsided as I had little disposable income to collect new finds. It was then that I discovered the wonderful realm of collecting experiences instead of things. Books read, places and miles hitchhiked, number of different beers consumed, and rock concerts attended. Hey, it was college, it could have been worse.

As I grew older my experiential collections would lead me to trying to see every play in the Shakespeare canon (completed when I saw King John on May 19, 2004, at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre on Navy Pier), attending every Major League Baseball Park (completed in June of 2005 when I saw the Cubs beat the Padres at Petco Park in San Diego...it was my 46th ballpark since I began my quest in 1993), running a marathon in every state (currently at 47 marathons and ultras run in 27 states), and climbing to the top of every Colorado fourteen thousand foot peak (at 14 of 52...this one is going to be hard).

I like diverse and challenging life collections. It was only a matter of time before collecting and bird watching became birding, to use Kenn Kaffman's distinction from the early pages of "Kingbird Highway." I knew I was edging closer to this birding reality after I read "The Big Year" and then took my family to the Jasper-Pulaski Wildlife Area in Indiana to see the annual Sandhill Crane migration. The birders I met were so friendly and inviting and freely shared their passion and scopes despite my lack of any birding knowledge.

Then I read "Grail Bird," and I really wanted to share those birders passion for finding the Ivory Billed Woodpecker. I wanted to be part of that, no matter how peripherally as a rookie birder in Chicago. But once I started reading Kaufman's "Kingbird Highway," and found that Santa had left me "Sibley's 2003 Eastern & Western Field Guides" in my Christmas stocking, I was hooked. I knew that my interest in birds was going to evolve from being just a bird watcher to an active birder. I set the start date for this next quest to begin as January 1st, 2006.

What follows are my experiences as a rookie birder trying to develop the skills and learn how to go to the places that will someday make me a member of the 600 Club...maybe even the 700 Club before it is all over...but by then I hope not to be a rookie birder any more!