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