A group of 11 Chicago area birders joined me in pursuit of the Kirtland"s Warbler in Grayling, and in exploring birds in Iosco County, Michigan, over Memorial Day weekend. We were joined by Bill Rapai, the author of "The Kirtland's Warbler" for dinner on Sunday and a field trip on Monday. In three days, we saw 130 different species of birds, including Piping Plovers, Ruffed Grouse, nesting Ospreys, American Bittern, and twenty species of warblers. It was great fun with a great group of people.
A group of 20 birders joined me on a tour through Humboldt Park, this morning. The day had started very promising with sighting a CATTLE EGRET near the baseball diamond south of the boat house.
On a sunny but cool (31-45 degrees) and blustery day a hardy group of COS folks led by Jed Hertz braved the elements to find 90 species at the Willow Slough FWA, TNC Kankakee Sands, and parts of Eastern Kankakee Co.
Geoff and Chris Williamson led 25 people including 13 Girl Scouts and kids from Goudy School in Uptown on a nature and bird tour of Montrose on Saturday morning.
The day featured a massive migratory influx of ducks and geese. A truly historic day for the Goose Pond FWA wetland restoration. An almost "perfect storm" of superb wetland food crops, usable water levels for dabbling ducks, and ideal weather conditions probably helped to concentrate the ducks and geese staging at Goose Pond on February 12.
The 64th Lisle Arboretum (ILLA) Christmas Bird Count was held Sunday, 16 Dec 2012. We had what I believe was a record number of participants this year, with over 100 field counters plus several more feeder watchers. We came close to, but fell one species short, of a count record with 86 species reported, and two additional species (so far) were seen during count week. The previous record high count of 87 species was set in 2009.
On Sunday, December 16, 2012 join one of the Chicagoland area’s most active Christmas Bird Counts. More than 75 people volunteer their time on a wintery Sunday to count birds from before dawn until dusk. The long day of counting birds is followed by a great Count Dinner that is free to all count participants as the culmination of the Chicago Ornithological Society’s centennial celebration.
Led by Ethan and Aaron Gyllenhaal, 18 birders helped make Chicago's Columbus Park a bit less underbirded on Sundaymorning. They were rewarded with 54 identified species of birds, plus aparakeet-like bird that was not a Monk Parakeet. This flyover had palesecondaries, was overall smaller than a Monk Parakeet, and had a shorter tail. It looked similar to White-winged Parakeet, and we'll keep an eye out for it onfuture visits to the park.
Seventeen observers attended this joint Chicago Ornithological Society/Evanston North Shore Bird Club sponsored field trip to the Calumet Water Reclamation Plant in southeast Chicago on Sunday morning (19 August 2012). An absolutely gorgeous day for a field trip. Shorebirds were rather cooperative as well - we counted over 300 individual shorebirds of ten species (the vast majority of shorebirds were in Lagoon 17, which was the very last lagoon we visited).
A group of 17 individuals spent most of the morning of August 18, 2012 walking through Jackson Park's Wooded Island, south of the Museum of Science and Industry, and then back up the east side of the lagoon and through Bob-o-link Meadow. We looked for birds, bugs, and anything that moved.
There is still room for more participants for the Emiquon and Chautauqua weekend trip on August 25-26. Please contact Jill Niland to register. We'll plan on visiting Chautauqua and Emiquon National Wildlife Refuges in addition to The Nature Conservancy's Emiquon Preserve also known as Thompson Lake.
COS headed to the former Joliet Arsenal, now the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, to enjoy the prairie life on the property. The group was led led by John Baxter and observed a plethora of dragonflies, butterflies and birds.
Alex Bloss, Sam Burckhardt, Jill Niland, Marcus Roening (from Washington state) and I roamed around a waterlogged Montrose Point for a while, this morning, under the auspices of the Chicago Ornithological Society. The actual walk had few highlights, perhaps the best being an American Redstart.
On another not-so-birdy day, Lisa Hipes led a great group of seven birders at this very pretty preserve. We were able to help a brand new birder, who joined the group toward the end of the trip, find his life male black throated blue warbler, a showy red-breasted grosbeak, a great crested flycatcher, and a very vocal song sparrow.
Geoff Williamson and Jill Niland lead the birding and nature walk at LaBagh Woods on Saturday, May 19. Even though it was very quiet, they found interesting "other-than-bird species." However, Geoff did a great job, as usual, of finding birds by ear.
Three birders braved inclement weather at Humboldt Park on April 28, to learn a bit more about birding by ear. Sam Burckhardt led us in overcast windy 45 degree weather; luckily down pour had just ended. We had 46 species. Despite the weather, we had good views of several warbler species, and a snipe that was very visible on a mowed lawn. Sam adeptly pointed out the songs and calls of a variety of birds.
Twenty-two observers participated in the Lake Calumet Earth Day Birding hike on Sunday morning (22 April 2012). The walk was sponsored by Audubon Chicago Region, Chicago Ornithological Society, Bronzeville Historical Society, and the Illinois International Port District.
