It's been a long time since I've written, and I have much to report. I guess I will start with my yard in Normal, IL. On March 17, I heard an Eastern Phoebe calling in my yard on Glenn early in the morning. I went outside to investigate and found the bird in the adjoining city property by the creek.
As I was watching the phoebe, a Red-tailed Hawk flew into the tree beside me. Notice the band on its leg. Unfortunately, I did not see what was written on the band.
There was also a Song Sparrow and a pair of Mallards at my feeders the same day. I'm sure the Mallards will nest along the creek as they do every year and the phoebe seemed interested in nesting under the bridge on Franklin. I hope he finds a mate because I have only seen the one as far as I can tell, and he was still around as of today. Below is a photo of a Mourning Dove roosting in my yard on March 10 and a shot of a few of the many Common Grackles we have enjoyed having at our feeders.
I have kept an eye out for waterfowl and shorebirds this month at the sewage lagoons in El Paso and Gridley. El Paso Sewage Treatment Center has been excellent for a variety of waterfowl as usual for this time of year. On March 14, I observed 16 species of waterfowl there including about 30 American Wigeons. Since then the numbers and variety have dwindled down. Here is a shot of a large group of Northern Shovelers, Mallards, and geese at El Paso.
There have also been substantial numbers of geese at Gridley Wastewater Treatment Ponds but the ducks have been sparse. This Ross's Goose has been hanging around at Gridley for about a week and was recently joined by two Greater White-fronted Geese also shown below.
As far as shorebirds go, I missed the Greater Yellowlegs and American Golden-plover Ted Hartzler saw at El Paso, but I've had Pectoral Sandpipers and Wilson's Snipes at both El Paso and Gridley and Lesser Yellowlegs at El Paso. Below is a gallery of the shorebirds I have seen at the two locations. The first shot is of a Lesser Yellowlegs seen at El Paso on March 20.
Next are a couple of photos of a Pectoral Sandpiper seen at Gridley the same day.
And a Wilson's Snipe seen at El Paso on March 21 . . .
Below is a Pectoral Sandpiper seen at Gridley on March 26.
And last for the shorebirds are another snipe and another pec that I saw at El Paso today.
Other birds of interest at the sewage lagoons over that past week include this Horned Grebe at El Paso and five or six Savannah Sparrows at Gridley running about on the rocks and grass around the largest pond.
I work at Salem Ranch in Flanagan, and there is some nice habitat there for birds, including our own sewage lagoons. Occasionally, I take my clients for walks on the property, and I have seen a small variety of waterfowl and quite a few Wilson's Snipes around the lagoons. On March 23, I was about to get into my car to go home when I saw this Northern Flicker in the tree by the parking lot.
Evergreen Lake can be particularly good this time of year, and I have been checking the lake for pelicans, waterfowl, cormorants, loons, and grebes. Early in March there were large numbers of Redheads, scaups, Gadwalls, Ruddy and other ducks on the East side of the lake near the Comlara Park boat launching area. On March 5, I had all three merganser species in my scope at once. Then as the weather became warmer and the lake became occupied with fishing boats, which seem at times to intentionally charge at the gulls, there seemed to be more ducks at the borrow pit next to I-39 Exit 8 nearby than on the lake. The American White Pelicans never showed up like they did in such large numbers last year. Thanks to a tip from Matthew Winks, Les Allen and I saw one on March 11, and I have not seen one since. On March 19, I saw my first of the year Pied-bille Grebes at Evergreen Lake--five of them in all, but that day, I only photographed this pair of American Crows and an unidentified raptor shown below.
On March 24, the JWP Audubon Society held there first field trip of the year at Evergreen Lake. We had six birders led by my friend and birding mentor, Les Allen. We noticed a pair of Eastern Bluebirds soon after we arrived at the lake, and we continued to see bluebirds all day long. As we walked along the road toward the bridge at the South end of the lake, we flushed a pair of Wood Ducks and saw three Blue-winged Teal, two or three Eastern Phoebes, a Field Sparrow, several Tree Swallows (my FOY), and a Pied-billed Grebe. We also ran into Dave Weth, who told us where to look for a Marsh Wren. I could hear the Marsh Wren calling when we walked by the spot, but none of us were able to see it at the time. I remembered that Matt Fraker had scoped and photographed a Great Horned Owl on its nest somewhere in that area. After briefly looking around, I saw the nest in a tree across the lake. I told Les and he got his scope on it so that everyone in our party could get a look at the owl nest, but even looking through the scope, the nest seemed far away, so we decided to hike the Mallard Cove trail to get a closer look. When we reached the water at the end of the Mallard Cove trail, we had a much better view of the nest though it was still further out across the lake. The owl never turned completely around to show its full face. In this shot is facing the other direction.
While we were watching the owl nest, a Double-crested Cormorant (my FOY) flew in front of us. Then on the way back to the parking lot, Les had a flock of Golden-crowned Kinglets. I managed to catch up and get my binoculars briefly on one of them. Next, we drove to White Pines Cove on the East side of the lake where we hiked the prairie and saw more Pied-billed Grebes and Eastern Bluebirds, a singing Eastern Meadowlark, a beautiful male Northern Harrier, and several Swamp Sparrows (my FOY), which eventually stayed up long enough to allow us to get a decent look. Next we went to the boat ramp on the West side of the lake and scoped a Common Loon (my FOY) on the Woodford County side. When we finally got around to the East side of the lake, we hiked part of the Deer Island trail, where Les heard an Eastern Towhee. Eventually, the bird came up from the ground so we could see it. This bird was yet another first of the year bird for Les and me.
By the time the group dispersed at around noon, we had seen 43 species, including the Wild Turkeys that Les and I missed. My list is posted below.
Lake Evergreen (McLean County), McLean, US-IL
Mar 24, 2012 8:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling
10.0 mile(s)
42 species
Canada Goose 10
Wood Duck 2
Mallard X
Blue-winged Teal 6
Ruddy Duck 15
Pied-billed Grebe 3
Double-crested Cormorant 2
Great Blue Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Northern Harrier 1
American Coot 150
Ring-billed Gull 50
Great Horned Owl 1 perched on nest
Red-bellied Woodpecker 7
Downy Woodpecker 3
Northern Flicker 2
Eastern Phoebe 8
Blue Jay 3
American Crow 3
Tree Swallow 12
Black-capped Chickadee X heard
Tufted Titmouse 4 heard
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Marsh Wren 1 heard
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
Eastern Bluebird 5
American Robin 50
Brown Thrasher 4
European Starling X
Eastern Towhee 1
Field Sparrow 5
Song Sparrow 5
Swamp Sparrow 9
Dark-eyed Junco 2
Northern Cardinal X
Red-winged Blackbird X
Eastern Meadowlark 4
Common Grackle X
Brown-headed Cowbird 3
House Finch 2
American Goldfinch 1
House Sparrow 1
Les and I stopped by the I-39 Exit 8 borrow pit where we discovered why there had been so few ducks on the lake. Most of them appeared to be at the borrow pit instead, where there were no boats. Redheads, Lesser Scaups, Buffleheads, Hooded Mergansers, and Northern Shovelers were all present at the borrow pit, bringing our tally to 47 species.
Les and I decided to eat lunch at Green Gables restaurant at Lake Bloomington (best burgers in McLean County). Then we hiked and birded a couple of locations next to Lake Bloomington, but did not add any birds. Next we went to Merwin Nature Preserve where we both picked up Red-headed Woodpecker. Then we stopped briefly at Tipton Park on the way home where we saw a couple of Mute Swans. Counting the Cooper's Hawk we had seen on the way to Evergreen that morning, we had 50 birds for the day. We would have probably gone to Gridley or El Paso to add some shorebirds and waterfowl, but Gridley is almost always locked in the evenings and on weekends and recently the workers have been locking El Paso up when they are not there because some equipment they were using for a project was stolen. Hopefully once the work project is completed the gates will remain open 24/7 again.
Later in the evening, I decided to return to Evergreen by myself to try to get a look at the Marsh Wren I had heard. I heard it again in the same location, but this time I looked at the bottom of the phragmites, where I finally saw the little bird weaving in and out of the reeds while busily calling and feeding. Below are a few photos and videos of the Marsh Wren.
After spending a lot of time with the Marsh Wren, I walked the Mallard Cove trail to get another look at the Great Horned Owl nest. The parent was gone and I could barely make out the two nestling owls. One of them is popping his head up in this photo.
On my way back to the parking lot, I could hear one of the parents. I followed the call and found the bird, but it was almost completely dark.
Another place where I have spent some time birding recently is Ewing Park. On March 22, I heard my first of the year Brown Thrasher singing there.
I also found a pair of Eastern Bluebirds, which seemed to be interested in nesting in the bluebird box up on the hill across the creek from the football field. I was intrigued by a Chipping Sparrow, which strangely followed the female bluebird everywhere she went. I was not sure what to make of this?? Below is a shot of the male bluebird sitting on the park bench.
While I was still pondering the Chipping Sparrow/bluebird situation, I came across these Mallards, who seemed oblivious to my presence. Eh-hem! Excuse me!
Interestingly, the next day I returned to Ewing and observed a Tufted Titmouse echoing a calling Black-capped Chickadee. The notes were the same but in a different tone. The two birds were flying around each other and were obviously communicating. Titmice are rarely found at Ewing Park, but a couple of them have been hanging around there for at least a couple of weeks. When I returned to Ewing on March 25, however, I witnessed something even more fascinating--a pair of Brown Thrashers performing what appeared to be a mating ritual or dance of sorts. Notice in the video below that the male approaches the female and then backs off several times by scurrying away or playing hard to get. As he repeats this, the female becomes more interested until she eventually flies up into the air and he follows and mates with her in the air.
I was also excited to see a pair of Field Sparrows and a pair of Pine Siskins at the park that day. Also present were Golden-crowned Kinglets and an Eastern Phoebe. After leaving Ewing Park that afternoon, I went to Funks Grove, hoping to see a Purple Finch or an American Woodcock. I did not have either of those birds, but I did see a couple more Eastern Towhees and a phoebe.
Oh, and I forgot to mention this amazing Common Grackle!
Earlier this week, I had read about some sightings of Great Egrets in the state so I thought I would check Evergreen for egrets on the way home, but before I got to Evergreen, I saw four of them out of the corner of my eye while I was driving. They were on the grass beside a pond next to I-39S just before the Exit 8 sign. Strangely there were none at Evergreen.
Later at home tonight, I was outside in the yard with my wife Carrie and my dog Bobby. We had noticed that rabbits were trying to build a nest in our yard, but we were unprepared for what happened. Bobby suddenly started sniffing and digging at what appeared to be the beginnings of a nest hole. Then we heard a sudden whimper. Bobby had a bunny in his mouth and another bunny was scurrying out of the nest. I grabbed Bobby and forced him to open his mouth. I removed the bunny from his mouth and it appeared to be okay. I put this bunny down and went after the other bunny, which had run up the driveway, while Carrie took Bobby away. I caught the other bunny and managed to get them both to crawl back into their nest. Then I saw a third bunny in the grass. As I picked it up, the neighbors, who had been watching, walked over to get a look. This bunny seemed calm in the palm, and we all decided to take some pictures before putting it back in the nest with the others. Below is a picture of Carrie apologizing to the bunny for what Bobby did, while our neighbor Sherry was snapping a shot. I read that Rabbits were not bothered by human scent. I hope Bobby's scent will not keep the mother from continuing to care for her young. I also read that Rabbits only nurse their bunnies once a day and that they do not stay around the nest because they do not wish to attract predators to it.
Below is the vicious predator after we had all returned inside. There is an empty rabbit hole in the fenced in back yard where we let him out and I cannot help but think that . . . Oh well!
