Yesterday, the JWP Audubon Society had another bird walk at Ewing Park. We had a nice turn out, and I enjoyed talking to the ten other people who came. Otherwise it was a dreary, cold, rainy, somewhat disappointing morning. There were a few new birds. I had my first of the year Northern Waterthrush and Gray Catbirds. We heard Northern Parula, and Wes Kolb had a Black-throated Green and a Blue-winged Warblers. Then later he had a Nashville Warbler with Dale Birkenholz. Otherwise, we seemed to have the same Yellow-rumpeds, Palm Warblers and Blue-gray Gnatchatchers that had been hanging around the whole week. Below is a photo of one of the Gray Catbirds and a video of it singing.
After the walk, Les Allen and I decided to head down to Clinton Lake to look for Leconte's Sparrows at the dead marsh. On the way down, we stopped at Centennial Park in Heyworth. Highlights were four singing Warbling Vireos, a Green Heron, two or three Great Blue Herons, and a couple of Eurasian Collared-doves. I had become familiar with the song of the Warbling Vireo since Carrie heard one singing in our yard last week. We also thought we had a Yellow-throated Vireo, but could never get a clear look at the bird before it flew to the next tree.
When we got to the Dead Marsh at Clinton Lake, we saw a couple of Vesper and Swamp Sparrows, but no Leconte's. Then we saw a bird along the edge of the prairie that had the posture and behavior of a Sedge Wren, but it turned out to be a Marsh Wren. The bird did not call, and sat out in the open quite a bit. I misidentified this bird initially and did not correct myself until I examined my photos carefully at home.
Before we left the marsh, we found a singing male Orchard Oriole, which was a first of the year bird for both of us. Next we went to the Marina. On the way there, we saw our first of the year Eastern Kingbird perched on a power line next to someone's yard, and near the marina, we found a nice mudflat with a variety of shorebirds. After we scoped them, we headed for Mascoutin Beach to look for gulls and terns. When we arrived we saw a couple of Forster's Terns standing on the beach with a number of Ring-billed and Bonaparte's Gulls. While we were looking at the Forster's Terns through the scope, a Caspian Tern flew in. The two Forster's Terns flew away when the Caspian landed, but a what appeared to be the third Forster's Tern remained and eventually flew next to the Caspian Tern.
After seeing Forster's Tern, which was a year bird for Les and a lifer for me, and Caspian Tern, a year bird for both of us, each of us celebrated with an ice cream cone from Boondock's. We checked the Salt Creek Wetland before heading back to McLean County, but we were so far away from the birds from the numerous shorebirds from where we walked in, we could not identify them We could make out shovelers, Great Blues, and a Great Egret. Below is a list of what we at Clinton Lake.
Clinton Lake, De Witt, US-IL
Apr 28, 2012 1:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Protocol: Traveling
15.0 mile(s)
35 species
Canada Goose 5
Mallard 2
Blue-winged Teal 2
Northern Shoveler 8
Ring-necked Pheasant 5
Great Blue Heron 22
Great Egret 1
Killdeer 3
Solitary Sandpiper 15
Greater Yellowlegs 6
Lesser Yellowlegs 12
Bonaparte's Gull 6
Ring-billed Gull 60
Caspian Tern 1
Forster's Tern 3
Downy Woodpecker 1
Eastern Kingbird 1
Blue Jay 1
American Crow 1
Barn Swallow 3
Marsh Wren 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 7
Common Yellowthroat 1
Palm Warbler 1
Field Sparrow 5
Vesper Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 1
Swamp Sparrow 4
Northern Cardinal 3
Red-winged Blackbird 45
Eastern Meadowlark 3
Brown-headed Cowbird 12
Orchard Oriole 1
American Goldfinch 4
House Sparrow 1
Strangely, I ended up seeing more species the next day at White Oak Park in Bloomington, IL. After attending a birthday party with my wife nearby, I decided to stop at the park to see if there were Purple Martins in the martin apartments that Matthew Winks has been maintaining. I did indeed see about ten Purple Martins, and although I was seeing Solitary and Spotted Sandpipers, I was on my way back to my car to escape the rain when I ran into Ted Hartzler and Matthew Winks himself, who told me there were six American Avocets and a Forster's Tern in the park. I went back to my car to get my camera, and walked over to these birds to take some pictures. American Avocet was a lifer for me, and since I had seen my first Forster's Terns the day before at Clinton Lake, Forster's Tern was a county bird. Below are a few shots of the Forsters's Tern and the six American Avocets.
After taking a few pictures, I took my wet camera back to my car to dry it off and called my wife Carrie, Les Allen, and Dave Weth so that each of them could come to see these birds. Les arrived first on the scene with his scope. While he and I were watching the birds through the scope and waiting for Carrie to arrive, two Caspian Terns flew in and landed beside the gulls and the Forster's Tern. These birds appeared so large in flight that when I saw the first one flying in, I mistook it for an Osprey. Unfortunately, I had left my camera in the car to keep it dry. Carrie arrived next and saw the avocets and both tern species. These birds were all lifers for her, and American Avocet was a state bird for Les. Not long after she had arrived, a woman who was speaking to us loudly from her porch about the avocets, which she had seen, seemed to flush all of the birds though we were a good distance away watching through the scope. Fortunately, all of them returned except for the Caspians.
I walked Carrie back toward her car after she had seen the birds. On our way back, we ran into Dave Weth, who had his camera on his shoulder. I pointed him in the right direction and grabbed my camera out of my car in case the Caspians returned. When I caught up with Dave and Les, the Caspians had not returned, but they had seen a Sora walk right out into the open from inside the Phragmites. After Dave took his pictures and returned to his car, the Sora walked out again and walked almost right up to Les and I as we watched in amazement.
As Les and I continued around the lake it became dark and the rain fell harder, but we saw more Spotted Sandpipers, Lesser Yellowlegs, a second Green Heron (one had flown over us earlier), Great Blue Herons, Blue-winged Teals, Purple Martins, Northern Rough-winged Swallows, Tree and Barn Swallows, Chimney Swifts, Savannah Sparrows, etc. Below is a complete list of the birds I saw in the two hours I was there. I am so grateful that Matthew and Ted were there and grateful to them for telling me about the avocets and the tern. If I had not run into them, Carrie, Les, Dave, and I would not have seen these birds.
White Oak Park (Bloomington), McLean, US-IL
Apr 29, 2012 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Protocol: Area
3.0 ac
29 species
Mallard 15
Blue-winged Teal 6
Great Blue Heron 3
Green Heron 2
Sora 1
American Coot 8
Killdeer 4
American Avocet 6
Spotted Sandpiper 7
Solitary Sandpiper 2
Lesser Yellowlegs 3
Ring-billed Gull 9
Caspian Tern 2
Forster's Tern 1
Chimney Swift 6
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 3
Purple Martin 10
Tree Swallow 6
Barn Swallow 4
American Robin 5
Palm Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2
Savannah Sparrow 2
Swamp Sparrow 2
Red-winged Blackbird 25
Common Grackle 2
Brown-headed Cowbird 2
American Goldfinch 1
House Sparrow 6
No comments:
Post a Comment