Western Meadowlark Nesting Pair in McLean County

On June 29, 2014, I was able to relocate this Western Meadowlark with its mate near Lexington in McLean County where Michael Retter and Matt Hale had it last year along the corner of 2250 N and 3000 E Roads. The male was calling, but I had to wait a little over an hour before it would sing. The photo above is actually a photo of the female. She seemed to have a lot of white in the malar for a Western, but the male's malar was completely yellow. Here are a few photos of the male.









And here is a photo of the pair, but you have to look closely to see them both.



I also heard and saw two Upland Sandpipers soaring above the bean fields on these roads. Here is a map to the location where I saw the Western Meadowlarks and Upland Sandpipers as the meadowlarks have returned this year for at least their second summer.


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There was also a Brown Thrasher in the area.

Written and published on February 26, 2014

Swainson's Hawk in Kane County and Monk Parakeets in DuPage County

On June 14, Carrie and I saw the Swainson's Hawk shown above near Burlington, IL. Thanks to Brendon Lake for giving us good advice on where to look and how to see it! It was a lifer for both of us! He even told us where to park. Here is a map of the location where this bird can be seen in the Summer.


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We arrived at about 8:10 a.m., but the bird did not fly out of the woods behind the mansion until about 8:45 a.m.



After seeing the Swainson's Hawk, we continued to follow Brendon's advice and went to Pinegree Grove Water Treatment Plant Marsh to look for Yellow-headed Blackbird there, and we saw at least two of them by mid morning. Yellow-headed Blackbird is one of Carrie's favorites.



We checked Burnridge Forest Preserve for Black-billed Cuckoo. It was an interesting place to bird, but our best bird there was a heard only Wood Thrush. This Raccoon we saw there appeared to be pregnant or nursing.



Our next stop was one of our best finds of the day--a Red Robin in South Elgin! They make delicious burgers!

Finally, we stopped at the Comed Substation in DuPage County, where Carrie saw her lifer Monk Parakeets. At first we viewed the parakeets at a distance through the fence, watching them on and around their nests, but then we found some of them mating, preening each other, and gathering nesting materials in the trees by the road. Here is a map to the Comed Substation for anyone interested in seeing the Monks in their "electric cathedral."


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Here are some photos of the parakeets mating and preening. They mated for a long time; whereas, most birds I have seen mating do it very quickly.























This Monk Parakeet clipping off a twig to use to build its nest.

Northern Bobwhite at the Emiquon Nature Conservancy

On June 7, 2014, Les Allen and I saw this male Northern Bobwhite across the road from the nature conservancy building at Emiquon. We heard it singing from the car. Then we walked toward the trees where we heard the song. It flew from one tree to another and played peek-a-boo with us before flying into the grass.

We also had a White-faced Ibis, a pair of nesting Black-necked Stilts, and a Least Bittern at Emiquon NWR. On our way back, we stopped at Bellrose Island in Mason County where we saw a Prothonotary Warbler.

Glossy and White-faced Ibises at Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge

I posted what follows on the Illinois Birder's Forum on June 3, 2014, but never told this story on this blog until February 1, 2015. Others confirmed on the forum that the bird in question was indeed a Glossy Ibis.

This evening, Joe Phipps and I drove to Emiquon looking for White-faced Ibises. We found two just North of the boardwalk along the edge of the lake. They flew up and circled around as we drove in, but finally they landed and one ended up preening where we were able to get great looks.





As we walked around the wetland, we stirred another ibis up just South of the observation tower. It circled, landed close to it's original spot and then took off across the lake. However, I managed one photo before it flew away.



As you can see more clearly in the photo I lightened, sharpened, and saturated below, the light color does not go all the way around the eye. The bird appears to have powder blue color around the eye instead of white. There is no apparent red in the eye and no red on the lores. The legs lack any apparent red, and the bill appears slightly brown. The bird's call also seemed lower pitched than that of the White-faced Ibises. We both thought this bird was a Glossy Ibis, but wanted to get some confirmation from others because the lighting of the photo is not the best.



By the way, thanks to Greg Neise and Evan Carlson for helping me to know where to look for these birds. We also had a single Black-necked Stilt North of the wetland loop, two Canvasbacks, and a flyover Black-crowned Night-heron. We were not able to relocate the Western Grebe, but light was fading by the time we looked. There were about 25 peeps at the South Globe Unit, but by the time we got there our light was so bad that it was difficult to tell whether they were Semipalmated or White-rumped.



Below is a link to the thread on Illinois Birder's Forum that you can cut and paste to your browser if you are interested.

http://www.ilbirds.com/index.php?topic=55000

Written and published on February 1, 2015