Merlin with House Sparrow Prey

Yesterday, I was on my way home from work on Highway 29, just South of Gridley when I saw an unusual bird fly over the road. I turned right and was following 29 when it landed in a tree to my left. At first I thought it was a Sharp-shinned Hawk because of its size, but closer examination through my camera revealed that it was a Merlin. And I eventually realized it was holding a House Sparrow. At first it was watching my car very closely, but then it began feeding on the eyes and head of the sparrow and plucking feathers from the body. Here are a couple of videos and some photos of what I saw.

Common Nighthawk at Angler's Pond

This afternoon, I went birding in the heat. Ewing Park had a few warblers--American Redstarts, Black-throated Green, Chestnut-sided, and Black-and-white, and Lake Bloomington had four Stilt Sandpipers, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Pectoral, Solitary, Spotted, and Least Sandpipers, but my best find of the day was a roosting Common Nighthawk on a high branch at Angler's Pond in Bloomington. Here are a few more photos. This was the first time I had ever seen a Nightjar of any kind roosting, and I even saw it preening a couple of times.

El Paso and Gridley Shorebirds

On August 1 at El Paso Sewage Treatment Center, I saw the Stilt Sandpiper shown above, which appeared to be in an intermediate plumage, still maintaining the thick barring on the chest and belly, but already turning gray. I do not think I have ever seen one in breeding plumage, but I love this intermediate plumage for the Stilts because in this plumage, they have purple tones in the right light. Here is another photo of the same bird.



This afternoon, I saw another Stilt Sandpiper. Only this one appeared to be a juvenile, and was quite different in appearance to the adult I had seen earlier in the month. It lacks any barring, yet maintains rufous coloring on its auriculars (cheek), crown, back, wings, and sides.





This bird was feeding with a group of four Lesser Yellowlegs, and it was nice to see the two species side by side. I love taking photos of different sandpiper species together for comparison. I was unable to photograph them simultaneously in the same position, but it is easy from these photos to see the contrast between the almost orange yellow legs of the yellowlegs with the yellow green legs of the Stilt. It was also interesting to observe the differences in bill length and shape, plumage, size, and body shape between the two species.







Perhaps this shot I took on August 1 of the adult Stilt Sandpiper and another Lesser Yellowlegs better shows the differences in size and shape and bill length and shape. Furthermore, the facial differences are apparent--the eye ring of the yellowlegs on the left in contrast to the bold supercilium of the Stilt Sandpiper on the right.



But that is enough comparison for now. Here are some photos of the other species I saw today at El Paso. After spending a fair amount of time observing the Stilt Sandpiper, I noticed this Baird's Sandpiper in the midst of a group of smaller peeps.





And here is one of the Semipalmated Sandpipers with one of the Least Sandpipers.



The peeps were bathing and preening when out of nowhere, first one, then two Semipalmated Plovers showed up. One of them took a bath.











Here is one more of the juvenile Stilt Sandpiper with one of the yellowlegs . . .



Here are a few more from earlier in the summer at El Paso . . .







El Paso has been very good for shorebirds so far this migration thanks in part to Jim McWilliams, the Wastewater Operator, who leaves a little water in the Northeast lagoons, which would otherwise be empty, for the birds.

Here is my shorebird list for the day.

Semipalmated Plover 2
Killdeer 12
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Solitary Sandpiper 3
Lesser Yellowlegs 4
Semipalmated Sandpiper 5
Least Sandpiper 4
Baird's Sandpiper 1
Stilt Sandpiper 1

Here are a couple from Gridley Wastewater Treatment Ponds in McLean County, which have not been as good so far this Summer because the West lagoons which at times provide nice little mudflats, have been either full or completely empty.





August 26, 2013

I stopped by El Paso again today during lunch and found a few shorebirds. Aside from the usual Killdeer and Spotted Sandpipers, there was a Semipalmated Sandpiper, two Least Sandpipers, and three Baird's Sandpipers.

Here is the Semipalmated . . .



Here is one of the Leasts . . .



. . . And here are the Baird's Sandpipers . . .







Here is the Semipalmated with the three Baird's Sandpipers . . .



. . . And here is the Least with two of the Baird's Sandpipers . . .



Then at Gridley, I found a Semipalmated Sandpiper with a broken wing. When I first saw it, I thought it was a starling. It looked really tattered and dark, like it had something on it's feathers, but I think it was just really wet.









I took the bird to Matt Fraker, who was going to give the bird some mealworms and a place to stay for the night. According to Matt, its chances of survival did not look good, but we will see what happens.

Western Meadowlarks in Woodford County

On June 29, I read a post by Dr. Angelo Capparella of ISU on the Google Central Illinois Birding Group site. His post included the following about Western Meadowlarks in Woodford County.

After getting skunked several times, I finally got a good day this morning to do the BBS route from Minonk to Lake Bloomington. If you are looking for Western Meadowlarks to study, check out the Woodford County stretch of 3100E between 1600N and 1450N (latter not an actual road). Every year I get them in this approximate stretch, and this year at my 4 stops I had a total of 6. You can’t miss their vocalizations, and you can watch them perched on power lines. Be cautious of the latter as occasionally you can have an Eastern Meadowlark within the mix, although they do seem to segregate partially along this stretch.

After reading this, I decided to attempt to locate these Western Meadowlarks as this species would be a lifer for me. I drove through the area the next day and also counted at least six based on vocalizations alone. I heard at least five different vocalizations--at least three different songs, the "churt" sound, and the rattle. I also did hear a couple of Eastern Meadowlarks along this stretch. I was able to photograph four of the six Westerns I both saw and heard vocalizing, and I captured several of the vocalizations on video.

Here is a photo of bird #1 and a video of the bird singing in between "churts."





Here is bird #2. This bird was singing a different song.





Bird #3 was only vocalizing the "churt."





Bird #4 sang a different song than the first two, but it only vocalized the "churt," while I was recording it. It sounds like an Eastern Meadowlark is chattering nearby at the beginning of this video.





I wish I had had more time and to study and record the different vocalizations of these birds. If anyone else is interested in seeing and hearing them, here is a map to the location. They are along Woodford 3100 E Rd. between 1400 N Rd. and 1600 N Rd.

https://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&q=40.8121203,-88.951664&ll=40.8121203,-88.951664

This post was written and published on August 4, 2013.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and Western Kingbirds in Havana, IL

Monday, June 18, was my lucky day. I first realized this when they gave me a free frozen fruit drink thing at McDonald's. "Here, this is extra!" the guy said. Then by the time I was slurping up the last bit of frozen whatever fruit that was and wiping the biscuit crumbs off my mouth i, I drove past that little fluddle on Highway 29 near Gridley en route to work--the fluddle that has been really delivering this Spring/Summer (Dunlin, Least, Pectoral, and in June Semipalmated Sandpiper and Black Tern).

"What was that?" I thought. "That was a big shorebird!! That's a new McLean County bird for me . . . a new state bird."

It was a Black-necked Stilt. We don't see many of these in McLean County. Fortunately, I was able to see it again in the afternoon when the light was somewhat better.



Then while at work, I saw a post on Illinois Birder's Forum about a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and two Western Kingbirds at the Ameren Electric Substation in Havana and decided to head to Havana after work. I noticed there were some other nice birds reported in the area as well. I called Les Allen to see if he was available to go along. Then on my way home, I invited two other friends after finding out surprisingly that they were free as well--Wes Kolb and Joe Phipps. We packed out the Malibu and headed West from McLean. We arrived at the 1500 Rd./ 97 intersection by 6:30 p.m., and counted 15 Cattle Egrets (another state bird for me), 2 Solitary Sandpipers, and a Black-necked Stilt in the flooded field.



Next, we drove ahead to the Ameren substation and saw the Western Kingbirds and the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (a lifer for me). These birds flew back and forth between the fenced in machinery and the power lines. I was able to get photos of the Western Kingbirds and their nest.





. . . and of course a few of the Scissor-tail



There was also another Black-necked Stilt in the fluddle across the road from the substation. From Havana, we drove to the board walk by the visitor's center at Emiquon. As we walked around the wetland, Les and I saw two Least Bitterns (another state bird for me) flying away. We also had a couple of terns fly over--probably Forster's.

Next we drove to Sand Ridge, where we had eight Whip-poor-wills (another lifer for me) after dark. We heard at least six, saw one on the road, and had one almost fly in the car on the driver's side. Here is a recording. Enjoy!



Each of the four of us had at least one lifer from this trip.

I wanted to take Carrie to see these birds over the weekend, but we needed to paint the dining room. We were able to finish this job, however, in time to leave by 4:30 p.m. on Saturday to go to Havana in hopes that Carrie would see some of the same birds. When we arrived at the intersection of 1500 and 97, there were no stilts or Cattle Egrets. We continued to the substation where we saw one Western Kingbird and then two. This bird was a lifer for Carrie. Carrie had seen a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher in Texas, but it was just a flyover. Suddenly as we were looking for the Scissor-tail it appeared out of nowhere hovering overhead in the wind, and it eventually landed on the fence around the machinery. When we drove by the intersection again, there were two Cattle Egrets, but still no stilts. We pretty much followed the same itinerary that Les, Wes, and Joe, and I had followed on Monday night. Although we were unable to see any Least Bitterns at Emiquon, we heard three Common Gallinules and had good looks at a female Baltimore Oriole and a Black-necked Stilt that Carrie saw spotted out in the middle of the wetland. The Cliff and Barn Swallows were also flying in close to offer good looks. Then, after dark, we drove back through Sand Ridge State Forest where we heard seven Whip-poor-wills and saw one on the road. Whip-poor-will was another lifer for Carrie. What an awesome day!