On Thursday, June 16, Les Allen and I went birding at Evergreen Lake. I was hoping to see my first ever Henslow's Sparrow, and Les had recently seen one with Dale Birkenholz, Ed Mockford, Angelo Capparella in a prairie in the White Tail Area on the Southwest side of the lake West of the Mallard Cove trail. Before we hiked in, we stoppe at the bridge of the South side of the lake. There we had a number of birds including Barn, Tree, and Cliff Swallows. Les also saw an Eastern Towhee, and I saw an Eastern Phoebe. Four juvenile Tree Swallows sat on a power line east of the bridge while their mother flew in and out to feed them in turn.
After watching the Swallows, we headed up the trail on the Southwest side toward the prairie where Les had seen the Henslow's. At first it was nice and cool and the birds were very active. It seemed like a promising day. As we continued on the trail it became increasingly hot and windy. By the time we got to the prairie, it was getting sticky, and it was difficult to hear the Henslow's because of the wind. After hiking around the prairie without hearing the Henslow's, Les suggested that we walk through toward the area where he had seen the Henslow's before. While I was watching Dickcissels and Yellowthroats, Les heard the Henslow's Sparrow. He motioned me to come toward him since we had spread out in hope of flushing the bird. I saw a bird fly toward a clump of trees in the prairie close to the trail leading back. I followed the bird, flushing it a couple of times, but was not able to get a look at it.
A little later, we heard a bird chipping near the same clump of trees. I followed the sound until I was startled to see the bird in a small tree about three feet in front of me. I was unable to get my camera or binoculars on the bird because the wind was blowing the branches in front of it. However, I could see the bird well enough from such a close distance to be able to tell that it was a Henslow's Sparrow. I was surprised at how small the bird looked. At first, before I recognized it as a Henslow's, I thought it was a juvenile bird. I told Les it was the Henslow's as he approached behind me, but the bird, agitated by my proximity, flew away before he could get a good look. Unfortunately, we were unable to relocate the bird.
Although I was happy to see the Henslow's for the first time, I was very disappointed that I was unable to snap a shot at such a close distance. I had seen pictures of Henslow's Sparrows and recognized the bird as such, but I always like the assurance of having either an experienced birder's confirmation or a photo in hand to verify what I have seen when I see a new bird. However, my disappointment was alleviated when Les and I encountered a Turkey brood of at least ten with their mother along the trail beside the prairie. I was quite surprised to see a couple of the poults fly into the trees to perch after we flushed them.
On the way back to the car, we also found a pair of Flickers nesting in a dead tree beside the trail that we missed on the way in. I picked off several ticks when we got to the car. By the end of the day, the total number of ticks I picked off of myself was at nine.
I decided to return to the prairie the next day in hopes of getting better looks and perhaps even some pictures of the Henslow's Sparrow. I got up in time to leave my house around 6:00 a.m., hoping to beat the rain, which had been forecasted to begin at around 8:00 a.m. I also thought I might have a better chance of seeing the bird singing if I arrived earlier. When I checked the forecast before leaving, I realized that there would actually be no rain before noon. As I approached the parking lot, I was able to get some shots of this Dickcissel from my car.
On the way back to the prairie, I saw an American Coot on a log in the lake, which is unusual for this time of year. Then a little further down the trail, I saw the nesting male Flicker land on the dead tree and crawl into the nest hole.
I also ran into the Turkey family again on the trail. This time both parents were present with the brood, and the poults again perched in the trees after I flushed them.
When I got to the prairie, it was still pretty cool, but I didn't see many birds popping up to sing for quite a while. Gradually I started to hear and see Meadowlarks, Dickcissels, a Common Yellowthroat, and some Field Sparrows, but no Henslow's Sparrows.
I walked through the prairie trying to flush the bird but could not find it. I was about to give up and leave when I was distracted by some interesting butterflies, which I later discovered to be an American Lady and a pair of Silver-spotted Skippers.
The butterflies I was watching were near the same small grove of trees where I had seen the Henslow's the previous day. While I was photographing them, I saw a small bird in the grass near the trees. I walked around the trees until I heard the bird chipping again. Then I found it attempting to hide in one of the trees. It continued chipping while I took some pictures. Then it flew to a different tree and continued chipping while I took some more pictures.
Eventually, the Henslow's flew away from the trees and began singing. I followed the voice and saw the little sparrow singing in the grass.
After the bird flew away, I started back toward the car. On the way, I saw a juvenile tree swallow sitting on a fence. Then after getting back into my car, I had to stop to remove a turtle from the road by the bridge at the South side of the lake. I carried it close to the water, and as soon as I picked it up it began to urinate, continuing to do so almost until I set it down.
Earlier while I was looking for the Henslow's, I had been texting Matthew Winks, and he told me where I might locate a Yellow-breasted Chat or an Acadian Flycatcher on the West side of the lake. After leaving the turtle, I drove to this area, but was not able to find anything but Indigo Buntings and four more ticks. So I went to the East side of the lake to hike the Deer Island trail. At the beginning of the trail, a male Baltimore Oriole landed in the tree above me and began singing.
Just before the little bridge, I saw a House Wren. After crossing the bridge, I followed the trail to the right. I came across a pair of Brown Thrashers that seemed to be guarding their nest in some trees close to the water. They became agitated with my presence and the noises I was making and were quite vocal themselves. While I continued making noises, a male Baltimore Oriole and a Yellow Warbler flew in to see what was going on.
In some shrubs just past these trees on the right of the trail, I saw my first Yellow-breasted Chat. I snapped a blurry shot as it flew away. It began singing on the other side of the trail, and I followed it through the brush until I heard two Chats singing and snapped this shot of one of them near the top of a tree.
Dehydrated and exhausted, I headed back to the car happy to get two lifers in two days. Below is my report from the second day.
Lake Evergreen (McLean County), McLean, US-IL
Jun 17, 2011 6:37 AM - 12:03 PM
Protocol: Traveling
15.0 mile(s)
37 species
Canada Goose 13
Mallard 1
Wild Turkey 12
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Great Blue Heron 4
American Coot 1
Mourning Dove X
Northern Flicker 4
Great Crested Flycatcher 2
Eastern Kingbird 1
Blue Jay 4
Tree Swallow 20
Barn Swallow 3
Cliff Swallow 4
Black-capped Chickadee X
House Wren 3
Eastern Bluebird 1
American Robin X
Gray Catbird X
Brown Thrasher 3
Yellow Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Yellow-breasted Chat 2
Field Sparrow 6
Henslow's Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 2
Indigo Bunting 3
Dickcissel 6
Red-winged Blackbird X
Eastern Meadowlark 7
Common Grackle X
Brown-headed Cowbird X
Orchard Oriole 4
Baltimore Oriole 4
American Goldfinch 7
House Sparrow 1
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2 (http://ebird.org)
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