Four Owls in One Week and Other Raptors

On Tuesday, December 20th, I was took a couple of my clients to appointments in Bloomington. On the way in, I saw a strange looking raptor on top of a telephone pole on Airport Rd. near the intersection with Fort Jesse Rd. As there was not much traffic, I was able to take a few quick shots before continuing on to the appointments.







My first impression, probably because the bird had so much white on its head, was that I had seen my first McLean County Rough-legged Hawk. On the way back to the Ranch, I saw the bird again at the same location and decided to give Matt Fraker a call, knowing that he worked just down the road from where this bird was perched. Matt was able to arrive on the scene after I had left and take some outstanding photographs of the bird from different angles. He was eventually able to identify this raptor as a juvenile Harlan's Hawk. Harlan's is a Red-tailed Hawk subspecies, rarely seen in central Illinois. If you would like to see Matt's awesome photos of this bird, use this link.

http://www.ilbirds.com/index.php?topic=49692.0

When Matt wrote up his post, he mentioned that he had seen Trumpeter Swans in a barrow pit near the bottom of McLean County. On Wednesday, I rushed down there after work, hoping to have enough light to see them, but the barrow pit was pretty far off of the road, and I didn't see anything in it even with my scope. However, going both ways, I saw my first owl of the week--a Great Horned Owl sitting on a power line near Centennial Park in Heyworth. This was the third time I have seen a Great Horned Owl sitting on a power line or telephone pole at dusk this year. Although it was too dark to take a picture, I have a photo of the one I saw in July near Shirley, IL.



I am glad to have seen these Great Horned Owls, but so far, I have not had the opportunity to see one in good light. After each such encounter, I wished I could have arrived a little earlier on the scene to see and photograph the bird in better light, but I also wondered if the owl would have been there when the light was better.

Friday afternoon, Les Allen and I went to Moraine View State Park, hoping to find a Pileated Woodpecker to our county lists before the end of the year. Although we did not hear or see a Pileated, we had Downy, Hairy, and Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Tufted Titmice, White-breasted Nuthatches, Black-capped Chickadees, Blue Jays, Northern Cardinals, and American Tree Sparrows. Furthermore, we saw a lot of raptors, including about seven Red-tailed Hawks, a Northern Harrier, a third year Bald Eagle, and this Barred Owl--my second owl of the week, which was getting mobbed by Blue Jays late in the afternoon.



The next morning, Carrie and I picked up Les and headed to the Fraker Farm in Woodford County, hoping to see one of Matt Fraker's Long-eared Owls. Matt was a gracious host. He drove us all over his property and the surrounding area, but first he took us to see the owl. Matt had us wait at a distance while he went into the pines to set his scope on the bird. After he had the scope aimed at the owl, he returned and told me that there were not one but two Long-eared Owls in the same tree. Then we went in one at a time to see them. My first looks left something to be desired as the face of the owl higher up in the tree was covered by pine needles, and the owl lower in the tree was turned away so that i had a brief glimpse of its eye from the side, but otherwise could not see its face. After everyone had a look, I went back in to take some pictures. Eventually, the lower bird turned, and everyone was able to get a good look at its face.











Here is a shot of the second owl, which was roosting higher in the tree. Notice the eye peering through the pine needles and the huge talons on this bird.



Before we left, Matt was able to reposition the scope so that we could see the front of the lower owl through the thick pine branches. These birds were my third and fourth owls for the week.



During our tour of the Fraker Farm and surrounding area we saw about nine Red-tailed Hawks, an American Kestrel, and four Northern Harriers. The two Northern Harriers we saw toward the end of our tour seemed to be playing leap frog in a field. Both of them sat in the field for a few minutes until they were mobbed by crows.



After we left the farm, Les, Carrie, and I saw a couple more Northern Harriers by the road, including this juvenile bird.



Our time at the Fraker Farm helped to make Christmas Eve very memorable this year. That just about raps it up for the week, but I also want to share these pictures I took in Raleigh, NC back in May. At the time I was not sure of the identity of these birds, but I discovered this week that they are pictures of Red-shouldered Hawks. This is pretty cool since they are the only Red-shouldered Hawks I have ever photographed though I did see another one in West Virginia the same week.





Finally, here is a close up of one of the Long-eared owls. Happy New Year!



P.S. I took another picture of the same Barred Owl at Moraine View on New Year's Eve. The quality is not any better, but you can see more of the bird.

Raptors, Gulls, Waterfowl, Etc. in McLean, Livingston, and Woodford Counties

This month, I have been looking carefully for Rough-legged Hawks during my drive back and forth to work. I would like to find this bird as a McLean County bird, but so far I have not seen one this Winter. My lifer was near Flanagan, IL last December just a few days before Christmas. Last Monday, after briefly locating Todd Bugg's Western Red-tailed Hawk near Towanda and searching for a Rough-legged to no avail, I pulled into Gridley Wastewater Treatment Ponds and saw this Bonaparte's Gull in the middle pond swimming with shovelers and a Gadwall. I was delighted to be able to get these shots of this bird. Although the light was poor, these are my best looks and shots of a Bonaparte's Gull. I also found three Bonaparte's Gulls at El Paso Sewage Treatment Center later that day, but they were much further away than the one at Gridley shown below.









On Tuesday, I stopped for a little birding with a client on the way back from an appointment. We saw this American Kestrel making a late lunch of this mouse.





Then on Thursday, I when I stopped by El Paso Sewage Treatment Center, I saw my first two Common Goldeneyes of the season. The same day, one of the wastewater ponds in Gridley held a male Northern Pintail.



Saturday morning Les Allen and I birded the Moon Tract of the Parklands Foundation near Lake Bloomington. This thickly wooded area required some serious bush-wacking. We hoped to find owls, redpolls, or crossbills, but of these we only saw an owl we could not positively identify flying at a distance. Other birds we saw included Bald Eagle, White-throated Sparrow, and this Red-tailed Hawk.



Les and I saw several other Red-tailed Hawks and American Kestrels near Lake Bloomington and Evergreen Lake that day, including a pair of kestrels sitting on a power line side by side. We searched White Pines Cove on the West side of Evergreen Lake, but our best birds there were two Golden-crowned Kinglets and a Great Blue Heron.

Sunday afternoon after church, I decided to check White Oak Park in Bloomington, IL. While I was scoping the Richardson's Cackling Geese, this Belted Kingfisher flew in pretty close and allowed one decent shot before seeing me and making a mad getaway.



I could not resist photographing these Mallards standing on ice in great light.



I also took some photos of the Richardson's Cackling Geese next to Canadas and Mallards. There were about fifty Richardson's Geese with hundreds of Mallards and Canada Geese.







Also present were three Buffleheads swimming away from the other waterfowl and a female Ring-necked Duck swimming with what appeared to be a male Lesser Scaup. I'm not sure if the Buffleheads on the left and the right in this shot are young males, or if the one in the middle is a young female, but the one in the middle has much less white on its head than the other two.



On the way home, I could not help but notice a small raptor flying down the sidewalk at eye level in downtown Bloomington. I parked my car and walked back in the direction that the bird had flown. I found this Cooper's Hawk, also shown at the beginning of this post, sitting atop a building across the street.



Today, I did a little more raptor searching on my way back from a doctor's appointment since I would be working late into the evening and had seen five Red-tailed Hawks along I-55 on the way to my doctor's appointment. I went driving North of Lake Bloomington. The first raptor I found was an Eastern Red-tailed Hawk.



Next I saw this Northern Harrier, which was either a female or a juvenile male.



From Lake Bloomington, I drove by the Parklands Sweeney Tract, and turned right on 2700/Kappa Rd. Then as I turned left into a gravel road, which was just East of 1750 Rd. to check out a raptor I saw perched in a tree, I stumbled upon this beautiful juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker. If you look closely you can see some red feathers starting to come in on the neck of the bird.







This was my first juvenile (gray-headed) Red-headed Woodpecker. It flew from the trees to the field and back several times before it disappeared.

Then I drove a little further down the gravel road and found this beautiful raptor . . .







a Western Red-tailed Hawk.









This bird looked amazingly similar to the bird that Todd Bugg found near Towanda just over a week ago. When I spoke to Matt Fraker, he suggested the possibility that this might be the same bird. The hawk remained in the trees in the field between 1750 Rd. and the gravel road just East of it though it would not stay still very long as long as my car remained anywhere in sight.

If you go to see this bird, check also for Eastern Bluebirds on the powerlines along 2700/Kappa Rd.

Three Owls in One Week

Early Thursday morning, I saw the Snowy owl again about a quarter to a half a mile from the original location and wanted to share "a few" more pictures and videos. Sorry if this is over kill. This bird was such a fun subject to photograph. As you can see the light was much better Thursday morning than Wednesday evening when I first photographed this bird. For those of you who are wondering why a Snowy Owl is so streaked instead of almost completely white like the ones you may have seen on television, the nearly all white birds are adult males. Even the adult males have fine streaking, and the more coarsely streaked birds are first year males or female. Female Snowy Owls are more coarsely streaked than the first year males. I believe this very coarsely streaked bird to be female.

This year Snowy Owls have been reported all over Winsconsin and now several have been sighted in Illinois. Snowy Owls are typically residents of the North Pole, but a few of them come down to eat our rodents every few winters when there is a shortage of their favorite food--lemmings. This year, there are far more Snowy Owls than typical already. Birders are calling this an "irruption" of Snowy Owls. Strangely, however, I read an article on ebird.com that lemming numbers have been high this year and speculates a different reason for this "irruption" (http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/got-snowies).

These birds are very easy to approach apparently because they are not used to seeing people in the Arctic. I pulled up beside this one in my car, and she did not seem at all concerned about my presence. As first she gave me some curious looks. After that it seemed like was uninterested, or perhaps she was giving me the "cold" shoulder by looking away most of the time my car was there.



Sleepy . . .













. . . and here are a few videos I made of the bird. The first is from Wednesday evening. The other two are from Thursday morning. The last one is my favorite.







Also Thursday evening I stopped by my the house of Given Harper in Normal to see and grab a few shots of the gray morph Eastern Screech-owl he had reported to be in the screech-owl box in his yard. Thanks to Given for my lifer Eastern Screech-owl!



I went back Friday afternoon for better light and got a short break in the clouds.





I was glad that Given was able to see the Snowy Owl with his wife and students on Thursday night. Friday, I heard from Rich Laramore, who wanted to come from Christian County to see the Snowy Owl and the screech-owl. I told him what I knew about where the Snowy had last been seen, and checked with Given to make sure he was okay with me bringing Rich to see the screech-owl Saturday morning, I called Rich and found out he had missed the Snowy, but was on his way South. I arranged a place to meet, and we went to see the Eastern Screech-owl. This bird was a lifer for Rich as well. Afterward, we met up with Les Allen and went to Moraine View State Park. We walked through several rows of evergreens hoping to flush an owl to no avail. The highlight of our time there was watching a Sharp-shinned Hawk chase a flock of American Goldfinches that had been feeding on sweet gums.

From there we went to Sugar Grove Nature Center in Funks Grove, IL. Our best birds were the numerous Eurasian Tree Sparrows feeding with House Sparrows at the feeders. After we all parted ways, I had to return to Moraine View to pick up something I had accidentally left there. I arrived at dusk and turned right where the road Ts toward the entrance of the park. Not far down the road, I flushed a Barred Owl, which landed a short distance ahead in one of the trees to my left. As I released my foot from the brake, it flew again a little further down and a little deeper in the woods, but I got good looks when it flew into the light from my head lights and I was able to look at it where it landed. This was my third owl of the week, and it was the best looks I have ever had of a Barred Owl and the only looks I have had of a Barred Owl's face.