Prairie Ridge State Natural Area and Karl Bartels Land and Water Preserve

Yesterday, Carrie and I got up at 2:30 a.m. and left at 3:00 a.m. to go see the only Greater Prairie Chickens left in Illinois at Prairie Ridge State Natural Area in Newton, IL (Jasper County). You can read about the prairie chickens and Prairie Ridge at the link below.

http://dnr.state.il.us/orc/prairieridge/

We only had a quarter of a tank of gas when we left, and there were few places to stop on the way, but we made it to Effingham at about 5:00 a.m. where we hit the jackpot as Carrie said--a Pilot with a McDonalds. We filled the tank and enjoyed coffee and breakfast at McDonalds before finishing the remainder of our drive.

We arrived at the park office at about 6:20 a.m. and walked to the Northwest edge of the fence where we joined a father and son from Chicago and a couple of park workers, who were already watching the prairie chickens booming 300 yards away. We could see them fairly well through the scope, but they were too far away to take decent pictures. Here is a video of one of the chickens displaying and a couple of distant photos I took through the scope with my LG phone. This species was a lifer for both Carrie and me.







Also present were the calls of Northern Bobwhites, singing Eastern Meadowlarks and of course Red-winged Blackbirds everywhere and a couple of Eastern Bluebirds across from the park office.

After we finished observing the prairie chickens, one of the park workers drove us to a field beside an old red barn on 500 N Rd. just Northwest of the park office where an Upland Sandpiper had been seen on Friday. Unfortunately we did not see the Upland Sandpiper, but we headed South on 900 E and saw a couple of small wetlands while going East on 400 N where we had Blue-winged Teal, Pied-billed Grebe, and Great Blue Heron.

Next we went looking for the Loggerhead Shrike that had been spotted on 600 N Rd. Northeast of the office near the intersection with 1000 E Rd. We had barely left the office parking lot when we saw the shrike on a power line in front of a house on the East side of 1000 E Rd. We both got good looks at the bird. We drove East on 600 N Rd. and South on 1100 East Rd. to see if we could see the other shrike. Instead we saw a Northern Bobwhite in a very small mowed area on the East side of the road. It quickly ran into the tall grass before I could set up for a photo. When we pulled over nearby two Northern Mockingbirds flew out of a bush and gave us good looks. One of them, shown below, landed on the road and the other, shown at the beginning of this post, landed on a park sign. Carrie also noticed a Northern Flicker on a telephone pole across the street.



We turned back North and recovered our tracks. Carrie thought she saw the other shrike on a power line on 600 N Rd., but it flew before I could get a look.

Next we went to the Illinois Audubon Society Karl Bartels Land and Water Preserve which is just Southeast of the park office but in Marion County. There Carrie had her lifer Wilson's Snipes, Pectoral Sandpipers, and Greater Yellowlegs. We also had a Canada Goose on its nest, Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal, Song Sparrow, and Tree Swallow. There we also ran into the Chicago Ornithological Society, which had been looking for Smith's Longspur. They had not seen any longspurs but had seen a Henslow's Sparrow on 900 East Rd. Carrie and I decided to go look for the Henslow's. Although we did not see this elusive sparrow, Carrie saw her first Horned Larks, including the one below, which sang for us.



After checking for the Upland Sandpiper again, we drove East on 500 N and found the Loggerhead Shrike again. It flew to a power line on 1000 E Rd. near the house where we had first seen it, and I was able to take a few photos from my car.



Before we left to head home, we went East on 600 N one more time hoping to see another Northern Bobwhite. Instead we found the second Loggerhead Shrike on a barbed wire. We left by 12:00 p.m. and got home by 3:00 p.m. just in time to mow the yard before it rained. We finished the day with 37 species including five lifers for Carrie and a lifer and a state bird (Loggerhead Shrike) for me. Below are separate lists for Jasper and Marion County and a few more photos from the day.

Prairie Ridge State Natural Area (Jasper Co.), Jasper, US-IL
Apr 7, 2012 6:20 AM - 12:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling
10.0 mile(s)
32 species

Canada Goose 2
Blue-winged Teal 1
Northern Bobwhite 4 3 heard, 2 seen
Greater Prairie-Chicken 8
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Great Blue Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 6
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Killdeer 6
Wilson's Snipe 1
Mourning Dove 15
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 1
Loggerhead Shrike 2
Blue Jay 3
Horned Lark 6
Barn Swallow 2
Eastern Bluebird 3
American Robin 35
Northern Mockingbird 4
Brown Thrasher 1 heard
European Starling 12
Chipping Sparrow 2
Field Sparrow 5 heard only
Song Sparrow 3
Northern Cardinal 2
Red-winged Blackbird 150
Eastern Meadowlark 60
Common Grackle 25
Brown-headed Cowbird 20
American Goldfinch 5
House Sparrow 7

Prairie Ridge State Natural Area (Marion Co.), Marion, US-IL
Apr 7, 2012 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM
Protocol: Area
10.0 ac
18 species

Canada Goose 1 on nest
Blue-winged Teal 9
Green-winged Teal 3
Northern Bobwhite 1 heard only
Turkey Vulture 3
Killdeer 2
Greater Yellowlegs 2
Lesser Yellowlegs 1
Pectoral Sandpiper 6
Wilson's Snipe 4
Tree Swallow 2
Eastern Bluebird 1
American Robin X
Brown Thrasher 1 heard only
Field Sparrow 1 heard only
Song Sparrow 1
Red-winged Blackbird 25
Eastern Meadowlark 15

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)