Another Broad-winged Hawk at Ewing Park

We saw this Broad-winged Hawk on our JWP Audubon Society Walk at Ewing Park today. The park was mostly quiet. We had a few warblers and vireos, including several Black-throated Green Warblers. The most abundant bird seemed to be Northern Flicker, but we also had a couple of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, and a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk.

Red Phalarope at the Gridley Wastewater Treatment Ponds

After the Say's Phoebe and Pomarine Jaeger Carrie and I found, this is probably my third best find--a Red Phalarope. I believe it was the first known sighting of this species in McLean County. I found this bird on September 16, 2014. This is another post I made on Illinois Birder's Forum, but never posted on my own blog until February 1, 2015. When I first found it, I texted several birders, but when I notified them I thought it was a Red-necked Phalarope, which is not quite as big a deal. Carrie drove out to see it, but by the time we suspected it was a Red Phalarope, it was almost dark. My original post follows. I still was not sure of the ID when I posted it.

I found this phalarope at the Gridley Wastewater Treatment Ponds on September 16 at about 6:00 p.m., and I originally assumed it was a Red-necked Phalarope, but the more I watched it in the fading light, the more I began to second guess myself. The bill seemed very thick for Red-necked, and the bill shape seemed to match Red better. Also, I noticed that the very base of the bill appeared to be pale. Furthermore, I noticed that the neck was splotchy red in some of the photos. I wanted to get more opinions before I went with Red.

















Here is a shot of a juvenile Red-necked Phalarope I took a couple of years ago at the same location only a day later. Notice how the bill shape is very different than the bird in question.

Golden-winged Warbler and Olive-sided Flycatcher at Ewing Park

Everyone who went on the JWP Audubon Society Ewing Park Bird Walk this morning had great looks at this Golden-winged Warbler shown above, which remained in one spot for a long time while it was preening. We also had Pine Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Philadelphia Vireo, and this Olive-sided Flycatcher among our total of 28 species.

The American Safari, Part 8--Crazy Horse, Mount Rushmore, and The Badlands

On Sunday, Carrie and I made our first stop at the Crazy Horse Monument in Crazy Horse, South Dakota. We decided not to spend over $100 a person to drive to the top of the monument even though I would have loved to have seen the Mountain Goats that reportedly live on the mountain. However, we did enjoy the video about the deceased sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski, and his family that continue to work on the monument. We also enjoyed lunch at the restaurant by the monument. I had a buffalo burger there. Here are a few photos of the monument.




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Next, we stopped at Mount Rushmore National Monument in Keystone, South Dakota.







Carrie had been looking forward to going to Wall Drug the whole trip. She bought some ear rings and a charm there, and I bought a t-shirt with a buffalo on it that said "tatonka country." They had amazing donuts.



Our final stop was The Badlands National Park. We drove to the location in the middle of a Prairie Dog farm where Brian Tang had photographed Burrowing Owls. Here is a map to the location.

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.9079864,-102.3382526,1155m/data=!3m1!1e3

There were hundreds of prairie dogs there.









We found at least six Burrowing Owls right around the location Brian said they would be. Carrie was very excited to see them. She tried to get out of the car to get a better look, but when she started to get out to see one of them, it crawled back into it's hole. So we had to look at them from the car.

















We also saw this female Blue Grosbeak.



At one point I thought I saw a Prairie Dog with a black head. I wish I had photographed it. It might have been a Black-headed Ferret.

We enjoyed the amazing scenery on our way back out of the park.

The American Safari, Part 7--Leaving Yellowstone

On Saturday morning, we left our hotel in Gardiner, WY, and once again, we drove South to the North Entrance of Yellowstone. Just East of Mammoth in the park, we stopped to see some Elk.







As we continued East, we saw our first Mule Deer. Unfortunately, it would not turn around for us.



We headed South at Tower-Roosevelt, passing Mt. Washburn, which we had hiked the previous day.



We drove into Canyon Village and hiked down to the Lower Falls, from where we saw The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.



From Lower Falls, we could also see Upper Falls.





It was fun to see this young Osprey in it's nest below the path very close to the falls.



After leaving Canyon Village, we continued South along Yellowstone River toward Yellowstone Lake. Along the river, we saw
Canada Geese, Common Mergansers, Northern Shovelers, Lesser Scaups, Buffleheads, American Wigeons, American Bison, and a Red Fox near Hayden Valley. This was our second fox of the trip.



When we got to Trout Creek, we saw a first year, male Barrow's Goldeneye, which was a lifer for both of us!



We also saw just one American White Pelican.



Other birds we saw at Trout Creek included Mallards, wigeons, and shovelers. Based on a tip from Matt Fraker, we checked Le Hardy Rapids for Harlequin Duck, but only found eight Common Mergansers, some Buffleheads, Lesser Scaups, and Canada Geese.

On our way to Gull Point, we stopped to see the Mud Volcano.





Then we continued South to Bridge Bay. At Bridge Bay, we had Yellowstone Lake to the East and a dark morph Swainson's Hawk hunting on the West side of the road.







At Gull Point, there were no gulls, but there were plenty of young Barrow's Goldeneyes hanging out together.







We doubled back toward Fishing Bridge, and saw the Swainson's Hawk again near the same spot.







We saw more Gray Jays in Fishing Bridge, but we did not see much from the actual bridge. Yellowstone Lake was impressive to see. Around the edge of the lake, all of the hot pots were a reminder of the volcano underneath the lake. We continued along the North edge of the lake and exited the park through the East Entrance. Then we continued to drive East toward South Dakota.

On our drive toward North Dakota, we saw these incredible mountains.









Just past the town of Greybull, we saw five Wild Turkeys. Then at last, we saw a Mule Deer facing us instead of looking away.



Possibly our most exciting citing of the entire trip was this bull Moose that Carrie noticed 40 miles South of I-90 on 14 between Greybull and Sheridan. As we watched it, it seemed to be walking toward our car. Carrie eventually decided to drive on before it got too close to us.