Update on the Livingston County Eastern Screech-owl Family

The Eastern Screech-owl family that I saw on Saturday evening is still hanging around the Harland family's yard at Salem Ranch in Flanagan, IL. On Monday evening, the Harlands found four owls, two adults and two owlets, roosting and facing the same direction in the same tree like they were posing for family photos. The next day, on Tuesday, May 22, when Craig invited me to see the owls roosting in his yard, I observed six owls, two adults and four owlets, in the same tree. Unfortunately, they were not all sitting facing the same direction, but I was able to photograph all of the owls, or so I thought until the Harlands counted seven owls the next day. Below is a gallery of the birds. Notice the difference in appearance between the two adults. Am I correct to attribute this difference to posture and size? Is there an easy way to tell the male and female of the species apart? Is one usually larger than the other? If the difference can be attributed to posture, it seems that one of the adults consistently chooses a more stretched out posture than the other. Do certain screech-owls prefer maintaining one posture over another? The two sets of owlets are also different in appearance? Can this be attributed to age? How many owlets do screech-owls normally have at once? Do screech-owls typically roost out in the open like this? I thought they roosted in cavities. Also, I found it interesting that there are several dead trees in the Harlands' yard with a lot of cavities.

Eastern Screech-owl Family at Salem Ranch in Livingston County

Saturday night, I worked in the cottage at Salem Ranch, and I took a couple of boys on a nature walk on our property as I often do when I work in the evenings. One of the boys showed me where he had found a nest made by a bird that "looked like a miniature turkey." The nest turned out to be a Killdeer nest. The boy thought the Killdeer looked like a little turkey when feigning a broken wing. The first time we walked by the nest, the parents were nowhere to be found. The second time, one of them was doing the broken wing thing to lead us away from the nest.



Craig Harland, one of the staff, who lives on campus built a fire for us so that we could come over and wait for his owls to show up. Craig and his family have noticed owls in their yard at night for several weeks. The owls often fly in and sit in a tree right above their picnic table while the Harland family is seated at the table at dusk. We waited for a long time by the fire and finally heard a screech-owl whinny. We eventually decided to get up and go look for the owls since they were not coming to us. We quickly found one, which flew back behind Craig's house.



This bird then flew into another tree where I noticed a second screech-owl sitting on a limb just above it.





While I was trying to get a shot of this second owl, Craig noticed an owlet sitting on a limb above him and the boys. I walked over and took a few pictures of the owlet. There seemed to be at least one other owlet flying around as well.





I also managed one more photo of one of the parents before we returned to the fire.

McLean County Upland Sandpipers at M & M Turf Sod Farm

On Thursday evening, May 11, Les Allen and I drove to Lake Bloomington, hoping to see one of the Virginia Rails seen by Dale Birkenholz and Lenore Sabota at the Money Creek bridge during the Spring Bird Count. Virginia Rail would have been a lifer for me and a year bird for Les, but we did not see or hear one. We did hear a Marsh Wren, and we did see a Warbling Vireo and a Prothonotary Warbler, but no Virginia Rails. I had mentioned checking the sod farm for Upland Sandpipers earlier, but when we were leaving the bridge, I mentioned checking Evergreen Lake for rails before we returned home. So we were on our way to Evergreen when Les mentioned the sod farm again, and we chose the sod farm over Evergreen.

Upland Sandpiper had been on my most wanted list since last summer. Les and I searched for one at the Saybrook Habitat Area last June and again during Spring Bird Count this year with no success. I had also done some searching on my own last year, driving by numerous bean fields without result. This year when I went to Prairie Ridge State Natural Area, I was told where one was seen the previous day. I stopped by the location several times with Carrie but came up empty.

When we arrived at M & M Turf, Les began scanning the sod with his binoculars from the car. He was checking robins and starlings way out in the field when I noticed a bird just ahead, standing on the sod very close to the road. "Is that a Mourning Dove?" I asked. Les got his binoculars on the bird, "That's an Upland!" I pulled the car up very slowly, and turned the ignition off, but after I snapped a couple of poorly lit photos from the car, the bird suddenly flew away.

The next morning, I stopped by hoping to see and photograph the bird in better light, but rather than an Upland Sandpiper, I found a Cooper's Hawk. "I hope it didn't eat the Upland," I thought. I returned again in the evening after work. I drove by the sod fields and turned around. On my way back, I noticed two Upland Sandpipers, which seemed to have come up out of the ditch, again in the sod right next to the road. They were calling to each other, and they both gradually walked a little further into the field to distance themselves from me. They were still in the field when I left that evening. I am including a gallery of the sandpipers below. This bird was ABA #289, Illinois #239, and McLean County #224 for me. Thanks Les for your help with this one!















The second sandpiper did not appear to have much of an eye ring.



Notice the first bird's foot in this photo. My wife Carrie thought this one was funny for some reason.



And finally . . . a video of the first sandpiper calling to the other sandpiper.

McLean County American Bittern at Angler's Pond

On Tuesday evening, Les Allen saw an American Bittern at Angler's Pond. The bird was still present early Wednesday evening. As I walked beside the South pond, it was on the shore next to the trail. I did not see it until it flushed and seemed to fly out of the park, but when I returned after covering the rest of the park, it was back on the other side of the pond, standing motionless. It stood there until some walkers flushed it. It seemed not to go as far this time. Thanks, Les for a new county bird!







Other birds present included a calling female Wood Duck and a pair of Blue-winged Teals.





On April 9, Les and I both saw a Great Egret at Angler's



Other birds I saw that day included this American Robin and male Wood Duck.





For some reason that day, I felt like I was being watched.



Last week I had my first of the year Palm Warbler at Angler's, but earlier this evening, there were no songbirds at Angler's. This might have been in part due to the heat and humidity, and it might have had something to do with the Sharp-shinned Hawk I saw chasing another bird.

Merlin and Other Migrants at Ewing Park

On Monday, I missed many of the great number of migrants at Ewing Park, while I was at work, but I did stop by in the evening after work and picked up some nice birds, including Blue-headed Vireo, Great Crested Flycatcher, Black-and-white Warbler, and Ovenbird. The Ovenbirds were particularly fun to watch and photograph even though the lighting was bad.









I also had great numbers of Yellow-rumped and Palm Warblers. The highlight of my evening, however, was when I was walking through the meadow area, and I turned around and looked up behind me. High up in a dead tree back behind the bridge in Hedge Apple Woods, I saw a large bird that appeared to be a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak. When I put my binoculars on the bird, I realized it was a bird I had diligently searched for throughout the winter and missed--a Merlin. Merlins are not easy to see in McLean County, and this bird was a lifer for me. I managed to get a little closer and take some poorly lit shots before a crow mobbed the Merlin off of its perch.







I was also surprised to see a Solitary Sandpiper in the creek. That might have been my first shorebird at Ewing. My totals for the evening are below.

Ewing Park (Bloomington), McLean, US-IL
Apr 30, 2012 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Protocol: Area
6.0 ac
24 species

Mallard 1
Merlin 1
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Downy Woodpecker 2
Great Crested Flycatcher 2
Blue-headed Vireo 1
Blue Jay 2
American Crow 5
Black-capped Chickadee 1
House Wren 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
American Robin 18
Gray Catbird 1
Ovenbird 3
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Palm Warbler 40
Yellow-rumped Warbler 20
Chipping Sparrow 3
White-throated Sparrow 3
Northern Cardinal 6
Brown-headed Cowbird 1
American Goldfinch 2

I was off work the next morning so I returned to Ewing hoping some of the previous days migrants I had missed were still hanging around. When I arrived, I ran into Given Harper and we spent a couple of hours birding together. The cool thing about birding with Given, other the fact that he is a generous person with an amiable personality and a great conversationalist, is that he is a biology professor at Illinois Wesleyan and, therefore, is so much better at identifying birds than I am, particularly by vocalization. I really enjoyed birding with Given. I had actually already learned some bird vocalizations from him, while he was teaching his students last year at Ewing Park. I hope that is okay since I was not paying to audit the course. We had a nice morning with a small variety of warblers. I picked up Golden-winged, Nashville, Yellow, and Black-throated Green Warblers, Scarlet Tanager, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Given got on a couple of species I missed, including Red-eyed Vireo, Blue-winged Warbler, and Chestnut-sided Warbler (which he not only saw, but also recognized by its song). One of our best birds was a Red-headed Woodpecker in a tree beside the playground at the park entrance. Given had recently reported a Red-headed Woodpecker in his yard not far from Ewing.

For a short time we were joined by another good friend of mine, Dave Weth. Dave, who always has his smile on and has a gift for making people feel at ease, is an outstanding photographer and posts excellent photos on Facebook. After Dave joined us, we had a pair of Eastern Kingbirds up in the field above the creek, and we watched a crow go after the Solitary Sandpiper, which was still in the creek. Below is my list from the morning not including the additional birds that Given saw.

Ewing Park (Bloomington), McLean, US-IL
May 1, 2012 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Protocol: Area
7.0 ac
28 species (+1 other taxa)

Mallard (Domestic type) 2
Green Heron 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Broad-winged Hawk 1
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Red-headed Woodpecker 1
Eastern Kingbird 2
Blue Jay 2
American Crow 8
House Wren 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
Eastern Bluebird 1
Hermit Thrush 1
American Robin 30
Gray Catbird 5
Ovenbird 2
Golden-winged Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Nashville Warbler 3
Yellow Warbler 1
Palm Warbler 25
Yellow-rumped Warbler 60
Black-throated Green Warbler 1
Chipping Sparrow 3
Swamp Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 4
Scarlet Tanager 3
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 3
American Goldfinch 2

As Given and I were leaving the park, the rain was coming down hard. After getting lunch I picked up my friend and birding mentor Les Allen, and we headed back to Ewing Park. The only species I picked up this time around was a female Common Yellowthroat, thanks to help from Wes Kolb, another friend who was in the park when we arrived. We also picked up a couple more birders both whom I also consider friends and birding mentors--Dale Birkenholz and Matthew Winks. Though surrounded by more experienced and knowledgeable birders, I still missed the Blue-winged Warbler that Wes saw and the Prothonotary that Matthew and Les saw. Missing the Prothonotary Warbler was somewhat disappointing since I have never seen one, but that leaves one to keep looking for. I am learning that when watching warblers and vireos, you cannot expect to see every bird seen by everyone in your party, and your party will likely miss some of the birds you see as well.

Les, Wes, and I went to Hidden Creek Nature Sanctuary in Normal after we left Ewing Park. There I picked up Veery, American Redstart, Orange-crowned Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Yellow-throated Vireo, and Indigo Bunting. I missed Blue-winged, which Les saw and Blackburnian, which Wes saw, but I was not disappointed. It was a great day of sharing birds with friends.

While on the subject of Ewing Park, I thought I would post a few photos I took there earlier this Spring. On March 25, I photographed this Field Sparrow. One or two of them could be heard singing from the tree tops at Ewing from the end of March throughout April. Until this year, I had never seen a Field Sparrow at Ewing.



We also had several Fox Sparrows at Ewing throughout March. If you miss these early migrants in March, you may not see them until the Fall. This last one I saw there on March 31 was taking a bath in the stream. Fox Sparrows are pretty close to the top of my list when it comes to Sparrows.









In late March and early April, there seemed to be an unusually large number of Pine Siskins, American Goldfinches, and Purple Finches hanging around at Ewing. I think it had something to do with the trees budding early because March was so warm. This allowed me good looks at Pine Siskins, which are not always easy to find in McLean County, and Purple Finches, which I had never before seen in the state.





I believe there must be at least a couple of pairs of Brown Thrashers nesting at Ewing this year. I saw one pair mating, and since then, they have certainly hung around long enough to get a good start on a clutch.







With all the creeks and streams at Ewing, Eastern Phoebes are also regular visitors in migration.



The Merlin I had on Monday evening is one of many raptors to visit the park this Spring including Barred and Great Horned Owl, Red-tailed, Cooper's, and Broad-winged Hawk, Peregrine Falcon, and this Northern Goshawk.



On April 9, I saw a flock of Cedar Waxwings feeding in the trees along the creek.





This American Robin I photographed at Ewing appears to have been injured on the breast. Still it was an irresistable subject in such great light as was the American Crow also below.





Although not a great picture, this was my first photo of a Winter Wren. I saw this bird on April 21 and it was strangely the only Winter Wren I saw in the park this year.



Both kinglets, Hermit Thrushes, Blue-gray gnatcatchers, and Yellow-rumped Warblers all arrived before May.



There were a few other warblers that showed up early, and here is one of many Broad-winged Hawks I have seen flying around in the park this Spring.



Although the migration in April was slow, Ewing had some nice birds to offer. Now that migration has picked up, stay tuned for more!