North Central Illinois Ornithological Society

Anne Straight has posted on IBET that she and others found a Golden-crowned Sparrow in Stephenson County this morning. I copied her post here for your interest and benefit of the directions.

A male GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW was spotted this morning at 10:30am. in
Stephenson County. It was viewed by 5 of us on the Jane Addams Trail south
of Scioto Mills Rd about 200 or so yards down the trail. This area is north
of Freeport and a little west. There is a fenced in garden on the left (up
on a banked area) and the bird was in some brushy area on the right. When
the rest of the group went there about an hour later we did not relocate.
One person did take a photo if it needs doumentation. This is west of Rt. 26
and north of Rt. 20. Delorme page 16. North of Duck’s Misery.

Anne Straight
Forreston, IL (Ogle County)
astraight AT worldnet.att.net

Larry Balch and I recorded 83 species in 5.5 hours yesterday in the northwest portion of Winnebago County. We started at the Nygren Wetlands overlook. There were a lot of ducks of a variety of species, the most numerous being Green-winged Teal. 14 Am. White Pelicans flew in while we were there, and we later found 3 more in the flooded field at the east end of Moody Road. Many Pied-billed Grebes were spread around (25).

3 species of swallows were at Nygren, including the first Barn and Rough-winged Swallow arrivals of the season. We had a large flock of blackbirds on Blodgett Road along the old RR right of way. They were mostly Rusty Blackbirds (12) with Red-wings and Brown-headed Cowbirds mixed in, but we also saw 4 Brewer’s Blackbirds. There were probably more.

The flooded wetland mitigation area at the Winter’s farm in Shirland had many more ducks, including Greater Scaup (we recorded 17 species of waterfowl for the day), an d another 20 Pied-billed Grebes. 2 Northern Harriers were flying around over the wetland.

A stop at Lake Summerset (viewing from the yellow gate marked “emergency vehicles only” on Best Road gave nice views of the length of the lake. We found Common Loon, Horned Grebe, Red-breasted Mergansers, 2 flocks of Ruddy Ducks on the water, and a Purple Martin!

We ended at Pecatonica Wetlands, where the swamp along Blair Road had a large number of Wood Ducks and N. Shovelers, plus a lot of Tree Swallows. The Great Blue Heron rookery visible from Blair road near Pecatonica Road had a bird standing on virtually every nest, but no Great Egrets were present yet.

I found 5 American Pipits on the edges of the fluddle on Baxter Road and South Bend Road. It is at the intersection just S of the railroad tracks. South Bend Road is closed for sanitary district construction, but there is ample room to park along the shoulder of the road. Also there were 13 Pectoral Sandpipers and a small number of both yellowlegs species.

Today I checked Rock Cut lakes around noon. Not much to report waterbird-wise, but there was a Common Loon on Olson Lake, having great success fishing. From the west end of Pierce Lake I saw 2 swans way back at the east end. So I drove back to get a close enough look to separate Tundra from Trumpeter, but it was no problem because they were Mute Swans. Oh well.

There are still a couple of siskins in my Shaw Woods yard, but unlike Dan, I haven’t seen ours gathering any nesting material. We have the same migrants he’s noted on the west side near Anna Page except for Purple Finches and (needless to say) pelicans. Our hummingbird feeders have been up for a week, since RTHs arrived in Wisconsin April 1. But nothing here yet.

Barbara and I drove to the Westlake Community Building around 0900 this morning for the NLI mortgage burning event kickoff. NLI paid off the mortgage on its purchase of the Pecatonica Ridge prairie and wetland property. As we approached Westlake, we spotted a Common Loon in the lake about 500 feet or so north of the swimming beach area.

This afternoon, a pair of Pine Siskins has been collecting bills full of hair that we brushed out of one of our dogs. Presumably the female is doing the collecting while the male watches from a near-by perch. Then they fly back toward the large pine stand in Page Park, just northeast of our property.

Other yard sightings today were 6 Am. White Pelicans flying over around 12:15 p.m., 3 YB Sapsuckers, lots of Golden-crowned Kinglets, our first Ruby-crowned Kinglet of the spring, 2 Hermit Thrushes (1st arrivals) 4 Fox Sparrows (and singing), and a couple of Purple Finches. We saw a lot of E. Phoebes in the woods along the stream in Anna Page Park, and a pair is hanging around our house.