North Central Illinois Ornithological Society

Today, April 14, Dan Williams saw a Prairie Falcon flying over downtown Rockford. It was cicling the Lutheran Center highrise (I believe that is on the west shore of the Rock River where State St. crosses the river) and was harrassing a Redtail and scaring all the Rock Pigeons. Dan got Binoculars on the bird and is confident of his ID. The bird headed southwest and Dan was unable to relocate it.
In other news, I had my first Blue-headed Vireo of the year in our yard this morning.

I birded with Tim Young at Rock Cut State Park from around 630 to 1030 on Saturday 4/10/2010. We did not relocate the scoter but saw the Osprey.

Other notable birds were four Bonaparte’s Gulls, 1 Horned Grebe, a raft of Ruddy Ducks, 15 or so Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, 1 Common Loon, 7 “Myrtle” Yellow-Rumped Warblers, and around 16 Pied-billed Grebes.

Bonaparte’s Gulls

Also of note was a group of 4 Belted Kingfishers that were flying in a group. I’ve never seen more than 2 at one time.

Barbara and I took a walk on the equestrian trail on the south side of Anna Page Park, which runs along Kent Creek, on Sunday morning.  The woods had a lot of bird activity.  We heard, and later saw, a Wilson’s Snipe displaying over the marsh on the north side of the creek near the dry dam.  A Sandhill Crane was calling.  We counted 13 YB Sapsuckers, over 20 Yellow-rumped Warblers, 3 Field Sparrows and 2 Eastern Meadowlarks on the south side of the dry dam, plus 2 Vesper Sparrows along a wheat field on the south border of the woods.  A Winter Wren was in a tangle of fallen branches along the trail.  Both species of kinglets were seen and heard, especially Ruby-crowned, which were everywhere and very vocal. 

2 Pied-billed Grebes were in the flooded area on the west side of the dry dam. 

We also picked up 2 full bags of trash along the trail and in the woods.

Barbara and I spotted a Broad-winged Hawk over our house and woods this afternoon.  It was the first we have seen this year.  It was earlier by 5 days than my earliest previous sightings over the last 10 years.  We also spotted a male Harrier, 2 TVs, an immature Bald Eagle, 3 Red-tailed Hawks, a Sharp-shinned Hawk, and a Ring-billed Gull, all in the course of 1 hour from 2-3:00 p.m. 

The trees around our house and woods are full of YB Sapsuckers.  Counted 6 on the property in a walk around the woods and afterward.  A House Wren was singing from the edge of the woods this morning around 0730, and a Vesper Sparrow was in the driveway with the juncos and Chipping Sparrows.  A Red-breasted Nuthatch is calling from the pines behind the Page Park School.  One has been hanging out there since at least March 27 and is presumably the same bird.

This morning, we took a drive out to the Pecatonica Wetlands area.  Found a Greater Yellowlegs, 6 White Pelicans flying over the Pec River on the south side of the Howard farm on IL 70, a pair of Bald Eagles on the nest at Howards, and Rusty Blackbirds in the swamp along Blair Road.

If you are signed up for the Midwest Crane Count (Saturday, April 17th from 530am-730am) here are some resources to know what sounds you are looking for.

From the International Crane Foundation, a bio on Sandhill Cranes which includes sounds.

Listen to ‘unison’ call

The Macauly Library of Sound has a ton of sounds and video but I couldn’t find any specifically with the unison call. Just search for Sandhill Crane and there are a few hundred results.

Please feel free to add in the comments any additional info on Sandhill Cranes you find and make sure to report on what you see! (Not just cranes!)

Sandhill Crane in the middle of Canada Geese

A male Surf Scoter was on Pierce Lake at Rock Cut State Park at 1:00 p.m. this afternoon.  Also present were 200+ Ruddy Ducks, 17 Red-breasted Mergansers, 4 Horned Grebes (1 still in molt), 1 Common Loon was calling (!), 15 Pied-billed Grebes, 12 Blue-winged Teal, about the same # of N. Shovelers, some L. Scaup, Buffleheads, Ring-necked Ducks and GW Teal.   An Osprey was flying over the lake.  Didn’t have time to do a thorough count or look in different inlets, so other species and higher numbers might be about

I drove through Rock Cut SP around 3:00 p.m. on my way to a meeting elsewhere.  The lake was full of boaters, paddle-wheelers, kayaks, etc., but a few birds were also present.  Most notable were 6 Rough-winged Swallows, new migrants to the area this spring.  They were flying around with a much larger number of Tree Swallows, which are continuing to build in numbers. 

No sign of the Osprey that Steve Gent saw this morning, but 2 Bonaparte’s Gulls were on the lake (and flew off while I was watching), about 12 Ruddy Ducks, some Buffleheads, 1 Ring-necked Duck, and a couple of Pied-billed Grebes.

While driving down Blair Road at Pecatonica Wetlands early this afternoon, I found a flock of 50 blackbirds.  All (40) of the Red-wings were females, and 10 blackbirds were Rusties.  I found another 8 Rusties on the west edge of the town of Shirland, in the forest where the creek passes through.