Sun 25 May 2008
Jennie and I spent the last three days birding all over Winnebago County. We started Friday morning at 0330 and finished on Sunday at around 1430. We took several breaks and even added an evening bird in our yard. Our final total birds was 133, ten more than last year’s count.
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Highlights
Pecatonica Wetlands: Sedge Wren along Blair Road, Louisiana Waterthrush; the wetlands were muddy and smelly so we didn’t walk too far.
Rock Cut State Park: 4 Cerulean Warblers (1 by the dam, 1 along the park road north of the dam, and 2 back by the shelter west of the lake in the woods), 1 Yellow-throated Warbler, 3 Blue-winged Warblers, Blackpoll Warbler, Olive-sided Flycatcher, 3 Veeries
Deer Run Forest Preserve: Black-billed Cuckoo by the railroad tracks, Orchard Oriole, American Woodcock (we were there at dusk and saw them displaying)
Yellow-crowned Night-heron - had exactly one shot before he took off
Sugar River Forest Preserve: Yellow-crowned Night-heron!!, Acadian Flycatcher, Prothonotary Warbler, Red-shouldered Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk
Pecatonica Forest Preserve: Henslow’s Sparrow
Oak Ridge Forest Preserve: a field full of 20+ Eastern Kingbirds
Anna Page Park: Bell’s Vireo northwest of the dam over the hill, White-eyed Vireo east of the dam, Orchard Oriole
Bell’s Vireo
Sugar River Alder Forest Preserve: Kentucky Warbler, Lark Sparrow
Colored Sands Forest Preserve: Prothonotary Warbler, Black-billed Cuckoo
Espenscheid Memorial Forest Preserve: 2 White-eyed Vireos, Blackburnian, Canada, Cape May, and Blackpoll Warblers
Blackhawk Springs Forest Preserve: Clay-colored Sparrow
Various Locations: Several Wood Thrushes, lots and lots of Scarlet Tanagers, Baltimore Orioles, Indigo Buntings, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, 7 species of vireos, 22 species of warblers (most requiring a lot of effort to find).
Our final bird was a Mourning Warbler in our backyard, spotted first by our mom!
All birds sighted in Winnebago County during this time frame (May 23 - May 25) count so if you saw something cool, let us know. We added a few new birds with the help of Dan Williams and the Coopers.