North Central Illinois Ornithological Society

Dan and Barbara Williams have just (10 am) reported to me that Howard’s farm (see previous post) now has a Ross’s Goose and three Trumpeter Swans.

Today Jerry Rosenband and I cruised around SW Winnebago County, in hopes of finally finding a county Roughlegged Hawk this winter. We failed at that, but we saw many Horned Larks, and good numbers of both Snow Buntings and Lapland Longspurs that were coming into breeding plumage. The largest concentrations of the last two species were seen along Klinger Road, between Edwardsville Road and Montague Road. But our harbingers of spring were three meadowlarks seen along Klinger in two widely-separated spots.

I have mailed forms and maps to all team captains during the past week. The last went into the mailbox yesterday, 12/11. The captains will call you to arrange meeting time and place, etc. If you have volunteered for the Rockford count, but don’t hear from your captain by Tuesday, 12/15, please call me at 815-968-4732. I’ll follow up to be sure that you are contacted. Thank you.

I looked for the Whoopers today but could not find them. Water at Nygren this afternoon was about half skinned with ice. There were a lot of Mallards and Candas but only a half a dozen coot and only 9 Sandhills. I would be interested to hear if anyone has seen the Whoopers since the morning of Dec 3.

Barbara

Thursday afternoon, the 27th, I happened to see 40 Common Nighthawks in a tight flock flying south, fast, straight and level, at treetop height. I’ve never seen them fly that way before and I suspect that they were tired of being cold, wet and hungry and were moving South as fast a they could. Last night, the 28th, I went outside as the rain let up and the sun broke through and saw the sky explode with birds. Dozens of Common Nighthawks, Chimney swifts and Barn Swallows filled the air over our trees and the neighbors’ pastures in a frenzy of feeding. Tough time to be an insect!

Barbara Williams

I saw this one while fishing on the Rock River.( 7-31-09 )
Just a little SW of Kisnwaukee Rd. were the bridge passes over the
Kisnwaukee River and it flows into the Rock River.
Augie

Shorebirds are beginning to show up in northern IL. There have been scattered reports on IBET regarding various puddles where shorebirds are appearing, albeit for short periods of time. Nevertheless, it is useful to regularly visit those puddles while there is water in them because the birds do come and go, usually not lingering very long.

A small puddle that looks like it has been around for a long time on O’Brien road, just N of Melms Road, in NW Kane County, has attracted some Short-billed Dowitchers, one (two?) Wilson’s Phalaropes, both species of yellowlegs, Least, Spotted and Solitary Sandpipers. Willets came and went from Afton FP in DeKalb Co, as well as LaSalle Lake down by Marseilles.

There are some shorebirds at the Rockford airport quarry, but that is closed, so you have to scope from Belt Line Road, making peeps virtually impossible to identify. But, you can see yellowlegs, Spotted and Solitary Sandpipers, and Ring-billed Gulls right now. Larger shorebirds should be readily identifiable. A little further east on Belt Line, east of the radar starion, there is a storm water retention basin that has shallow water and is attracting shorebirds–I saw Spotted and Solitary Sandpipers there this evening, plus a few Lesser Yellowlegs.

Start at the location in Sinnissippi Park given in Dan Williams’s 18 June post, and continue along the loop road 0.4 miles to a point where there is a boxed sand pile on the left and a One Way sign on the right. The bird was singing today in the white pines to the right. (Dan’s birds in the park and at Winthrop and Highcrest were also singing today.)

I heard another Yellow-throated Warbler this morning, this time at Sinnissippi Park. It was calling from the White Pines at the corner of Arlington Avenue and the park loop road. There is a small parking lot on the right, and a children’s playground across the road.

The American Birding Association has just announced that NCIOS member Dakota Outcalt has won (in a tie with a young woman named Megan O’Brien) the “Writing Age 10-13″ category of the Young Birder of the Year competition. Other categories were photography, field notebook, illustration, and there is an “overall” category. Age groups are 10-13 and 14-18 in each category. The best work submitted will be featured in a future issue of BIRDING magazine. Many of the young birders who submit work to this contest are extremely talented, thoroughly engaged in birding, and work hard on their skills. The competition can be very stiff.
Good work, Dakota!

Barbara Williams