Pierce Lake at Rock Cut SP held 3 Common Loons, 8 Horned Grebes and 7 Pied-billed Grebes, but the lack of waterfowl there was surprising. Again, no gulls worth mentioning. A theme is developing here. Just north of the intersection where the east end of Hart Road is gated off of the main park loop road, we had a nice assortment of birds feeding on berries–lots of Cedar Waxwings and over 20 E. Bluebirds, a Sapsucker, 5-6 Purple Finches feeding on Ash keys, etc.

En route to Rockton, we had an adult Bald Eagle soaring over the Rock River bridge on Bridge Street in Roscoe. Nygren Wetland, west of Rockton, was pretty slow with only 4 Sandhill Cranes, some GW Teal and 2 N. Shovelers, but little else except soaring Red-tails. The immature Golden Eagle reported yesterday by Martin Kehoe from 1 mile SW of the observation deck was not seen by us today. Several small groups of Sandhill Cranes were in various ag fields along our route. Another Bald Eagle, this one immature (3rd year) was seen along Yale Bridge Road near the Pecatonica River bridge crossing.

Lake Summerset was devoid of waterbirds except for a pair of Mallards and 1 Herring Gull. Yeeks. The high wind made viewing tough, but an empty lake was quite surprising.

Our last stop was Howard’s farm. The wind was fierce,but by hiding our scopes behind the car, we found at least 3 Snow Geese (1 was a blue morph). There could have been more, but the geese were sleeping and many were behind an embankment from our viewing spot.

Nygren was exceedingly quiet. A couple of Hooded Mergs, a few Green-winged Teal, and 20+ snipe, plus a few species not worth mentioning. No cranes or raptors.

Between there and Edwards, we saw only crows, doves, starlings, and Red-tails.

Migration has been somewhat desultory to date, but I returned home this morning to a cacophony of sound in my yard in Shaw Woods. Orioles, grosbeaks, tanagers, thrushes, catbirds, hummingbirds, vireos, flycatchers, and many, many, many warblers, including Palm, Myrtle, Nashville, Redstarts, Black-throated Green, Chestnut-sided, Tennessee, Black-and-White, Parula, Magnolia, Cape May, Ovenbird, and Golden-winged. All kinds of FOY stuff. A good ear will be needed on the spring count Saturday, as vegetation is so far advanced, it looks more like summer than the first week of May.

Other observations, especially for whomever is doing my old spring count area in the city between the river and Boone County: There is a Yellow-throated Warbler to be heard the pines across the road from the park-ing lot at the end of Arlington Ave, as you enter Sinnissippi Park. If you continue up the one-way road past the golf course, there is another in about a half mile, near the picnic tables just past the parking lot with a large pile of sand. A Carolina Wren was singing constantly today in the small gully between 1777 and 1805 Kings Highway. Harder to find are the ones along Spring Creek going southwest from the bridge on Bradley Rd (thanks, Steve Gent), and the one that roams the woods between my house on Bellingham Rd and the houses on the circular part of Coachman Court. There is a Broad-winged Hawk nesting somewhere in Shaw Woods, and a Barred Owl often calls there in the daytime. There are no signs of Mississippi Kites yet.

Along Hauley Rd, a short ways north of Winslow, there are Bobolinks, Grasshopper Sparrows, Savannah Sparrows, and Vesper Sparrows. Dickcissels have apparently not arrived yet there or at Nygren.

It was a pleasure yesterday to observe a Cooper’s Hawk at Sugar River in its courtship display flight, with deep exaggerated wingbeats and its white undertail coverts flared out to the sides.

Finally, I saw a Gray-cheeked Thrush standing in the road at Sugar River FP yesterday. I mention this only because this is the first year that I have seen that species before seeing a Swainson’s Thrush.

About a mile after leaving the FP, I had a Broad-winged Hawk gliding north. Continuing on to Moody Road, I could not find any shorebirds or Brewer’s Blackbirds. However, I saw two flocks of Lapland Longspurs flying around in the strong north wind–about 50 in one flock, 200 in the other.

A stop at Nygren about 9:15 yielded 2 cranes, over 75 pelicans, and a lone Pied-billed Grebe. I guess I arrived home last night after 18 days away, to find a migration in which the waterfowl have left and not much else has yet arrived.