Bob and Andrea, the homeowners, have given birders permission to view the bird from their side yard. The feeder is in the side yard on the east side of the house. It is on a hook attached to the trunk of a very large tree just in front of a orange-brown fence. The bird perches in a bush below a window on the east side of their house or in the top of a young tree growing in the parkway in front. Please do not go closer to the feeder than a line running east from their front porch. That is, don’t go N of the front porch if it was extended east. Pictures will be hard to get from there, but that is the way it goes.

They may have a guest book out. Please sign it. It will be an eye-opener for them, and a lot of interest to their children, to see how far birders will come to see this bird in their yard.

Good luck.

I was driving west on Auburn when he called, so I immediately headed for the airport. When I arrived, I checked the fence lines he described and saw 2 or 3 kingbirds way, way down the fence line to the east. 1 was lighter than the other two from the back view, so it was probably Tom’s bird, but it was too far away for me to identify with 10X binoculars. I didn’t have a scope. Within 10 minutes, Larry and Donna Balch arrived with 2 scopes, but by then, no kingbirds of any species were visible. We looked for at least 30 more minutes, including a drive over to Baxter Road near the Kilbuck FP entrance, but still no kingbirds. If seen in the morning, I will call the NCIOS hotline again and also post on IBET.

There is a log jam at the confluence of Spring Creek and the Rock River, about 1 block north of the Auburn Street bridge, where the Herring Gulls have been roosting in the evening, so we headed up there. This location is one block north of Auburn Street along the Rock River. The log jam is best viewed from upper Harlem Blvd. on the west bank of the river. Upon arrival, Barbara immediately spotted the Laughing Gull swimming in the river among the log jam. We didn’t have a scope, and the light was fading fast, but were able to call another birder who lives in the neighborhood (he was at the Armory about to count swifts, too!) so he drove up with his scope. I suspect that the gull will spend the night there and may still be present very early tomorrow morning.

We headed back to the armory and watched hundreds of swifts fly into the chimney until about 9:10 or so.

The bird was still there today, Sunday. First notice of the sighting was relayed to the NCIOS telephone calling network.

Now, a second adult male Barrow’s Goldeneye has been discovered today by Mike Madsen and Andy Sigler at Lock and Dam 13, but on the Iowa side of the river. And, they saw the adult male Barrow’s at Port Byron, too!

Vonnie reports that it has not been seen since December 30. Then the warm weather set in overnight. She reports that the number of birds at their feeder have declined quite a bit since then.

It may be that it will take another good snow to bring the birds back to the feeder. If the towhee is relocated, I will post its return.

Martin Kehoe reports that a male Spotted Towhee showed up at their feeder today in the storm. Folks are welcome to wait inside their home if they are there. If they are out, the place to look is from the south side of the garage, between the garage and the firewood supply. From there, look north toward the feeders. Their number is 815-629-2334.