North Central Illinois Ornithological Society

Yesterday, Ari Shavit posted to IBET that he saw a Long-tailed Duck and Surf Scoter on Pierce Lake at Rock Cut SP. Andy Sigler called me this morning to report that the birds were still there. Andy also saw an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull standing on the ice offshore from the concession stand by the boat launch on the south side of the lake. He said that the bird flew off around 9:00 a.m.

A few days ago, I spotted a Red-tailed Hawk with white wing tags at the Olson Annex of Rock Cut SP. The tags are white with black numerals 133. Anne Straight and others had seen a tagged Red-tail there about a week or so earlier, but Anne was unable to read the wing tags.

Anne furnished me with an email address for the O’Hare airport project which is capturing and tagging Red-tails in that area, then releasing them to other places.

Today I received a reply that the Red-tail which I saw at Olson Annex was trapped and tagged at O’Hare on October 14, 2011 and released at Rock Cut SP. The project would like updates if the bird is seen again. Please report future sightings to craig.k.pullins@aphis.usda.gov

A Common Loon was on Pierce Lake at Rock Cut SP today around 12;30 p.m. Mixed in the goose flock was a Snow Goose, and many Cackling Geese, 2 pairs of Black Ducks, plus miscellaneous C. Goldeneye, 1 Bufflehead, 3 Ruddy Ducks, several Common Mergansers and 2 Hooded Mergansers. The only gulls were Ring-billed.

A Red-tailed Hawk with white shoulder tags (black numerals “133″) was in a tree along the driveway to Olson Lake parking lot. This is probably one of the birds that was trapped, tagged and relocated from the O’hare airport project.

I stopped by the Rock Cut lakes this morning to find not a lot happening. There were 6 Ring-necked Ducks at Olson Lake, and at Pierce Lake, after noting there were no Cackling Geese among the many Canadas, I counted 1 Ring-billed Gull, 6 Bonaparte’s Gulls, 4 Great Blue Herons, 100+ coots, a couple of dozen Mallards, 8 Shovelers, 2 Ruddy Ducks, 7 Horned Grebes, and 5 Pied-billed Grebes. There might have been more Pied-billeds except that Dan Williams reported seeing one gobbled by a very large Muskie a couple of days ago.

We had better weather conditions for a hawkwatch this time and better results. Clear skies with NW winds at about 15 miles per hour brought out 3 Turkey Vultures, 8 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 6 Cooper’s Hawks and 10 Red-tailed Hawks. 13 observers joined us through the course of the morning.
That still isn’t very many hawks for a sunny, breezy day during hawk migration but every day is different and we’ll take what we get. We don’t have any geologic features that help to concentrate the birds at the Rock Cut site so we will never have the numbers of birds that are seen at Hawk Ridge in Duluth or at Illinois Beach State Park. However, the site overlooking Olson Lake at Rock Cut can produce some pretty good hawk days, and it is worth spending some time there if you get the chance and the weather is conducive to hawk flights.

The second NCIOS hawk watch field trip will be held this Saturday, October 15, 2011 at the Olson Lake parking lot at Rock Cut SP from 9:00 a.m. to noon. Bring a comfortable chair and dress for the weather. No pre-registration is necessary. Just show up! Hope that we see you there.

At this morning’s hawkwatch six of us enjoyed the mild weather under cloudy skies. Counting a few birds seen while driving through the park to the hawk watch site above Olson Lake we tallied only 26 species. Unfortunately, only two of those were birds of prey. Fifteen Turkey Vultures put in an appearance when they finally came off their overnight roost and took to the air. In addition we saw one Red-tailed Hawk. Their is no reason to think that the Vultures or the Red-tail were actually migrants.
Highlights were a big flock of Cedar Waxwings, good views of perched adult and immature Turkey Vultures side-by-side, a casual count of 89 Blue Jays (we probably let 20 – 30 go by before we began counting) all headed south, and a couple of late lingering Chimney Swifts.
As a hawk watching morning it was a total bust.
By around 12:30 when I arrived at home the clouds parted, the sun shone and hawks began flying over my house. Not a huge number, but a lot more than we saw in three hours this morning. Cooper’s Hawks, Sharpshins and a couple of Broad-wings in addition to a couple of Red-tails that probably were migrants – way up high and moving in a decidedly southward direction. At one point a few circling Cooper’s and Broad-wings were joined by a Common Nighthawk – something I’ve never seen before.
Soon the clouds closed in again and the activity stopped.

Join us for some hawkwatching on Saturday Sept. 24 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon in the parking area at Olson Lake in Rock Cut State Park. There was a large movement of Broad-winged Hawks through Hawk Ridge in Duluth this past weekend, so if we are lucky we might see a lot of activity. Bring your scopes, binoculars and maybe a comfortable chair.

At the September 8th club meeting we met two young women who are working with Rock Cut State Park to establish dedicated birding trails in the park. They hope to designate four trails (one targeting each season), restricted to foot travel, that will allow individual and group bird walks to access prime birding locations.
They are seeking recommendations for trails for each season and an idea of what birds can reasonably be found on those trails. They are planning to erect signs along the trails indicating what birds should be listened for and watched for in the various spots and habitats.
You can contact them directly with your ideas. The more input, the better!

Robin Atwater – robinatwater4530@aol.com and Genevieve Clemens – freckleface2@yahoo.com

4 Black Terns were flying and hunting over Pierce Lake at Rock Cut SP at 12:15-1:15 p.m. today. All 4 birds were in partial molt to basic plumage.