NCIOS - North Central Illinois Ornithological Society

UPDATE: *** Cancelled ***
Regrettably, I have decided to cancel the field trip due to the poor weather forecast which includes flash flood warnings in Lake County (where IBSP is).

As your humble leader of the field trip this Saturday, September 13th, 2008 to Illinois Beach State Park, I have decided a meeting place and time.

Meeting Place: TARGET parking lot located on Highway 173 and Alpine Road
Time: 6:45 AM - we will try to leave sharply at this time as it is about a 2 hour drive to IBSP

If you plan on attending you can email me - birdfreak@birdfreak.com or call my cell phone: 815-323-0011 (there is a typo in the printed field trip list)

Birds we plan on seeing: migrants of all kinds, shorebirds, possible Gustavian Ike blown rarities, etc.

Scopes would be nice to bring (I’ll have mine but it isn’t the greatest).

Thanks, and I hope a lot of birders will make it!!

- Eddie Callaway

Took these 2 Sept.6,08 around 8:00 a.m. at Bloom School.
Quite a few people there,including 2 couple from the Chicago Area,
along with Dave Olson,one of the area top phptographers.
One shows the adult with a Cicada in its beak.
Augie

There is a report on the IL Birder’s Forum concerning a sighting of a Western Kingbird on Stateline Road in the area of Orangeville, Stephenson Co., IL. Apparently the sighting was posted on the Wisconsin listserve (Wisbirdn) and picked up off of the Jack Siler Birdingonthe.net site.

There are no specific directions about the location of the sighting, except that Stateline Road is on the state line, and the bird was near Orangeville. If anyone goes up there and relocates the bird, please post specific directions. Thanks.

As many may have suspected, kites nested in the Bloom School neighborhood this summer. A juvenile bird, which cannot yet fly very well, is still being fed by the adults. Here are a couple of pictures.

Adult brings food

I took this photo on 8-24-08 at Bloom School about 8:15a.m.
This one was in the process of scrathing its self
Augie

I know that DuPage County is about an hour or more away, but a rare bird was discovered there today that merits an announcement. A Curlew Sandpiper, mostly molted into basic plumage, but with some brick red patches on the upper breast, a downcurved bill, some barring still on the undertail coverts, and black legs, is at a fluddle at the Green Valley Forest Preserve. The preserve is located at the intersection of IL 53 and 83rd Street in Woodridge, IL.

If you plan to go, here is a parking tip. Going S on IL 53, turn left on 83rd Street. Go up the hill past several apartment complex parking areas and turn left on to the first public street in the neighborhood. Park there and walk back down the hill (about 500 feet) and cross back over IL 53 (there is a pedestrian crosswalk push button on the pole) to the forest preserve. The fluddle is just ahead on the left. The bird was feeding in the water along the north edge of the fluddle (nearest to the gravel path). You will need to leave the gravel path a short distance into the grasses to get a spot where you can scope the fluddle without having grass in your way.

Also there (and the reason I went in the first place) is a Red-necked Phalarope and a Wilson’s Phalarope which flew in while we were watching the other phalarope!

On Friday, Aug 22, Eric Secker stopped by Bloom School to see the Mississippi Kites. He saw two adults as well as an immature. This is the first sighting of an immature bird that we have heard about. Kite-watchers should keep an eye out for the kitelet and see if there is more than one!
It is interesting to try to see what prey the kites are catching. On Wednesday Marjory Rand and I saw one of the adult kites come in to the dead elm tree carrying prey and being chased by a Chimney Swift. The prey item turned out to be another Chimney Swift! It must have been tasty because later in the day I looked under the tree and found nothing but two primary feathers from the swift.

The 2 adult Mississippi Kites were still present at Bloom School at 1:30-2:00 p.m. this afternoon. Also flying over in the vicinity was an adult Broad-winged Hawk and a distant Red-tailed Hawk. Yesterday, an immature Broad-winged Hawk was haunting the nearby trees along Westchester Drive, and a kestrel flew through. The kites are still very vocal, particularly when another raptor, like a Cooper’s Hawk or a Broad-winged, fly too close.

Caught this one on my way back from fishing 8-21-08
Augie