Montrose Montrose Montrose 4/28/13-5/4/13

Hi all,

I apologize for not updating this blog in a while, but I hope to get back in the hang of posting here. This spring has been awesome for birding so far, as it has delivered a lot of amazing birds already and it's only May 4th! I am going to cover my last week of birding, but have had an incredible year so far.

April 28th
I was planning on birding with Josh Engel and Nick Block to try and find some Cook County birds for my list. As Josh was coming to pick me up, I read my email and saw a post on IBET that there was a Smith's Longspur at Montrose and the relocation process was underway. I quickly called Josh to see if we could abort our trip to Bartel for the morning and make it to Montrose to try for the Longspur. He agreed and I called Nick to alert him about the bird. Nick and I needed this bird for Cook County, so he changed his plan and was on his way as well. Josh and I got there in about 15 minutes and walked straight for the beach. As we arrived, I could see Matthew Cvetas and Fran Morel looking into the grass contently. I quietly ask Matthew if they had the bird and he waved us over. In plain view was an adult Smith's Longspur! This was a lifer for me and an amazing bird in an epic plumage (ABA 510, IL 313, Cook County 270). At one point it picked up and flew and we noticed that there was a second bird we had missed behind it. A second Smith's Longspur! We pished hard to try to get them to land, and they came back down into the dunes. Here are a couple of photos of the Longspurs:

Josh later called me over to where he was while I was looking for the Longspurs to look at a Grasshopper Sparrow that they had found, another year bird for me.

Nick then arrived, and since I didn't know where the Longspurs were, we began looking. Not even a minute into looking, he asked me what was in the tree. I look up and there was a Smith's Longspur sitting in a tree at eye level! I was in disbelief. I took some photos and after watching the bird for about two minutes it picked up and left with the other Longspur. They flew hard to the west, and we lost them.

After Montrose, we made a stop at Northerly Island to see if we could find something like a Vesper Sparrow, which I still needed for the county. While at Northerly, Nick asked if it was too early for a Nelson's Sparrow. Josh replied that it was a bit too early for a Nelson's but not too early for a LeConte's. Not even two minutes after he said this did we flush a small bird from the grass. It landed on some rocks and looked straight at us. A LeConte's Sparrow! What a coincidence!

Moving on from Northerly, we stopped in Palos Heights to try for both the White-winged and Red Crossbills coming to a feeder at a womans house (they had been there for over a month). No luck here, but we then moved to Maple Lake to try for the Eared Grebe. After some searching, we found it on the opposite side of the lake with its head tucked in. Sweet! Cook County bird 271, the second one of the day. It never did lift its head up, but I got a diagnostic photo of it.

Overall an awesome morning of birding with two amazing birders. I got two county birds, one of which was a lifer for me!

May 1st
I saw on IBET that morning that someone had found a Piping Plover at Montrose. Since I am trying for 300 birds in Illinois this year, I needed to see this bird as only one or two come through Illinois every year that I can chase. I do not know of many inland records of Piping Plover (maybe a few at Carlyle Lake). It turned out that I was done with school at 1:25 that afternoon, and I had until 3:00 before I had to be somewhere. I called my dad to get permission to go to Montrose and be back within that window. He said ok, so all I had to do was find a ride. I called Jeff Skrentny who was with Randy Shonkweiler and learned that they were already at Montrose. I knew I could not get a ride there, but I asked if I could get a ride back to school. We meshed our schedules and I was able to then hail a cab from school. I usually would never do this, but since a Piping Plover was there to meet me, I could not waste any time! 10 minutes later, I paid my fare and walked straight to the beach. As I approached the waters edge, I scanned the algae mat and there was the Plover! This bird was an adult and in a really crisp plumage. It also had no bands, which is expected because the species is endangered. There are only around 6,100 of them left in the US, but I believe their population is increasing. Here are some photos of the beautiful bird:

May 4th
I awoke late this morning, after having had a track meet and hanging out with some friends the night before. I checked my email around 11 AM, and saw that Dave Antieau, Fran Morel, and Sean Pfautsch had found a Spotted Towhee at Montrose. This was a bird I still needed for the state, but my parents were out of the house until around 12:30 PM. I awaited their return and soon asked if I could make a quick trip to Montrose. Aaron Gyllenhaal had texted me at 1:15 that he got the Spotted Towhee and that the Willets and Dunlin found there that morning were still present. Three year birds, two hard to get (the Towhee and Willets). My Mom and I left around 1:15 and got there and made a straight trip to the beach. We walked up and got the Willets hiding out behind a piece of driftwood and the Dunlin scurrying around near them. Two year birds down! The Willets were year bird 167 and the Dunlin 168.

We did not spend too long here, as I wanted the Towhee more than anything now. As we began walking back to the Point we ran into photographers Jerry Goldner and Roger Shamley, who told us where the Towhee was. They also said that someone had seen the Hooded Warbler earlier and that they might have had a Philadelphia Vireo. My mom and I decided to try to relocate these finds on the way to the area the Towhee had been seen in, and we were able to find and get drop dead amazing views of the male Hooded Warbler. I have only seen one other Hooded Warbler before this one, so this was especially awesome for me. It was year bird 169 for me:

Though we didn't find the Vireo, the Hooded Warbler was a nice consolidation prize. We then proceeded to the area the Towhee was in, and right after I began to look for it I was able to spot it "dancing" on the leaf litter, trying to uncover some bugs to eat. I got some amazing views and at points was only about 10 feet from it. This was IL bird 314, Cook county bird 272, and year bird 170.

After the Towhee we birded a bit near the "clump" trying to find some other year birds and found a Baltimore Oriole (171), Swainson's Thrush (172), and Rose-breasted Grosbeak (173). Quite a day for birding, and I even got to sleep in!

Overall, this past week has been amazing for birding, and I hope it only gets better. Even though my year list is not that high, the birds have been awesome and I hope in the next couple of weeks it only gets better. Here's to a great migration!

Nathan

Montrose Western Grebes 11/11/12

Hi all,

Two Sunday's ago; I woke up late and thought I would have a relaxing day. I got the Bohemian Waxwing on that Friday, and won my competition for Robotics (a school event) on Saturday. I was hoping to relax, but when I read my email that morning, I saw that Lou Muñoz and Fran Morel had seen a Western Grebe at Montrose about a hour before I woke up. This was another bird I needed for my state list, and really wanted to see it. Luckily for my mom (who I would ask to drive me there), it had swum away and was not present at that moment. I went along with my day, and saw that at around 12:00, Jeff Skrentny refound it. It was still there!

I went to Academic Approach for my ACT prep around 2:00, and convinced my mom that we should make a run over there after. We got there soon after I got out of class, and walked out onto the fishhook pier. That was an experience in itself. The winds were ferocious, and I had to lie down on the pier just to get a stable picture. It turned out that the winds were up to 60 mph that day, and we were right on the lakefront in the middle of it. But as we walked out there, I saw Jerry Goldner photographing something in the lake. I began to scan with my binoculars, and found a Western Grebe! Illinois bird #308! But wait. I thought I saw something else, and after it rose on top of a wave, it was a second Western Grebe! Not only did I get my state bird, but also I got two of them. My mom and I walked over to Jerry, and he showed us a few of his shots. I tried to lie down on the ground, and was able to manage a few shots:

As we were watching the Grebe, Jerry called out that there was a Bonaparte's Gull in the fishhook. I looked over, and was able to get a decent shot of it:

We couldn't stay too long, and soon after arriving, my mom and I began the treacherous journey back to land, and on the way back, I took a shot of Jerry photographing into the wind. You can even see the Western Grebes off to his left as little black dots:

This was quite an experience, but then again, what do we not do for birds? Thanks for reading, and I hope I have something good to report on soon!

Nathan

Chicago Botanical Gardens Bohemian Waxwing 11/9/12

Hi all,

As I posted about yesterday, I was going to look for a Bohemian Waxwing at the Chicago Botanical Gardens today. I went with my mom (Lynne Remington) and Aaron Gyllenhaal. Aaron needed this bird for his Illinois state list (for bird 347), so it was extra important we find it today. The latest report we read stated that it was last seen at around 10:00 AM near the Sensory Garden, making that the first place we visited. We began walking towards the Garden, but saw a small flock of Goldfinches and while briefly looking at it, Aaron found a Common Redpoll. I was pleased to see it, as it was tinged a rosy color, which I had never seen before. I snapped a few shots, but soon rushed away as we had our eyes on the Waxwing.

We arrived at the Sensory Garden at around 12:15, and were told by the congregation of birders that it had not been seen since about 10:00. They said that it seemed to favor the berry bushes in front of them, and that they were going to wait for it to come back. Aaron and I did not want to wait as we didn't have that long to find it, and after thanking them for the information, we went off to look for it around the area. We were going to walk to where we had the Redpoll before for some photos, but on the way Aaron found 6 more Redpolls. They soon flew off, but as Aaron looked in the direction they were flying, he spotted a group of 8-10 birds flying over. We decided they were Waxwings, so we tried to see where they would land. After watching them descend on some willows, we walked over to find them. Waxwings like to feed in big groups, which will attract more waxwings. We figured that these waxwings were going to lead us to more waxwings, and that the Bohemian might be feeding with them.

We walked only a short distance until we found around 70 Cedar Waxwings. All that was left for us to do was to "sort" through them until we found our prize! Unfortunately, the rest of the birders were waiting back at the Gardens, so it was just us over there. As we were sorting, two birders came over and helped us look. After about 10 minutes, some people walking by were curious about what we were doing. I told them that we were looking for a Bohemian Waxwing, which lives up north from Illinois and is very rare. I said it had a red undertail and was much bigger than the Cedar Waxwings around us. As I said that, I looked up to check a bird, and noticed it had red undertail coverts. It took a second to process, but I then shouted, "There it is! Oh my gosh! GOT IT!!!"

The Bohemian was feeding right above our heads, and stayed around for a good 3 minutes before flying off. It allowed amazing views, and practically posed for the small group of people looking at it. Unfortunately the big group of people came over a bit later, and did not see the bird for another hour after we left. This was Illinois State bird #307 and US Life Bird #505. Here are a few of my photos of this amazing Waxwing:

I hope I can track down some Evening Grosbeaks in Illinois soon, as they were my original targets for the winter. I must thank my mom for the speedy driving there and helping us look for the bird. It was an awesome day. Also thanks to Al Stokie for finding this bird.

Good birding and thanks for reading!

Nathan

Montrose Black-legged Kittiwake 11/3/12

Hi all,

This past weekend, I birded with Ethan, Aaron, and Eric Gyllenhaal of Oak Park (near Chicago). They are crazy young birders who seem to traverse the state for every bird they want/need to see. This past Saturday, the winds looked very promising for lakewatching at Gillson Park, in Wilmette. This is the premier spot to lakewatch in Illinois, as it seems to be the spot that birds pass closest to when flying out over the lake. We were hoping for something rare or uncommon like a Black-legged Kittiwake, a Jaeger of any species, or something better. We did not see any of those, but it was a good day for Scoters since we had 17 of them. We had one close flying female Black Scoter, called out by long-time birder Al Stokie, and 7 identified White-winged Scoters. The rest of them were either dark-winged (Surf or Black) Scoters or just Scoter species.

While there, I was continuously updating my phone to see if the Evening Grosbeak that had been seen the day before in a backyard in Mundelein had come back. But since it hadn't, we were staying a bit longer at Gillson before going to try and find Aaron some Red Crossbills for his **Big Year** (he denies the fact that he is doing one, but he got 306 for the year in Illinois on Saturday). Aaron suddenly called out at random at one point, "Black-legged Kittiwake at Montrose! Sitting in the water, found by Michelle Devlin." After the words Black-legged Kittiwake, I shouted, "Lets go!" and we were off.

We arrived at Montrose after only 25-30 min of driving, and as we got to the concrete steps, we could not see any birders. But Aaron was not deterred, and after setting up the scope, he found something floating in the water. He put the scope on it, and there it was! It was an immature Black-legged Kittiwake, ABA bird #504, and Illinois State bird #306. This day could not have gotten any better. The original looks were not great, but the bird eventually drifted in closer to the shoreline, allowing great photo opps:

At this point, more birders showed up, and we eventually spotted Michelle, huddled on the steps keeping warm. She told us that earlier the Kittiwake was flying only 10 feet above the heads of some fisherman. We really wanted to see it fly, and not even ten minutes after saying that, it decided to get up and stretch. It flew away from us at first, but then turned around and flew right towards us, at eye level. It passed about 20 feet in front of all of us, and allowed amazing looks. This was an awesome way to get a lifer!

Also, while at Montrose, we had a group of about 40 Snow Buntings land on the concrete stairs. They quickly got up and flew out over the lake, and I was able to get a few pictures before they were too far out:

I took a short video of the Kittiwake, which I compiled with some other rarity clips from this past winter. The Kittiwake video starts at :53:

Tomorrow I will be looking for the Bohemian Waxwings that were found at the Chicago Botanical Gardens yesterday with Aaron Gyllenhaal. Perhaps I will also get an Evening Grosbeak or two this weekend!

Good Birding!

Nathan

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher on 10/21/12 in Cook County

Hi all,

This weekend was very busy, and following the Burrowing Owl in Chicago, the number of rarities in the Midwest only will increase. I was really hoping for something rare to show up this past week in Chicago, but the main push of migrants was on the weekend. Unfortunately, I was not in town because I had to go up to Northfield, Minnesota to look at St. Olaf and Carleton colleges. While I was gone, a few rarities landed in Illinois, mainly a Golden-crowned Sparrow in deep southern Illinois (Wayne County), and a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher at Willowhill Golf Course in Northbrook, near Chicago. The flycatcher was only about 20 miles from my house and would be a state bird for me.

After arriving in Chicago on Sunday at around 11:00 PM, I convinced my Mom to take me to see the bird after I did some homework. It took about 40 minutes to get there, and we arrived at Willowhill at about 2:30. Looking at the birders there, they seemed to be watching the bird, so I made a mad dash up the hill and got my state Scissor-tailed Flycatcher! This was Illinois State bird 305 and Cook County bird 259. Here are some photos:

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

While there, we also saw a few raptors such as this Red-tailed Hawk, which sat up nicely on a pine tree, and a Sharp-shinned Hawk which flushed out of a hedge and right over our heads. It was a really beautiful day to be out, and it was made even better by the new state bird.

Red-tailed Hawk

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Thanks for reading!

Nathan

Montrose BURROWING OWL 10/6/12

Hi all,

I went out birding last Saturday, and it was an amazing day that I will always remember. I haven't updated my blog in a while, but I am making a new resolution to update it more often. I will be posting later this month about my trip this summer to the Cascades in Washington State. Anyways, last weekend looked really good for rarities to show up, mainly because the weather patterns developing over the week were prime material to push western vagrants to the east. I love chasing rarities, so I was really hoping for something like a Rock Wren or a Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch. But one bird that did not cross my mind was a Burrowing Owl. The last one seen in the Chicago area was on October 28th of 2008. I started birding in May of 2009, so none have been seen in northern Illinois since I became a birder. Before the 2008 record, the last one found up north was in the 1980s. The Burrowing Owl in 2008 was seen at Montrose Point, but was flushed so many times by birders that the local Cooper's Hawk got it. Many people were quite angry with that, since it was such a rare bird and they couldn't see it. But now many people up in northern Illinois got another chance:

Josh Engel and Onesmus Kioko picked me up Saturday morning at 6:40 AM. Kioko is from Kenya, and is currently working at the Field Museum with Josh learning how to prep bird specimens. Josh was leading a trip on Saturday for the Illinois Ornithological Society (IOS), and we were planning to meet at Montrose. We arrived at around 7 AM and began walking towards the beach. Already down there were Jerry Goldner, Rob Curtis, and some other local birders (Jerry had actually found the owl before us but we had no idea, and until he told us, we thought we had found it). Our group made it down to the beach and began walking towards the large Cottonwoods, walking towards the lakeshore. As we got up near the top of the hill, Josh turned to his right, saw a bird in flight, and called out, "OWL!" I frantically scanned to see where he was looking and saw a smaller owl that appeared to be a small Short-eared Owl. I only was able to see it for about 2-3 seconds before it landed on the ground. Josh and I exchanged glances, and he stated, "I think that was a Burrowing Owl." That sure got the adrenaline pumping...

The group began to formulate a plan on how to find this bird, but did not want to flush it, as it was sitting down in the dune grass. I saw Fran Morel walking towards the beach, and got his attention, asking him to come over quickly. I told him we had a "possible" Burrowing Owl and Josh called Bob Hughes to round up all the birders down by the water. Fran began to walk with our group of seven to see if we could view the bird from a different angle. Not even two seconds had gone by before Fran stated to us, "I'm looking right at the bird."I ran over to his side, and right in front of me, about 30-40 yards away, was a Burrowing Owl.

We eventually found a place a bit farther back in the dune to view this bird, ensuring that it was not stressed. We then saw Bob and his assembled group approaching us to look at it, and we directed them around the bird so the bird was safe. This bird was a lifer -- a bird one has never seen in their lifetime -- for some, and a state bird for the rest of the group. We begin to pass around the idea of posting to IBET (the listserv for Illinois), but decided to hold off for a bit. We were worried that if too many people came, the bird might get harassed and perhaps find its way into the talons of another Raptor again. On Saturday, the raptors at Montrose were amazing as well. Including the Burrowing Owl, we had 9 species of raptor:

Burrowing Owl
Short-eared Owl
Northern Harrier
Merlin (I missed it)
Red-tailed hawk
Osprey (I missed it)
Peregrine Falcon
Cooper's Hawk
Sharp-shinned Hawk

Eventually, we figured out that we were able to see the Owl from the Fishook Pier, which made the situation for the owl much better, and made it so we could tell the bird world. The Dune at Montrose is a fragile ecosystem, and the more people walking in it, the worse off it will be. We figured out that we could, indeed, see the bird very well from the pier, and make sure that nobody would walk through the dune at all while the bird was there. We then posted to IBET, and people began streaming in. I estimated that over two hours, over a hundred people came to see this bird, and people continued to visit throughout the day. This was one famous owl to say the least. Personally, it was my 304 bird in Illinois and my 9th species of owl in the state. This was even a county bird for Andy Siegler, one of the most notorious county listers in the state, and who has seen over 395 species of bird in Illinois. Below are some pictures of it, as well as some of the raptors present at Montrose. Also, there are a few photos of the birders watching the owl:

Burrowing Owl

Burrowing Owl

Northern Harrier

Birders looking at the owl

Birders looking at the owl

Short-eared Owl

Short-eared Owl

Short-eared Owl

Thanks for reading, and I will have another post soon!

Nathan

Quito Botanical Gardens 3/18/12

Buenos dias!

Greetings from Ecuador! I am here on Spring Break right now with my family, and today was our first day in Quito. We decided to spend our day exploring La Parque de Carolina which is about a three minute walk from our hotel. Here, we visited the Quito Botanical Gardens. The birding was great knowing we are in a huge city. We only saw 9 species on this trip, but some were very interesting.

We arrived at the Gardens around 9:00 AM and I immediately found a very close and well lit Great Thrush, a very common bird in Quito.

Great Thrush

Upon entering the gardens, I was immediately entranced by the life buzzing around me. There were dragonflies everywhere and I was hearing the very loud chip notes of a Sparkling Violetear perched on a tree limb. I took a few minutes to get some pictures of the dragonflies. It turns out that I found myself two lifers. I emailed Dennis Paulson to see if he knew what they were and he was able to identify them for me:

Rhionaeschna marchali

Sympetrum gilvum

Our main bird targets  were Black Flowerpiercer and Black-tailed Trainbearer. We had success with both, although the Flowerpiercers were very flighty and hard to see well. We encountered the Flowerpiercers about five minutes into our walk.

Black Flowerpiercer

Black Flowerpiercer

From here, we continued on and found a Sparkling Violetear feeding on some flowers, glistening in the sunlight. I was unable to get any photos of it, but while watching, I caught a glimpse of a small gray bird flying over me. I followed it into a rose bed, and was able to refind it. I got some pictures of it and when I got back to the hotel in the afternoon, I found out I had seen a Southern-beardless Tyrannulet!

Southern-beardless Tyrannulet

Continuing on, I found one of the coolest birds of the trip: a Swainson's Thrush. This bird will be back in Chicago in about 2 months!

But in Ecuador there is always something else around the corner. After the Thrush, my mom soon found a Passerine in the top of the trees. I got a glimpse of it, and the first thought that popped into my head was that it was a Vireo. I took some photos and sent them to a few people this afternoon. It turns out it was a Yellow-green Vireo, my second lifer of the trip.

We continued on to find the part of the gardens that had the crops the Incan's had planted back in the 13th Century, but along the way we stopped again for a Black-tailed Trainbearer feeding

While watching this magnificent bird, I noticed two Rufous-collared Sparrows begging for me to take their photo:

Adult Rufous-collared Sparrow

Juvenile Rufous-collared Sparrow 

After we found the Incan portion of the Gardens, we were getting hot and decided to call it a day. Tomorrow I will be off to Yanacocha for some Hummingbirds and who knows what else! Hope you enjoyed this taste of Ecuador!

Nathan