Field Trip Reports

I’d gone back and forth on coming to the Carlyle Lake trip. It was supposed to rain locally, and I didn’t know if it would be worth it. I knew a good front have moved in overnight, and I had hopes of some warblers and sparrows. After a sleepless night, I got up at 5 AM, already running behind. We were all supposed to meet up in Carlyle at 6:30 AM. It was an hour and twenty minute’s drive, and that didn’t include breakfast before or parking afterwards. Hurriedly grabbing almost everything I needed for the day (camera, binoculars, scope, tripod, water, etc.- y’all know the list) I left my snacks behind. The rain outside was a slight deterrent, but I assumed that it would lessen as I drove north to Carlyle. I was initially wrong about this.

The rain only picked up, and by Pinckneyville it was quite steady, forcing me to slow down for safety. As I drove through the dark, occasionally rolling down the window and letting the raindrops splash me to keep myself awake, listening to Paul Simon sing away on his Graceland album, my cruise control quit working and the check engine light came on.

Birding has always been escapism for me. If I don’t know what to do with myself, I just jump in the car and go looking for birds. I’m not always sure what to do to escape from birding- how do you go about escaping from escapism? My instincts were screaming at me to turn around, to turn back before I ended up breaking down on the side of the road. I was already running late- it was 5:50 AM- I’d slept only a few hours- surely it was too early in the morning for me to be safely driving in the rain?

Paul Simon’s song “Gumboots” came over the Bluetooth speaker:

“It was in the early morning hours
When I fell into a phone call
Believing I had supernatural powers
I slammed into a brick wall
I said hey, is this my problem?
Is this my fault?
If that’s the way it’s going to be
I’m going to call the whole thing to a halt.”

Then, as it often did, my stubborn streak overcame my anxiety. I turned off the music to listen for any weird noises, heard none, and put it back on. The car would pull through, or else. I was going to be late, but I wasn’t about to be VERY late. I’d paid to go on this trip, and I’d go on this trip. There was a good chance of a lifer Parasitic Jaeger or Brown Pelican out on the boat trip, after all, and I’d be furious with myself if I gave up then.

The rain broke near Carlyle, though as a reminder, gray clouds hung overhead, in the cool light of dawn. I pulled into the McDonalds parking lot where we’d agreed to meet up, at 6:40 AM. Everyone was already outside and I hurried over to join the group, spotting the familiar face of trip leader Keith McMullen as I did so. Keith drove at the head of the line of six or seven cars. Carpooling with him were Scott Latimer, Susan Miller-Zelek, and I.

Our first stop of the day was at the Dam West Boat Ramp, where a flock of Forster’s Terns greeted us. One of the terns in the flock was quite a bit darker and smaller- a Black Tern. Scopes were immediately trained on the flock of gulls on the breakwater, and further out where the terns foraged among the waves of the lake. If you turn 15 birdwatchers loose with scopes on any flock of birds, a rarity is almost certain to appear. This proved to be the case, as a Franklin’s Gull and two Herring Gulls materialized out of the flock of Ring-billed Gulls on the breakwater. Our most hoped-for bird, a Sabine’s Gull Keith McMullen had spotted the night before, failed to appear. However, eleven Little Blue Herons flying out over the lake proved a significant bonus.

Also, I’m going to give a shout-out to the Great Blue Heron that thinks he’s a gull and keeps landing on the breakwater and hunkering down with the gulls. I’ve seen him a few times now, and he never fails to amuse.

Having dissected the flock on the breakwater (visually, not literally) we got back in our cars and drove down the road to Eldon Hazlet State Park. Thousands of Tree Swallows swarmed over the fields on our way there, flying low due to the winds. It was a spectacle to behold, but it also indicated our biggest problem of the day- the weather. First came this wind- the warblers hid out in the bushes to avoid it instead of popping up to see us, though we did have a Blackburnian Warbler along the entrance road.

We found passerines in pockets out of the wind along the road, and soon we’d gotten great looks at Chestnut-sided Warblers, Black-and-White Warblers, Scarlet Tanagers, Magnolia Warblers, and many Rose-breasted Grosbeaks (about 30 at Eldon Hazlet!) Ospreys were constantly flying over the lake, and we noted one Canada Goose and Bald Eagle that seemed to follow us in the air. We hit upon one pocket that produced a Red-breasted Nuthatch, White-eyed Vireos, a Philadelphia Vireo, several American Redstarts, and more. We also got to hear a Barred Owl call, though we never saw it as it was hidden in the trees. On our way out, we had thousands of swallows fly low alongside the car- mostly Tree Swallows, although a couple of Barn Swallows and even a Cliff Swallow were noted.

The rains came in as we crossed over to South Shore State Park and looked at a couple of Cape May Warblers. We took a break for lunch and grabbed some fast food while it rained. After the rain passed, the wind picked up yet again as we went off to Keysport to look for the Brown Pelican. This was likely to be unsuccessful, as the Brown Pelican in question was about half a mile out, if it was there at all. While unsuccessfully staring into a mass of pelicans and cormorants on the islands half a mile out, Keith got a phone call from the boat rental. While not forbidding us to go out, they recommended that we stay onshore, as the high winds had stirred up up considerable waves that would leave us soaked and tossed about on the pontoon boats. Looking out at the comparatively shallow water in front of us, we could see whitecaps- and in the deeper waters we’d planned to boat on, the waves would only be stronger. A gust of wind sent a collective chill down our spines.

This was the point at which the Carlyle Lake Pelagic Trip became the Carlyle Lake Bi-State Trip. It was a fairly unanimous decision among the birders present to go over to Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary in Missouri and see some of the shorebirds there, rather than grow wet and seasick on a pelagic trip. I ended up in the front seat, as Scott Latimer had to leave. We spotted a Red-shouldered Hawk on the drive over, and talked about how we first became interested in birding as the sun broke out of the clouds.

Riverlands was all we hoped for- the shorebirds were out and about, the sun was shining and it was in the 70s- absolutely perfect conditions. The long-staying Willet, Marbled Godwit, and pair of Ruddy Turnstones were clearly visible, if slightly distant. We talked to some of the local birders and scoped out the mudflats. Some of the group walked down along the edge of the fields and found a Sedge Wren. We also found three Baird’s Sandpipers sitting on the mudflats near the edge of the road, which provided excellent views of this species. A Peregrine Falcon flew down along the mudflat in front of us, and the Baird’s Sandpipers crouched down into the mud instead of flying. It worked, because the Peregrine missed them and continued on southwards.

We found an American Golden-Plover associating with some Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal, as well as a few Caspian Terns. Riverlands as usual was a joy to birdwatch, and going there was far preferable to being tossed about on a boat in the middle of Carlyle Lake.

Some of our group left us at this point, and the remainder drove back, yet again, to Carlyle Lake, looking out for that Sabine’s Gull again. The winds and rain had departed, and with the sun to our backs we scoped out the lake one last time. Unfortunately, the Sabine’s Gull refused to show itself, and so we went off to supper. Perhaps the day hadn’t gone as planned, but it was still a fun adventure and I had absolutely no regrets about going on the trip.

PS- I ended up getting my lifer Brown Pelican at Crab Orchard Lake in Williamson county, Illinois, a couple of weeks later. I didn’t expect to get that as a lifer in the Midwest, but after missing all of the previous five seen this year in Illinois, I was pretty thrilled to finally get a good look at one.

PSS- My check engine light has not turned back on since that trip. Fingers crossed!

by Jared Gorrell

Despite high water conditions, field trip participants were able to observe more than 100 species over the course of the IOS Shorebirding Weekend, including more than 15 species of shorebirds. Expert field trip leaders made the most of the situation and scoured the Illinois River area for birds with willing participants benefiting from their efforts.

Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge, which typically holds thousands of shorebirds this time of year when mudflats are exposed, instead was alive with big numbers of waterfowl taking advantage of the high water condition including Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, and American White Pelicans. Raptors were well represented by Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Cooper’s Hawk, several Bald Eagles, Red-tailed Hawk, Peregrine Falcon, and American Kestrel. Swallows filled the air over the crossdike with all five species represented with especially large numbers of Bank, Tree, and Northern Rough-winged Swallows.

At lunch, participants retreated to the cool environs of the Dickson Mounds State Museum. Arriving at the museum, a surprise Barred Owl was heard cackling mid-day near the parking lot. Inside, attendees were treated to lunch and a great shorebird ID talk by Geoff Williamson.

On Sunday, one field trip took a pontoon boat out on Thompson Lake at Emiquon Preserve where huge groups of swallows were gathered. Small numbers of Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs were seen along the lake edges along with a summering group of Snow Geese. An American Golden-Plover gave great views from the boat. While navigating, at one point, the boat got stuck in a shallow spot. Thanks to a few volunteers, the group was able to get back to the boat launch safely, where we wrapped up the weekend.

On May 12, IOS sponsored a field trip to Mississippi Palisades State Park and nearby wildlife areas near Savanna (Carroll County) along the Mississippi River in northwest Illinois. As the weekend approached, cold weather and rain were forecast, with overnight lows in the 40s and daytime highs only reaching the low 50s. As leader, I hoped that the rain and thunderstorms would miss us, or at least give the group a chance to see some birds before the weather forced us into shelter. The weather worked out better than I had hoped. Even though it was cold and damp, the wind died down from Friday and the rain stopped just before dawn on Saturday.

The Mississippi River was running very high and a lot of low-lying areas were flooded and closed, such as Thomson Causeway, Diehl Road, the marsh along the entry road to Lost Mound, and all of the flood bottom agricultural fields bordering the river on the west side of IL 84 north of Savanna. The flooding prevented us from getting access to some of the areas we hoped to visit.

We birded Mississippi Palisades SP, the public areas of the Lost Mound unit of the Upper Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge (including Army Depot Road), Spring Lake (also a part of the NWR south of Savanna), Ayers Sand Prairie Nature Preserve and vicinity, a subdivision south of Savanna that has feeders and Purple Martin nest houses, and Doty Road.

The group saw 25 species of warblers, a nice total that included Cerulean (great looks for all!), Kentucky (another great look!), multiple Yellow-throated, and Hooded (another great look!), and a very cooperative male Summer Tanager. 23 of the warbler species were seen at Palisades. We also found all 7 species of woodpeckers in the park, completing a woodpecker slam with 3 sapsuckers.

After the state park we moved on to Lost Mound. On the way, we had a pair of Trumpeter Swans in a flooded field along IL 84. On Army Depot Road, we found a nice variety of dabbling ducks, including a drake American Wigeon. We were unsuccessful in locating the Cattle Egret that was in the marsh the day before. At Lost Mound, we had 6 Northern Mockingbirds, Lark and Grasshopper Sparrows, our only Blue Grosbeak and Dickcissel of the day, and a spectacle of 250+ Cedar Waxwings feasting on Cedar berries.

Satisfied with our Lost Mound results, we headed for lunch in Savanna. While most of us were eating lunch, Cindy and Ethan Brown scouted Doty Road. That road often has mudflats for shorebirds, but not that day. High water flooded the low spots. Ethan found a Short-billed Dowitcher at a distance, the only shorebird highlight of the day.

After lunch, we drove to Spring Lake. On the scouting day, we walked the entire 4 mile circumference of the levee system. Because of the forecast thunderstorm, we limited the trip to a hike to the overlook on the east levee and some scoping from the parking area. We were pleased to find 3 Common Gallinules from the overlook. Other species included another pair of Trumpeter Swans, multiple Sora, a Least Bittern and distant looks at Black and Forster’s Terns. Several Marsh Wrens were singing from the cattails. We avoided walking out one of the secondary levees to look for a male Yellow-headed Blackbird seen there the day before because we found a pair of Sandhill Cranes on it with a very young colt. Because of the high water in the lake, there was no place that the adults could move the chick that would not involve a direct confrontation with birders. We agreed to leave the crane family undisturbed.

Ayers Sand Prairie had one of the most wanted birds of the trip-Loggerhead Shrike. We found it fairly quickly thanks to Davida’s keen hearing. She heard it singing from inside a cedar as their car passed by. The bird emerged and flew to several shrubs and a fence line, giving terrific flight views.

Leaving the shrike, we headed for the subdivision with Purple Martins and Eurasian Tree Sparrows, finding both quickly and in adjoining properties. The Martins completed a swallow sweep.

The day ended for most of the group on Doty Road, where we were unable to find Ethan’s dowitcher, but we added Lesser Yellowlegs and Least Sandpiper.

Davida and Dale Kalina and Ted Wolff decided to return to Lost Mound in the evening to look and listen for some night birds. They recorded 3 Woodcocks, 2 Whip-poor-wills and 2 Henslow’s Sparrows.

Including the 3 species found by the evening group , the trip list was 138 species, a pretty respectable total considering that there was no shorebird habitat.

We had a great group who all contributed to finding and sharing birds with the others. I particularly thank Cindy and Ethan Brown for all of their great scouting help on Friday and for finding a lot of birds (Ethan has great hearing!) for the group, and to the entire group for their excellent birding skills and good humor and company. I had a great time birding with them in one of my favorite areas of the state.

Dan Williams

Let’s see….

Foggy, raining, and cold after our first two gorgeous spring days of 2018 here in Illinois??

It can only mean one thing—

I must be leading a bird walk for Smith’s Longspurs!!! Believe me—rain dances ain’t got nothing on my Longspur walks…

In all actuality, we could not have had three more perfect days to set this walk up — two days of the first hard south winds of the year to allow major migratory movement and then a wicked cold front to jam that in its tracks and keep everything on the ground.

We had birds everywhere, finishing this part of the day with the same great Longspur looks with which we began it.

We counted at least 186 Smith’s Longspurs, had an American Bittern fly-by, and enjoyed a potpourri of other birds. I’ll attach our lists below.

After a quick re-fuel, I took a few of our crew to the ParkLands Foundation’s Merwin Nature Preserve for Woodpecker-palooza (at least 39 birds and six of our seven species, only missing the Pileateds that are there), a Great Horned Owl, and bunches of other fun things. That list will also be below

Thanks everyone for turning out and making for such a fun morning!!

By Matthew Fraker

Twenty-six intrepid observers participated in the third Loonapaloonza mini-coach tour of some lakes in both McHenry and Lake counties.

Bagels, muffins and coffee were provided to all and a group of ten of us stayed for lunch at Gale Street Inn.

Loonwise: Highlights included 49 Common Loons on various lakes and 289 American White Pelicans. Three adult Bald Eagles were seen thermaling overhead and an immature eagle had a fish in its talons on Lake Marie. Many Red-breasted Mergansers were observed and a few migrant Turkey Vultures were noted. The rarest bird noted was an adult Great Black-backed Gull on Petite Lake (a new gull for any Looney Trip and always rare inland).

We ended our tour at Almond Marsh where many puddle ducks were seen including Gadwall, Ring-necked Ducks, American Wigeon, Bufflehead plus nesting Great Blue Herons and Double-crested Cormorants.

All-in-all a sunny loon and pelican filled day!

It has been several years since IOS hosted an out of state birding trip. The increasing reports of boreal species motivated us to select Sax-Zim Bog as a kick off to what we hope is an annual “Out of State” addition to the field trip schedule. Each year we will do our best to select a location which will help build your life list.

On Thursday, February 1st, Linda Cames, Lois Cross, Ted Wolff, Scott and Ethan Ellis, Ben and Oliver Burrus, Nancy Tikalsky, Michael Sweeney, Anna Szal and Tyler Funk assembled for what would be a rewarding couple of days at Sax-Zim Bog and the surrounding area. With just enough light for some afternoon birding, a handful of us met up on Thursday evening to make an early assault on the bog. Northern Shrike, Common Redpoll, Common Raven, Great Gray Owl, Black-billed Magpie, and Ruffed Grouse were a couple of highlights.

Thursday night/Friday morning, a cold front passed through the area, dipping the temperature down to -22 degrees. As we walked out to warm up our vehicles, it was so cold it felt as if everything was compressed, as though everything was at its shattering point. Fortunately, all the cars started, and despite the extreme cold, all field trip members were in their cars and ready for the day by 7am.

Our first target was Great Gray Owl, which have pockets of established territories around the bog. Before long we were on our first Great Gray. We tallied three within the first couple of hours, so we moved on to our next target, the Three-toed Woodpecker. This target required a modest march into a section of Boreal forest along Blue Spruce Road. The Three-toed Woodpecker is a regular but casual winter visitor, primarily restricted to extreme northern Minnesota forests. Here they are a specialist on bark beetles, gathering them while pecking and scaling the bark of trees. Like Emperor Penguins huddled against the cold, we waddled our way towards a location where these birds have previously been seen. We dipped on this woodpecker and would dip another two times before circling this species as a miss for the field trip. We retreated from the cold boreal forest, glad to be back in a warm vehicle. Our next stop was at a Sharp-tailed Grouse lek, which is also conveniently located near a home with bird feeders along Owl Avenue. We tallied 12 Sharp-tailed Grouse, either on the lek, or under the bird feeders. Here, we also quickly spotted our first Pine Grosbeak for the field trip. A Mourning Dove was also spotted at these feeders on Saturday. Mourning Dove is considered a good find for this area during the winter. We then proceeded to some domesticated birding at Mary Lou’s Feeders in the northwestern portion of the bog. At least this season, this is the most reliable spot for Pine and Evening Grosbeaks. Both were present and provided decent photo ops. We traveled back east along Zim Road and made our way to McDavitt Road.

A short hike from the road and we were quickly on a Northern Hawk Owl, another target bird. The Northern Hawk Owl gave us excellent views in perfect light, making for amazing photo opportunities. The barring and texture of this bird’s feathers make it one of the most handsome owls.

On or way to lunch, we made our way along Lake Nicholas Road to search for Black-backed Woodpeckers, another cryptic target. The Black-backed Woodpecker is a permanent resident, migrant, and winter visitor primarily in northern forested areas of the state. It is a specialist on wood-boring beetles, which it extracts by scaling and pecking the bark of trees, much like the Three-toed Woodpecker. The Black-backed Woodpecker is typically found feeding in areas affected by fire, wind, or other disturbances. The woodpeckers would, not surprisingly, prove to be difficult targets. We missed on this attempt but would later find one here on Saturday afternoon. During the morning birding, continual reports of Boreal Owl sightings along the north shores of Lake Superior were coming in. So, naturally, discussions of pursuing this target on Saturday started. We broke for lunch in Cotton, MN and made our plans for the afternoon. We decided to make a stop at the Visitor Center after lunch to look for Gray jays and a Hoary Redpoll. Both birds proved to be easily found here. On the way to the visitor center, a Northern Goshawk was seen for a moment, passing over the lead vehicle and quickly disappearing over some trees. The remainder of the afternoon was spent making fruitless woodpecker attempts and cruising the bog for Ruffed Grouse, Great Gray Owls and Black-billed Magpie.

On Saturday, having made the decision to relocate to the Duluth area the day prior, we got another cold and early start. Boreal Owl was on the menu and everyone was ready to order. We got into the proper area around 7:20am and with Mallards flying past, we made our plan of attack. Some would scan along Superior Street while others would cruise up Scenic Rt.61. We got about 40 minutes into our search when word came in about a Boreal Owl along Scenic 61. We made notifications and eventually got everyone on the bird. This can be a tough bird to find, so everyone was delighted to have this on our list of successes. We traveled back to Lake Nicholas Road, where we were also successful in locating a Black-backed Woodpecker, a surprise Great Gray Owl, and a large flock of Pine Grosbeaks. We dipped again on the Three-toed Woodpecker at this point and decided this one would remain a scratch for our target birds. The rest of the afternoon was filled with checking the Admiral Road bird feeders, taping for Boreal Chickadee, and lastly, another stop by the Visitor Center.

A portion of the group head to Hwy. 2 North of Two Harbors, MN on Sunday morning and picked up Red Crossbills and Spruce Grouse.

The group all added some valuable life birds to the list and everyone had a very good time.

Trip List:

Trumpeter Swan (Wisconsin)
Canada Goose
Mallard
Common Goldeneye
Red-breasted Merganser
Northern Harrier (Wisconsin)
Red-tailed Hawk
Rough-legged Hawk (Wisconsin)
Northern Goshawk
Bald Eagle
Spruce Grouse
Ruffed Grouse
Sharp-tailed Grouse
Wild turkey
Herring Gull
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Great Gray Owl
Boreal Owl
Northern Hawk Owl
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Black-backed Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Northern Shrike
Blue jay
Gray Jay
Black-billed Magpie
Common Raven
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
European Starling
Bohemian Waxwing
Northern Cardinal
Dark-eyed Junco
Snow Bunting
Evening Grosbeak
Pine Grosbeak
Red Crossbill
Common Redpoll
Hoary Redpoll
House Sparrow

by Tyler Funk

My First “Pelagic” Trip

“I’m not talkin’ ’bout pleasure boatin’ or day sailin’. I’m talkin’ ’bout workin’ for a livin’. I’m talkin’ ’bout sharkin‘ (pelagic birdin’)!” – Quint, Jaws (1975).

There’s few occasions where I’ve birded sunup to sundown. In fact, the only one I can think of
was my first Christmas Bird Count last December, and now this trip. I had decided a month ago
to participate in the Illinois Ornithological Society’s Carlyle Lake Pelagic Trip. I’d never visited
Carlyle Lake before, having only driven past at night and at twilight. It has the third-highest
hotspot list of species on eBird for Illinois, probably due to its proximity as the closest large
reservoir to St. Louis and to the variety of habitats present. See Dan Kassebaum’s website for more details about and photos of Carlyle Lake birds.

I woke up around 4:30 AM, and wondered why my alarm was going off. As I drifted back to sleep,
I suddenly realized why – I had a birding expedition! I was supposed to be there at 6:30 AM, and it
was over an hour and a half away, not including the time it takes me to get my lunch packed, etc.
One slow van in front of me put me as the last of 16 birders to arrive at the McDonald’s in Carlyle,
our meeting place. I then carpooled onward with Craig Taylor and Kimberly Rohling, until our
entire group stopped near the entrance to Eldon Hazlet State Park.

Pulling off at the entrance area, warblers proved to be abundant, if fleeting. Thankfully, a half-
dozen Black-throated Green Warblers decided to take pity on the photographers in the group, and
showed themselves well as they bounced around the top of a planted Bald cypress tree.

Black-throated Green Warblers (Setophaga virens) are a favorite of mine, mostly because they’re easily recognized. Few other birds have such a bright yellow head combined with dark stripes
underneath. We moved on from these, picking up several more species along the way. I had my ​
first miss of the day with Blackburnian Warbler, when Colin saw one well enough to get a photo.
That would’ve been a lifer if I’d seen it.

We moved to a spot where someone spotted a would-be Le Conte’s Sparrow in the brush, and all
but myself and two birders went down to look for it. The three of us continued talking and
mentioned that we’d love to find a Nelson’s Sparrow. I spotted what I thought was the Le Conte’s
Sparrow in the bush and took a record photo (what I call photos where the bird isn’t easy to find
or particularly well-photographed). Curiosity got the better of me, and I went down to see what
was so fascinating. Keith McMullen mentioned that they’d found a Nelson’s Sparrow. I double-
checked my photo of the “Le Conte’s Sparrow”- it’s a lifer Nelson’s. With this Nelson’s Sparrow (Ammodramus nelsoni), I’ve seen all but one of the regularly-occurring sparrow species in Illinois. (That one exception is the Clay-colored Sparrow.) I was very happy with this very unexpected
find!

I laid on my back on the ground to look at a male Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra), arrayed in
fine red, the only completely red bird in the US. Unlike male Scarlet Tanagers, male Summer
Tanagers stay red all year long. They are currently expainding their range northwards, being a
Southeastern species. Formerly, they were on the edge of their range in central Illinois. Now,
however, they are found even as far north as Chicagoland. I got good looks, and despite being
directly underneath the bird, it chose not to poop on me. I wish gulls were so kind.

I strongly appreciate Eastern Wood-Pewees (Contopus virens) for their willingness to grant an excellent photo opportunity. These were the only flycatchers of the day, besides Eastern Phoebes. Evidently, the rest of the flycatchers have moved on.

Another stop found me my second lifer of the day, a Philadelphia Vireo, the last of the commonly-occurring vireos for Illinois that I wanted to find. The second irritating miss of the day came when someone else found a Chestnut-sided Warbler and it got away before I could find it. Honestly, the whole day was someone finding a bird I could barely even see, and my glimpsing it just well enough for ID purposes before it flew away into the undergrowth. This was the case right up until the pelagic…

We spotted several more species, including ten species of warblers for me, a personal record for one morning. I was definitely the least-experienced birder on the trip, which is why I’ve elected myself to write it up. I believe the count was ~70 species seen by the group when we left Eldon Hazlet State Park, which is quite respectable for one morning! (I had 64 species.)

Hundreds, if not thousands, of Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) and American White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) were present on Carlyle Lake that day. It’d been awhile since I’d seen so many American White Pelicans. There’s something so comical and yet so majestic about a flock of pelicans, and there’s certainly little else to match their size.

A Northern Parula (Setophaga americana) at Whitetail Access decided to demonstrate how to do the splits upside down and eat bugs off a leaf at the same time. Northern Parulas are a special bird for me – my first ever warbler was a dead Northern Parula at the base of the windows of a hospital in downtown Springfield. After that, I heard a few, but I didn’t see one in the wild until the one I saw at Eldon Hazlet State Park, and this one at Whitetail Access proved far more interesting to watch up close – well, about fifteen feet.

A Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius), a Wilson’s Snipe, and an Eastern Screech-Owl (heard only) proved to be three of the four best finds at Whitetail Access, almost entirely devoid of birds on its mudflats. Shorebird season is wrapping up. Red-shouldered Hawks were spotted on the way here, and several were seen throughout the day.

The next great bird we found was a Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris), the last breeding species of wren I hadn’t found in Illinois until now. (We’re going to ignore Bewick’s Wren in this discussion, despite the possibility that they reside in far western Illinois still.) The Marsh Wren is half a lifer for me. I heard one singing in Indiana in August, but I never saw it, and it’s hard for me to really count a bird as a lifer until I see it. So, this is lifer 2.5 for the day. This little wren is very unusual. It creeped through the brush until being flushed into a nearby bush, where it scolded us from a partially-concealed perch. This behavior is unusual for someone used to Carolina and House Wrens, but isn’t uncommon for this species.

I prefer to look for shorebirds over songbirds. Sure, shorebirds are hard to tell apart, but much of the time they let you sit and try to figure it out! This one below is a Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca) at Patoka Access, where we stopped to find some shorebirds when Whitetail Access proved to be rather poor in that respect. My first Black-bellied Plover was spotted across the bay. A third lifer for the day!

Alongside the Black-belled Plover, three American Golden-Plovers and several Sanderlings made for an interesting mix of shorebirds. I have never seen those three species together before. A few Cliff Swallows flew past, severely overdue to migrate south. They were quite early this year and have stayed equally late. I’m really not sure what they were doing there. Another good find I missed there was a Peregrine Falcon.

We boarded two rented pontoon boats to participate in the actual “pelagic” part of the trip. A pelagic in birding terms is a boat trip, usually out to the middle of an ocean or a big lake, after birds that only live on the open ocean (or large open inland water body, like Carlyle Lake, during migration). A Sabine’s Gull, one of those species that can only be found rarely on open bodies of water like this, had been seen the night before, but we all struck out on that one, the third big miss of the day. At least I saw Sabine’s Gull last year on Lake Springfield.

Throwing bread off the back of the boat to bring in any rare gulls, we only found three species – Ring-billed, Bonaparte’s, and two Herring Gulls. Still, as you can see, we had some of the best eyes in the state looking for it, in two boats. From left to right above, we had Tyler Funk, Keith Mcmullen, Craig Taylor, and Colin Dobson, all scanning for whatever we could find. Sitting on a boat for three hours or more, doing nothing but looking through what seems like an endless colony of Ring-billed Gulls (Larus delawarensis) is not for everybody. I enjoyed it, but the pelagic section was definitely much slower-paced than birding on the shoreline of Carlyle Lake. Pelagic trips are not for people who prefer instant results.

We did have the other boat to help spot birds. Occasionally the gulls would swarm us, and it was at this point that I’d wear my hat to keep the shower of gull crap from hitting me. Our pilot, Tyler Funk, spotted something in the water that the rest of us didn’t. In addition to steering the boat and looking for Sabine’s Gulls, he’d spotted this little guy on the water:

It was the fourth lifer for the day, (I’ll just say fifth by combining the “half-lifers” Northern Parula and Marsh Wren), a Red Phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius). This was somewhat unexpected. Red Phalaropes, despite their small size, almost entirely live far out at sea, only flying up to the tundra in far northern Canada to breed. These are the rarest of the three phalaropes in Illinois (all three of which are the only phalaropes in the world, which means I’ve seen all of the phalaropes in the world). This Red Phalarope was incredibly tame, allowing for close approaches.

It got within about eight feet of the boat, and if there had been no waves and a better cameraman behind the camera I’m sure my pictures would be better. As it was, I’m still impressed with how well we saw this bird. It even called and did a little feeding as we watched, the black and white pattern helping to hide it surprisingly well in the waves once it flew further away. We caught up to it again, and took even more photos. This bird is rusty-red in the spring. It’s in fall plumage currently. I saw a similar looking bird once, the Red-necked Phalarope, which has a similar life cycle and can look quite similar. However, that bird has a dark, striped back and a thinner bill and body shape.

We let the Phalarope go back to its merry spinning (They spin in a circle to concentrate plankton in the water, and then eat the concentrated plankton.), while we paid attention to the nearby tern flocks. Forster’s Terns (Sterna forsteri) congregated in large numbers off to the east- I’ve never seen anything like it! We saw not a single other species in the flocks of hundreds of birds (the other boat did see a lone Black Tern some time before this, but we didn’t). We watched them fly off as we made our way back to the boat docks, to end the day.

With 89 species, I did pretty well. That may or may not be the greatest number of bird species I’ve seen in one day, though I’d have to double-check. Either way, I strongly enjoyed meeting all the birders and I couldn’t have asked for more lifers! There were three subjects of discussion that dinner – southern Arizona dream trips, birding stories, and horseshoes – that last, the famous Springfieldian “burger” with Texas toast, fries, and cheese sauce. We all split up around 8:00 PM, to get back to our usual lives. And thus concluded my first “pelagic” trip.

Thanks to Craig Taylor for driving me and Kim Rohling around all day, Tyler Funk for finding the best bird of the day in the Red Phalarope, for steering my boat, and for organizing the trip, and to Keith Mcmullen. It was wonderful to meet a few of my longtime readers, and even better to met those whose eBird checklists I’d read in the past with considerable envy. I’m already planning to return next year- we’ll have to see what happens then!

Text and photos by Jared Gorrell

On August 19 and 20, more than fifty birders joined IOS for an excellent weekend of birding in central Illinois. The weather was perfect, the camaraderie even better, and birds were abundant.

Everyone gathered at the Holiday Inn Express in Pekin, home base for the weekend, on Saturday morning, to meet their field trip leaders – Colin Dobson, Josh Engel, Travis Mahan, and Andy Gilbert. Groups set out for Chauatauqua and Emiquon National Wildlife Refuges, both marquee shorebirding properties along the Illinois River.

Birders had the option of participating in mobile travelling groups or a “Big Sit” on the Chauatauqua crossdike. At the Big Sit, groups viewed the surrounding area from beneath the shade of a pop up canopy using Vortex Scopes provided by Eagle Optics.

The day got off to a quick start at the Chautauqua crossdike as hundreds of American White Pelicans loafed on the sandbars in all directions. Black Terns fluttered over the expanses of water. Bald Eagles and Turkey Vultures soared overhead and a Blue Grosbeak sang nearby. Several species of waterfowl were observed including Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler, and both Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal.

But, it was the shorebirds that stole the show. A Hudsonian Godwit foraged on a sandbar to the north of the crossdike. Black-necked Stilts, Black-bellied Plovers, Wilson’s Phalaropes, and Buff-breasted Sandpipers were also observed by the many people scoping in all directions.

Over at Emiquon North Globe, a juvenile Red-necked Phalarope swam in tight circles in the shallow water as Sedge Wrens chattered in the background.

As temperatures soared by midday, groups gathered at the Illinois State Museum at Dickson Mounds for lunch and raffle items, as Josh Engel displayed shorebird specimen skins on surrounding tables.

After lunch, attendees were treated to a series of presentations in the museum auditorium. IOS Grant Recipient, Andy Gilbert, spoke of his aerial waterfowl research along the Illinois River. Jake Cvetas gave an update on the status of Illinois Young Birders. Finally, Adam Sell promoted next year’s IOS special trip to Panama with Red Hill Birding.

Birders were able to mix with other field trip leaders in the afternoon as groups continued to turn up great birds. At Emiquon Preserve, two Least Bitterns hunted in the open with several Common Gallinules swimming in and out of view. Two Osprey sat atop a man made nest platform and a Snowy Egret foraged in the shallows.

Back at Chautauqua, two Willets were observed, making the day’s shorebird tally twenty one species.

After a long day of birding, most participants retired to the hotel with some gathering in Peoria for dinner.

On Sunday, we did it all again. Just before wrapping things up about noon, Adam Sell found perhaps the highlight of the weekend, a Ruff, at Emiquon South Globe. Soon, after sending a number of text messages and making a few phone calls, many birders converged on the levee to see this rare visitor from Eurasia. The Ruff was the 23rd shorebird and 121st species on a very special weekend.

With much appreciation for our enthusiastic field trip leader and “Southern Specialty Steward,” Keith McMullen, seventeen participants enjoyed this year’s journey through southern Illinois. During the two days, we were fortunate to view 109 species of birds.

Saturday’s weather did not seem promising for singing birds, as it was drizzling or raining lightly most of the day, and a chilly breeze continued to complicate birding. Driving on Pleasant Hill Road, the group stopped for two Blue Grosbeaks and Keith found an early male Bobolink singing at the top of a fir tree. We continued to Pomona-Cave Creek, where we saw our first of two Worm-eating Warblers, plus Kentucky, Yellow-throated, Yellow, Pine, Tennessee and Cerulean Warblers; also Northern Parula, American Redstart, Lousiana Waterthrush, and a Summer Tanager. We stopped twice on Pomona-Back Way, and at each stop saw and or/heard at least three Cerulean Warblers, a positive sign for this species, plus Black-and-white Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, and a second Worm-eating Warbler.

At Oakwood Bottoms, some group members saw as many as 8 Little Blue Herons. It’s undergoing restoration work now so it doesn’t look so great, but improvement will follow. On the road to LaRue-Pine Hills Campground, we added “Hooded Warbler” to our warbler tally, when Keith heard a singing male from the car window. Keith’s ability to “bird by car,” either seeing or hearing winged creatures, is unmatched!

At a fluddle in Jackson County, we stopped to watch Gadwalls, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shovelers, and saw the following shorebirds: Least, Pectoral, Solitary and Stilt Sandpipers, Long-billed Dowitcher, both Yellowlegs, Dunlin, and, Dan Williams found an alternate-plumaged (gorgeous) Black-bellied Plover.

Keith made a stop at the beach at Crab Orchard NWR to look for terns-we saw a total of about 26 Forster’s Terns, each occupying a round orange buoy when not foraging-and we were treated to the sight of an adult Laughing Gull. There were probably several thousand Tree Swallows hunting low over the water, an incredible spectacle.

We enjoyed a great meal at 17th Street Barbeque in Marion, and then headed to Fern Clyffe State Park, where only a couple participants heard two Chucks calling briefly, and we didn’t hear any Whips, or see Barred or Screech Owls-although it had stopped raining, clouds and chilly temperatures probably deterred the usual night chorus.

Sunday brought much better birding conditions, with sunshine and temperatures climbing to the mid-seventies by the end of our trip at Heron Pond. We started at Fort Massac, though, and added Northern Waterthrush to our warbler tally, enjoyed seeing Prothonotary Warblers, and two male Scarlet Tanagers. It is always a beautiful, and easy, place to bird.

On Shawnee College Road, Keith checked a pond for Black-necked Stilts and found a more unusual bird: a White-faced Ibis! At a nearby stop, a protective Prairie Warbler flew out towards the group several times, a neat experience! We saw several Yellow-bellied Chats here as well. At Heron Pond, we ended the trip with a group photo and a Nashville Warbler. We had a great experience, thanks to a leader who runs trips simply out of his love of birds, and wanting participants to see as many birds as possible. Keith is a treasure! Thanks, Keith, for all of your time, energy, and passion!

by Vickie Sroczynski

I had the pleasure of leading an Illinois Ornithological Society field trip for Smith’s Longspurs in McLean County this morning (April 8, 2017). We did manage a flock of seven and another flock of 28 birds — even in flight good enough looks for multiple lifers in the group — always a great feeling.

There is either a psychotic Western Meadowlark here that covered an immense amount of ground never leaving us, or this location has two to three males on territory (I think at least two).

After the trip wrapped-up, I roamed randomly looking for more longspurs and fluddles in Woodford County. I found another group of 15-20 Smith’s and a late Lapland back at the spot on 1500E between 2100 N and 2000N. Pictures of both species from this location are below.

My fluddle surveys included Pectorals, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, and a group of almost 90 American Golden-Plover at one location that also had a searingly bright Brewer’s Blackbird.

It’s been awhile since I went AWOL birding in central Illinois. I imagine we are just getting started…

by Matt Fraker