little year

Pole frozen solid off Lake Shore Drive

Today there were some posts on the lists about Snow and Ross's Geese on the Chicago lakefront. Though we got a late start (Pole's fault), we decided to check them out. We went to Chicago's Montrose Harbor, which is the location of the Magic Hedge, probably the best place to bird within 100 miles, though we haven't been there yet this year. We saw some white geese from Lake Shore Drive as we drove in from the south, so we parked near the entrance and make a trek to their location.

They were on the golf course, so we had to watch them through the fence. We saw the SNOW GEESE right away, along with plenty of Canada Geese. We also saw a couple of blue morphs, including an immature. Then I saw the ROSS'S GEESE. They're small and don't have the weird black lip the Snow Geese do. We both had a good, long look at them through the scope, and then we had to leave. Because it was FREEZING!

It was about 11°F, and with the wind from the lake, we were dying. Though the birds were beautiful, I had a hard time focusing the scope because my fingers were bunched up in the palms of my gloves. We hauled ass back to the car, where we sat awhile and defrosted. Pole said her face felt like a frozen mask. Then we drove further into the harbor and parked by the Magic Hedge. It was obvious that neither of us wanted to get out of the car again, but neither of us wanted to be responsible for the decision, either. We circled each other verbally for a while, and I escape a few simple traps set by Pole, but eventually, we both agreed to get the hell out and get some warm food.

But it was a nice little surgical strike. And the Ross was a lifer twice over.

posted by Scrubb at 09:18 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + lifers

Today was the Illinois Ornithological Society's (IOS) Gull Frolic at Winthrop Harbor, which is on Lake Michigan just south of the Wisconsin border. We had never been to one of these things, but expert birders were promised to be on hand, so we figured we get a few animals to add to our list. Gulls are a nightmare. There are something like 27 species and each may have up to 5 plumages (first year, second year, breeding, etc.). And worst of all, a lot of them look the same. So sadly, for birders of our skill level, 27 x 5 = forget it.

The IOS rented the yacht club, where there was food, warmth, and a lot of stuffed gulls from The Field Museum's collection. I was surprised how big the specimens were. And how soft. And how much they smelled like moth balls. While I was looking at one, an IOS expert approached me, and this exchange took place:

IOS EXPERT: Some of those specimens have been treated with poison, so make sure you wash your hands before eating.
SCRUBB: Don't worry, I wasn't planning on eating any of them.
IOS EXPERT: [dull, uncomprehending stare]
SOUND OF DEAD JOKE: Thunk.

I've never been in a place with some many spotting scopes. It all looked kind of crazy. There were lots of people who knew more than us, but there were also some who knew less, and that was encouraging. Even though it was freezing out (and windy and snowy), we ended up seeing a lot of birds, some of which we couldn't have identified without help:

AMERICAN TREE SPARROW
HERRING GULL
COMMON MERGANSER
GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL
LONG-TAILED DUCK (female)*
THAYER'S GULL*
GLAUCOUS GULL*
LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL*

Half of these (those with an asterisk) were lifers for us both.

The great black-backed was a juvenile, and we needed quite a bit of help to find it. I think a lot of the beginning birders get discouraged and don't feel right claiming tricky birds. But if you spend enough time looking at them -- and we did -- you're eventually able to recognize their identifying characteristics (or field marks) and tell them apart from others. It just takes time. To be honest, though, Pole and I were both muttering "I hate gulls" during several of these long, freezing inspections.

The Thayer's Gulls were the trickiest. They look a hell of a lot like the common Herring Gull. The IOS experts were great, though, and would find one in the air and tell you how to get it: "OK it's banking left . . . now it's in front of the red light . . . it's flapping -- wait -- now it's gliding . . ." You get the idea. It's infuriating until you actually spot the bird they're talking about. At first, you latch on to birds that you have to abandon once their movements or patterns don't match. But then, as each comment confirms you're on the right bird, you really feel in the groove and it's very gratifying. And that's when you can actually start to study it and learn the field marks.

The highlight of the day was the Glaucous Gull, which is all white and in flight looks -- as some IOS guy said -- like a "pale ghost".

posted by Scrubb at 05:35 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + challenges + gulls + lifers

Today was our last day in Minnesota, and we decided to bird Sax-Zim bog, a rural area northwest of Duluth and famous for birding. We planned to stay till noon and then drive back to Chicago. We stayed till dusk, of course, and didn't get home until 1:30 am. We still hadn't seen any Great Gray Owls this trip, and since we saw a lot of them at Sax-Zim last year, we hoped we might get lucky.

We started on Route 133, where, almost immediately, we saw a large raptor. It was sitting in a tree and turned out to be a juvenile Bald Eagle. An adult (mom or dad?) was just perched just a little down the road. Then we saw another raptor flying over a field. Pole identified it right away by the distinctive markings under its wings: a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK. Another lifer for us both. We actually saw two of them, so they might have been a breeding pair. We saw them frequently as we drove around the bog.

Also on 133 was a deer carcass on the side of the road that had obviously been left by a hunter: its head and legs had been cut off cleanly. The ravens that were feasting on it quickly flew away as we approached. This made room for all the smaller birds: black-capped chickadees, a red-breasted nuthatch, and a downy and hairy woodpecker. It was great to see these last two together, because the size difference became very obvious. A hairy is a big bird, bigger even than a three-toed. It ruled the (dead) roost while the ravens were away. I have to say I was a little surprised by the chickadees. I guess I never thought of these cute guys as scavengers. They were into it, though, and one of them was even popping in and out of the rib cage. Quite a sight. When I die, I want my corpse to be torn apart by chickadees.

Sax-Zim bog is mostly farmland, though there are some beautiful woods. For the first time during the trip, it snowed in earnest, so the woods were spectacular. It made us realized what we missed all week. Anyway, the point is, the place ain't no nature preserve, and I'm sure a lot of the local farmers think the visiting birders are just whack jobs. (Which some of us are.) I'm also sure they're bothered by hunters, so you find a lot of "No Trespassing" signs around. But when driving on Stickney Road (south of Sax), we saw the best sign of all. Painted in large white letters on a red barn was this gem:

DANGER BEWARE
NO TRESPASSING YOU
WILL BE VIOLATED
US MARINE SNIPER
RETIRED

I wanted to take a photo, but Pole thought that would greatly increase the chance of sniper violation, so we didn't linger. I guess the guy meant to write "Violaters Will Be Prosecuted," but he got confused. And the modest addition of the word "retired" is sublime.

Thus ended our trip to Minnesota, where we added 24 birds to our Big Year. I had 9 lifers, while Pole had 12. A great trip, even if we could have done with more snow and more owls (and maybe a boreal chickadee or two).

posted by Scrubb at 07:33 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + challenges + lifers + raptors