little year

Today we made our first trip this year to the Magic Hedge, the most famous birding spot in all of Chicago. It's a green spit of land at Montrose Harbor that serves as a migrant trap. Birds often migrate by flying south along the lakeshore. It's an exhausting business, and in an urban world of high rises and asphalt, this little tongue of green is the only inviting place they see. So they land here in the thousands. At least they're supposed to.

Today there was nothing. Just the usual suspects: robins, house sparrows, starlings, etc. The Magic Hedge is a pretty ugly spot, and without birds, it's even uglier. A bunch of run-down dirt paths among unkempt hedges. Granted, it's kept that way on purpose -- if the birds come, why mess with it? -- but it's still a vile place.

The other uglification factor is that it's a popular meeting place for gay hustlers looking for anonymous sex. Why here, though? Don't they know we have public restrooms for that kind of stuff? It's surreal to go birding here because you have two groups of people: 1) the dorky ones with binoculars searching for birds; and, 2) the solitary males searching for something else. Please don't think I'm a bigot; I just don't like public displays of penetration, gay or straight. Thank God we've never stumbling on anybody flagrante delicto, though we've often found the detritus of their furtive lovemaking: soiled tissues, antiseptics wipes, condoms, and much, much worse.

Some of these guys have begun to carry binoculars to avoid suspicion. It's become a bit of a game between Pole and me, guessing whether they're bona fide birders. One guy had bins and a field guide, so I thought for sure he had to be legit. Pole disagreed. To settle matters, I asked him a simple question. (And no, it wasn't: "Catching or pitching?") I asked: "See any interesting birds?" His reply has become one of our standard jokes: "I saw the yellow bird." Ten points for Pole. I'm glad she's with me because a female companion saves me from unwanted advances. I'm a handsome fellow, after all. Not by most standards, mind you, but among the Men of the Magic Hedges, I'm a looker.

The situation is actually worse at the Wooded Isle in Jackson Park, because in addition to the hustlers, the place is also full of drug dealers and other assorted creeps. Urban birding can be an ugly affair, folks. But in spite of all my belly-aching, I have to admit the Magic Hedge is a magical place, and we've visited it frequently. There are probably more birds there than anywhere else within 100 miles.

We next made the trip north to the Chicago Botanic Garden. We've done a lot of birding here, especially when we first started out, but I'm starting to hate the place. They've just gone through a huge renovation that ruined much of it. Right near the entrance they plopped down a huge cement runway. The idea, I guess, is that they can then rent it out more easily to all the North-Shore cake-eaters who have their parties and functions here. But in the process, they destroyed trees and plants, and wiped out most of the bird garden. And they've removed many of the bird feeders, leaving the rest empty. I emailed them about the feeders to find out why they've been abandoned, but I've had no answer, just the runaround. That's no way to treat a member.

They've also spent millions creating a berm next to the highway to make the area quieter and more bucolic. But as far as I can tell, the traffic is still as noisy as hell and berm hasn't make a damn bit of difference. And if they want everything to be so natural, why the new cement banquet area? It's all a poorly thought-out mess, and the people who run the place are obviously idiots. As for today, there were hardly any birds, which made the whole place even more irritating.

posted by Scrubb at 11:38 PM | permalink | stuck under challenges

Today we made the year's first trip to Indiana. We went to Willow Slough Fish and Wildlife Area, which is an old favorite, though we haven't been there for over a year. It's a 80-mile drive south of Chicago, through miles and miles of flat cornfields. Very dull. Very Midwest. In the past, we had luck at the area's Salisbury Rookery, a large marsh that was often full of ducks. But when we drove by today, all the water had gone: the rookery had become a soybean field.

At least I think it was soybean. Maybe it was just wild prairie. I dunno. It was plant life anyway, and though I'm no farmer, I can certainly tell plant life from water -- it's wetter, for one -- so you can trust me here. In contrast, the lake around the visitor center -- dry as a bone on previous trips -- was now full of water. I'm guessing that these changes were caused by the wardens playing Neptune by messing around with dikes and such.

We drove all over the area, and saw lots of different birds in different places. One drawback with a place like this is that fishermen often cruise by and scare off the waterfowl, even though they're using quiet electric motors. But if it weren't for the fishermen -- along with the hunters -- places like Willow Slough wouldn't exist. So I'm grateful to them, even if their presence screws up my birding.

Birds on or near the water included:

PIED-BILLED GREBE
RUDDY DUCK
EASTERN PHOEBE
CANVASBACK
HORNED GREBE
WOOD DUCK
RUSTY BLACKBIRD
COMMON GRACKLE
EASTERN TOWEE
GREAT BLUE HERON
TURKEY VULTURE
TREE SWALLOW

Only Pole saw the ruddy duck and the heron. (Shit happens when you share a scope.) The good news is that the rusty blackbird was a lifer for me, though I didn't realize it until I got home and checked my list. The grackles were in a flock several hundred strong, with a few of the blackbirds in the mix. The synchronized movements of this ravenous horde were beautiful and amazing to watch. (Odd to think that this number is only a tiny sliver of the massive passenger pigeon flocks that passed this way 200 years ago.) The highlight of the day was seeing some wood ducks high in a tree. They looked so out of place, and I would have taken a picture had I remembered to bring the camera.

A very good day. Twelve new birds to the list, and a lifer for me. As a bonus, we also saw the first muskrats of the year, and heard a beautiful chorus of frogs. So in spite of all the changes, Willow Slough remains one of my favorite places to bird.

posted by Scrubb at 09:14 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + challenges + lifers + other animals

Once again, we decided to search for the short-eared owl at Glacial Park. But our first stop today was the Chicago Botanic Garden in north-suburban Glencoe. We don't come here much anymore, but we did a lot of our early birding here. Today we just stopped by so I could renew my membership. But in the pond next to the parking lot we did see a pair of TRUMPETER SWANS. They were only about ten feet away, so it was no problem distinguishing them from the similar tundra swan. We then continued north and made a brief stop at the Wadsworth Wetlands Demonstration Project, which is in north-suburban -- you guessed it -- Wadsworth. We didn't see any birds, but we did identify what we think was a Nazi.

We saw him across a pond, taking a path out of the woods. He was dressed oddly. "Look," I said, "a cossack!" As usual, we had binoculars around our necks, so we gave him a closer look. He was wearing a trench coat with insignia, fatigues, and a belt full of junk, including an old-style canteen. Oddest of all, he had a black kepi on his head. It was kind of freaky. Pole was a spooked and said, "I want to get out of here before he throws me into a labor camp." To be fair, he might not have been a Nazi. But since I left my Field Guide to Fascists in the other car, we'll never know. What was he doing dressed like that? And why, of all places, would he choose to march through a wetland? Who knows, but we were making Nazi jokes all day.

As long as we were close, we decided to check out Illinois Beach State Park, which is in another goddam northern suburb. It's a great place to bird, though, and as you can infer from its name, it's right on Lake Michigan. As we entered, we drove by the conference center, which is usually empty. In this case, though, the lot was full of cars. We noticed that many of them had "taxidermist" written on the side, so after checking the beach -- birdless -- we decided to find out what the story was. I coaxed Pole inside by promising her a stuffed bird if they were selling. We found out by the sign in the lobby that it was the Illinois Taxidermist Association Convention. (Busy day for the conference center since they were also hosting a wedding and a quinceanera.) Nothing was for sale, unfortunately, but after paying our $3 entry fee, we did get to view the carcass competition and vote on the People's Choice Award (or whatever it was called). Lot of weird stuff, but we both cast our ballot for a traditional mount: the jackdaw. (It was quite beautiful, actually.) We did a little more birding in the park, but had to leave early to get to Glacial Park by dusk, when the owls would be most active.

When we got to Glacial, we headed right for the location we were at yesterday. And it wasn't long before we finally saw a SHORT-EARED OWL flying over the fields. There were at least two of them, along with a harrier. The owls were distinctive, and by viewing them with a scope, their faces -- with "too much mascara" -- were clearly owl faces. Any grade-school kid could have identified them. We watched and enjoyed them for a long time. Eventually, a van pulled up with a parcel of birders who had come for a sandhill tour. The owls were a lucky bonus for them.

So after four trips to Glacial Park, I finally saw the short-eared owl. But that's not all. We also saw a Nazi and got to vote in a taxidermy competition. That's about as good as it gets, folks.

Taxidermy Update: Turns out the award is called the "Competitor's Choice Award." And the magpie didn't win it, a dead black bear's head did. The bear shared the award with its decapitators and stuffers, Rodney Schreurs and Jim Dykstra. But good news! The magpie did win three awards (count 'em), each more prestigious than that crappy Competitors Choice Award. Magnanimously sharing the the glory with Mr. Gregory Norberte, the man who stuffed -- nay, immortalized -- him, our favorite magpie won (1) the Wasco Award -- Most Artistic Entry, (2) Best Professional Entry, and, icing on the amazingly lifelike cake, (3) the Professional BOC Birds -- Other. So kudos to Mssrs. Magpie and Norberte. Full results of the competition may be found at the Illinois Taxidermist Association official web site. (No rebroadcast of this competition is permitted without the express written permission of the Illinois Taxidermist Association.)

posted by Scrubb at 11:11 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + challenges + lifers + raptors

The Illinois bird list said there were some short-eared owls at Rollins Savannah, so we decided to give it a try. The savanna is a new preserve located in a northern Chicago suburb called Grayslake. An ugly, mall-filled suburb. Unfortunately, since the savanna is flat, you always know you're in the middle of an ugly mall-filled suburb. We only saw a few birds and left after half an hour. Jesus, Mary, and St. Patrick, do I hate birding ugly places. Does that make me a bad birder?

For me, much of the pleasure of birding has nothing to do with birds. Birding gives me a reason to get out of the city, to travel to places I've never been, to see other wild animals, and to be in nature. Sure, I'll go to the occasional shithole to see a rarity, but I'd rather spend time in a place that's enjoyable, whether or not I see any birds. This probably means I'll always be a second-rate birder, but that's OK by me.

Anyway, after Rollins, we went back to Glacial Park (which I do like). Right away we saw an AMERICAN KESTREL on a phone line. We had seen our first kestrel two years back in the same place, so maybe it was the same animal. We also saw our first KILLDEER of the year. There were two of them, and it looked as if they were building a nest. One of them kept rubbing it's butt in the ground and kicking up the grass. We also saw SANDHILL CRANES. There were hundreds of them, and their eerie honking was ever present throughout the day.

I had previously thought the owls were behind the park's learning center, a restored barn. While we walked around it, a man came out of a greenhouse with a beer in his hand and gave us a friendly wave. A few minutes later he came up to us on the path and was apologetic. "I know that must have looked strange," he said, "but I'm a biologist here, and it's my day off." He gave us lots of info on the owls, and told us they could be found by taking the dirt road past the Powers-Walker house, another farm building undergoing restoration. That explains why I came up empty-owled twice before.

Before looking for owls, we saw a lot of new birds, most of them ducks we found in a marsh below the Powers-Walker house:

EASTERN BLUEBIRD
SONG SPARROW
NORTHERN PINTAIL (lifer for us both)
GREEN-WINGED TEAL
NORTHERN SHOVELER
AMERICAN WIDGEON
RING-NECKED DUCK
GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE (another lifer 2x)
BLUE-WINGED TEAL
EASTERN MEADOWLARK (heard it sing, too)

We eventually ran into some other birders parked on a side road. One of them had seen short-eared owls the week before at this very place. We scanned the fields together, and finally spotted a bird flying low. It was hunting, and it was pale with a uniformly gray head. We were all tracking it together, and I think everyone just assumed it was the owl. After it disappeared, we saw two more on the other side of the road that looked more or less the same, though when one landed far away, it looked a little buffy. The other birders left, happy that they had seen the owl.

When Pole and I drove off, we noticed a very similar bird flying low over a different field. We had a long, close look this time, and once it landed, we realized it was a NORTHERN HARRIER. And so, we think, were the birds we saw before. The gray head should have been a giveaway. But who knows? Maybe one of the birds we saw was an owl. I did see the buffy plumage, and Pole saw a wrist patch. But I know for sure that when we were tracking birds with the other birders, we were often looking at a harrier. So we can't claim an owl this time. As for the other folks, who knows -- or cares? It's between them and their field guides.

Still, all in all, a very good day, and thank God for the ducks. We added 14 birds to our Big Year, two of them lifers.

posted by Scrubb at 10:55 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + challenges + lifers + raptors

Pole has been sick. And I've been traveling and working 12-hour days.

Not that I'm complaining, mind you. It's the birds I'm worried about. The birds that never got the chance to cross our paths and be immortalized by a check mark in our little American Birding Association (ABA) booklet. So here's what we've got: Pole saw an AMERICAN ROBIN when she ran an errand one day (March 1). My limited efforts were much more fruitful.

I didn't see no stinking robin (yet), but did manage to make two last-minute, end-of-the-day trips to Glacial Park in the northwest suburbs of Chicago (on March 5th and 11th). People have reported seeing short-eared owls there, so I abandoned Pole and made the trip solo. No owls either time. However, on the way there both times, I saw RING-NECKED PHEASANTS along the side of the road (just east of the town of Richmond). This road passes through some fields and woods owned by the Richmond Hunting Club, which means birds were probably releases. But the pheasant is an introduced bird anyway, so even if these weren't exactly 100% wild, the ABA says you can count them, and so I have. I'm just grateful I managed to pass through the club's property without some hobby hunter like Dick Cheney shooting me in the face.

On my second trip to Glacial, I also saw about 100 RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS, male and female. They were in the trees and making a huge racket. Odd that this year's first glimpse of this common bird should be in a mob, rather than the more familiar solitary male kon-ka-reeing his head off in a meadow.

posted by Scrubb at 11:12 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST