little year

There's a Green-breasted Mango in Beloit, Wisconsin, just over the Illinois border. This hummingbird's home is in Central America, so such a bird out of water created a lot of racket on the bird lists. It seems that everybody -- us included -- went to check it out. The bird shows up a few times a day at the backyard feeders of a couple of adjacent houses. The homeowners whose feeder the bird seems to favor don't mind a row of scopes pointing at their house as long as we stay behind the fence. They seem to get a kick out of the notoriety and even have a book for people to sign. So today we made our first visit.

Continue reading "mango dip" »

posted by Scrubb at 11:04 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + odds and ends

Today was my birthday, so we decided to go to Galena, Illinois and be tourists. It's a historic town -- home to U.S. Grant -- but now it's just full of crummy gift shops and middle-aged Viagra types riding Harleys. We didn't do any birding, though, but we did make a quick dash across the Mississippi to say we'd been in Iowa. (Who wouldn't?) We drove through the small, grim island town of Sebula and managed to see lots of Great Egrets roosting in the trees and wading in the water. And while I was keeping my eyes on the road, Pole got a quick glimpse of a Belted Kingfisher. So after ten minutes, she has an Iowa bird list twice as big as mine.

posted by Scrubb at 11:24 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST

We made a quick trip to the Chicago Botanic Garden today, and since it was Sunday, the place was packed. We decided to walk away from the main area, and loop around the lagoon through the parking lot. Good thing, too, because as we walked along the path, a large raptor flew in front of us. It looked like it was carrying something and it was being mobbed by some Red-winged Blackbirds. We followed it to the tree where it landed, and Pole spotted it. It was a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk eating a even younger juvenile blackbird. No wonder the parents were upset. It was gruesome sight, but impossible not to watch. The first chunk the hawk ripped off was the head, and it was having a hell of a time eating it. (Skulls are so inconvenient.) The whole thing was amazing to see. I guess species whose names begin with "Red-" don't always stick together.

posted by Scrubb at 11:57 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST

I'm in San Francisco today for work, and I saw my first California bird: a Common Grackle. All I've seen of this city so far are the two blocks of Market Street between the hotel and the office, so I was lucky to see anything at all. Best thing is, I'm ahead of Pole for once: she doesn't have a bird from this state. Thank you, Common Grackle of California.

posted by Scrubb at 10:15 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST

For the first day of this new, little-yearless year, we tried to relive the glory of the last day of the last glorious year. In other words, we went to the same place we went to yesterday, the Irving Park Cemetery. We hoped we could see the merlin again, but it wasn't there, and the only birds we spotted were a flock of ROCK PIGEONS. Earlier, though, Pole saw a MORNING DOVE, and so after only one day, she's already ahead of me.

A rather drab outing and not worth posting except that it's the first day of the year. And since this year won't be crazy compulsive like last year, we're no longer going to post entries for every bird we see. I'm afraid I'm only crazy compulsive enough to keep the lists up to date. End of transmission.

posted by Scrubb at 07:00 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST

On this last day of the year we officially failed in our Little Year quest (more after the jump), but we did see a lifer, so that gave us some hope. The bird was a MERLIN, and it was the fourth (!) Little Year bird in a row to be a double lifer. There was a sighting a couple of days ago at Chicago's Irving Park Cemetery, and we saw the bird right where it was supposed to be: perched in a bare tree near the entrance. It flew away after about five minutes, but we had a decent look at it on this warm, rainy day. We drove around the cemetery trying for another glance, but no luck. However, we did see an large neoclassical building with an odd inscription on its pediment: COLUMBARIUM. It turns out (thank you, Wikipedia) a columbarium is place for the public storage of ash-filled urns. These buildings are said to look a little like dovecots, and columba being Latin for dove, columbarium is Latin for dovecot, and so there you go. The odd thing is that the scientific name for the Merlin is Falco columbarius, and I guess the bird is sort of dovelike. But it's an odd coincidence all the same. So anyway, I think a dovecot for urns (an urncot? an ashcot?) would be a great place for any birder's ashes.

Continue reading "final day, final bird, final resting places [278]" »

posted by Scrubb at 09:28 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + lifers

We headed off to Miller Beach in Indiana today to see if we could find the scoters and other such hard-to-find avifauna that people reported seeing yesterday. Of course, we saw squat, because squat is what we see at Miller's. The beach always has plenty of gulls, but the oft-reported rarities are never there when we are.

The good news, though, is that we stopped at a few places on the south side of Chicago and managed to find a lifer at Calumet Beach: a CACKLING GOOSE. It's a fairly new species that was split off from the Canada Goose in 2004, and we've been scouring flocks of Canadas for years looking for them. They're supposed to be a little smaller than Canadas, but truth is, they're a lot smaller. The one we saw looked like a toy Canada goose. So in the end, it was an easy ID. And, as luck would have it, it's the third little year bird in a row to be a lifer.

posted by Scrubb at 08:55 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + lifers

We went to Horicon Marsh in Wisconsin today, not looking for any lifers (not really), but to see the great mass of Canada geese that supposedly congregate there each fall. The geese are supposed to number in the hundreds of thousands, and we wanted to experience the wildness of a sky black with birds that Audubon and others have described. Of course, we didn't.

Continue reading "after many a summer comes the swan . . . [276]" »

posted by Pole at 10:24 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + lifers

A good day at the Chicago Botanic Garden, for once. It was a nice day, and there were lots of birds. One of them –- a WINTER WREN -- was a lifer for us both. We saw this dark brown bird with a short, stubby tail dash in front of us, and Pole immediately guessed what it was. We saw it a couple of more times flitting through the shrubbery, and so her hunch was confirmed.

We also so a huge number of golden-crowned kinglets in the deep grasses beside the one of the paths. (I guess that many birds means it was an official flock.) Working a nearby tree was a chubby brown creeper. We then walked the prairie, which was mostly chest high and full of goldfinches and sparrows. And a solitary snipe. Oh, and I don't want to neglect mentioning the great blue heron that landed about twenty feet away from us, turned its back, and relieved itself prodigiously. We've never be so close to a heron before, which I now realize is a good thing.

posted by Scrubb at 07:48 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + lifers

A quick trip today to the Magic Hedge immediately turned up an OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER. It's an easy bird to identify because of its sides, which are -– um –- olive, I think. The bird we went to see, though, was the SWAINSON'S THRUSH. We saw some kind of thrush as soon as we got there, but it disappeared into the hedge before we got a good look at it. So we decided to walk around a little and see if it would come back to the same place. When we returned to the hedge, Pole saw the bird right away. But just as I spotted it, it disappeared. I was pissed.

Pole wandered off happily, but I sat in the same spot, waiting for the bird to show itself again. I saw a thrush hidden behind some greenery, so I was just hoping it would pop out into the open. After about 20 minutes, it did. Pole was back by then, and we were able to make a slow, careful ID. A good thing, too, because it would have given her an even bigger lead in the count.

posted by Scrubb at 05:56 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST

Today was my birthday, and so we made it a day with a trip to Horicon Marsh in Wisconsin. The most vivid memory is going to be all the dead snapping turtles on Rt. 49, the road that runs right through the marsh. Fresh kills, too, in pools of blood. Most of the carcases were on the side of the road, which means the killers are probably birders who aren't paying attention. It's a gravel road, so they probably don't even notice the sickening crunch. Though Pole was kind of freaked out, these senseless deaths bug me in particular because I have a special affinity for turtles. (You see, I keep my innermost self hidden deep inside an emotional shell. Oh, and I have a scaly, reptilian tail.)

Four new birds for Little Year, all of which we saw along the side of the turtle-strewn Rt. 49: a SORA, a SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER, a PECTORAL SANDPIPER, and a single female YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD. The best sight for me, though, was a Ruddy Duck, which I missed back in March. So now I'm only 11 birds behind Pole. Still sucks.

posted by Scrubb at 05:59 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + other animals + shorebirds

After another long hiatus, we went out today to find a few local gimmees. According to the lists, there was a Piping Plover at Montrose Beach. It took us a while to find it -- Pole spotted it first -- but we eventually got a very good gander. Unfortunately, we later discovered that we'd already seen it in Texas. Stupid. Fortunately for me, Pole also spotted a Spotted Sandpiper, a bird I missed on our trip to Michigan's Upper Peninsula in June.

Continue reading "invasives [268]" »

posted by Scrubb at 08:35 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST

After yesterday's expedition, we were inspired to add the last local swallow to this year's list. So we headed off to the Chicago Botanic Garden where we saw PURPLE MARTINS frolicking in their aptly named purple-martin houses. We only made the trip because we knew there was a p.m. house development there. We also saw some frog-mouthed p.m. babies mooching for food, and oddly, a house sparrow who had taken up residence in one of the apartments. Damned invasives.

A miserably hot day for both of us as well as for a panting robin we saw walking in the shade. Once we got back to my neighborhood, we stopped at a park where we noticed -- for the first time -- a purple martin house with a you-know-what sitting on the porch. So we could have saved ourselves the long trip north and just made a surgical strike from my air-conditioned lair. Damned p.m. houses at the damned Chicago Botanic Garden.

posted by Scrubb at 06:43 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST

Today was the first time we've gone birding in a couple of weeks. The reasons are mosquitoes, ticks, and the heat. So I guess I'm the kind of guy who lets arthropods run his life. This time of summer is also a drag because of post-migration depression. Most of the avian celebrities have left, and though the local birds are old friends, it's kind of like you're stuck hanging around with your relatives. Anyway, we decided to head out to Glacial Park, where we had spotted the short-eared owl back in March. We figured we'd see lots of waterfowl.

Continue reading "two swallows make a summer [265 - 266]" »

posted by Scrubb at 11:22 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + lifers

If only my own mother were so tender . . .Just about 45 miles away from where we were staying on Michigan's Garden Peninsula is the gargantuan Seney National Wildlife Refuge. I've been wanting to go there for some time, but since it's only open from May 15th to October 15th, I've always just missed that small window of visiting opportunity. But not today, Seney will not be missed, no sir, Seney will not be missed.

Continue reading "seen at seney [260 - 264]" »

posted by Pole at 10:12 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + lifers + other animals

The official Edmund Fitzgerald puzzle -- a lifer for us both Today we were finally on our way to Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Our stated objective was the Whitefish Point Bird Observatory to try to pick up some late migrants, but the unstated real objective was the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, which is located at the exact same place.

Continue reading "the legend lives on, from the gift shop on down [258 - 259]" »

posted by Pole at 08:10 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + challenges + lbjs + lifers

We both managed to see CHIMNEY SWIFTS in our respective neighborhoods, about a week apart. As usual, Pole saw it first. End of transmission.

posted by Scrubb at 03:47 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST

Today was another unbearably hot day. Perhaps not quite as hot as hell (I refer to, of course, the great state of Texas), but nasty, sticky, and windless. Scrubb and I decided to see if we could add any more warblers to our list, and we traveled to Beverly Shores in Indiana and Warren Dunes State Park in Michigan. Everyone else there was cooling off at the beach by the refreshing sixty-degree waters of lovely blue Lake Michigan, but no, we had to sweat to death in the nearby steamy woods and algae-covered swamps, by smelly, barely-moving sludgy brown rivers. We're birders, dammit, and we go where the birds are, or in our case, aren't. (They were probably hanging out at the lake, as any smart bird -- or human -- would.)

Continue reading "alien slime sausage from the benthic depths [256]" »

posted by Pole at 11:31 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST

Watching for the MacGillivray's maybeBack to the Magic Hedge today to see if we could find the female MacGillivray's Warbler that's been reported there. It's a western bird, a rarity that would be very far from home. As soon as we arrived, we saw a group of about 10 people watching the hole on the north side of the hedge. That's where they'd been seeing the MacGillivray's. A few warblers were darting in and out of the bushes, and the first one we saw was a BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER.

Continue reading "waiting for the committee [253 - 255]" »

posted by Scrubb at 08:52 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + challenges + lifers

Pole in GalienWe left Gaylord this morning and decided to visit Michigan's Dunes area, which is off the lake and close to Chicago. Driving south on Route 196, Pole spotted a MUTE SWAN on her side of the car. No luck for me. It was a four-lane highway, and I was going about 80, so pulling over wasn't an option. Our first regular stop was Warren Dunes State Park where we walked the Yellow Birch Trail. Beautiful and lush, but no new birds. Next it was Warren Woods State Park. Beautiful and lush, but no new birds. Last stop was the Galien River Floodplain, which isn't an actual park, but merely a place to park your car and walk around. Beautiful and lush, and two new birds: a RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD and an AMERICAN REDSTART. Only Pole saw the hummer; all I saw was a small smudge that shot into the woods. Thus ended our Michigan trip, and to our surprise, we were back in Chicago in about an hour. These sites were new to us, and it's good to know there are such fine places -- beautiful and lush -- so close to home.

posted by Scrubb at 09:58 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST

Soft focus makes the Kirtland's sexyAfter a long drive north, we made it to Gaylord, Michigan this morning at 1 am. We came to see the endangered Kirtland's Warbler, one of the rarest birds in the States. It only breeds in a small area in northern Michigan, so if you want to see it, this is where you come. You can only view its breeding grounds on official tours run by rangers, and we met ours this morning at 11 am at a hotel in Grayling, a little south of Gaylord. We had two guides, the master (Chris) and the apprentice (Sean). The viewing season started today, so Sean was just learning the ropes. There was just one other birder on the tour, so we made a three-car convoy to the site.

Continue reading "the kirtland's, feathered and plastic [245 - 249]" »

posted by Scrubb at 11:56 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + challenges + lbjs + lifers + other animals

Pole in Pelee, seeing no lifersToday commemorates the First Little Year International Birding Expedition. We went to Point Pelee, Ontario, which is about an hour south of Detroit. We plan on going to northern Michigan tomorrow to see the rare Kirtland's Warbler, so this trip is truly global in scope. We left yesterday and stayed overnight in Motown at my sister's house. Even though we left Chicago kind of late, we couldn't resist stopping at the Indiana Dunes. We drove around for about an hour, and all we got out of it was a CHIPPING SPARROW.

It was raining on and off as we drove to Pelee. It's a spit of land that points south into Lake Erie and is reputed to be one of the best migrant traps on the continent. So we were pretty excited. It was crowded when we got there, and we saw dozens of crazy-looking people with dopey Tilley hats, expensive bins, and repulsive birding vests bulging with God-knows-what useless crap. We, on the other hand, travel pretty light. Or at least Pole does. Because of some vestigial sexism in her chromosomes, I have to carry the scope, the field guide, the notes, and the camera. Not a lot, really, but still more than nothing, which is what she carries. Today, though, I didn't carry the scope because we were looking for warblers.

Continue reading "nothing fancy [229 - 244]" »

posted by Scrubb at 10:53 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + challenges + lbjs + lifers

Today after work, we headed to the Magic Hedge. There wasn't much going on, but we did see a BROWN THRASHER. This was a bit of a relief because we thought we saw one in Texas, but decided it was a long-billed instead. So in some strange way, I was glad to be able to fulfill the brown thrasher's Little Year Destiny. We also saw a weirdly unabashed hustler. These guys usually wander around furtively, but this one was proudly standing in the middle of the bushes, just waiting. At least he had his pants on, so I'm grateful for that. Pole stumbled on him when alone, and he kind of freaked her out. What can you do? Texas has alligators, we've got this.

posted by Scrubb at 05:47 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST

Today was our last day birding Texas. Once again, we started out at the Convention Center and were lucky enough to have some super birder point out a PRAIRIE WARBLER. This guy is a bird photographer, and he told us this was the worst season for birding Texas in the last 10 to 15 years. Dry dry dry. (He's the one who came up with the name "Laguna del Morte," which I appropriated for a previous post.) His recommendation: Arizona. So we've added to our list, and we shall see. Driving out, we once again took old Port Isabel Road and saw a CASSIN’S SPARROW and BEWICK’S WREN. Then onward to today's main event, the Santa Ann NWR.

Continue reading "no me gusto tejas [222 - 227]" »

posted by Scrubb at 09:29 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + lbjs + lifers + shorebirds

Another lifer we missedSouth Padre Island isn't just popular with birders and girls gone wild, it's also big with escaped convicts and murderers. The day we got there, some concerned citizen claimed to have seen escaped murderer Richard Lee McNair hanging out among the tourists. He was all over the web a week or two ago in an extraordinary police video. You get to watch McNair convince the hapless cop who pulled him over that he's got the wrong man. Amazing. Anyway, we didn't see nothing and we ain't saying a thing.

In today's birding news, Pole and I headed off to the Sabal Palm Audubon Center and Sanctuary, which is south of Brownsville, near the Mexican border. A very lush place, but -- you guessed it -- hotter than hell. Lots of paths and walkways, and lots of birds, too. It was even more uncomfortable than our trip to High Island, where we burned beyond recognition. Our system today was to go out for short expeditions and then return, panting, to the water fountain at the visitor center.

Continue reading "murderers and birderers [206 - 221]" »

posted by Scrubb at 08:20 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + challenges + lifers + raptors + shorebirds

Osprey with digitally docked tailFirst thing today, we checked out the South Padre Island Convention Center, which is supposed to be a good spot. It was. It's right on the water, and strolling in the sands we saw BLACK SKIMMERS and a BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER. It would have been nice to see a skimmer actually skimming, but we did see it actually being black (and white and orange), which is something.

Plenty of birders were ogling the shrubbery near the center, so we joined them, managing to see a BLACKPOLL WARBLER, a SCARLET TANAGER, and a TENNESSEE WARBLER. In a year or two, the convention center is going to become the World Birding Center, which sounds pretty highfalutin'. But what that means beyond a gift shop, I can't tell you. At present, though, they've built a nice walkway through the marsh to the water, and that's where I digiscoped the osprey. There's a large water tower nearby, and a nice old couple pointed out a small hawk perched high up on one of its railings. With a scope, it proved to be a PEREGRINE FALCON.

Continue reading "laguna del morte [192 - 205]" »

posted by Scrubb at 07:13 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + lifers + other animals

And don't forget the venomous ivyToday started as another driving day, this time from Rockport to South Padre Island. We paused at a rest stop along the way, and saw the amazing sign on the left. Never mind that they mean "venomous," not "poisonous," but what halfwit is going to walk their pet after reading such a warning? Only in Texas. Lots of boat-tailed grackles here, and this was the first time we heard their outrageous squawking. They can make the most hellish, unbirdlike sounds imaginable. That must be why they're called "niños del diablo." (I just made that up.)

We drove south on Route 77, a raptor hotspot, and sure enough, we spotted a CRESTED CARACARA and HARRIS’S HAWK in short order. Pole got to claim them first because she saw them longer and knew what to look for. But we saw more of both before long, so I got to check them off, too. In fact, the Harris's were all over the place.

Continue reading "like hell, but with sno-cones [179 - 191]" »

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

No, ma'am, we sure won'tLast night we drove south to Rockport. Most of the drive was in the dark, and we passed several refineries glowing in the night. Ugly places -- talk about your Dark Satanic Mills. Our first birding stop this morning was Goose Island State Park, which is on the Lamar peninsula. Before we entered the park proper, we stopped off to see the Big Tree, which is the Texas State Champion Oak, whatever the hell that means. It's a big ol' tree, and best of all, we saw a BLACK-CRESTED TITMOUSE in its branches, a lifer for us both. The area was different from most what we'd seen in Texas so far, since there wasn't garbage everywhere. The reason? The Lamar Women's Club. (See photo.)

Continue reading "playtime for turkeys [174 - 178]" »

posted by Scrubb at 08:02 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + lifers + other animals

Pole on High Island, resplendent in her birder plumageToday we returned to High Island . . . prepared. The day started out well because we got to check out of the odious La Quinta. We skipped their lousy breakfast, and headed straight to Gander Mountain. Pole wanted to get some of that new-fangled clothing that's impregnated with bug repellent. They didn't have it, so instead, we got long-legged, long-sleeved sunblock outfits (UPF 30) that we changed into at the store. Of course, with our sensible pants and shirts, we now looked like the typical dorky birder I ridiculed in yesterday's post. Pole is particular about how she dresses, and she wasn't happy about her outfit. And I was kind of disappointed in her, too. The good thing about birding with Pole is that if there are no birds around, I can at least look at her.

Continue reading "a blessed day, hot as hell [143 - 173]" »

posted by Scrubb at 07:52 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + challenges + lifers + other animals + shorebirds

Pole in Anahuac (on a tilt, as poles often are)Last Friday we left for a week-long trip to Texas. We drove Friday night and all of Saturday. Not straight through, mind you. We stopped in Cape Girardeau, Missouri on Friday and made it to Beaumont, Texas last night. So today -- Easter Sunday -- was our first day birding the Texas coast. And though today was our biggest day ever for birds, it may have been the worst day ever, too.

Starting with the worst, the hotel was a dump. It was old and run down and in the middle of an industrial area right next to the highway. I won't tell you its name, but let's just say it was a La Quinta Inn. We knew we were here to bird, so we got over that pretty quick. (Right.) So this morning we headed for the coast down Route 124 toward Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge. It wasn't long before we saw some CATTLE EGRETS in a field along the side of the road. And the a BLACK VULTURE flying above us. Two lifers from the get-go. Then we hit it big.

Continue reading "awful, but it's where the birds are [107 - 142]" »

posted by Scrubb at 08:40 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + challenges + gulls + lifers + other animals + shorebirds

After work, we headed off to Wolf Road Prairie Nature Preserve in Westchester (a western suburb of Chicago) to join a walk led by some folks from the Chicago Audubon Society. The purpose was to view the courtship flights of the American Woodcock. Though we heard several of the birds peent-ing in the grass, not a one flew into the air. Kind of a drag after a long haul to the burbs, especially since we didn't really have the time for it. (We're busy getting ready for our trip to the Texas coast this Friday.) We did see some BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS before it got dark, and -- this is truly amazing -- I didn't make a single dirty joke about the word "woodcock".

posted by Scrubb at 11:58 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST

The view from my cold plywood cell

We woke up at 3:30 am to watch some chickens. I guess that means we're officially -- I don't know what -- officially bat-shit looney. I'm ambivalent about the whole thing. It was really something to see the GREATER PRAIRIE CHICKEN in action (a lifer for us both) -- no doubt about it. But to travel 250 miles, to sleep just three hours in a crummy motel, and to freeze our asses off in the Black Hole of Calcutta, well, that's a lot for a chicken to ask.

Continue reading "chicken nuggets [100 - 105]" »

posted by Scrubb at 10:43 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + lifers

Today we made our first trip to Northerly Island, which was formerly Miegs Field, Chicago's lakefront airport. I used to like Miegs because is was fun to watch airplanes landing only a few blocks from a skyscrapered downtown. But Mayor Daley loves his parks, so he used 9-11 as an excuse to plow over the runways and plant this greenery. I don't want to sound like a nature hater, but I'm a friend to all birds, including the big silver ones. I'm not losing any sleep over it, mind you. My cube faces west so I can't see the damn lake anyway, and hizzoner has given us another place to bird.

Continue reading "LBJs suck major sap [93 - 99]" »

posted by Scrubb at 07:25 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + challenges + lbjs + lifers

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.

Continue reading "first hoosier expedition [81 - 92]" »

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.

Continue reading "finally, the owl [79 - 80]" »

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?

Continue reading "saved by ducks [65 - 78]" »

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.

Continue reading "sick + overworked = 3 birds [62 - 64]" »

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

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.

Continue reading "cold white geese [60 - 61]" »

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.

Continue reading "gull frolic [52 - 59]" »

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.

Continue reading "no hawks were violated [51]" »

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

After spending the night just north of Duluth, we decided to bird County Road 2, which runs north from Two Harbors. According to Kim Eckert's A Birder's Guide to Minnesota, Spruce Grouse can be found there north of the Sand River. When we got to the area, we started to drive slowly and watch carefully. We saw a couple of flocks of pine grosbeaks, but suddenly, some other birds flew up from the roadside. I didn't get a good look at them, but Pole said they were a little chunky and had red in the tail. That means Spruce Grouse.

Continue reading "a bird in the scope is worth two in the bins [48 - 50]" »

posted by Scrubb at 08:30 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + lifers

We both got up before dawn to see the wolf, but no luck. Maybe it was eating one of those pesky deer. I hope.

We checked out of Gunflint Lodge, and our first stop was Grand Marais harbor. The first thing we saw in the water was a common goldeneye. Another duck we couldn't identify was hanging out with it. I put the scope on it and got a quick look before it dunked its head. It was a colorful bird and before giving the lens up to Pole, I made my pronouncement: "Wood Duck".

Continue reading "duck duck goof [44 - 47]" »

posted by Scrubb at 11:33 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + lifers

Pole on the George Washington Pines Trail

Last night we arrived at Gunflint Lodge on Gunflint Lake at the end of the Gunflint Trail. It would be nice if I could say it was in the town of Gunflint, too, but it ain't. Driving the trail at night, we saw two moose calves, and in the morning, lots of tame whitetail deer around the cabins. At one point I counted something like 16 outside our window. The lodge has corn so the guests can feed them, which means the deer become spoiled pests. A big doe actually stamped her foot at me when she thought I was going to mess with the corn I had given her. I stamped my foot right back at her, the ingrate.

Continue reading "more deer than birds [38 - 43]" »

posted by Scrubb at 08:26 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + lifers + other animals

Before we headed out into the country, we made a short stop at Duluth's Park Point, where saw some COMMON RAVENS. Our next stop was Aitkin County (again). We were driving along Route 5, Pole poring over maps and guides, when I saw a flash directly in front of me. It was a BLACK-BILLED MAGPIE. I had only a short glimpse, but it was mostly dark with some white, and a long, long tail. Pole didn't see it, and by the time she unearthed herself from her library, the bird had gone. We saw it in the distance with another, too far off to identify. Pole was disappointed and pissed to say the least, so I kept my mouth shut. When I first saw it, I yelled "Oh my God!", so she knew it was a good one. It was spectacular in fact, but I was a gentleman and didn't gloat.

Continue reading "magpies and logging trucks [34 - 37]" »

posted by Scrubb at 08:20 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + lifers

Today is the first day of a birding trip to Minnesota. We took a shorter trip last year during the unprecedented owl irruption, but don't expect such luck this year. We left Chicago yesterday after work, but spent the night in Wisconsin, making today our first in the beautiful North Star State.

While on route to St. Paul, a BALD EAGLE flew low across our path. It's always easy to ID, so I don't mind it flying in front of me while I'm going 75 mph. Still heading north, Pole saw another bird fly past. (I was too busy driving the car, so couldn't get a good look.) At first she thought it was a Northern Harrier, but after carefully reviewing both the Peterson and Sibley guides, she decided it was a NORTHERN GOSHAWK.

Continue reading "the great muddy north [28 - 33]" »

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

We've been very busy this weekend, what with this, that, and the other. I guess if we were psycho birders, nothing could have stopped us, but being lousy birders . . .

Anyway, we were able to make one short trip today to Glencoe Beach (Glencoe's another northern suburb of Chicago) to see if there was any action on the lake. There was, and we saw a nice raft of ducks. Amongst the scaup, redheads, and goldeneyes, we saw a single RED-BREASTED MERGANSER.

So if we keep this up and manage to see one new bird a week, we'll reach an annual total of 75. I guess choosing the name "Little Year" is finally starting to pay off.

posted by Scrubb at 07:14 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST

Having a job sucks. But money = good, so not having a job sucks even worse. Basically, then, suckage is all that's on the menu.

I'm getting philosophical here because having a job really cuts into my birding time. That means my Little Year just gets littler and littler. I'm hopeful it won't be littler when it's lighter, because then I can do a little birding after work. Going out before work isn't likely. I'm pretty damn lazy and like my sleep. The point of all my whining is that I didn't see squat all week. Pole was lucky and stumbled upon a MOURNING DOVE last Monday. It's only a week into our Little Year and she's already ahead of me. Oh, well. She usually wins at everything, and I'm resigned to it.

Continue reading "one for three in the owl dept. [13 - 26]" »

posted by Scrubb at 11:53 AM | permalink | stuck under LIST + challenges + gulls + lifers

Considering this is the first day of our little year, I did my best to get up early, but I was still late meeting up with Scrubb. Last night, we had decided to bird the Morton Arboretum, some miles west of Chicago, with an advertised morning bird walk given by the DuPage County Birding Club. This is a top-rated area for winter birds in our region. Not only was I hoping to add birds to our little year list, but with a guided tour, I was also hoping to add a few lifers -- birds I had never seen, such as pine siskins or saw-whet owls -- to my own personal life list. Well, I was disappointed in my selfish pursuit of lifers, but the little year list has grown slightly.

Continue reading "the first day [2 - 12]" »

posted by Pole at 12:21 PM | permalink | stuck under LIST + lifers

We began our Little Year at midnight, hoping to spot an easy one and then quit until morning. Our first stop was a useless, birdless visit to the Lake Michigan shore at Evanston, a suburb just north of Chicago. We heard a faint gull cry from the lake, but neither of us knew enough to identify it.

Then we followed the shore north to Gillson Park in the suburb of Wilmette, which also seemed deserted. We didn't see or hear anything until we reached the sheltered harbor at the south end. As we approached the water, Pole spotted a duck swimming away from us, but there wasn't enough light to identify it. I walked up to the water's edge and clumsily spooked about half a dozen MALLARDS, who burst off in a terrified medley of flapping, paddling, and quacking.

In a way, it's not a very auspicious beginning to our Little Year to freak out a bunch of sleeping mallards. "Poor ducks," was Pole's sad comment. Still, they're one of my favorite birds, and I'm delighted to have such a beautiful animal at the top of my list. I guess waking them is better than shooting them, which Audubon would have done. So I'm one up on him, too.

posted by Scrubb at 01:28 AM | permalink | stuck under LIST