Since I felt like mixing things up a little bit last weekend, I went to two new birding locations: Crabtree Nature Center and Baker's Lake with my friend Oliver Burrus. But the main thing that attracted me to these places were targets. Part of the joy of birding for me is competition with other local birders, and since I can only bird on the weekends, I have to work extra hard to find multiple species of birds on one trip. Crabtree Nature Center also happened to hold a rarity, the elusive Harris' Sparrow. I started my morning off there as soon as the nature center opened up, at 8:00 AM. After looking at previous reports, I had seen that the Harris' Sparrow had been showing up at the feeders at intermittent intervals, often hours apart, which meant we were likely in for a long wait. At our first check at the feeders, we came up with nothing, so we decided to check the lake and hope that the Harris' would be there when we came back. The lake held a nice number of ducks, including many BUFFLEHEADS:
We also had great looks at other ducks such as HOODED MERGANSERS, COMMON MERGANSERS, and a flock of RING NECKED DUCKS. Here's me looking at ducks form the overlook:
We decided to head back to the feeders to see if the Harris' made and appearance. We approached the feeders and came across a nice SONG SPARROW:
We also saw many of the abundant RED WINGED BLACKBIRDS. For several weeks after the blackbirds make their first appearance in the spring, flocks consist of only males as the females often come north much later. Today, I saw my FOY (first of the year) female Red Winged Blackbird. Here is a shot of a male:
Small numbers of AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES were also present. In just a matter of time, this bird will transfer back to its bright yellow spring plumage.
But, once again the elusive Harris' Sparrow was a no-show. We decided to take a walk down a different trail, picking a few GREEN WINGED TEAL and GADWALL. After a relatively uneventful walk (aside from the Teal and Gadwall) we went back to the feeders for one last check. Right when I walked up, an interesting bird flushed up from under the feeder an landed in a nearby tree. It looked like a good contestant for our target bird, and Harris's tend to stay under the feeders. I put my binocs up to look at a large, chunky, long tailed sparrow with a pinkish bill. We had found our target: the HARRIS' SPARROW! After about a 3 second look, the bird flew away never to be seen again. We decided it was time to move on to our next spot, Baker's Lake. On our way out my FOY TURKEY VULTURE flew over:
And of course, another spot means another target. This time we would look for a group of early Great Egrets on the lake's rookery, and maybe even a Northern Shrike in the prairie if we were lucky. We walked right up to the lake, and the first bird we saw was our target the GREAT EGRET! This bird is a regular in the state, but just arrived a little bit early for the Chicago area. Usually the first egrets Cook county sees each year show up at Baker's Lake. We had a total of 12 egrets on the rookery along with a GREAT BLUE HERON. We made our way to the prairie hoping to get a Northern Shrike. I knew this bird was a bit of a stretch, and we would have to get lucky to see one. Shrikes are hard to find in Cook County (and pretty much anywhere in Illinois), but the best place to find one would be here. This place provides perfect habitat for this bird; prairie with low trees and scrub. Its getting a little late for the shrike, and one has not been here since earlier this winter, but it was definitely possible. We started off our walk with a calling RED TAILED HAWK. Oliver reminded us how in the movies the studios often use the call of the Red Tailed Hawk as that of a Bald Eagle, perhaps because they think it sounds better.
We had an incredibly slow walk, and during the first 30 minutes the only interesting bird we saw was a FOX SPARROW. Just as we started to make our way back this incredibly random SANDHILL CRANE came out of nowhere and flew right over our heads:
We had an incredibly slow walk, and during the first 30 minutes the only interesting bird we saw was a FOX SPARROW. Just as we started to make our way back this incredibly random SANDHILL CRANE came out of nowhere and flew right over our heads:
We unfortunately came up shrikeless, but topped off the day with a pair of beautiful EASTERN BLUEBIRDS near the parking lot. Overall, we had a great day of birding in two spots I have never been before!
Since I can never get enough birding in, I kept going after I got home and biked to a local spot in Evanston called Perkins Woods. There was not much there, but it was pretty awesome to find this WHITE BREASTED NUTHATCH clearing out his nesting hole!
Since I can never get enough birding in, I kept going after I got home and biked to a local spot in Evanston called Perkins Woods. There was not much there, but it was pretty awesome to find this WHITE BREASTED NUTHATCH clearing out his nesting hole!
It was nice birding with Oliver and getting the Harris' Sparrow, as well as many other great birds. Stay tuned for future birding adventures because I depart for Puerto Rico in just 2 days!
Life List :783 (not new lifers today) To see more of my photography, go to this link: https://www.instagram.com/birder03/
Life List :783 (not new lifers today) To see more of my photography, go to this link: https://www.instagram.com/birder03/