ABA's Camp Colorado was definitely one of the best birding experiences I have ever had. In total we saw 125 species and I made several new friends and many memories along the way. Below is a highlights video of our experience, so I am going to make the writing in this post brief. On July 16, I flew out to Denver and was picked up camp director Jennie Duberstein at the gate, where I met the rest of the campers. Soon after, we piled into the van and headed to The YMCA Of The Rockies in Estes Park, where we would stay for the next week. Our daily schedule looked a lot like this:

• Wake up before sunrise for a full morning of birding usually from around 6 AM to mid-afternoon
• Breakfast in the field
• Arrive back at the Y for lunch and/or free time, where we did things like more birding, play outside, or socializing
• Workshop (learning about things to make us better birders) or bird banding
• Dinner
• Owling and/or evening program given by a camp counselor

We visited a new habitat each of the 5 days in search of new birds. Here are the places we went and what habitats they offered:

• Day 1. Wild Basin (moutain birding in Rocky Mountain National Park)
• Day 2. Pawnee National Grassland and Fossil Creek Reservoir 
• Day 3. Upper Beaver Meadows and Hidden Valley (more mountain birding)
• Day 4. Medicine Bow Curve (looking for birds of the tundra at 12,000 ft)
• Day 5. Rabbit Mountain (foothills birding)

In total, I gained 14 life birds putting my life list at 816. I loved this experience. It was one of the few times where I am able to meet others my age who share the uncommon interest of birding because few of my friends understand it. Usually, I end up birding on my own or with my dad who is not so much of a birder as someone who enjoys being outside; so, the highlight for me was being around others like me with the same interest and being able to bird with them. Anyway, please enjoy this video I put together consisting of the highlights of camp!

Earlier this month I went on the Illinois Young Birders weekend trip to Dixon Waterfowl Refuge in central Illinois. These weekend trips with the Illinois Young Birders are my favorite of all the ILYB field trips because we get to do great birding for 2 days and be social in between outings.

After we arrived and settled into the bunkhouse, we began our walk deep into the wetlands in search of grassland species. Despite it being over 90 degrees, we were still able to pick up several birds, which included my first ORCHARD ORIOLE of the year; this was the highlight of the walk for me. We started off the walk with good views of common species such as INDIGO BUNTING, NORTHERN ROUGH WINGED SWALLOW, EASTERN WOOD PEWEE and BALTIMORE ORIOLE. As we got deeper in to the wetlands, we found some lesser common species like this DICKCISSEL:

We also saw this HENSLOW'S SPARROW, which is the most elusive sparrow that can be found within these grasslands. These birds often stay hidden in the grass low to the ground, so I was lucky to get shots of him sitting up singing! 

On the way back, we decided to stop at an abandoned barn to check for Barn Owl (and I'm pretty sure you can tell how the bird got its name). Although we never found the owl, we did find a Barn Owl feather as well as owl pellets and a parts of a goose's wing, telling us that there were certainly owls in the barn recently. Upon further inspection of the pellets, we found out that they were Great Horned Owl pellets. All birds fear the Great Horned Owl (even other owls) and they are at the top of the food chain. In the end, we came to the conclusion that the Barn Owl that was previously in here was likely eaten by the Great Horned :( 

Since it was sweltering hot outside and the birds were quieting down, we went back and had lunch, then played home run derby and even drove to the nearby town of Peru to play some Pokemon Go while the adults had a siesta. Here is a view of the grasslands from the bunkhouse in which we all stayed.

After it cooled down a bit more, we headed out birding again. We drove past the observation tower to the boat launch. We arrived to find this Painted Turtle in the parking lot:

We walked 2 miles and saw no new birds at all, and we were all getting discouraged. It wasn't until we were nearly back at the parking lot when things started to get interesting. We had incredible views of a YELLOW BREASTED CHAT which was awesome because they are really hard to find in Northeastern Illinois. 

This was followed by a RUBY THROATED HUMMINGBIRD sitting on its delicate nest, which is something none of us, including our leader Mathew Cvetas, have ever seen!

Here's a YELLOW WARBLER bringing lunch back to its chicks:

LARK SPARROW:

We came home and had a nice spaghetti dinner then headed out to try to find a few more bird before the sun went down. As we pulled into the turn off to the observation tower every car in the line screeched to a stop. The crew in the lead car got out and began taking pictures. We knew something was up so we all quickly hopped out and there, just sitting on the side of the road, was a BARRED OWL! Unfortunately, the Grackles and Black Birds in the area were not fans and chased him off before I got a picture. Nonetheless, it was just a random surprise because Matthew actually spotted the bird fly over his car! After that, we climbed to the top of the observation deck to scan for waterfowl. Here's a picture of the sun setting over Dixon Waterfowl Refuge with the observation tower in the forefront. 

Although we did not get too lucky with the waterfowl, we did see a RED HEADED WOODPECKER pop its head out of its nest hole.

Now that is was dark, we moved on to Putnam County Conservation Area where we topped the night off with a calling EASTERN WHIP POOR WILL! Although that was the end of our birding for the day, but not the end of our adventure.

We came back to the bunkhouse that night to find a car parked in the lot and the lights in the house on. Something wasn't right here. Matthew was the first one to step into the house, and I followed. We walked into the living room to find two big guys lying on the couches, and they did not look very friendly. Matthew began telling them that the house we had rented the house for the weekend, and that they had to leave, but they didn't seem to be responding.  I turned around and told all the people entering the house to go back outside, that there were two possibly dangerous men crashing on our couches. All of the dad's walked in to deal with them, including Eddie's dad who was holding the metal bat we were playing baseball with earlier. I remember seeing these men come into the parking lot earlier when we were leaving after dinner, though I guess I didn't really put much thought into it. But still, what kind of people see a parking lot with 6 cars in it and then see a house that was obviously being used and think its fine to just walk in? After giving it some more thought I decided they fell into one of the following categories:

1. Mental
2. Druggies (my guess)
3. Just didn't give a crap

They were not leaving  and they were trying to feel us out by making conversation and asking questions. If it were an honest mistake (which it wasn't) they would be like "I'm so sorry, we'll leave immediately."

After about 20 minutes, the dads eventually got em out. The men climbed into their jeep and pulled out of the parking lot, only to stop their car behind the barn so we couldn't see them. What were they doing? Loading their shotguns so they could come back and shoot us? After several long minutes, they finally made it to the main road only to TURN BACK AROUND and drive back to the bunkhouse. Me and the other young birders found it slightly amusing at first, but seeing how the parents reacted, we quickly scattered and hid behind the cars. It turns out, one of the men just forgot his pillow. Nonetheless it was a weird situation, and I'm pretty sure we all slept restlessly that night.

We woke up bright and early the next morning with in the hope of finding more waterfowl, unlike the night before. This day we had much more luck! We were able to see AMERICAN COOT, RUDDY DUCK, BLACK NECKED STILT, and 7 COMMON GALLINULE (although they aren't common)!  I was determined to leave with some nice photographs, and managed to snap a few nice pics of this COMMON YELLOWTHROAT!

After a nice breakfast back at the bunkhouse, we set out do do some birding outside of the refuge at Miller Anderson Woods. Although birding was tough because the birds were hard to see, we were able to hear PILEATED WOODPECKER, AMERICAN REDSTART, and YELLOW THROATED VIREO. I also got nice views of ACADIAN FLYCATCHER and my first YELLOW BILLED CUCKOO of the year! Miller Anderson was also full of cool moths and butterflies.

As soon as we got back, we found a baby RED WINGED BLACKBIRD on the ground that got lost from its parents. I was even able to pick him up! I'm certainly hope that his parents ended up finding him in the end. 

Sadly, the weekend was coming to a close and we had one last game of home run derby and one last lunch together before we left. It was an amazing weekend and we saw nearly 80 species. Big thanks to Matthew Cvetas for organizing the trip. I can't wait until next year!

Life List: 802 (added American Woodcock earlier in June)       To see more of my photography, look me up                                                                                                     at birder03 on Instagram!

I know a lot of you birders like to read my blog, but there is also a large amount of non-birders who follow this blog as well. Since I felt like switching things up a bit this week, I decided to make a video dedicated to all the non-birders out there. In this video I break down the basics of birding, from how to identify a bird to how weather patterns play an important role in where to bird. Overall, I did this video for non-birders to get a better understanding of birding!

May migration is finally here! I look forward to it every day and it's the most exciting time of the year for me. During the whole month of May, birds are migrating north back to their breeding grounds after summering  in the south, and they all come right through Illinois! One of the most exciting birding days of the whole year is Spring Bird Count (often referred to as SBC) in Evanston. Migration is all about the winds and the weather. Winds coming from the north deter birds from migrating, while south winds provide a tailwind for them, pushing them north to their final destinations in the Northern U.S. and Canada. Unfortunately, all of the north winds and rain discouraged most birds from moving up through Illinois this past Saturday, so SBC was incredibly slow with just 66 species in total, much less then last year's 98. Although we saw far fewer species, we did see a few quality birds. Ornithologist Josh Engel, his friend Amanda, and I went to The Lakefill on Northwestern University's campus for a lake watch. Although we did not see much, the sunrise was still beautiful.

Although the lake watch only resulted in 13 species, we did see this nice COMMON LOON:

We decided to call it quits with lake watching and set off to find other migrants. My favorite spot to look for passerines (warblers, vireos, sparrows, etc.) is the vegetable garden, where a nice LINCOLN'S SPARROW was the highlight. Just then, Josh heard the call of the YELLOW THROATED WARBLER. We set off to find it, and although we had already spotted it the previous weekend, it was nice to see again, and the only one ever seen on the Evanston SBC!

More walking led us to this pair of COOPER'S HAWKS, which were nesting here. It will be exciting to see the young ones once they leave the nest!

Northwestern's beach:

Since there wasn't much else on campus, we decided to move on to Perkins Woods. Perkins Woods is a tiny woods about a half a block long located in the middle of one of Evanston's most residential neighborhoods. Despite its small size, it's still be a good place for migrants. As odd as it may seem, we saw this MALLARD here:

AMERICAN ROBIN:

Just then, Josh spotted my FOY (first of the year) LEAST FLYCATCHER, followed by this beautiful male ROSE BREASTED GROSBEAK!

After a morning of slow birding, we decided to make one more stop to Memorial Park Cemetery before wrapping up. The highlight was a calling SORA and this CHIPPING SPARROW.

For the first time ever, the highlight wasn't the birds! We found this coyote's den right where we parked, and there were 9 cubs coming in and out of it. We were able to get photos and videos from just 10 feet away!

Although it wasn't the most productive SBC, it was still great to see a few nice birds and enjoy birding at my local patches! Big thanks to Josh Engel for letting me tag along!

Later in the weekend, I visited my favorite spot again - Montrose Point. This time I was joined by my friends Jake Cvetas, Oliver Burrus and Eddie Kasper. To me, birding is always much more fun with friends. During our visit, this female (and also my first ever) HOODED WARBLER completely stole the show! He was very photogenic, and dozens of photographers lined up to get pictures. 

After walking around for awhile, another birder informed me that the same Yellow Breasted Chat I missed last weekend was seen in the southeast corner of the point. I rushed down there immediately.  When I arrived, the bird was not being seen, but thanks to Eddie's sharp eyes we were able to locate the elusive bird. Unfortunately, he flew down into the foliage before I was able to get a photo. Not only was the Hooded Warbler photogenic, but so was this tiny BLUE GRAY GNATCATCHER, one of the most common migrants:

Since we still had over an hour to bird, Mrs Kasper drove us to the Lincoln Park Zoo, which may seem like a good spot to see captive birds, but can be great for wild ones, too! We were hoping to find some warblers there. The first bird we came across was this GREEN HERON:

All at the same time, we yelled "NORTHERN PARULA" when the bird gave its buzzy "bzzzzzip" from a nearby tree. It was definitely surprising and also one of the highlights of the weekend for me! We topped the day with more walking around the zoo and delicious donuts courtesy of Mrs Kasper. Although the conditions did not provide for great birding, all that means is that more excitement awaits. Despite the lack of birds, it was great catching up with my friends and seeing my first Hooded Warbler. Stay tuned, by now all the birds have arrived and the greatest weekend of birding of the year for me lies just ahead!



Life List 801 (+1 Hooded Warbler)                                       To see more of my photography, click this link:
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Last weekend, my grandparents came in for a visit from Salt Lake City, UT, which made for an especially exciting weekend for me! Not only are we in the midst of Spring migration, but my grandparents are the ones who introduced me to birding. The last time they came to Chicago was almost 4 years ago when I first took interest in birds. It all started on the 11th of May 2013. We were sitting on the back porch and my grandparents were pointing out birds to me (I remember seeing a female cowbird and a chickadee). Then, they took me to Montrose Point and North Park Village Nature Center where I was able to see many more birds through their binoculars. A few that I vividly remember were the Great Crested Flycatcher, White Crowned Sparrow, White Throated Sparrow, Magnolia Warbler, and Rose Breasted Grosbeak. Shortly after they left, a field guide and binoculars showed up in my mailbox. I started keeping a life list and began recording all the birds I saw on iBird (a popular app that gives information on all North American bird species.) I became incessant about flipping through the field guide and looking up birds on iBird, until I could identify practically every bird I saw. Since my grandparents were the ones that got me started on birding, I would like to dedicate this post in honor of them. Please enjoy our birding adventures!
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I had just come home from school when my grandparents arrived. After catching up for a little bit, we immediately started birding. Since we only had 1 hour before our dinner reservation, we quickly went to one of my local spots, Harbert Park. Unfortunately, since it was late in the day, we only saw a few birds, but highlights included 2 EASTERN PHEOBE, a flyover PEREGRINE FALCON, and 2 close-up BLUE GRAY GNATCHATCHERS. We topped the night off with a nice dinner and more catching up at a local restaurant called Campagnola.

I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. It was my grandma and grandpa calling me to see if I was up for a quick outing of birding. Of course I was! I got my stuff ready and we headed to the spot where I bird every weekend; Northwestern campus. Overall, we had a fairly unproductive morning, but we did see some swallows, the NORTHERN ROUGH WINGED SWALLOW being most abundant:

 After a quiet walk around the libraries, we were headed back to the car when I ran into the Evanston North Shore Bird Club on campus. I knew a few people in the group and went up to say hello. That's when the field trip leader Josh Engel pointed out a rare YELLOW THROATED WARBLER actively feeding on the side of a building! This bird is found in more southerly forests throughout the U.S. Although the bird would have been easy to find in Southern Illinois, Chicago is just north of its range, so it was quite a treat to see one! We also came across more birds in that area including PALM WARBLER, YELLOW RUMPED WARBLER, LINCOLN'S SPARROW and a RED BREASTED NUTHATCH. The Yellow Throated Warbler is now one of the best birds I've had in all of my time birding there!

​​Later in the day, I played in my soccer game, and we followed that up with a Vietnamese lunch and then games back at our house. 

Despite the rain, cold temperatures and strong winds, we decided we should go birding anyway. My grandparents picked me up at 6:25, and we went to the famous Montrose Point, the first place I ever went birding. Walking around Montrose again with my grandparents brought back all kinds of memories from my first birding trip. This was where my grandparents taught me how to bird and now 4 years later, I was back with them to show them the knowledge I had gained. I did not take many pictures because of the rain, but we still had a total of 40 species which included the following: my first VEERY of the year!

We also saw this uncommon BLUE WINGED WARBLER which was a real highlight because my grandparents have never seen one; this is also my favorite bird! 

A walk through the dunes along the lake hit us with brutal winds, so my grandparents stayed back while I did a quick check on the beach. Not too many shorebirds, but I did see both LESSER YELLOWLEGS and GREATER YELLOWLEGS! The Greater Yellowlegs is the bird below:

Now here we have the Lesser Yellowlegs. You're probably thinking the birds look exactly the same. As similar as they appear, if you look closely you will notice that the greater has a longer, slightly upturned bill, and overall is just bigger in size.

Aside from the weather, it was a successful morning of birding, though luckily it wasn't over yet! We had scheduled brunch at North Pond restaurant which overlooks North Pond (wonder where the place got its name from :) ). Anyway, North Pond is a very popular birding spot and can hold large numbers of migrants so I was more looking forward to the walk we planned to take afterward than the food. Overall, the food was great and so were the birds. As soon a I stepped out of the restaurant I had a flock of about 40 PALM WARBLER, a bright male YELLOW WARBLER followed by GREEN and BLACK CROWNED NIGHT HERONS!

Since I don't get to see my grandparents often my mom and dad let me skip school Monday morning in order to squeeze in one more birding trip. This morning proved to be the best morning Montrose has had all year! I had 59 species and the point was hopping with birds. As soon as I got out of the car I heard a BLACK THROATED GREEN WARBLER calling. When I located it, there also happened to be 5 species of warblers in that tree, including PINE WARBLER and NASHVILLE WARBLER followed by a WARBLING VIREO. We also saw several of theses common, but still beautiful YELLOW RUMPED WARBLER:

As usual, AMERICAN ROBINS were very common throughout the day.

COMMON YELLOWTHROATS such as this male here are warblers but unlike most of them this bird can be seen here all summer while others summer further north in the Northern U.S or Canada.

Since it was not as cold and windy, we decided to spend more time exploring the dunes area looking for grassland species. The one and only shorebird there was this SPOTTED SANDPIPER:

 SWAMP SPARROW:

My grandma birding:

When we got back from the dunes, we walked right into the most productive spot in the point. This ROSE BREASTED GROSBEAK brought back memories of when I saw my first one with my grandparents 4 years ago. 

  A BALTIMORE ORIOLE, which added a splash of color to our day!

Just then, a birder approached me and told me she had just seen a Yellow Breasted Chat, and that it took off north. This, being a very elusive and uncommon bird attracted the attention of many birders. Game on! Just about every other birder there and I went in search of the Chat. While looking, I saw this awesome GRAY CHEEKED THRUSH:

We also saw this similar SWAINSON'S THRUSH. It is much more common and can be distinguished from the Gray Cheeked by its distinct eye ring. Another new year bird for me!

YELLOW WARBLER:

NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH:

Although we never found the Chat, we did see and uncommon CLAY COLORED SPARROW which made up for it a little bit. Overall, I had great birding and great company! I would say it ranked as the best birding day I have had all year!

May migration is on! Big thanks to my grandparents for coming out for a fun weekend and taking me to all of these birding spots. Hope to see you again soon! Stay tuned for more epic spring migration birding adventures and my Spring Bird Count post!


Life List 800 (no new life birds)                                          To see more of my photography, look me up at                                                                                                 birder03 on instagram!                                                                                               

On April 15th, (I know! sorry for the late post!) I lead a bird walk to McClaughry Springs Woods and Orland Grasslands for the Whimbrel Birders Club. The group met at McClaughry bright and early at 7:00, hoping to pick up three targets for this location: the Pileated Woodpecker, Louisiana Waterthrush, and Carolina Wren. These are all very special birds to he the Chicago area because these birds tend to avoid urban areas and are very hard to find anywhere in Cook County. Being one of the most remote preserves in the area, McClaughry is one of the only places to pick up these species. In fact, the waterthrush and the wren are both nesting here! During migration, this forest preserve can be one of the most exciting places to visit.

​Just as I pulled into the parking lot, a completely unexpected PURPLE FINCH made an appearance, which was also a lifer for me! Originally, my life list was thought to be at 799, but after realizing a mistake in my list I had to subtract a species from it. So, the purple finch made for my 799th life bird, and a great start to the walk. Sorry for the distant photo.

To make it even better, just as I was doing an intro to the walk, a CAROLINA WREN interrupted me with its loud tea-kettle tea-kettle tea-kettle call. We located the bird just across the street, sitting out on a branch giving the group great views. Then suddenly, this juvenille SHARP SHINNED HAWK darted out of the woods. This is the Cooper's Hawk's (a much more common bird) closest relative; as a matter of fact, they look so similar that they can only be identified by size (the sharp shinned is much smaller). Cooper's Hawks stay year round, but these guys only come through during migration.

After a very productive half hour in the parking lot, we started walking along the creek, searching for our second target, the Louisiana Waterthrush. Although, it has "thrush" in its name, this bird is actually a species of warbler that prefers to hang around areas that contain bodies of water. While watching for the bird along the banks of the creek, we saw this EASTERN PHOEBE, the first flycatcher to come back after winter and one of the largest:

Since there are many times where birders come here and only hear the waterthrush, I decided to play the call for the group. Apparently, the actual waterthrush heard the recording that I was using as an example and he seemed to be calling back by the parking lot. We ran back to find the waterthrush siting in a tree above the creek, giving the group great views and photo ops. This was also my 800th life bird, so it was a very exciting moment for me!

I almost had a panic attack when I then heard "PILEATED WOODPECKER flying in!" Thanks to Oliver Burrus for calling him out. We had picked up all three targets! Many birders come here to try to see all three of these birds, and almost always miss at least one of them. Rarely ever do birders see all three, so we were incredibly lucky to hear and see all three right by the parking lot. The rest of the walk got us WOOD DUCKS, BELTED KINGFISHERS, a very early BLUE HEADED VIREO, followed by a BLUE GREY GNATCATCHER, and much more. This was probably the best morning the preserve has had all year. 

​Our next stop was to Orland Grasslands. This location is a great birding spot, and its short grasslands and marshes provide habitat for several ducks, shorebirds, and sparrows. Here, we hoped to pick up our target bird, the Smith's Longspur. These longspurs are colorful sparrow-like birds that summer in the subarctic tundra, and spend their winter in the great plains in the center of the U.S. They are very hard to find, but we do get some that stop by at Orland Grasslands on their way north every spring. Frustratingly, most of the birds that we saw were birds we flushed from the grass, making it hard to get photos and positive IDs. One bird that did cooperate was this nice FIELD SPARROW:

A little bit less cooperative (Could not seem to find a place to land) but still nice, were these PECTORAL SANDPIPERS, my first shorebird of the year other than a Killdeer, a type of plover which comes almost 3 months before all the other shorebirds do.

And, not surprisingly, KILDEER were one of the most common birds of the day.

Although getting everyone in the group on every bird was hard, we still all got brief views of SOLITARY SANDPIPER, WILSON'S SNIPE, and, SORA, followed by a flock of 8 HORNED LARK. One of the most exciting birds of the day and another year bird for me was this VESPER SPARROW:

​We saw many more birds such as RUDDY DUCK, SAVANNAH SPARROW, SWAMP SPARROW, and RING NECKED DUCK, but failed to kick up a Smith Longspur. Although it may appear like an underwhelming birding spot, this grassland still brought us many incredible birds!

After I officially wrapped up the walk, many other birders continued birding and apparently had 2 Smith's Longspur just as I pulled out of the parking lot. It was frustrating I did not get to see one, but i'm still glad that most of the group did. Overall it was a fantastic walk, and we tallied up 50 species and found all of the day's targets, something I really did not expect. The best part of the day for me (obviously) was finally making it to 800 after being in the high 700s for several months. Bird of the day to the Louisiana Waterthrush, runners up were the Pileated Woopecker and Blue Headed Vireo! Stay tuned, because the most exciting time of the year for birding is coming upon us in just 2 weeks! If you live in the Chicago area and would like to join me on one of my walks, my next one will be to Montrose Point on April 30, 2017. To find out more go to whimbrelbirders.com. 



Life List 800 (2 additional life birds as of April 15, 2017)       To see more of my photography, look me up at                                                                                                  birder03 on instagram!

Finally! Spring Break has arrived! I have not birded outside of the United States since my world trip, (even though Puerto Rico is still a U.S territory) so It was a great opportunity for me to be introduced to new birds and pick up many more lifers. I left with 783 species on my life list, and wanted to reach 800. I guess your going to just have to keep reading to find out if I made it or not! Also, we spent the whole vacation with our friends, the Darers, making the trip overall a lot more fun. Anyway, this post will be broken up into two parts because I went to two different locations in Puerto Rico. Please enjoy!
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I arrived in San Juan on Monday at 1:00 PM on March 27, much later than planned. Originally, I was supposed to leave Chicago at 4:00 PM the day prior and fly to Newark, then fly from Newark to San Juan and arrive at 12:30 AM. However, my flight to Newark was significantly delayed, which meant missing the connecting flight to San Juan. Thank God, because that sounded like a horrible mess. Instead I was put on a direct flight the next day! As soon as we arrived, the sightseeing began and we headed straight to old San Juan to explore the neighborhoods and sights. The first bird I saw and the 1st lifer of the trip was this GREATER ANTILLEAN GRACKLE!

I also saw a few MONK PARAKEETS. Believe it or not, Monk Parakeets can actually be found on Chicago's south side. Decades ago, some of these birds escaped, and somehow adapted to the climate (don't understand how they survived a Chicago winter). The population grew to over 200 birds over the years, and of all places, the birds chose to nest under the Chicago Skyway! And yes, they have been in the area for 10 years, making them countable. So for the first time ever, I saw the parakeets where the parakeets were supposed to be. Aside from those, there were not many birds to see, but plenty of lizards. This iguana here was one of the largest lizards I saw on the whole trip:

We were lucky to be vacationing with friends, because walking around for 4 hours with no birds would have been dreadful. We topped the night off with a nice meal and a swim back at the hotel. 

The following morning, we went to El Yunque National Forest, the only rainforest in located in U.S territory. This was the day that I hoped to see my target bird, the Puerto Rican Tody, which is only endemic to Puerto Rico. Overall I found birding in the rainforest very difficult. 90% of the bird there you only hear, and since I don't know my Puerto Rican bird calls, I ended up with a low species count for the day, just 16 species. Another thing that drives me crazy, was how dark it was under the canopy, leading my camera to let me down on several photo ops. So I apologize, some photos may appear dark. Although I did not see much, I still found my target bird for the day, the tiny PUERTO RICAN TODY.

Another new bird for me was this PEARLY EYED THRASHER:

These RED LEGGED THRUSHES proved to be the most common bird during our hike.

Aside form a few species, it was a quiet hike. After meeting back up with our friends, we decided to go to a different part of the park, the Cocha Waterfall. Again, not many birds, but definetly worth the stop. Not only was the waterfall awesome, but the appearence of this NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH also made me very happy. This bird is a species of warbler, and warblers are my favorite family of bird species, only passing through the Chicago area during migration. Also, he put on quite the show!

Seeing the waterthrush feed on the side of the waterfall was definitely one of the highlights of the day. We were just about to leave when another great bird showed up, this PUERTO RICAN TANAGER! As you probably already guessed from the name, this bird is only endemic to Puerto Rico. The bird was constantly moving, so I could not quite get that nice shot, but this is at least what the bird looks like:

Overall, not many birds, but definitely some cool ones as well as some lifers.

The entire 3rd day of San Juan was walking around the old town once again, and looking at more of San Juan's historic sites. Since there is not a lot to write about and few birds, I will close the San Juan section with a collage of photos we took while walking around. Enjoy!

I lied! I did have one really nice and unexpected bird sighting. Im sorry I could not get a photo of the bird itself, but just of this beach is where I watched my lifer BROWN BOOBY (odd name for a bird right?) clumsily diving for fish.

I enjoyed my time on the main island very much, even though there were few birds. The highlights for me were birding around El Yunque National Forest, playing at the beach, and hanging out with my friend Sam. It would be nice to revisit this city in the future.

​

Vieques is a small island located just east of mainland Puerto Rico. More than half of the island is made  up of Vieques National Wildlife Refuge, which means great birding is here! The population of Vieques is just 9,400 people, and the island is just a short 1 hour drive to get from one end to the other. Its warm weather, good food, and beautiful beaches attract tourists looking for a relaxing getaway. Relaxing is just what we did for most of the time. Vieques is a short 25 minute flight from San Juan. Also, did I mention that the plane was about the size of a large canoe?

Including us, there were only 6 people on the flight.

Since we did not do much in Vieques but relax, visit some beaches, hang out with our friends, catch pokemon around the hotel and eat good food (I am now addicted to sweet plantains), I figure lets just jump into the birding. 

For my birding trip, my dad and I drove to the nature reserve on the northwest tip of the island, hoping to get the 7 life birds I needed to reach 800. The road there was actually so full of birds that it was as productive as the destination itself. Slowly meandering our way down PR994 we came upon several bird such as many COMMON GROUND DOVE:

CATTLE EGRET, who also apparently likes horses:

Female YELLOW WARBLER:

Then came one of the highlights of the day, a pair of endemic PUERTO RICAN WOODPECKERS!

Just as we were approaching Punta Arenas Road, we were treated with two awesome species of kingbirds just a few yards away. Here is a nice LOGGERHEAD KINGBIRD, the rarer one of the two species:

GREY KINGBIRD, the more common of the two species:

And finally, we arrived after a very bird drive there.

The road took us through a variety of habitats, including low trees/scrub, wetland, tall trees and beaches. It definitely proved to be a great birding spot. Just as we got onto the road, I spotted a pair of these awesome MANGROVE CUCKOO:

The wetlands further down the road provided several shorebirds. As soon as I stepped out of the car I flushed two BLACK BELLIED PLOVERS, followed by a SPOTTED SANDPIPER, its rapid fluttering wingbeats gave it away. Spotted Sandpipers should show up in the Chicago area in a couple weeks time, and are one of the most common shorebirds there from May all the way through September. This beautiful BLACK NECKED STILT was standing just by the bridge, giving us perfect views. Its long pink legs, give it the name "stilt".

Another shorebird in the lagoon I saw named after it's legs, was this LESSER YELLOWLEGS:

This colorful billed COMMON GALLINULE (or Common Moorhen) was bathing in the wetlands. 

This BROWN PELICAN was perched on a dead palm, and was definitely doing some crazy acrobatics!

The incredibly beautiful and endemic ADELAIDE'S WARBLER was present many times throughout the day, 

Here is a picture of the road itself:

We topped the day off with some awesome displaying BLACK FACED GRASSQUITS followed by this GREEN THROATED CARIB!

The birding turned out to be much greater that expected! But, the real question is, did I make it to 800?







Nope.




​I never made it. That Green Throated Carib was lifer 799, the final life bird I saw on the entire trip. Even though I did not make it to 800, I was not disappointed at all. I had a great day of birding, and I really enjoyed seeing species I have never seen before, or have not seen them for a a while. I really enjoyed exploring the island with my friend the whole time. I would love to come back.

 
​Overall, it was a great trip! I got a total of 16 life birds, and enjoyed every day of the trip and its sad to be back. But, I plan to go back someday! Stay tuned for more birding adventures and spring migration, because the most exciting time of the year is approaching!



Life List:799 (16 new life birds)                                               To see more of my photography, look me up                                 
                                                                                                    on instagram @birder03

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 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!

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/

When I heard that the next Illinois Young Birders trip was to Starved Rock, I knew I needed to go. My dad could not take me, but thanks to Matthew and Jake Cvetas I was able to tag along with them. I woke up bright and early on Sunday, well before sunrise, to make the 2 hour trek down to Starved Rock SP in LaSalle County. Starved Rock is one of Illinois most beautiful and most popular state parks. Its many canyons hold great hiking trails, not to mention the park also sits on the Illinois River, which makes Starved Rock a great birding destination! We met up with the Illinois Young Birders at the lock and dam visitor's center at 7:30, where we were treated with great views of AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS (tough to see back in the Chicago area) as well as BALD EAGLES, a bird Starved Rock is known to hold large numbers of. We also had a group of LESSER SCAUP fly overhead as well as 2 small groups of NORTHERN SHOVELER and a GREAT BLUE HERON. After that we drove to the other side of the river to go on a hike. As we were crossing the bridge, I spotted a bird flying over the river adjacent to the car. I though it was a Belted Kingfisher since we were over a river, but it was actually a PILEATED WOODPECKER! These are America's largest woodpeckers, and are really hard to find in the Chicago area as well, making it the first time I have ever seen one in Illinois. Later in the day, we saw 2 more flying by. We then went on a quick hike, where we had a FOX SPARROW, WHITE THROATED SPARROWS, and a CAROLINA WREN. View of the Illinois River from the hiking trail:

Me made our way back down the canyon and did a little bit of birding around the state park visitors center which was surprisingly productive. An unexpected YELLOW BELLIED SAPSUCKER made and appearance as well as a nice SHARP SHINNED HAWK. We also saw a handful of  BLACK CAPPED CHICKADEES and, they seemed to be enjoying the sunflower seeds:

DOWNEY WOODPECKERS were also present and feeding:

RED BELLIED WOODPECKER:

WHITE BREASTED NUTHATCH:

We all got back in our cars and headed to Lone Point to look at ducks, picking up GADWALL, AMERICAN KESTREL, and SONG SPARROW on the way. We did a long scan at the point, and successfully picked up more pelicans and eagles. We also saw a larger variety of ducks, with GREEN WINGED TEAL and AMERICAN WIGEON being the highlights. We finished the trip off with a scenic walk through Illinois Canyon:

After the trip was officially wrapped up, Josh Engel, Andrew Aldrich, Sam Hammer, and the Cvetas's and I continued birding around LaSalle County, the highlights of our day still awaiting. On our way to LaSalle Lake, a COOPER'S HAWK made an appearance: 

We knew there was a spot by the lake where Snowy Owls have been seen this winter, but since the last one was reported 28 days ago, it was not looking promising. We pulled off along the side of the road and Jake and I were sitting in the car when Matthew yellled SNOWY OWL! We jumped out, and saw the bird sitting on the abandon railroad tracks just where they have been returning to for multiple winters. Then, we thought there may be a second bird, but it was so far away we couldn't tell. We drove over there to find a second bird sitting much closer to the road. Here is a pano to give you a better example of where we were:

Until then, I have not seen a Snowy Owl since 2014. It was one of my best early birding experiences, and it was so great to be able to experience it again!

We were headed back, and that's when Matthew's phone rang. "Were making one last quick stop," he told me. Andrew had gone ahead, and apparently found something good and Matthew told me it was a surprise. We pulled up to a massive flock of HORNED LARK, SNOW BUNTING, and LAPLAND LONGSPUR. Lapland Longspur is a long overdue lifer for me, and I had been hoping to see one all day. It was amazing to finally see this beautiful bird!

What a great day of birding! Huge thanks to the Cvetas's for taking me and making that extra stop for me to get my lifer! Stay tuned for more birding adventures, because migration is approaching and so is a trip to Puerto Pico next week! 

Life List 783: Lifers today: Lapland Longspur                   To see more of my photography, go to this link :                                                                                                   ​https://www.instagram.com/birder03/
​

It's finally summer now! I am so relieved that the school year is over. I know I have not posted in six months, (in fact I almost forgot how) but you will be hearing from me all summer. Before I jump into the summer birding, I would like to list a couple of highlights from the migration season. I tallied up 143 species for last month. The best birding trip was the Evanston SBC on May 7th, where I tallied up 98 species with Josh Engel, Matthew Cvetas, Jake Cvetas and John Bates. 

​Highlights for May:
Swainson's Warbler
Worm Eating Warbler
Le Conte's Sparrow
American Avocet
Harris's Sparrow 
Bell's Vireo
All of those were lifers for me!



Now, leaving the school year behind us, on June 6th I made a quick stop at Montrose Point with hopes for a rare shorebird that was reported earlier in the morning, the Red Knot. With just a quick binocular scan across the beach, I found the bird feeding with a flock of SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS, a shorebird that is much more common and half the size of the Knot. I was able to photograph the bird from just a few feet away! What a beautiful shorebird!

Summer birding is on! I will am headed to the Skokie Lagoons later today in search of the Prothonotary Warbler and a Great Horned Owl that has been regularly seen there the past couple of weeks. Stay tuned for more summer birding experiences!


Life List: 722-728 (calculating)