Upland Sandpiper, Bartramia longicauda

I'm not sure when it started, but for a long, long time I've wanted to see an Upland Sandpiper. They rarely occur in Australia and are rare in the Chicagoland area. In fact, according to research their numbers are declining at a worrying rate internationally.

Based on IBET posts, we headed out late this morning to McHenry County to see if we could locate them. And here's the great thing about IBET: just as reported, we pulled over at a likely field and quickly found an Upland Sandpiper, then another and another until we got to seven!

The Uplands were joined by about a hundred Brewer's Blackbirds and at least two Western Meadowlarks. How often is it you can see three rare birds in one field at the same time? I can tell you, not very often!

The photos here were taken in extreme heat (hence strong heat haze) and at a great distance but they clearly show the details of the bird. Its relatively easy to confuse this bird with a Buff-breasted Sandpiper but the Buff-breasted is significantly smaller, has extensive buffy color on it and has a shorter, dark bill compared with the Upland's yellow bill with black tip.

Indigo Bunting, Passerina cyanea

Indigo Bunting - photo courtesy Alan FletcherNot a great morning for birding, being warm and humid (birds were fine - I was struggling a little!). Nevertheless I went out to Volo Bog with my father this morning to see what we could see. One of the birds we saw was this Indigo Bunting. This bird was clearly with a female and probably nesting in the small area of prairie at the east of the park.

Their color is truly amazing. I first spotted it flying down with a few American Goldfinches and barely saw it, but once you've seen that color, you've seen enough to know what it is. Indigo Buntings are about the same size as the yellow and black American Goldfinches and its overall shape is quite similar.

The Indigo Bunting can be separated from the rare [in our area] Blue Grosbeak but its size (its a little smaller) and the lack of rufous-brown wing bars. The Blue Grosbeak also has a larger bill. This bird is an adult male. The juvenile and females are the same shape but a drab brown color. A first winter male is a mottled mingling of the male & female being largely blue but having brown mixed in.

Common Moorhen, Gallinula chloropus

Common MoorhenDespite its name, the Common Moorhen is in fact Rare in the Chicagoland Area and Lake County, where this bird was seen today. In fact, this bird was at Rollins Savanna this morning and judging by the number of juvenile Moorhen around, successfully breeding.

Illinois is at the far northern end of the moorhen's breeding range. The population is dropping largely because there are fewer and fewer suitable habitats for it to breed. This was the first one I have seen in Illinois although I have seen them elsewhere before today.

The Common Moorhen, like other gallinules does not have webbed feet but is nevertheless quite a good swimmer - as can be seen in this picture. The red 'shield' on the head and otherwise dark and contrasty color of the bird mean this is an adult breeding plumage bird. In the non-breeding season, they lose much of their color.

Virginia Rail, Rallus limicola

Virginia RailI had another opportunitity to go out with Jeff today. This time we had a special guest: my father over from Australia! We first went to Rollins Savanna, which has been very good to us in terms of uncommon and rare birds. Of the birds listed as uncommon, we saw this Virginia Rail, which came out just long enough for me to snap this photo of it.

The Virginia Rail is a bird far more often heard than seen and even though I got a good view of it, not all of us today did. We also saw several Sora rails today throughout the swampy area in Rollins Savanna including one that sat on top of some reeds for some time while we watched!

The Virginia Rail and Sora are by far the most likely rails to be see in Illinois, although others like the King Rail are present but rare and the Yellow and Black Rails are extirpated. The Virginia Rail adult has a long, slightly downcurved red bill as can be seen here, while the Sora has a short, yellow bill.

Brown Thrasher, Toxostoma rufum

Brown ThrasherjuvenileBrown Thrasher adultAnother skulker (see Gray Catbird below) is the Brown Thrasher. The thrasher is much larger than the Gray Catbird and as its name suggests is brown (almost rufus as its scientific name suggests).

Shown here are two individuals, the first being an adult and the second a juvenile bird. The main difference is the color of the eye, the adult being yellow and the juvenile being gray. When I first saw the juvenile from behind, I thought it was one of the thrushes but I saw the longer tail, and it was clear it was a thrasher.

Some of the thrushes (e.g. Wood Thrush & Veery) are similar in color on their back but the Wood Thrush has spot instead of streaks on its front and a much shorter tail. The Veery has light streaks on its upper breast and is otherwise gray below.

The Brown Thrasher is a mimic, meaning it can and does mimic the calls of other birds. Its typical song includes a series of phrases, most repeated twice with a pause in between. These Brown Thrashers were both at Volo Bog. In Spring, I saw a nest near where I saw the juvenile recently os its quite possible it is one of that clutch. The Brown Thrasher is listed as uncommon in the Chicagoland area and is said to be declining in numbers throughout much of its range.

Gray Catbird, Dumetella carolinensis

Gray CatbirdThere often seems to be a bird lurking in the nearby brush making odd sounds and sometimes seeming to follow you but you can't quite get a good view of it. You see a bird fly between branches but still can't get a good view of it. You see some gray but thats about it, then it flies off.

Odds are its a Gray Catbird. There aren't too many gray birds that skulk through the bushes like Gray Catbirds. They prefer to lurk inside the bush where its often quite dark - and at this time of year hard to see into. They are easily identified by their cat-like snarl but their song is easily confusable with other songbirds.

When you do get a good view, the black cap and rufous under the tail quickly separates the catbird from most others. Unfortunately, good views of catbirds are fairly hard to come by. It seems that just when you locate the bird and get your binoculars on it, it flies somewhere else. Or maybe thats just how I feel when I aim the camera lens on it. I often joke I can make the birds come out by not bringing my camera with me!

Below left you can see the typical view of the catbird, hiding within the foliage. The lower right photo shows the rufous under-tail, which is often not seen. The top-right and bottom-left photos are of a bird that didn't seem to realize I was there taking its picture. It was very dark under the trees but thanks to digital technology, I was able to lighten the pictures up somewhat.

Gray CatbirdGray Catbird note rufous under-tail

Vesper Sparrow, Pooecetes gramineus

Vesper SparrowAfter a very late start, I convinced my family we should go for a walk in the Pleasant Valley Conservation Area in McHenry County (not far from Woodstock & Huntley). The weather today was hot (about 90°F), sunny and windy - and we didn't get there until almost 11AM...NOT usually good for birding.

I have not been along all the trails in Pleasant Valley and decided to go along one I hadn't yet been on...I'm glad I did. I saw a sparrow on the trail (dirt road - appears to be the trail at the south identified as 'Nature Trail' on the map). I never got really close to it but I got close enough to know it wasn't one of the normal sparrows. Here is a link to the McHenry County Conservation District maps page - Pleasant Valley is in the middle, second from the bottom)

I managed to snap the attached shots before the bird flew off - and I was not able to locate it again. I wasn't 100% sure of the ID, but Steve Huggins confirmed it for me...a Vesper Sparrow. While I was able to watch it, it ran instead of flew along the road. The main ID points on this bird are the white eye-ring and white outer-tail feathers (usually visible in flight). In the photo at the lower-right, you can see the usually hidden chestnut shoulder patch (which I did not notice in the field - one advantage of photography!).

Because of the distance between the bird & I, I have enlarged the pictures, hence the quality is lower than usual. I'll have to return one day & try for better photos!).
Vesper SparrowVesper Sparrow - note chestnut shoulder patch

House Wren, Troglodytes aedon

House WrenSomehow it seems fitting that after posting a picture of a Sedge Wren, I was able to get a reasonable picture of a House Wren today!

This House Wren was right near the new Observation Platform at Volo Bog today. I was not happy this morning when I turned up what I considered to be later (7:30AM) only to find that the gates don't open until 8AM!!?? I have no idea why it would be so late on a weekend (or a weekday for that matter). Anyway, I waited until 8AM for someone to open the gates (which they did).

The House Wren is a much browner bird than the Sedge Wren and has barring on the wings & tail. The House Wren lacks the strong pale eyebrow of the Sedge Wren and is light brown below, compared to cream for the Sedge and has generally less contrast. Most importantly, the House Wren lacks the dark streaking on the back compared with the Sedge Wren. Besides all that, the House Wren sounds quite different. The Winter Wren is a little darker and has a noticeable shorter tail and strong barring on its flanks.
Sedge Wren cf House Wren
Oddly enough, while photographing this House Wren, I could hear (and later saw) a Sedge Wren about fifty yards away. In fact there were almost as many Sedge Wrens as House Wrens. These House Wrens all stayed where they belong, in the trees & bushes, while the Sedge Wrens inhabited the grasses on the bog itself.

Dragons

Widow Skimmer femaleWidow Skimmer maleHalloween Pennant maleCommon Green Darner maleWell, perhaps not Dragons to you and I, but if you're a small bug, they might as well be dragons! There seemed to be a lot of dragonflies and butterflies around today. Fortunately, there weren't too many mosquitos around (just as well because I forgot the Off! today).

I am slowly learning some of the common dragonfly species and I think I can tell the difference between a few of the main families. Of the four pictured here, the top three are all in the Skimmer family, while the last one is of the Darner family.

The Widow Skimmer male & female are easy to tell apart, the males looking largely like the females but having a blue body and blue in the wings, while the females have a black & yellow body and only brown in the wings.

The Halloween Pennant male can be distinguished from the female largely by the red tips visible on all four wings. The female also has a yellower stripe down its body. I don't think I've seen this species before but as I've not really looked that hard at them, I couldn't be sure.

Finally, the Green Darner is one of those dragonflies that seems to spend far more time in the air than the skimmers (I'm sure an entomologist could tell me why). I do believe this is the first dragonfly I've ever caught actually flying. I'm just a beginner, but I don't understand why the Green Darner's most obvious color is blue!? Looking closely, I can see that the body is green, while the tail is blue. If you look closely at this Green Darner, you will see that the left front wing is significantly damaged - but it doesn't appear to bother it much.

Well, I will continue to look at these little flying machines & see if I can learn a few more. I've also been photographing and identifying many of the wildflowers I see. Hopefully I will eventually be able to use that information to say I see x bird on y plant.

Sedge Wren, Cistothorus platensis

Sedge WrenI returned to Glacial Park today for another week of grassland bird surveying. It was three weeks ago when I was last there. Most of the birds are in the same location but I did notice an increase in the number of and area inhabited by Henslow's Sparrows. They were all over the grassy field just south of Harts Rd where it T's to go north & south. Henslow's Sparrows should be easily visible from the parking lot with the bathroom in it, south off Hart's Rd (first parking lot on left). They will be east of the parking lot if you park there.

I suffered greatly today from the pollen coming from the grasses and didn't make it to all my survey points but I did last long enough to find this Sedge Wren. I was hoping to get a shot of this bird, which started about 20 yards away. Much to my surprise (and delight), it flew towards me and got closer and closer until it was so close I could not longer focus on it (about five feet!). It was singing the whole time, which was an extra treat.Sedge Wren

Sedge Wrens are listed as uncommon on the Chicagoland list but get no special listing on the McHenry list. I have seen them in this area before. There were a large number of Dickcissels in the area today (I would estimate over 50).

Western Kingbird, Tyrannus verticalis

Western KingbirdJeff Skrentny and I spent the entire day birding at Lowden Miller State Forest near Oregon, IL (on the Rock River). We saw 70 species of birds for the entire day! Jeff and I both got several new life species - and we learned a lot about bird calls!!

The highlight for me was just as we were leaving, when on the entrance road I saw what I thought was a Great-crested Flycatcher on the power line. I was joking with Jeff about it because he had been wondering why we hadn't seen one all day. As I looked closer, I realized something was wrong so whipped out the field guide and quickly came to the conclusion it was not a Great-crested Flycatcher at all, but a Western Kingbird!

The bird was flying up and down from the power lines to a fence line. We saw it catch an insect of some sort & clean it off quickly (see photo below). As I had never seen a Western Kingbird, I was particularly pleased to see this one. Jeff had also never seen a Western, so it was a fantastic way to end the day!

Other notable species for the day include Bald Eagle, a Wild Turkey with at least 8 young, Acadian Flycatcher, Veery, Scarlet Tanager and Rose-breasted Grosbeak. We also saw several warblers including Blue-winged, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Black-throated Blue, Pine, Prothonotary, Ovenbird, Kentucky, Common Yellowthroat and Hooded! This was easily the best non-migration warbler day I have ever had.

Lowden Miller State Forest turned out to be an excellent place to bird and a place I will definitely return to. For now [almost 18 hours after I got up this morning] I am going to bed....very satisfied!
Western Kingbird
Western Kingbird with insect