Rollins Savanna 3/25

Lesser Yellowlegs

{Click on images for larger versions}
A windy but otherwise warm and sunny morning at Rollins Savanna yielded 47 species for me including my first Lesser Yellowlegs of the year (above)! Other notables include a Pectoral Sandpiper (below - also my first of the year), two flyover Common Loons, three Savannah Sparrows (appropriate for Rollins Savanna), one Eastern Phoebe, six Tree Swallows and two Wilson's Snipe. Below is the one and only Pectoral Sandpiper of the day.

Pectoral Sandpiper

There were plenty of waterfowl on the water and flying around including Blue and Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck, Greater and Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Ruddy Duck, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Wood Duck, Northern Shoveler, Canvasback and a Pied-billed Grebe. I have colloquially named the Green-winged Teal 'Super Ducks' because of the speed they fly around at - however when I got home I found they could also fly upside-down (see the picture below!!).

Blue-winged Teal

Green-winged Teal (aka Super Ducks)

Super Duck (flies upside down!)

There were plenty of Ring-necked Duck both on the water and in the air. This was one of my favorite water shots showing both the male & female together.

Ring-necked Duck

This was one of six Tree Swallows I saw today (my first of the season although I know they've already been seen at Rollins this year). They are especially handsome at this time of year in their shiny new plumage.

Tree Swallow

These Eastern Bluebirds had made their home in the hollow of a tree - something which I imagine they did very well before we came along and put nest boxes all over the place! This pair look like they've been set up for a museum display but I promise they're real! The male has some nesting material in his bill.

Eastern Bluebird

Finally, on the way back I flushed this Eastern Meadowlark that landed very close to me and allowed a few shots before it decided that 15 feet away from a human probably wasn't where it wanted to be. I looked where it flew up from for a nest but found no sign (yet!).

Eastern Meadowlark

Long-distance Migration

Have you ever wondered how birds migrate? Where do they go and how far do they travel at a stretch? The people at USGS did and they have a project to track Bar-tailed Godwits from New Zealand to their breeding grounds in Alaska. Here's a quote from the USGS website.

This is the first attempt to directly track godwits on their northward migration.

We know that most of the godwits need to stop at the Yellow Sea region to gain enough weight to fly to their breeding grounds. They must also have enough reserves to establish nesting territories and lay eggs at a time when there is not much food to eat. How they get there from NZ, and how they behave when migrating from Asia to Alaska is unknown. Once the godwits are in Asia, do they ‘refuel’ at one site or move northwards stopping on their way? Hopefully all will be revealed shortly!

If you'd like to learn more including seeing actual migration tracks, visit their website at http://www.werc.usgs.gov/sattrack/shorebirds/index.html. I downloaded the tracking information into Google Earth to see some of the migration routes and learned that one of the birds flew 2,338 miles in 47 hours at an average speed of 49.5 miles per hour!

While we're highly unlikely to see any Bar-tailed Godwit here, we do occasionally see other godwit species and plenty of other migrants. How they manage this feat year after year is fascinating to me - and its not like they get training at it; they just do it! I've seen plenty of Bar-tailed Godwit in Australia and would love to go an see them in Alaska....one day!

Eastern Bluebird, Sialia sialis

Eastern Bluebird male

Another sure sign of spring are the increasing numbers of Eastern Bluebirds around. My previous post mentioned the pair that had taken up residence in my bluebird nest box (they're still there!). The two pictured here were photographed at Rollins Savanna where they had found one of the many nest boxes scattered around the area.

The thing I love most about this time of year (from a birding perspective) is that all the birds are in their 'summer clothes' as my daughter put it. And better than that, their clothes are brand new! At the end of the summer their plumage looks like its been through the wash too many times and is often frayed at the edges.

Eastern Bluebird female

Looking up information about the bluebirds, I found that the male does none of the 'work' associated with nest building. He will do a display at the nest box, go in and out of the box and brings a little nesting material....and that's it! The female does the rest of the work (its amazing how bird life can parallel real life!!).

Both these shots were taken with my new 'toy', which is my new camera and lens. I have more megapixels to play with and a longer lens to shoot with among other improvements. I've had the lens for five days and taken over 1,100 shots with it with plenty of 'keepers'.

New Arrivals

Ring-necked Duck

I woke up yesterday and heard ducks on the catchment pond outside the back of my house. Interested to see how many and what they were I grabbed my binoculars and found these two Ring-necked Ducks sharing the pond with a dozen Mallard. Since the Ring-necked Duck is a diving duck, I didn't think they would find the fairly shallow catchment area suitable....apparently I was wrong!

The shot above was taken with a 2x teleconverter in low light conditions so isn't exactly a masterpiece but it was sure enough to confirm an ID and add a species to the backyard count. For some reason I keep trying to call the Ring-necked Duck a Ring-billed Duck. While researching this post I discovered that the Ring-necked Duck is named for a chestnut ring around its neck which is really only visible in the hand. Since the bird was named from specimens, this makes sense however the field mark I most often use is the ring around the bill, which quickly separates it from a Scaup.

Eastern Bluebird

The same morning I heard the subtle song of an Eastern Bluebird - the first I had heard this year in my backyard. As you can see from the picture above, a pair of bluebirds have taken an interest in the nest box I put up last year.

I checked back on my blog to see when the bluebirds had turned up last year and it was April 2nd when a pair started to occupy the box. If the pair I saw yesterday end up nesting there (which would be really cool), I'll have a new early-season backyard record!

The local American Goldfinches are starting to change color now - another sure sign spring is near!

White Goose?

Here's an interesting challenge for those of you out there who thrive on this stuff! If you don't thrive on it but you'd like to put your 2¢ in, you'll have fun too!

Here is a white goose that Jeff & I saw this morning at North Point Marina. It was initially flying around with two Canada Geese then after landing on the water, took off again on its own heading south along the beach.

Here's the Adobe PDF link: http://www.birdsillinois.com/slideshow/Goose shots.pdf. There are nine shots in the PDF file.

Rather than add any other thoughts or sightings to this post (we did see this bird on the water through my scope), please let us know what you think based on the photos (I'm trying hard not to lead to any conclusion!). The two possibilities are Snow Goose and Ross's Goose (or hybrid of one or the other).

Eastern Meadowlark, Sturnella magna

Eastern Meadowlark

A beautiful [almost] spring morning meant I had to get out and see what had arrived already. I headed out to Rollins Savanna, one of my favorite birding places and wasn't disappointed with the number of early migrants. The most numerous (and boisterous) was the Red-winged Blackbirds, which although attractive, don't hold my attention for long.

Somewhat less obvious were the pairs of Eastern Meadowlark that were calling from time to time. But it didn't take me long to locate them and start aiming my camera at them. I was particularly pleased with the shot above as not only is it a flight shot, but it shows the color on the back of the bird (click on the photo for a larger version).

Red-winged Blackbird

Here's one of the many male Red-winged Blackbirds that have already arrived. The male Red-wing's arrive first and set up territories before the females get here. This one like most of the others was letting me and everyone else know this was his patch!

Hairy Woodpecker

My final picture of the day was from Volo Bog and is this Hairy Woodpecker banking as she headed back for her tree. There were are pair of Hairy's flying back and forth along with a single Downy - boy the difference in size between the Hairy and Downy is obvious when you see them together!

I ended up with a little over 100 'keeper' photos, which is pretty good - I took over 200 initially! I even ended up with a little sunburn on my forehead....that will teach me to wear a hat next time!

Spring is in the air!

White-breasted Nuthatch

Although astronomically Spring is still a couple of weeks away, its clear the birds are tuning up their songs and arriving in droves. I spent some time today at Chain O Lakes State Park near the park headquarters, which has a very large feeder full of mostly black-oil sunflower seed. It was — to say the least — a popular place today!

Full list (in memory order):
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
White-breasted Nuthatch
Black-capped Chickadee
American Tree Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Hermit Thrush
Cedar Waxwing
Red-tailed Hawk
American Crow
American Robin
Horned Lark
Red-winged Blackbird
House Finch

I went to Chain O Lakes in particular because at this time in 2005 I had taken pictures of some early Sandhill Crane arrivals and I was hoping to see them again. There's probably a little too much snow for them this year, although I'm sure they will be here soon (actually I'm sure I heard some flying overhead but I couldn't see them).

I have found my photography provides me with a visual history of what I've seen and when — including the environment at the time (e.g. cloud cover, snow conditions, foliage progression). It will never be as complete as recording every trip's sightings but it provides some good insight into what to expect this year.

The Red-tailed Hawk below was one of a pair I saw today. This one was hunting over the main road through the park as I was on my way out and gave me excellent views against the fantastically blue sky — a nice way to end the day's birding!

Red-tailed Hawk