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From lambeth at ad.uiuc.edu Thu Feb 1 08:39:23 2007 From: lambeth at ad.uiuc.edu (Gregory S Lambeth) Date: Thu Feb 1 08:39:34 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Loggerhead Shrike Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Jason:
This is an interesting observation -- Loggerhead Shrikes have become quite rare in East-Central Illinois. I've been keeping an eye out for one on the South Farms in the fields between the Assembly Hall and the Swine Ponds. It seems like good habitat to me, but so far, no luck. Can I ask how you differentiated this bird from a Northern Shrike which would be the other possibility?
Thanks,
Greg Lambeth
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of Jason Ebaugh Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 9:39 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Birdnotes] Loggerhead Shrike
I saw a Loggerhead Shrike on Walnut street, north of Urbana highschool, today.
Jason Ebaugh
Jason Ebaugh [email protected] Urbana, Champaign County
______Don't get soaked. Take a quick peak at the forecast with the Yahoo! Search weather shortcut. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/shortcuts/#loc_weather ______Birdnotes mailing list [email protected] https://mail.prairienet.org/mailman/listinfo/birdnotes From bpalmore at egix.net Thu Feb 1 10:55:59 2007 From: bpalmore at egix.net (Bland Palmore) Date: Thu Feb 1 10:56:14 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Red Shoulder Hawk Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Ruth Walker (no computer) told me today that she had this Hawk in her backyard a few days ago. She lives on Washington just one block north of Carle Pk. She said that it was very interested in her bird bath, which had no water in it.
From regehr5 at aol.com Thu Feb 1 15:57:06 2007 From: regehr5 at aol.com ([email protected]) Date: Thu Feb 1 15:57:32 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Field trip Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Chatauqua National Wildlife Refuge is the destination for a Champaign County Audubon trip on Feb 3. The refuge is on the Illinois River and about a two-hour drive from Champaign-Urbana. Eagles and gulls are among species to be found. Meet at the Anita Purves Nature Center parking lot at 8:00 AM. Helen Parker will lead this trip and says that the trip will probably be extended to include the Havana, Il. riverfront. Questions: 367-3130. ______Check out the new AOL. Most comprehensive set of free safety and security tools, free access to millions of high-quality videos from across the web, free AOL Mail and more. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070201/c9 45a63f/attachment.htm From h-parker at uiuc.edu Thu Feb 1 17:10:52 2007 From: h-parker at uiuc.edu (Helen Parker) Date: Thu Feb 1 17:08:36 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Saturday's field trip Message-ID: <[email protected]>
We are scheduled to go to Chautauqua for the field trip Saturday, so we will do that, but since Saturday turns out to be Eagle days at Havana, we will go over there also. After we've seen the birds and the displays at Havana, we will have 3 choices: 1) go home 2) go up-river to Peoria where there are supposed to be a lot of eagles or 3) go over to Livingston county in hope of seeing the assorted raptors (see earlier birdnotes post from Steve Bailey on 1/30) including snowy owl and the possible gyrfalcon that others have reported from there. (Personally, I'm hoping for # 3). Regardless, wear your long johns and warm hat and gloves, and bring a thermos of something hot to drink. (Since we will be spending a lot of time in cars, we are not likely to be TOO cold, but it's well to be prepared.) You may bring lunch if you wish or get food in Havana.
From ebaughjason at yahoo.com Thu Feb 1 17:54:49 2007 From: ebaughjason at yahoo.com (Jason Ebaugh) Date: Thu Feb 1 17:55:06 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] More on the shrike Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Here is some follow-up to questions regarding the shrike I saw.
Beth asked "Did you get a good look at him" Yep. I got a good long look at him. Also, I saw him fly away, showing the "junco like" tail field marks
Greg asked "How do I know it wasn't a Northern Shrike" My initial ID was just shrike. I didn't know which kind it was. I decided it was a logger head, rather than a northern, because accoring to the book "birding Illinois" it would be very unusual to see a northern shrike here in January.
Good luck to anyone looking for it.
The last I saw it, it was flying west, away from Walnut street.
Jason
Jason Ebaugh [email protected] Urbana, Champaign County
______Bored stiff? Loosen up... Download and play hundreds of games for free on Yahoo! Games. http://games.yahoo.com/games/front From ebaughjason at yahoo.com Thu Feb 1 17:54:46 2007 From: ebaughjason at yahoo.com (Jason Ebaugh) Date: Thu Feb 1 17:55:06 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] More on the shrike Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Here is some follow-up to questions regarding the shrike I saw. Beth asked "Did you get a good look at him" Yep. I got a good long look at him. Also, I saw him fly away, showing the "junco like" tail field marks
Greg asked "How do I know it wasn't a Northern Shrike" My initial ID was just shrike. I didn't know which kind it was. I decided it was a logger head, rather than a northern, because accoring to the book "birding Illinois" it would be very unusual to see a northern shrike here in January.
Good luck to anyone looking for it.
The last I saw it, it was flying west, away from Walnut street.
Jason
Jason Ebaugh [email protected] Urbana, Champaign County
______Finding fabulous fares is fun. Let Yahoo! FareChase search your favorite travel sites to find flight and hotel bargains. http://farechase.yahoo.com/promo-generic-14795097 From charleneanchor at msn.com Fri Feb 2 08:02:17 2007 From: charleneanchor at msn.com (charlene anchor) Date: Fri Feb 2 07:52:21 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Red-shouldered hawk sighting and questions Message-ID:
I've been surprised at the reports of those seeing a RED-SHOULDERED HAWK, including myself. Greg Lambeth has reported seeing one at Meadowbrook and others have seen them in their yards and I believe in Meadowbrook as well, if I remember correctly. Previously on a walk at Meadowbrook, I definitely heard one calling and last week (sorry I never posted it - didn't get back to my computer for a couple of days) I saw a juvenile Red-shouldered. It flew from the sculpture prairie and landed in a tree next to the creek south of Prairie Play. I saw it land as I was counting an unusually large number of ROBINS. I was struck at the similarity between it and the GOSHAWK especially with the whitish eyebrow. But the breast stripes were a bit thicker, a bit more "reddish" and a bit more blobby and it had faint undertail covert horizontal markings where the Goshawk would have been all white. It also had a shorter tail and a "buteo" look. (But in spite of all that it still reminded me of the Goshawk :-)) It stayed briefly and then flew over my head so that I could see a two-tone underside and the dark-tipped primaries. Then it turned around and flew west again.
My question - isn't this very unusual or could/should this be expected in winter? I'm not used to seeing Red-shouldered Hawks in this kind of habitat. I've only seen them in river bottom type areas previously, although I haven't seen them a lot in the past. Or could this mean that their population is up somewhat? If their population is up or expanding, could they be tolerating other habitats? I'm just not used to seeing one so frequently and "around town" so to speak.
Charlene Anchor ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070202/37 4d32c3/attachment.htm From bgsloan2 at yahoo.com Fri Feb 2 10:26:21 2007 From: bgsloan2 at yahoo.com (B.G. Sloan) Date: Fri Feb 2 10:33:06 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Meadowbrook Chickadee (and lots of Crows) Message-ID: <[email protected]>
A brisk walk in Meadowbrook this AM...cold, windy, with light snow.
Heard a Chickadee call twice...this time it was calling from the pines/evergreens adjacent to the very south edge of Meadowbrook (guess the trees are actually in Yankee Ridge subdivision). Probably the fifth or sixth time I've ever heard/seen Chickadees in Meadowbrook, all in the past four months or so.
Also, at least 150 noisy crows, some in the southwest portion of Meadowbrook with the bulk across Race Street in Forestry. They seemed agitated. They were calling loudly and other crows were showing up from all directions. A few minutes later I saw a flock of about 30 crows headed across the prairie towards the larger group. The larger group gradually moved west through Forestry. I wondered what they were doing, since they didn't seem to be mobbing anything.
Other than the Crows, didn't see a lot of birds, but did hear some...
Chickadee - 1, heard American Crow - ~150, seen American Goldfinch - 1 seen Mourning Dove - 10, seen Northern Cardinal - several, heard Blue Jay 1, heard Dark-eyed Junco - several, heard Red-tailed Hawk - 1, heard White-breasted Nuthatch - 1, heard House Sparrow - several, heard Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2, heard Downy Woodpecker - 1, heard American Robin - several, heard Carolina Wren - 1, singing from the general vicinity of the Crows
Bernie Sloan
------Cheap Talk? Check out Yahoo! Messenger's low PC-to-Phone call rates. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070202/bf 736952/attachment.htm From sdbailey at inhs.uiuc.edu Fri Feb 2 12:41:14 2007 From: sdbailey at inhs.uiuc.edu (Steve Bailey) Date: Fri Feb 2 12:41:16 2007 Subject: Fwd: [Birdnotes] More on the shrike Message-ID: <[email protected]>
I thought I would add a little on Jason's shrike sighting. I'll preface my remarks with the statement that I have seen enough rare (and even not-so-rare) birds over the years to know that a lot of species can turn up almost anywhere. However, the nature of the habitat where Jason had his shrike is pretty unusual for a shrike of any kind. They are almost always found in very open areas, say for instance someplace like Meadowbrook Park or the west side of Homer Lake F.P. Large grassy fields, or in the case of Northern Shrikes a grassland/wetland matrix, with scattered small, usually thorny trees, is the habitat where the overwhelming majority of shrikes of any kind are found. In winter, they do occasionally turn up chasing birds at residential feeders, but such instances are usually where a residential area abuts a forest preserve or an area with a large field nearby. Jason's description of "junco-like" tail field marks more closely describes a Northern Mockingbird tail, which, like a junco, has at least a couple of entirely or nearly entirely white outer tail feathers, whereas either shrike only has some white near the distal end of a few of the outer tail feathers, and has never been a field mark that usually attracts my attention compared to other shrike field marks. Mockingbirds are also commonly seen in residential areas, and several of these birds have recently turned up in other parts of the state, as very cold weather may be causing them to move and search out areas where there are plentiful berries, which they usually need to survive on at this time of year. As I think Greg pointed out, although it didn't used to be the case in our area, Northern Shrike has become the "expected" shrike in our area in the winter time. Loggerheads have become increasingly rare in our area at any time of the year, let alone the winter when most migrate much farther south. The Loggerhead, which was formerly relatively common in our area back in the 1950's and 60's is now so rare in the breeding season in our area, that they have become almost locally extirpated as a breeding species all over east-central Illinois. This in contrast with the fact that Northerns which formerly were a pretty rare sight in our area, have almost become a regular winter visitor (albeit in very small numbers), at least somewhere in central Illinois each year. A Northern Shrike was seen again on the Clinton Lake Christmas Bird Count this year, where they have turned up several times in past winters, and they have turned up on the Middlefork River Valley CBC in Vermilion Co. several times now during the past 15-20 years. Finally, I am not sure if Jason was talking about the book "Birding Illinois" by Sheryl DeVore, as I know that there are a bunch of other books out there now with similar titles, but I did the seasonal distribution charts for Sheryl's "Birding Illinois" book (as well as some of the east-central Illinois chapters), and the distribution charts show that Northern Shrikes, while by no means common, can be found between at least Oct. thru early March in our area. While we were limited in just choosing northern Illinois and southern Illinois for the bar graphs for Loggerhead Shrike, the true status for Loggerhead Shrike falls in the "thin line" area as for northern Illinois, with southern Illinois, in this case, meaning somewhere between Effingham southward. Although I am not sure how it might be stated (if at all) in that book, Northern Shrikes are the more likely species for central Illinois now over Loggerhead Shrike. Looking over the seasonal field notes section in the Illinois Ornithological Society's journal The Meadowlark shows this to be the case over the entire 15+ years of that journal. Personally, I can't remember when the last time was that I saw a Loggerhead Shrike in the winter time (if ever!), although I have now seen several Northern Shrikes in central Illinois the last 20 years or so. With all of this said, a shrike of any kind is a very rare bird in our area in the winter, as is even a mockingbird, and neither Loggerhead Shrike or Mockingbird is much more common during the rest of the year either. Hopefully this bird can be re-found, and winds up hanging around for a while for others to see. Having not really birded that much in Champaign County until the last ten years or so, I still have not seen a Loggerhead Shrike in Champaign County and would love the chance to see one! Good birding!
Steve Bailey Rantoul
>Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 15:54:46 -0800 (PST) >From: Jason Ebaugh
Steven D. Bailey CTAP Ornithologist Division of Ecology & Conservation Science Section of Plant & Wildlife Ecology Illinois Natural History Survey 1816 South Oak St. Champaign, Illinois 61820 Phone: 217/244-2174 Fax: 217/ 265-5110 [email protected] Visit the CTAP homepage and On-line data at http://ctap.inhs.uiuc.edu Look for on-line INHS biological data at http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070202/2d 52abac/attachment.htm From ebaughjason at yahoo.com Fri Feb 2 16:00:28 2007 From: ebaughjason at yahoo.com (Jason Ebaugh) Date: Fri Feb 2 16:00:35 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] that shrike was probably a...... Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Hello all,
This is what was going through my head when I saw that "shrike":
-That's a strange looking robin. -Wait, that's not a robin. -Mockingbird! -No, wouldn't be a mockingbird.... -Must be a shrike.... -what kind??? -I'll look it up when I get in the house.... -I bet my neighbor is wondering what I am staring at.
So, I dismissed mockingbird out of hand. I'm not sure why I did.
Given what I have learned now about habitat and the tail feather field mark, I bet the bird I saw was a mockingbird.
Thanks everyone for your input.
Jason
Jason Ebaugh [email protected] Urbana, Champaign County
______Food fight? Enjoy some healthy debate in the Yahoo! Answers Food & Drink Q&A. http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396545367 From dafekt1ve at yahoo.com Sat Feb 3 12:44:06 2007 From: dafekt1ve at yahoo.com (Bryan Guarente) Date: Sat Feb 3 12:44:12 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Fw: Gryfalcon in Livingston County Message-ID: <[email protected]>
For those not on IBET, The Snowy Owl is still present in Livingston county, but we have a new bird that has been confirmed this morning. This is a forwarded message from Tom Shulenberg of the Field Museum in Chicago.
Doug Stotz just called (1020 am, Saturday 3 February) to report an adult gray morph Gryfalcon in Livingston County. The sighting was on 1100 N, between 300 and 400 E. The gyr was on the north side of the road, feeding on a pheasant. Observations ended when the falcon flew off to the southeast, and Doug lost it in sun glare. But there still were many pheasants at the site where Doug found it, so it might remain in that area.
Good birding,
tss
--
Thomas S. Schulenberg
Conservation Ecologist/Ornitholo gist
Environmental and Conservation Programs
Field Museum of Natural History
1400 S. Lake Shore Drive
Chicago IL 60605
voice: 312.665.7439 fax: 312.665.7440, 312.665.7433 email: tschulenberg@ fieldmuseum. org
______Any questions? Get answers on any topic at www.Answers.yahoo.com. Try it now. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070203/20 acc261/attachment.htm From h-parker at uiuc.edu Sat Feb 3 23:35:53 2007 From: h-parker at uiuc.edu (Helen Parker) Date: Sat Feb 3 23:32:48 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Field trip report Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Four people braved the icy blasts to head over to the Illinois River today; we had originally intended to go to Chautauqua first but decided against that, since it would almost certainly be frozen solid. So we went straight to Havana where the eagle days celebration was in full swing. There were large ice floes in the river, a couple of adult eagles in the trees and an immature flying, We all had our pictures taken with Emi, the 6-foot "eagle", said "hi!" to people from Illinois Audubon who were there, drank their hot chocolate, rode the tram over to exhibits (some great pictures!) and ate lunch and admired some captive birds and finally watched the raptor show with a peregrine and a barn owl flying over us. A good time was had.
From charleneanchor at msn.com Sun Feb 4 08:58:42 2007 From: charleneanchor at msn.com (charlene anchor) Date: Sun Feb 4 08:48:43 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Whooping Cranes - no sightings Message-ID:
It's long but also includes some beautiful pictures and other information about the crane project.
Charlene Anchor ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070204/2b 789123/attachment.htm From threlkster at gmail.com Sun Feb 4 09:03:30 2007 From: threlkster at gmail.com (Brian Threlkeld) Date: Sun Feb 4 09:03:35 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Sapsucker Message-ID: <[email protected]>
YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER, male 8:45 a.m. Sun., 4 Feb. 2007 Out front again, calling and foraging dried fruit in 0-degree cold.
As yet, no encore appearance by the ETS, that I've seen. I'm curious about how many are around here, and how long they've been in the area. It's possible that there's just a lone pioneer, but it would seem a strikingly unlikely coincidence for a single bird to have happened to be sighted by one of the fairly small number of people around these parts who would notice it, ID it, and report it to an interested audience.
______Brian Threlkeld 107 E Michigan Ave Urbana IL 61801-5027
217-384-5164 [email protected] ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070204/27 4f9e16/attachment.htm From dafekt1ve at yahoo.com Sun Feb 4 13:03:01 2007 From: dafekt1ve at yahoo.com (Bryan Guarente) Date: Sun Feb 4 13:03:27 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Saturday Gyrfalcon Chase (No GYFA) Message-ID: <[email protected]>
After hearing the news of the Gyrfalcon being seen well and IDed, I headed out to Livingston County. I arrived in the area around 2pm. My luck seems to have been better than most because I saw a good number of birds, but, as was the case with all observers except Doug Stotz, none of the rarities. I drove the area roads until 4:30pm.
While looking for the GYRFALCON, I thought of the location I saw my only other Gyrfalcon: Denali National Park on the high cliffs around Mt McKinley. This made me think that this bird would want to be up on a nice perch looking around for whatever it could find to eat. I also remember there being a Gyrfalcon that frequents the harbor area in Duluth near the grain elevators. Where in Central Illinois can you get a good look of anything? I tried a bunch of the local towns' GRAIN ELEVATORS looking for the Gyrfalcon without any luck. I tried Flanagan, Meadows, Gridley, and any other grain elevators I could see in sight. CELL TOWERS are around, but they are hard to get a good view. Since this bird could have a huge range (greater than 100 sq miles), I tried as many places as I could that had a reasonable perch within the area of the original sighting. I went into Woodford county to the west, and south into McLean county a little ways as well searching without luck. I never saw the SNOWY OWL in my travels either. I didn't check the Longspurs I saw for the CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPUR that was reported earlier this week, but that is always a daunting task.
Here is the list of all species seen: 2 Red-tailed Hawks 8 Rough-legged Hawks 4 American Kestrels American Crows European Starlings 4 Ring-necked Pheasants (1100N and 700E) 8 Eurasian Collared-Doves (East of 1600N and 600E) Rock Pigeons (most large barns had them) Lapland Longspurs (100+) Horned Larks (60+)
Bryan Guarente Atmospheric Sciences Research Assistant Champaign, IL
______Never Miss an Email Stay connected with Yahoo! Mail on your mobile. Get started! http://mobile.yahoo.com/services?promote=mail ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070204/ff b53776/attachment.htm From Birderdlt at aol.com Sun Feb 4 21:53:13 2007 From: Birderdlt at aol.com ([email protected]) Date: Sun Feb 4 21:53:20 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Meadowbrook and area Message-ID:
David Thomas Champaign, IL ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070204/42 9405dd/attachment.htm From threlkster at gmail.com Sun Feb 4 22:13:25 2007 From: threlkster at gmail.com (Brian Threlkeld) Date: Sun Feb 4 22:13:31 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] HOSP, odd plumage Message-ID: <[email protected]>
HOUSE SPARROW, male 9:45 a.m. Sun., 4 Feb. 2007 Individual male with anomalous white spots on plumage, out back under feeders. White spot about the size of a dime on the nape of the neck, a little off center to the left. A couple or three other white spots on each side on wings. Observed only on the ground, not in flight.
The usual cast of characters today. Cardinals, house finches, HOSPs, m. doves, and Carolina wrens. A blue jay or two at the next door feeder. Had a dozen or more juncos dropped in from time to time during the day; don't always see them.
______Brian Threlkeld 107 E Michigan Ave Urbana IL 61801-5027
217-384-5164 [email protected]
Federal Public Defender's Office Central District of Illinois 300 West Main Street Urbana IL 61801-2624
217-373-0666 217-373-0667 (fax) [email protected] ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070204/ce 496c5c/attachment.htm From jdunkel at hotmail.com Sun Feb 4 22:29:28 2007 From: jdunkel at hotmail.com (John Dunkelberger) Date: Sun Feb 4 22:29:37 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Bald eagle In-Reply-To:
An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070204/65 216b95/attachment.htm From jward199 at gmail.com Mon Feb 5 06:43:10 2007 From: jward199 at gmail.com (Jane Ward) Date: Mon Feb 5 06:43:36 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Bald eagle In-Reply-To:
My friend and I had lunch in Normal, IL on Saturday and saw a Bald Eagle flying over the town as we ate lunch at Noodles & Co. on Main Street. How unusual for Normal!
Jane
On 2/4/07, John Dunkelberger
-- Jane Ward Peoria, Illinois http://walkwithmepart2.blogspot.com/ From birder1949 at yahoo.com Mon Feb 5 08:38:10 2007 From: birder1949 at yahoo.com (Roger Digges) Date: Mon Feb 5 08:38:14 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Short-eared Owl at Meadowbrook Message-ID: <[email protected]> Sorry for the late post. Yesterday afternoon (around 2:30) as I was walking east on the Hickman Wildflower path (just before it intersects with the sculpture walk), an owl flew south from the vicinity of the Balencia statue across the creek and through the trees toward the south prairie. The owl was about the size of a Northern Harrier, overall warm brown above and creamy below with a dark wrist patch, somewhat stiff wingbeats, and a light patch at the base of a barred tail. The head seemed large compared to the overall length of the bird. My conclusion was that it was a Short-eared Owl.
In shape and flight pattern, this bird seemed very similar, if not identical to the owl I saw at the east end of Meadwbrook December 6th (in very dim morning twilight), and was only a couple hundred yards to the west of where I saw that bird.
Roger Digges
______Food fight? Enjoy some healthy debate in the Yahoo! Answers Food & Drink Q&A. http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396545367 From vaiden at isgs.uiuc.edu Mon Feb 5 08:45:39 2007 From: vaiden at isgs.uiuc.edu (Vaiden, Robert) Date: Mon Feb 5 08:44:08 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Eagles Message-ID: <[email protected]>
I had to give talks in Rockford on Friday...drove up Thursday afternoon. I saw a fair number of Red Tails and Kestral...about 10 and 6 respectively...nothing like the 40 or so I saw along the way a couple of weeks ago.
I did have a GREAT view of 3 Bald Eagles while on the Abe Lincoln Bridge (I-39 at the Illinois River). 2 adults, 1 immature...one of the adults was flying within 50 feet of the bridge.
Bob Vaiden From norris at pdnt.com Mon Feb 5 10:45:59 2007 From: norris at pdnt.com (Pat Norris) Date: Mon Feb 5 10:46:16 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Short-eared Owl at Meadowbrook In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> Message-ID:
I have been seeing a couple birds that the landowner says are Short- eared owls at a conservation area north of town. I am not confident enough with my id skills to confirm that. There have been a couple different hawks there too. Red Tail for sure, Cooper's Hawk and maybe a couple Rough-legged Hawks. If anyone wants to go to look at this approximately 40 acres site, I can give you directions or take you there. It has a wetlands area, a hedge row and a nice grassland area.
Pat Norris
From bpalmore at egix.net Mon Feb 5 10:32:46 2007 From: bpalmore at egix.net (Bland Palmore) Date: Mon Feb 5 11:05:15 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Hawk Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Cooper's in my yard on Friday. Found and ate a Junco. No other birds in sight for over an hour. Vermont and Carle.
From bgsloan2 at yahoo.com Mon Feb 5 18:27:22 2007 From: bgsloan2 at yahoo.com (B.G. Sloan) Date: Mon Feb 5 18:27:34 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Meadowbrook - COLD, with Bluebirds, possible Long-eared Owl(?), and an interesting deer sighting Message-ID: <[email protected]>
I spent the lunch hour at Meadowbrook today (Monday). I'm guessing temps somewhere around 5 or 6 degrees, with wind chills maybe 10 below or a tad lower. I was really bundled up...heavy long-sleeved shirt, with a vest over that, a fleece jacket over that, and a North Face shell over that. Plus some really warm gloves and a balaclava (ski mask). I saw only one other person (a frozen-looking jogger).
I hung out in areas where the brush along the creeks blocked the WNW breeze, and where I got the full benefit of the strong southern sun. It was actually quite comfortable until the cold started to settle in after about 45 minutes...
First highlight. I heard 2-3 Eastern Bluebirds in the brush along McCullough Creek. Spent quite a while trying to see them, but they must have been really hunkered down in the brush. There have been several other reports of Bluebirds in Meadowbrook over the past couple of weeks. Hope they decide to nest there!
Second highlight. While walking along McCullough Creek (before I heard the Bluebirds) I am reasonably sure I heard a Long-eared Owl vocalize very briefly. Based on wind direction I think it came from farther west on McCullough Creek.
Third highlight. I ran into a group of about 9-10 Whitetail deer bucks with antlers (no does). Probably the biggest number of antlered Whitetail bucks I have ever seen in Meadowbrook at a single time. A couple of them were rubbing their antlers against saplings, scraping off the bark. For Meadowbrook old-timers, the Whitetail bucks were in a tight grouping in the area sometimes referred to as the "peninsula".
Bird sightings/hearings...
Eastern Bluebird - 2-3, heard in brush along McCullough Creek Long-eared Owl - maybe Red-tailed Hawk - 1, heard Northern Flicker - 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2 Northern Cardinal - 4 Blue Jay - 1 American Crow - 8 American Goldfinch - 4 Dark-eyed Junco - ~20-30 White-throated Sparrow - 10 American Tree Sparrow - 10-15 Song Sparrow - 2 (one in the mouth of a black and white cat!) American Robin - 1, feeding on Sumac berries European Starling - 3 House Sparrow - 5 Mourning Dove - 3, flushed from creek bed Ring-necked Pheasant - 6, flushed from the brush along McCullough Creek
Bernie Sloan
------Finding fabulous fares is fun. Let Yahoo! FareChase search your favorite travel sites to find flight and hotel bargains. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070205/fd f84d6f/attachment.htm From h-parker at uiuc.edu Tue Feb 6 10:02:22 2007 From: h-parker at uiuc.edu (Helen Parker) Date: Tue Feb 6 10:02:57 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Pheasants Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Walking the dog at Meadowbrook this morning, I saw a flock of at least 9 pheasants along the Hickman gardens. Not much else visible through the falling snow. --Helen Parker
From vaiden at isgs.uiuc.edu Tue Feb 6 14:00:25 2007 From: vaiden at isgs.uiuc.edu (Vaiden, Robert) Date: Tue Feb 6 13:58:41 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Meadowbrook at Noon Message-ID: <[email protected]> Snowy and beautiful at Meadowbrook at Noon.
I saw a few small flocks of Juncos and Song Sparrows...saw a small, dark sparrow, too...
A few Mourning Doves, a couple of Robins, 3-4 deer bedded down near the tip of the "Peninsula" (bedded down an covered in snow, they were hard to see. White ears and dark noses gave them away!)
A lot of fresh antler rubbing on Sumac nearby...
One dark hawk..."Red Tail" in shape, with a dark tail.
Rabbit, Squirrel, Mice, and Deer tracks...
Bob Vaiden From lambeth at ad.uiuc.edu Tue Feb 6 14:05:08 2007 From: lambeth at ad.uiuc.edu (Gregory S Lambeth) Date: Tue Feb 6 14:06:21 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Red-shouldered Hawk References: <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]>
The adult Red-shouldered Hawk made a brief appearance today in my backyard on Delaware Avenue in Urbana. I'm about 6-7 blocks from Carle Park.
Greg Lambeth From threlkster at gmail.com Tue Feb 6 14:23:08 2007 From: threlkster at gmail.com (Brian Threlkeld) Date: Tue Feb 6 14:23:18 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Sapsucker Message-ID: <[email protected]>
YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER About 8:00 a.m. Tue., 6 Feb. 2007 I heard the sapsucker call through the falling snow out front, in the usual location. Didn't spot it, though.
______Brian Threlkeld 107 E Michigan Ave Urbana IL 61801-5027
217-384-5164 [email protected] ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070206/eb ffe2b8/attachment.htm From charleneanchor at msn.com Wed Feb 7 09:45:19 2007 From: charleneanchor at msn.com (charlene anchor) Date: Wed Feb 7 11:03:26 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Red-shouldered Hawk Message-ID:
It looks like there are 2 Red-shouldered Hawks in the area then.....an immature that I've seen and heard at Meadowbrook and an adult who has been seen in the neighborhoods. How unusual is that? I guess I'm repeating my questions. I thought 1 was unusual....but 2? Anyway, it's nice. Charlene Anchor
----- Original Message ----- From: Gregory S Lambeth Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2007 2:06 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Birdnotes] Red-shouldered Hawk
The adult Red-shouldered Hawk made a brief appearance today in my backyard on Delaware Avenue in Urbana. I'm about 6-7 blocks from Carle Park.
Greg Lambeth ______Birdnotes mailing list [email protected] https://mail.prairienet.org/mailman/listinfo/birdnotes ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070207/18 283570/attachment.htm From sdbailey at inhs.uiuc.edu Wed Feb 7 12:24:37 2007 From: sdbailey at inhs.uiuc.edu (Steve Bailey) Date: Wed Feb 7 12:24:38 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Meadowbrook Red-shouldered Hawk Message-ID: <[email protected]>
The RED-SHOULDERED HAWK that Greg Lambeth and I had on the Christmas Bird Count (Dec. 17th) was an immature, and likely the same one that Charlene has seen there. There is also a LONG-EARED OWL roosting in deciduous trees on the South Farms, west of the Lincoln Ave. extension (dirt road) south of Windsor, and just east of the Embarras River.
Steve Bailey Rantoul From lambeth at ad.uiuc.edu Wed Feb 7 12:43:13 2007 From: lambeth at ad.uiuc.edu (Gregory S Lambeth) Date: Wed Feb 7 12:43:17 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Red-shouldered Hawk Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Charlene:
It's a little hard to know how to answer your question. Red-shouldered Hawks are an uncommon, local and fairly secretive species. They are very easy to overlook unless they are calling. I think their population in Champaign and surrounding counties is fairly small. There are at least one and probably two or more pairs over at Clinton Lake. I have seen Red-shouldered Hawks in town several times during the past several years, including an immature a few years ago that hung out in my neighborhood during the winter. I think it's not out of the question for Red-shouldereds to breed somewhere near town -- perhaps Treelease Woods. If so, perhaps the adult and immature are related to each other. This is just speculative, though. The most likely scenario is that these birds wandered into town in search of a good food supply and it's just good fortune to have 2 of them here at once.
I did get a photo of the adult as it was taking off from the power line in my yard. I will download it sometime this week and perhaps Bryan would be willing to post it on his web site for others to see (note to self -- work on web site this summer).
Greg Lambeth
-----Original Message----- From: charlene anchor [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2007 9:45 AM To: Gregory S Lambeth; [email protected] Subject: Re: [Birdnotes] Red-shouldered Hawk
It looks like there are 2 Red-shouldered Hawks in the area then.....an immature that I've seen and heard at Meadowbrook and an adult who has been seen in the neighborhoods. How unusual is that? I guess I'm repeating my questions. I thought 1 was unusual....but 2? Anyway, it's nice. Charlene Anchor
----- Original Message ----- From: Gregory S Lambeth Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2007 2:06 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Birdnotes] Red-shouldered Hawk
The adult Red-shouldered Hawk made a brief appearance today in my backyard on Delaware Avenue in Urbana. I'm about 6-7 blocks from Carle Park.
Greg Lambeth ______Birdnotes mailing list [email protected] https://mail.prairienet.org/mailman/listinfo/birdnotes
------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070207/e0 c169e4/attachment.htm From bgsloan2 at yahoo.com Wed Feb 7 14:03:16 2007 From: bgsloan2 at yahoo.com (B.G. Sloan) Date: Wed Feb 7 14:03:21 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Meadowbrook Bluebirds, and lots of Crows Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Walked Meadowbrook shortly after sunrise today. Clear, 6 degrees, light breeze. Got a little extra exercise on the back trails slogging through the snow. :-)
Saw Eastern Bluebirds again today. This time I saw four of them in the brush along Douglas Creek. They were only about 30 feet away. Very beautiful in the rays of the early morning sun. I keep hoping that my regular sightings mean the Bluebirds have found a place they like, and may consider nesting in Meadowbrook this spring.
Lots of American Crows along McCullough Creek and elsewhere. Maybe 100? They sounded a little agitated but didn't seem to be mobbing anything. I did hear a Red-tailed Hawk call loudly several times from the same general area that the Crows were in, but the Crows didn't seem to be after anything in particular.
Speaking of Red-tails, I saw some more evidence of a possible pair along McCullough Creek. One flew from some trees lining the McCullough Creek towards Douglas Creek. After that bird left, I heard a second Red-tail call from the same area along McCullough Creek.
Once again, lots of Whitetails...in the prairie grass...this time a mix of bucks and does.
Finally, the sumacs along McCullough Creek were pretty popular this morning. Robins were feeding on the sumac berries, which is nothing new. But there were also Crows eating the berries (about 20 at the same time), plus a bedraggled looking Northern Flicker. The Flicker didn't fly away when the rest of the birds did. It just sat in the sumacs looking kinda unhappy.
Birds:
Eastern Bluebird - 4 American Crow ? 100+ Carolina Wren ? 1 Ring-necked Pheasant ? ~30, all flushing in groups Red-tailed Hawk ? 2 Northern Flicker ? 1 Downy Woodpecker ? 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker ? 2 American Robin ? 15-20 Blue Jay ? 1 Dark-eyed Junco ? 10 American Goldfinch ? 10(?) House Sparrow ? 5 Song Sparrow ? 3 White-throated Sparrow ? 6 American Tree Sparrow ? 10 Northern Cardinal ? 7 European Starling ? 8 Mourning Dove ? 3
Bernie Sloan
------Sucker-punch spam with award-winning protection. Try the free Yahoo! Mail Beta. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070207/a3 a72066/attachment.htm From bgsloan2 at yahoo.com Wed Feb 7 16:10:10 2007 From: bgsloan2 at yahoo.com (B.G. Sloan) Date: Wed Feb 7 16:10:15 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Urbana Turkey Update Message-ID: <[email protected]>
As usual, send your questions, comments and turkey sighting reports directly to me and not to the list...
This morning I found myself wondering how the Urbana Wild Turkeys have been faring in the recent cold and snowy weather. I hadn't received any reports of sightings since January 30. In the week prior to that I'd received reports almost daily, and sometimes multiple reports in a single day.
This afternoon, February 7, I received reports of two turkeys sighted in southeast Urbana, in the same relatively small area where almost all of the sightings have occurred in the past month or so.
Bernie Sloan
------Access over 1 million songs - Yahoo! Music Unlimited. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070207/e5 3735d8/attachment.htm From smithsje at egix.net Wed Feb 7 17:10:21 2007 From: smithsje at egix.net (Jim & Eleanor Smith) Date: Wed Feb 7 17:12:58 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] red-tails Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Hello, Bird,
Today 2/7, 1 pm, we saw 3 red-tailed hawks just east of the Urbana Wall Mart on the south side of RT 150.
Best regards.
Jim & Eleanor Smith [email protected] 2007-02-07
From lambeth at ad.uiuc.edu Wed Feb 7 20:12:11 2007 From: lambeth at ad.uiuc.edu (Gregory S Lambeth) Date: Wed Feb 7 20:15:19 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Ring-billed Gull References: <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]>
I had a Ring-billed Gull today flying over and then behind the Colonial Pantry on the corner of 6th and John. I have a feeling it was looking for the dumpster. Hopefully, we can include this important bird area on the next Christmas bird count.
Greg Lambeth From charleneanchor at msn.com Thu Feb 8 08:47:07 2007 From: charleneanchor at msn.com (charlene anchor) Date: Thu Feb 8 08:37:01 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Canada geese Message-ID:
Forgot to mention this since it wasn't my sighting :-) My husband reported to me over 1000 Canada Geese flying over our house on Tuesday going south. I'm still hearing our Carolina Wren singing in spite of this blast of winter which makes me happy. I'm not sure what he's feeding on. Never see him going to the suet. My husband has seen him just sitting in the safflower feeder. I've seen that in past years as well. Charlene Anchor ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070208/60 480628/attachment.htm From bpalmore at egix.net Thu Feb 8 09:19:21 2007 From: bpalmore at egix.net (Bland Palmore) Date: Thu Feb 8 09:19:25 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Canada geese In-Reply-To:
Carolina Wren here too all winter. Feeds on peanuts, suet and black oiled sunflower seeds. Makes several trips to the bird bath.
At 08:47 AM 2/8/2007, charlene anchor wrote: >Forgot to mention this since it wasn't my sighting :-) >My husband reported to me over 1000 Canada Geese flying over our house on >Tuesday going south. >I'm still hearing our Carolina Wren singing in spite of this blast of >winter which makes me happy. I'm not sure what he's feeding on. Never see >him going to the suet. My husband has seen him just sitting in the >safflower feeder. I've seen that in past years as well. >Charlene Anchor > > > >______>Birdnotes mailing list >[email protected] >https://mail.prairienet.org/mailman/listinfo/birdnotes
From vaiden at isgs.uiuc.edu Thu Feb 8 09:43:23 2007 From: vaiden at isgs.uiuc.edu (Vaiden, Robert) Date: Thu Feb 8 09:41:39 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] East Main Backyard Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Bird seed consumption has SKYROCKETED in the last 3 days...my big tube feeder is being emptied by nightfall.
Squirrels can't get at it (as far as I know), so it's all birds. House Sparrows have greatly increased, House Finches common, 8\10\12 Cardinals, depending on when one looks, Downy and Red-Bellied Woodpeckers (the big Red-Bellied hanging on to the tube feeder is quite a sight!).
I actually have done NO observing at the home feeders this week...so don't know what else might be coming. Probably Carolina Wren, Creepers, and Nuthatches are around (they have been).
Bob Vaiden ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070208/ab 36e3c7/attachment.htm From bgsloan2 at yahoo.com Thu Feb 8 10:34:55 2007 From: bgsloan2 at yahoo.com (B.G. Sloan) Date: Thu Feb 8 10:34:59 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Canada geese In-Reply-To:
My Carolina Wren (Wrens?) is very fond of peanut pieces and sunflower seeds (wihtout the shell). The bird carefully picks them out of a mixed seed hanging feeder. I watched for a bit this AM.
Bernie Sloan charlene anchor
______Birdnotes mailing list [email protected] https://mail.prairienet.org/mailman/listinfo/birdnotes
------Food fight? Enjoy some healthy debate in the Yahoo! Answers Food & Drink Q&A. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070208/1f 39a556/attachment.htm From bgsloan2 at yahoo.com Thu Feb 8 10:43:41 2007 From: bgsloan2 at yahoo.com (B.G. Sloan) Date: Thu Feb 8 10:43:46 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] East Main Backyard In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]>
I've had the opposite experience. I filled my hanging tube feeder yesterday AM (it was only about half empty...and the last time I filled it was Monday) and when I checked again this morning the seed level had dropped maybe two inches. I'd expected it to be empty.
I'm starting to think maybe I have a hawk problem...
I oberved my feeders all Monday afternoon and had the usual suspects:
House Sparrows (20-30, extremely skittish, didn't spend a lot of time at the feeders) Northern Cardinals (late in the day mostly) Dark-eyed Juncos (a few) White-throated Sparrow (two) American Crow (six) Carolina Wren (one or two) Red-bellied Woodpecker (just once, on the sunflower seed feeder)
Bernie Sloan
"Vaiden, Robert"
st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) } Bird seed consumption has SKYROCKETED in the last 3 days my big tube feeder is being emptied by nightfall.
Squirrels can?t get at it (as far as I know), so it?s all birds. House Sparrows have greatly increased, House Finches common, 8\10\12 Cardinals, depending on when one looks, Downy and Red-Bellied Woodpeckers (the big Red-Bellied hanging on to the tube feeder is quite a sight!).
I actually have done NO observing at the home feeders this week so don?t know what else might be coming. Probably Carolina Wren, Creepers, and Nuthatches are around (they have been).
Bob Vaiden
------Be a PS3 game guru. Get your game face on with the latest PS3 news and previews at Yahoo! Games. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070208/f6 926f79/attachment-0001.htm From bgsloan2 at yahoo.com Thu Feb 8 10:49:36 2007 From: bgsloan2 at yahoo.com (B.G. Sloan) Date: Thu Feb 8 10:49:41 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Canada Geese Message-ID: <[email protected]>
I saw at least 300 Canada Geese high over campus last night a little after 5:00. They were headed south-southwest.
Their "V" was pretty lopsided, but I figure it probably had to do with aerodynamics. The side of the "V" that looked like it was getting the brunt of the wind was very short. The other side was very long.
Bernie Sloan
------Get your own web address. Have a HUGE year through Yahoo! Small Business. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070208/ee b04bcd/attachment.htm From charleneanchor at msn.com Thu Feb 8 11:07:36 2007 From: charleneanchor at msn.com (charlene anchor) Date: Thu Feb 8 10:57:30 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] East Main Backyard Message-ID:
We have 2 Cooper's Hawks who visit our yards regularly - an adult and an immature. That has not stopped the frenzied feeding at our feeders. We are filling them at least twice a day. When one of the hawks drop by everything becomes dead silent and the birds freeze. If the hawk stays long enough some of the birds start leaving. Sometimes the hawk gives up and leaves. Sometimes the hawk makes an attempt and fails and sometimes he wins. Usually I just happen upon the hawk if I'm out feeding and most times don't have enough time to stay and observe very long. Mostly we find the remains of doves, sometimes house sparrows, although I've seen them go after the cardinals as well. Charlene Anchor
----- Original Message ----- From: B.G. Sloan Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 10:43 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Birdnotes] East Main Backyard
I've had the opposite experience. I filled my hanging tube feeder yesterday AM (it was only about half empty...and the last time I filled it was Monday) and when I checked again this morning the seed level had dropped maybe two inches. I'd expected it to be empty.
I'm starting to think maybe I have a hawk problem...
I oberved my feeders all Monday afternoon and had the usual suspects:
House Sparrows (20-30, extremely skittish, didn't spend a lot of time at the feeders) Northern Cardinals (late in the day mostly) Dark-eyed Juncos (a few) White-throated Sparrow (two) American Crow (six) Carolina Wren (one or two) Red-bellied Woodpecker (just once, on the sunflower seed feeder)
Bernie Sloan
"Vaiden, Robert"
Bird seed consumption has SKYROCKETED in the last 3 days?my big tube feeder is being emptied by nightfall.
Squirrels can?t get at it (as far as I know), so it?s all birds. House Sparrows have greatly increased, House Finches common, 8\10\12 Cardinals, depending on when one looks, Downy and Red-Bellied Woodpeckers (the big Red-Bellied hanging on to the tube feeder is quite a sight!).
I actually have done NO observing at the home feeders this week?so don? t know what else might be coming. Probably Carolina Wren, Creepers, and Nuthatches are around (they have been).
Bob Vaiden
Be a PS3 game guru. Get your game face on with the latest PS3 news and previews at Yahoo! Games. ______Birdnotes mailing list [email protected] https://mail.prairienet.org/mailman/listinfo/birdnotes ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070208/5e 8d0365/attachment.htm From sdbailey at inhs.uiuc.edu Thu Feb 8 11:26:45 2007 From: sdbailey at inhs.uiuc.edu (Steve Bailey) Date: Thu Feb 8 11:26:44 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] GREAT GRAY OWL in southern Illinois!! Message-ID: <[email protected]>
I am forwarding this info from Dan Kassebaum who sent me the second- hand news, as well as a diagnostic photo of the bird! Although it is not a bird from central Illinois, I have a feeling some folks will be interested enough to want to travel the couple hours southward to see it if it is re-found. A GREAT GRAY OWL has been found in Illinois within the last few days. The bird is near Sparta, IL. in Randolph Co., which is south of Baldwin Lake for those that know southern Illinois. All I have is the location info from the IDNR employee who photographed the bird. In her words, "he was sitting on a fencepost where Industrial Road (the one that goes past the Sparta T Lake) intersects with Plum Creek Road." The bird was later looked for the next day but could not be found. Hopefully more updates will follow, and the bird will be re-found. Amazing that this species was not found in Illinois during the massive invasion of a couple years ago, but is now found here, in a down year for even northern Minnesota, and of all places, quite a ways south in the state! This must also be one of the furthest south records, at least in the eastern U.S., or away from the Rockies and California. This is Illinois's first confirmed record!
Steve Bailey Rantoul
From calidris_1004 at yahoo.com Thu Feb 8 11:26:48 2007 From: calidris_1004 at yahoo.com (Travis Mahan) Date: Thu Feb 8 11:26:53 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] GREAT GRAY OWL in southern Illinois! Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Hello all,
Given that this is a potential state first, I figured that many of you would like to know about a GREAT GRAY OWL that was observed near Sparta in southern Illinois about a week ago. Below is the post that Steve Bailey made to IBET.
Take care,
Travis Mahan Decatur, IL
I am forwarding this info from Dan Kassebaum who sent me the second- hand news, as well as a diagnostic photo of the bird! A GREAT GRAY OWL has been found in Illinois within the last few days. The bird is near Sparta, IL. in Randolph Co., which is south of Baldwin Lake for those that know southern Illinois. All I have is the location info from the IDNR employee who photographed the bird. In her words, "he was sitting on a fencepost where Industrial Road (the one that goes past the Sparta T Lake) intersects with Plum Creek Road. The bird was later looked for the next day but could not be found. Hopefully more updates will follow, and the bird will be re-found. Amazing that this species was not found in Illinois during the massive invasion of a couple years ago, but is now found here, in a down year for even northern Minnesota, and of all places, quite a ways south in the state! This must also be one of the furthest south records, at least in the eastern U.S., or away from the Rockies and California.
Steve Bailey Rantoul [email protected]
------Don't get soaked. Take a quick peak at the forecast with theYahoo! Search weather shortcut. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070208/e2 0f5af8/attachment.htm From smithsje at egix.net Thu Feb 8 14:47:00 2007 From: smithsje at egix.net (Jim & Eleanor Smith) Date: Thu Feb 8 14:49:37 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Cooper's Hawk Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Hello, Bird,
Today, while we were eating lunch, a Cooper's Hawk tried to catch a Junco that was a few feet from a plum tree. The Junco reached the tree just ahead of the Hawk. The Hawk tried to catch the junco in the plum tree but wasn't having success. The Junco repeatedly flew a few feet to the next tree, a peach tree, where the Hawk would try to catch the little bird. This continued for probably 5 or 6 minutes. The birds would exchange trees after a brief rest with the Hawk leaping from branch to branch, but could not succeed. Eventually, the Junco decided to try for a more dense tree some 40 feet distant, with the Hawk in pursuit. At that time. two Crows joined the chase, but to harrass the Hawk. The addition of the two crows must have confused the Junco, which was in the talons of the Hawk when the Crows left. I thought that when the Crows were harrassing the Hawk, the Junco could escape to dense cover, but that didn't happen.
We've had 21 specie of birds at our feeders today. 2-8-07
Best regards.
Jim & Eleanor Smith [email protected] 2007-02-08
From bgsloan2 at yahoo.com Fri Feb 9 11:18:47 2007 From: bgsloan2 at yahoo.com (B.G. Sloan) Date: Fri Feb 9 11:18:54 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Meadowbrook Kingfisher? Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Cold this morning. About 5 degrees, with subzero wind chills...
I know this might seem odd what with the freezing weather we have been having, and with so much water frozen over all around, but I'd almost swear I heard a Belted Kingfisher call several times in Meadowbrook this AM along McCullough Creek. Cornell's Birds of North America notes "Capable of surviving winter temperatures throughout much of North America if open water (and hence food) is available" and there are a few stretches of open water up and down the creek, so I guess it's possible...
Eastern Bluebirds again, but heard and not seen this time. South end of the park. I've heard/seen them quite regularly in this area recently.
American Crows were again the predominant species in Meadowbrook. They were strung out along McCullough Creek so it was hard to count them. I'd say maybe 75. They didn't seem as agitated today as they had been earlier this week.
Red-tailed Hawk in pretty much the same place I've been seeing it regularly along McCullough Creek. Later I heard two of them calling from the same general area. I've seen/heard a pair of them on a pretty regular basis.
The last couple of mornings I have heard Cardinals singing tentatively...maybe spring will come after all. :-)
Lots of deer again. Fresh signs of antler rubbing on small saplings. It strikes me that the deer are a lot more abundant right now than usual.
Birds:
Belted Kingfisher - 1(?) Eastern Bluebird - several heard Red-tailed Hawk - 2 Downy Woodpecker - 3 Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1 Dark-eyed Junco - 10 Northern Cardinal - several Blue Jay - 3 House Sparrow - 3 White-throated Sparrow - 7 American Tree Sparrow - 5 Song Sparrow - 6-7 American Robin - 2 Carolina Wren - 1 Ring-necked Pheasant - 2 Mourning Dove - 5 American Goldfinch - 8 European Starling - 4
And a Coopers Hawk perched in a tree in a yard across the street from my house.
Bernie Sloan
------TV dinner still cooling? Check out "Tonight's Picks" on Yahoo! TV. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070209/8d 113ba4/attachment.htm From roy2 at uiuc.edu Fri Feb 9 12:49:14 2007 From: roy2 at uiuc.edu (Roy, Jacqueline) Date: Fri Feb 9 12:49:19 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Cardinals at my feeders Message-ID:
------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070209/97 ed3428/attachment.htm From lambeth at ad.uiuc.edu Sat Feb 10 11:47:50 2007 From: lambeth at ad.uiuc.edu (Gregory S Lambeth) Date: Sat Feb 10 11:47:56 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Snow Buntings; Longspurs References: <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]>
There are large numbers of Longspurs and Horned Larks, along with a few Snow Buntings, on the University's South Farms. It's difficult to estimate the numbers because the flocks are spread out and I didn't walk the fields. There are at least several hundred Horned Larks and another several hundred Lapland Longspurs. There seem to be only a few Snow Buntings -- I had 3 in view at once so there's at least that many. I spent about 45 minutes sorting through the Longspurs which were fairly close to my car. The birds are in various stages of transitional plumage. No sign of anything unusual. I used a window mount - I doubt the birds would stay put if you tried to get out to view them. A windchill around 15 below kept me from even thinking about it.
The birds are feeding on manure spread out on fields just South of Windsor and West of Lincoln. This road is posted no trespassing.
There is also a small sliver of water that remains open on the First Street Pond. There were several hundred Canada Geese there this morning along with a few Mallards. The birds were bunched together and most had their heads tucked. I didn't see any Cackling Geese in the group. There's not a lot of open water around right now so it's worth keeping an eye on this spot.
Greg Lambeth From threlkster at gmail.com Sat Feb 10 14:34:55 2007 From: threlkster at gmail.com (Brian Threlkeld) Date: Sat Feb 10 14:35:00 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Snow Buntings; Longspurs In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> References: <[email protected]> <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]>
I looked around the fields from 1:40 to 2:05 this afternoon. No scope, just binoculars, so didn't see much more than the obvious: tons of crows and pigeons. Right at first, I watched about a dozen crows mobbing a very large, light-colored raptor above the trees south of Windsor Rd to the east of the fields. At the tree line along the creek at the southern end of the fields, I watched a red-tail hawk fly, then settle at a tree top next to another hawk -- also a red-tail, I'd guess, but I couldn't see fieldmarks on that one clearly. Just before the impatient kids and I left, I finally spotted several horned larks, about 30 to 40 yards east of the road. First ones I'd seen since 11,000 feet up in Colorado; a lovely bird at any elevation.
No doubt there's much more to be seen out there, by someone with better optical gear and better ID skills than I.
______Brian Threlkeld 107 E Michigan Ave Urbana IL 61801-5027
217-384-5164 [email protected]
On 2/10/07, Gregory S Lambeth
Birders,
It was a cold but beautiful day to be outside.
Saw some small sparrows along the road near the dog walk.
Look like they had their tail feathers frozen off or at least pulled off from the ice.
Most could still fly.
Also saw a large hawk (Buteo) with upturned wingtips.
Didn't have my binoculars as I was packing my tree loppers.
Be advised that the police are watching this area to protect the earth moving equipment.
Walked as far as the 3-D Bear target before turning back.
Good birding.
Jim :)
-- James Hoyt "The Prairie Ant" Champaign Co. Audubon Illinois Audubon Society Co-steward Parkland College Prairies. Volunteer Monitor; Urbana Park District Natural Areas. Champaign County Master Gardener East Central Illinois Master Naturalist Grand Prairie Friends - Prairie Grove Volunteers Allerton Allies Prairie Rivers Network The Xerces Society The Illinois Chapter of the Nature Conservancy
======"The way to keep a trail alive is to walk on it". Author unknown ======
*********************************************************************** ******** *********************************************************************** ******** "The human culture is considered to be a 'geologic force' and with good reason. But if we are at a stage where our actions are to decide the world's future, then surely we have reached a level where we can be held acountable for the world's future." Durward L. Allen "Our Wildlife Legacy" *********************************************************************** ******** *********************************************************************** ********
From threlkster at gmail.com Sun Feb 11 09:21:02 2007 From: threlkster at gmail.com (Brian Threlkeld) Date: Sun Feb 11 09:21:08 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] RBW Message-ID: <[email protected]>
RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER, female 9:00 a.m. Sun., 11 Feb. 2007 Out back, foraging on snow under feeders. When she finds a whole sunflower seed, she flies up to our ash tree to work on it. A good-looking bird, and a treat to see her so close.
Other customers this morning: CAROLINA WRENS CARDINALS DARK-EYED JUNCOS HOSP female MOURNING DOVES
Think I heard starlings up in the trees, too.
______Brian Threlkeld 107 E Michigan Ave Urbana IL 61801-5027 217-384-5164 [email protected] ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070211/b8 77e332/attachment.htm From smithsje at egix.net Sun Feb 11 12:08:06 2007 From: smithsje at egix.net (Jim & Eleanor Smith) Date: Sun Feb 11 12:10:48 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] SNOW BUNTINGS Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Hello, Bird,
Today, Sunday, 12 noon, we found 4 SNOW BUNTINGS along our farm lane mixed in with a large number of HORNED LARKS and LAPLAND LONGSPURS. IF anyone is interested in seeing these birds, here are the directions: >From Homer, go east one mile to the county line road. Go north 1 mile just around a slight curve. To the east, is our private lane with a big sign PRIVATE ROAD. Drive east and watch for birds. 1/2 miles east, lane turns north. Birds are most abundant at this bend. Also, to the east about 1/8 mile, there is a strip of spread manure and more birds. Note: lane has not been plowed, but I got through making many stops with a two wheel drive car.
Best regards.
Jim & Eleanor Smith [email protected] 2007-02-11
From brockprice at sbcglobal.net Sun Feb 11 15:02:48 2007 From: brockprice at sbcglobal.net (Brock Price) Date: Sun Feb 11 15:02:52 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Sunday birds Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Took a drive today - Homer Lake, East on Homer Lake Road past Rt. 49 to 450N. then to Oakwood - north then east to Indian Springs area - to Lake Vermillion and back home. It's always a good drive.
Highlights: 50+ Wild Turkeys Lapland Longspurs - Lincoln Trail Road east of Hwy. 49, Indian Springs area Snow Buntings - Lincoln Trail Road east of Hwy. 49, Indian Springs area 2 beautiful male No. Harriers Pileated Woodpecker - Kickapoo Fox Sparrows - numerous spots Tree Sparrows - everywhere E. Meadowlarks - Lincoln Trail Road east of Hwy 49, Indian Springs area
Great looks at Snow Buntings on the Lincoln Trail Road around probably 200N to 300N at a cattle farm. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070211/24 b76f58/attachment.htm From dafekt1ve at yahoo.com Sun Feb 11 17:52:10 2007 From: dafekt1ve at yahoo.com (Bryan Guarente) Date: Sun Feb 11 17:52:17 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] West Champaign: Snow Goose Message-ID: <[email protected]>
I went out to Riverbend park today because of the nice weather. This turned out to be a journey that gained me exercise but few birds. The whole entire gravel pond was frozen solid. It was so frozen that many people were ice fishing on the lake.
On my way back into town, I went looking for geese that were scared up by a hospital helicopter heading out of town. I chased these birds back to Copper Ridge subdivision. To be exact, I found the birds back at Lake Point Dr and South Staley Rd. There is a tiny little reminant of open water there. There were plenty of Geese there, but only Canadas were in sight. While searching through the geese there, I came upon a SNOW GOOSE, but of the rarer blue morph.
To get to this bird, check the lake at Lake Point Dr, then check the creek north of the lake. I found the bird north of the lake on the creek. It was tough to find with the naked eye, but after a little bit of scanning you could pick out the white head and pink beak. It was hard to find so keep your eyes peeled. Good luck.
Bryan Guarente Atmospheric Sciences Research Assistant Champaign, IL
______Expecting? Get great news right away with email Auto-Check. Try the Yahoo! Mail Beta. http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/mailbeta/newmail_tools.html ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070211/9a ce5a3b/attachment.htm From leslienoa at gmail.com Sun Feb 11 18:30:01 2007 From: leslienoa at gmail.com (Leslie Noa) Date: Sun Feb 11 18:30:07 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Allerton Area Birds Message-ID:
Tim Rye and I took a drive out to Allerton Park today to enjoy the warmer weather. We took a quick look at the cedars near the visitor center for signs of owls but didn't see anything. We did see and hear: brown creeper tufted titmice black-capped chickadees downy woodpecker pileated woodpecker white-breasted nuthatches blue jays
On a drive from the north side of the park to the south side of the park we saw a red-tailed hawk perched on a tree limb fly down to catch and eat a squirrel. We were very close to the action and got some of the best looks I've ever had at a red-tailed hawk. It was interesting to watch its behavior as it ate its meal.
We also saw: 50-60 horned larks white-throated sparrows fox sparrow dark-eyed juncos American Kestrel
On the south side of the park near the closed bridge we saw two coyotes take chase after a couple of deer. We got pretty good looks at the coyotes before they ran out of view.
Leslie Noa Champaign ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070211/42 a553ca/attachment.htm From charleneanchor at msn.com Sun Feb 11 18:57:54 2007 From: charleneanchor at msn.com (charlene anchor) Date: Sun Feb 11 18:47:50 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Meadowbrook Message-ID:
Went for a walk at Meadowbrook mid-afternoon more for exercise than birding....good thing as it was pretty quiet. Did see the juvenile RED-SHOULDERED HAWK sitting along McCollough Creek. Later I caught up with it sitting along Douglas Creek. As we passed it, it flew off west towards McCollough again. ROBINS - total throughout park easily about 60. Saw approximately 40 along McCollough Cr south of the Prairie Play bridge. They were in the open water, some bathing and others eating sumac. Other birds seen: SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, DOWNY (male and female), RED- BELLIED WOODPECKER (male and female), SONG SPARROWS, CROWS, BLUE JAY, AMERICAN TREE SPARROW, MOURNING DOVES, PHEASANTS (only 2 females), STARLING. Heard a BLUEBIRD but could only find a Starling. Hope I just missed the bluebird and that the starling wasn't doing an imitation. Didn't see any Cardinals, Juncos, deer, and few sparrows. Charlene Anchor ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070211/f8 4f4f7d/attachment.htm From lambeth at ad.uiuc.edu Sun Feb 11 19:06:32 2007 From: lambeth at ad.uiuc.edu (Gregory S Lambeth) Date: Sun Feb 11 19:09:19 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Allerton Red-shouldered References:
I was at Allerton today, also, but didn't run into Leslie or Tim. I had many of the same birds, but also had an adult Red-shouldered Hawk. I was able to take some photos -- if anyone wants a jpeg, email me privately and I'll send one.
The only other notable specie was the exceptional number of Tree Sparrows. I probably had 250+ in and around Allerton.
There are also 4 Short-eared Owls at Monticello Road Field Station.
Greg Lambeth
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] on behalf of Leslie Noa Sent: Sun 2/11/2007 6:30 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Birdnotes] Allerton Area Birds
Tim Rye and I took a drive out to Allerton Park today to enjoy the warmer weather. We took a quick look at the cedars near the visitor center for signs of owls but didn't see anything. We did see and hear: brown creeper tufted titmice black-capped chickadees downy woodpecker pileated woodpecker white-breasted nuthatches blue jays
On a drive from the north side of the park to the south side of the park we saw a red-tailed hawk perched on a tree limb fly down to catch and eat a squirrel. We were very close to the action and got some of the best looks I've ever had at a red-tailed hawk. It was interesting to watch its behavior as it ate its meal.
We also saw: 50-60 horned larks white-throated sparrows fox sparrow dark-eyed juncos American Kestrel
On the south side of the park near the closed bridge we saw two coyotes take chase after a couple of deer. We got pretty good looks at the coyotes before they ran out of view.
Leslie Noa Champaign
From dktor1977 at yahoo.com Sun Feb 11 21:10:41 2007 From: dktor1977 at yahoo.com (Daniel Toronto) Date: Sun Feb 11 21:12:13 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Clinton Lake Message-ID: <002101c74e53$638633a0$9c1e7e82@LeahDodd>
Spent a few hours birding Clinton Lake. Among other things we observed:
Mutes Swan 4 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 Common Merganser 100s Hooded Merganser 2 Barred Owl 2 Greater Scaup 1 Greater White-fronted Goose 25 Common Goldeneye 3 Ring-necked Pheasant 4
The Greater Scaup we saw wasn't very far away and well lit so we're pretty sure about the ID.
Happy birding, Dan Toronto ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070211/06 ac7910/attachment-0001.htm From j.courson at mchsi.com Mon Feb 12 09:22:13 2007 From: j.courson at mchsi.com ([email protected]) Date: Mon Feb 12 09:22:17 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] FW: Winter Weather Statement Message-ID: <021220071522.24437.45D0862500044BA500005F75219792676103010CD2079C080C0 [email protected]> -- Jeffrey A. Courson
"There comes a special moment in everyone's life, a moment for which that person was born. That special opportunity, when he seizes it, will fulfill his mission--a mission for which he is uniquely qualified. In that moment, he finds greatness. It is his finest hour."
Winston Churchill
------Forwarded Message: ------From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: Winter Weather Statement Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2007 14:27:46 +0000
URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 826 AM CST MON FEB 12 2007
...WINTER STORM CONDITIONS WILL MOVE INTO CENTRAL...EAST CENTRAL AND PARTS OF SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS LATE TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY EVENING...
.LOW PRESSURE OVER THE TEXAS PANHANDLE IS EXPECTED TO PUSH NORTHEAST TOWARDS THE OHIO VALLEY ON TUESDAY BRINGING HEAVY SNOW TO PARTS OF THE MIDWEST. JUST SOUTH OF THE HEAVY SNOW BAND...A MIX OF FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET WILL OCCUR...WITH RAIN FURTHER SOUTH ALONG THE OHIO VALLEY. AS THE LOW PULLS TO OUR EAST ON TUESDAY... STRONG NORTHEAST WINDS WILL PRODUCE CONSIDERABLE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW ACROSS THE WARNING AREA. THE HEAVY BAND OF SNOW APPEARS TO BE SETTING UP ALONG AND EAST OF INTERSTATE 55 WHERE 8 TO 12 INCHES WILL BE POSSIBLE...WITH EVEN LOCAL HIGHER AMOUNTS POSSIBLE CLOSER TO THE ILLINOIS INDIANA BORDER BY LATE TUESDAY.
COUNTY SPECIFIC MESSAGE:
/O.CON.KILX.WS.W.0001.070213T0000Z-070214T0600Z/ KNOX-STARK-PEORIA-MARSHALL-WOODFORD-FULTON-TAZEWELL-MCLEAN- SCHUYLER-MASON-LOGAN-DE WITT-PIATT-CHAMPAIGN-VERMILION-CASS- MENARD-SCOTT-MORGAN-SANGAMON-CHRISTIAN-MACON-MOULTRIE-DOUGLAS- COLES-EDGAR-SHELBY-CUMBERLAND-CLARK- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...GALESBURG...PEORIA...BLOOMINGTON... NORMAL...HAVANA...LINCOLN...CHAMPAIGN...URBANA...DANVILLE... JACKSONVILLE...SPRINGFIELD...TAYLORVILLE...DECATUR...CHARLESTON... MATTOON...SHELBYVILLE 826 AM CST MON FEB 12 2007
...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO MIDNIGHT CST TUESDAY NIGHT...
A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO MIDNIGHT CST TUESDAY NIGHT.
SNOW WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE AREA THIS EVENING WITH PERIODS OF HEAVY SNOW CONTINUING THROUGH MOST OF TUESDAY. ACCUMULATIONS WILL VARY CONSIDERABLY ACROSS THE AREA WITH FROM 8 TO 12 INCHES POSSIBLE ROUGHLY ALONG AND EAST OF INTERSTATE 55 WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR EVEN HIGHER AMOUNTS CLOSER TO THE INDIANA STATE LINE BY TUESDAY AFTERNOON.
AS THE STORM SYSTEM TRACKS INTO EASTERN KENTUCKY LATE TUESDAY... NORTHEAST WINDS WILL INCREASE TO 20 TO 30 MPH TUESDAY PRODUCING CONSIDERABLE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW.
A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW... SLEET...AND ICE ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. STRONG WINDS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE. THIS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR IMPOSSIBLE ESPECIALLY AFTER MIDNIGHT TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY EVENING.
AFFECTED COUNTIES: IN ILLINOIS: CASS, CHAMPAIGN, CHRISTIAN, CLARK, COLES, CUMBERLAND, DEWITT, DOUGLAS, EDGAR, FULTON, KNOX, LOGAN, MACON, MARSHALL, MASON, MCLEAN, MENARD, MORGAN, MOULTRIE, PEORIA, PIATT, SANGAMON, SCHUYLER, SCOTT, SHELBY, STARK, TAZEWELL, VERMILION, WOODFORD.
For the latest news and weather tune in to WAND News or go to WAND's Doppler on the web at http://www.wandtv.com From birder1949 at yahoo.com Mon Feb 12 21:00:34 2007 From: birder1949 at yahoo.com (Roger Digges) Date: Mon Feb 12 21:00:38 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Clinton Lake Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Wanted to bird the back roads of Clinton Lake before the promised storm made them impassable, had only a few late afternoon hours. Sighted 28 species. Highlight was a Northern Mockingbird sighted at the far west end of the road that passes south of the power plant. This is the third straight year I've found a Mockingbird at the west end of the lake. The lake is frozen from a few hundred yards east of the Rt. 48 bridge on east, and west from the west end of Mascoutin.
Canada Goose (2,100+) Cackling Goose (12+) American Black Duck (2) Mallard (120) Lesser Scaup (3) Common Goldeneye (95) Hooded Merganser (26) Common Merganser (150+) Pied-billed Grebe (3) Great Blue Heron (3) Red-tailed Hawk (6) American Kestrel (2) American Coot (28) Ring-billed Gulls (1,000+) Mourning Dove (21) Downy Woodpecker (2) Blue Jay (2) American Crow (58) White-breasted Nuthatch (1) Eastern Bluebird (1) Northern Mockingbird (1) European Starling (108) American Tree Sparrow (49) Fox Sparrow (1) Song Sparrow (14) White-throated Sparrow (5) Dark-eyed Junco (73) Northern Cardinal (6)
Roger Digges
______Finding fabulous fares is fun. Let Yahoo! FareChase search your favorite travel sites to find flight and hotel bargains. http://farechase.yahoo.com/promo-generic-14795097 From bgsloan2 at yahoo.com Tue Feb 13 11:58:06 2007 From: bgsloan2 at yahoo.com (B.G. Sloan) Date: Tue Feb 13 11:58:14 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Blizzard Birds Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Intermittent bird activity so far today...there will be either no birds, or many birds. I stocked up all my feeders at about 10:00AM during a lull in the snow. Also spread some feed on the top of the snow for the ground feeders.
Mostly the usual suspects, except that I have had an American Tree Sparrow around almost all day. Pretty rare for my yard. And the few squirrels in my yard are very interesting...they are burrowing into the snow to find food. Sometimes only their tails are showing above the snow!
Birds:
Northern Cardinal - 4-5 Blue Jay - 1 Carolina Wren - 2 American Tree Sparrow - 1 White-throated Sparrow - 2 Dark-eyed Junco - many House Sparrow - many Mourning Dove - 8
Bernie Sloan
------Cheap Talk? Check out Yahoo! Messenger's low PC-to-Phone call rates. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070213/f2 76ac83/attachment.htm From threlkster at gmail.com Tue Feb 13 14:05:15 2007 From: threlkster at gmail.com (Brian Threlkeld) Date: Tue Feb 13 14:05:19 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Backyard in the blizzard Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Business at the feeders out back has been steady, notwithstanding the heavy snow and high winds. Much like what Bernie reported, except I've not seen native sparrows or jays, and he didn't report goldfinches.
Distinctive behaviors: Birds typically queue for the suet cage, but today I've seen the male and female downies on it simultaneously -- something I just *never* observe at other times. I've also seen one of the downies and both wrens working the cage simultaneously.
The wrens are at the suet a lot today. Occasionally they've been at the sunflower seeds, too -- furiously excavating loads of seeds, tossing most to the ground below, where they're quickly buried in the falling snow, as the wrens look for loose seed chips.
Feeder difficulty: A female cardinal perched on the box feeder with sunflower seeds, but seemed stymied by the half-inch of snow over the seeds. Surprising that she won't dig through that to get to the food. At close range, through binoculars, she's a terrific-looking bird, with some dry snow dusting and accenting her plumage.
Plumage observation: The white on the male downy is a bright, clean white; the white on the female is decidedly more grey.
Northern cardinals -- 3 (male-female pair, and another female; I observed the two females up in the big ash, one chasing the other) Downy woodpeckers -- 2 (male-female pair) Carolina wrens -- 2 (a pair, almost always together) House finches -- 4 (2 male, 2 female) Goldfinches -- 2 Mourning doves -- 2 Dark-eyed juncos -- 2 HOSPs -- 4 (1 male, 3 female)
______Brian Threlkeld 107 E Michigan Ave Urbana IL 61801-5027
217-384-5164 [email protected] ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070213/89 19d190/attachment.htm From smithsje at egix.net Tue Feb 13 14:16:55 2007 From: smithsje at egix.net (Jim & Eleanor Smith) Date: Tue Feb 13 14:19:37 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] feeder birds Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Hello, Bird, the first blizzard of the season has casued the following birds to come to our feeders.
Starlings: about 20 Blue Jay 1 Downy 3 Red-belly 1 Red-head 1 C. Chickadee 1 Titmouse 2 Cardinal about 20 W. B. Nuthatch 2 Cooper's Hawk 1 Cowbird 20 or 30 Tree Sparrow 50+ House Sparrow too many to count House finch 3 Junco 50+ Goldfinch 60+ Crow 4 M. Dove 10 C. Wren 1 Best regards.
Jim & Eleanor Smith [email protected] 2007-02-13
From bgsloan2 at yahoo.com Tue Feb 13 15:13:35 2007 From: bgsloan2 at yahoo.com (B.G. Sloan) Date: Tue Feb 13 15:13:41 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Blizzard birds again Message-ID: <[email protected]>
The birds continue to be quite active! The Juncos seem to be the hardiest!!! And maybe it's just the light today, but the male House Sparrows seem like they are starting to get their breeding plumage. Maybe spring is just around the corner after all! :-)
I've learned something today about putting out feed for ground-feeding birds during a blizzard! If you put it in a sheltered area, it will probably be covered up by the snow rather quickly. If you put the feed in an area where the wind blows through (e.g., near the top of a drift, or by the corner of a building) the wind keeps the seed from being covered up as quickly.
This afternoon I bundled up and went for a long walk through my neighborhood. This weather is quite awesome! It's been quite a while since I've been out in weather like this. I'm thinking blizzards in the late 1970s. I know today was the first time a winter storm forced cancellation of UI classes since 1979. Makes me worry about birds and animals...for example, I know some of the severe storms 25-30 years ago put a big dent in the Ring-necked Pheasant population.
And I really worry about the Urbana Wild Turkeys...this latest patch of weather is the coldest and snowiest weather ever for them.
Bernie Sloan
------Looking for earth-friendly autos? Browse Top Cars by "Green Rating" at Yahoo! Autos' Green Center. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070213/1e 800702/attachment.htm From bpalmore at egix.net Tue Feb 13 15:40:43 2007 From: bpalmore at egix.net (Bland Palmore) Date: Tue Feb 13 15:40:45 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Blizzard Birds In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> References: <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]> 15 Goldfinches sharing 3 tube feeders, 8 Junco's on the ground, Red Bellied Woodpecker, some Sparrows, House Finches, Cardinals.
At 11:58 AM 2/13/2007, B.G. Sloan wrote: > >Intermittent bird activity so far today...there will be either no birds, >or many birds. I stocked up all my feeders at about 10:00AM during a lull >in the snow. Also spread some feed on the top of the snow for the ground >feeders. > >Mostly the usual suspects, except that I have had an American Tree Sparrow >around almost all day. Pretty rare for my yard. And the few squirrels in >my yard are very interesting...they are burrowing into the snow to find >food. Sometimes only their tails are showing above the snow! > >Birds: > >Northern Cardinal - 4-5 >Blue Jay - 1 >"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Carolina Wren - 2 >American Tree Sparrow - 1 >White-throated Sparrow - 2 >Dark-eyed Junco - many >House Sparrow - many >Mourning Dove - 8 > >Bernie Sloan > > >Cheap Talk? >
From lupewinku at lanscape.net Tue Feb 13 19:28:25 2007 From: lupewinku at lanscape.net (Rhetta Jack) Date: Tue Feb 13 19:26:47 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Snow day birds Message-ID: <[email protected]> Hello IBETTERS, Nice storm here in Springfield! Supposedly 7th snowiest in city history. Kept the birds fed and lots of birds kept the activity going, though nothing new for the site. White-throated Sparrows, Juncos, House Sparrows, Mourning Dove, one Song Sparrow, Blue Jays, Cardinals. A single Carolina Wren pretty much hung on the suet cage most of the day. Red Bellied pair and Downy Pair also used the suet. Saw Downy pair sharing with the Wren, first time ever for that. Did not see a single Chickadee or Nuthatch which are regular here. Perhaps they stayed in cavities today? Also did not see any Goldfinches, which is unusual. A single fox squirrel came out early this am, but couldn't keep the snow out of his eyes, then left. We saw no more squirrels today, when usually there are anywhere from 7-15 fox and gray out at any time. IRhetta Jack, Springfield, IL
From jwhoyt at prairienet.org Tue Feb 13 19:42:21 2007 From: jwhoyt at prairienet.org (James Hoyt) Date: Tue Feb 13 19:42:26 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Snow day birds (One Crow) In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> Message-ID:
Birdnoters and IBETERS.
Thanks to Rhetta and everyone for keeping me from getting apartment fever.
Guess that Snowy Owl knew something we didn't.
I did see a crow fly over my car while I was trying to shovel my car out of the parking lot near my apartment.
Didn't see anything else as my community has banned bird feeders after the squirrels started chewing on the wires.
Take care and good birding.
Jim Hoyt :) Champaign Il.
On Tue, 13 Feb 2007, Rhetta Jack wrote:
> Hello IBETTERS, Nice storm here in Springfield! Supposedly 7th snowiest in > city history. Kept the birds fed and lots of birds kept the activity going, > though nothing new for the site. White-throated Sparrows, Juncos, House > Sparrows, Mourning Dove, one Song Sparrow, Blue Jays, Cardinals. A single > Carolina Wren pretty much hung on the suet cage most of the day. Red > Bellied pair and Downy Pair also used the suet. Saw Downy pair sharing > with the Wren, first time ever for that. Did not see a single Chickadee or > Nuthatch which are regular here. Perhaps they stayed in cavities > today? Also did not see any Goldfinches, which is unusual. A single fox > squirrel came out early this am, but couldn't keep the snow out of his > eyes, then left. We saw no more squirrels today, when usually there are > anywhere from 7-15 fox and gray out at any time. IRhetta Jack, Springfield, IL > > ______> Birdnotes mailing list > [email protected] > https://mail.prairienet.org/mailman/listinfo/birdnotes >
-- James Hoyt "The Prairie Ant" Champaign Co. Audubon Illinois Audubon Society Co-steward Parkland College Prairies. Volunteer Monitor; Urbana Park District Natural Areas. Champaign County Master Gardener East Central Illinois Master Naturalist Grand Prairie Friends - Prairie Grove Volunteers Allerton Allies Prairie Rivers Network The Xerces Society The Illinois Chapter of the Nature Conservancy
======"The way to keep a trail alive is to walk on it". Author unknown ======
*********************************************************************** ******** *********************************************************************** ******** "The human culture is considered to be a 'geologic force' and with good reason. But if we are at a stage where our actions are to decide the world's future, then surely we have reached a level where we can be held acountable for the world's future." Durward L. Allen "Our Wildlife Legacy" *********************************************************************** ******** *********************************************************************** ******** From Birderdlt at aol.com Tue Feb 13 21:53:09 2007 From: Birderdlt at aol.com ([email protected]) Date: Tue Feb 13 21:53:30 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Snow day birds Message-ID:
Thanks Rhetta for report from Springfield. I had at my feeders lots of House Sparrows, Cardinals, Mourning Doves, one White-throated sparrow, lots of Juncos, a Flicker (haven't seen one of those around for awhile), two Carolina wrens at one time on the suet feeder, one Goldfinch, and a Tree Sparrow. I have only had Tree Sparrow one other time, and that also was during a snow storm. Two Bluejays usually come to the feeder but I didn't see them today. Meant to mention that yesterday while cross-country skiing at Lake of the Woods County Park I saw at least 10 Eastern Meadowlarks at the western end of the prairie. A few were even singing some. I have seen other reports of Meadowlarks so they must have recently moved in.
David Thomas Champaign, IL ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070213/7e 8b2cec/attachment-0001.htm From bgsloan2 at yahoo.com Wed Feb 14 11:24:26 2007 From: bgsloan2 at yahoo.com (B.G. Sloan) Date: Wed Feb 14 11:24:33 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Snow day birds In-Reply-To:
The Cardinals were out early this AM. I had to walk through a 3 foot drift to get to the feeders when I filled them before leaving for work. Campus is pretty dead, what with classes cancelled today.
Bernie Sloan
[email protected] wrote: Thanks Rhetta for report from Springfield. I had at my feeders lots of House Sparrows, Cardinals, Mourning Doves, one White-throated sparrow, lots of Juncos, a Flicker (haven't seen one of those around for awhile), two Carolina wrens at one time on the suet feeder, one Goldfinch, and a Tree Sparrow. I have only had Tree Sparrow one other time, and that also was during a snow storm. Two Bluejays usually come to the feeder but I didn't see them today. Meant to mention that yesterday while cross-country skiing at Lake of the Woods County Park I saw at least 10 Eastern Meadowlarks at the western end of the prairie. A few were even singing some. I have seen other reports of Meadowlarks so they must have recently moved in.
David Thomas Champaign, IL ______Birdnotes mailing list [email protected] https://mail.prairienet.org/mailman/listinfo/birdnotes
------Now that's room service! Choose from over 150,000 hotels in 45,000 destinations on Yahoo! Travel to find your fit. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070214/24 0db68b/attachment.htm From jbchato at uiuc.edu Wed Feb 14 15:13:39 2007 From: jbchato at uiuc.edu (John & Beth Chato) Date: Wed Feb 14 15:13:59 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Great Backyard Bird Count Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Birdnoters, The Great "Backyard" Bird Count sponsored by Cornell U and Audubon is this coming weekend Thursday 16 through Sunday 19. The parentheses are mine, as the writeup says count anywhere- in your backyard, balcony, park or refuge. Go to www.birdsource.org/gbbc for instructions. You can take part on one, two, three or four days for any length of time above 15 minutes. For each kind of bird, record the highest # seen at any one time.I hope that the roads have been cleared enough for all you hard core birders to get out to some of our local hot spots. Checklists are then reported online and you can watch to see how many species are see locally or nationally. Audubon counters will be checking the Anita Purves Feeding area throughout Saturday 8am- 3pm or so, with perhaps a short trek through Busey Woods. I hope the Chipping Sparrow made it through the blizzard. He was there on Monday. Drop in and join the crew.
Beth Chato John C. Chato 714 W. Vermont Ave. Urbana, IL 61801 217-344-6803 From lupewinku at lanscape.net Wed Feb 14 16:00:29 2007 From: lupewinku at lanscape.net (Rhetta Jack) Date: Wed Feb 14 15:58:43 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Day after Big Snow birds Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Hello IBETTERS and BIRDNOTERS, Unlike yesterday during the storm, the Chickadees, Titmice, Goldfinches, and Squirrels came out to feed today. Also, had a surprise visitor to the suet feeder, a NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD. It looked pretty ragged too. We moved here in December 2 years ago. That winter, both a Mockingbird and a Hermit thrush wintered here, though it was a fairly mild winter compared to this. There was another Mockingbird that passed by in springtime last year also, but none seen all winter here. Today was the first one since then here. Two CAROLINA WRENS today also, just noticed one yesterday. The rest of the birds were the same as yesterday. Although I observed approximately forty Mourning Doves, which is high for here. Also saw an Adult Red Tailed Hawk soaring in the sun, not unusual here. Rhetta Jack, Springfield, IL
From threlkster at gmail.com Wed Feb 14 17:34:58 2007 From: threlkster at gmail.com (Brian Threlkeld) Date: Wed Feb 14 17:35:03 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Robins, geese Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Yesterday, about 4:30, I saw a ROBIN in the crabapple (?) trees next to the driveway, out front.
This morning as I walked to work, about 9:00 a.m., I saw a dozen robins, perhaps more, in the south parking lot of Lincoln Square Mall. Another dozen were perched on the architrave of the south facade.
At 3:30, I heard, then saw, 8 geese flying low, west by southwest, above 1803 Byrnebruk Drive, Champaign (west of I-57).
______Brian Threlkeld 107 E Michigan Ave Urbana IL 61801-5027
217-384-5164 [email protected] ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070214/05 84db61/attachment.htm From bgsloan2 at yahoo.com Wed Feb 14 19:06:41 2007 From: bgsloan2 at yahoo.com (B.G. Sloan) Date: Wed Feb 14 19:06:49 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Day after Big Snow birds In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Wasn't at home much today...
Late this afternoon I spotted a Red-bellied Woodpecker on the sunflower seed feeder. Several late afternoon Cardinals there as well. And maybe 8-10 Dark-eyed Juncos beneath the feeders. While I was refilling the feeders at about 4:15 I spotted about 100 Canada Geese overhead heading south southwest at maybe 1000 feet altitude. Right now there are 4 or 5 rabbits in my back yard feeding on seed I left out for ground-feeding birds.
Had a report of a Wild Turkey about one block away during the noon hour.
Bernie Sloan
------Now that's room service! Choose from over 150,000 hotels in 45,000 destinations on Yahoo! Travel to find your fit. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070214/a1 0b396f/attachment.htm From bpalmore at egix.net Wed Feb 14 21:05:19 2007 From: bpalmore at egix.net (Bland Palmore) Date: Wed Feb 14 21:05:29 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Fwd: caught a hawk Message-ID: <[email protected]>
This is from a former Audubon member that lived on W. Vermont Avenue. Thought you all would be interested, some may have some suggestions for her fence. She now lives in Nashville, TN. Bland Palmore, W. Vermont
>Envelope-to: [email protected] >To: Bland Palmore
I've been cut off from Email for a few days...
Friday evening about 5:30, saw a flock of more than 400 Geese over Brookens Center headed SW.
Bob Vaiden
------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070215/a8 b9eeaa/attachment.htm From bgsloan2 at yahoo.com Thu Feb 15 10:59:23 2007 From: bgsloan2 at yahoo.com (B.G. Sloan) Date: Thu Feb 15 10:59:27 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Morning birds Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Before I went to the bus stop this AM...
About 15 Dark-eyed Juncos and 8 American Crows feeding on some seed I spread on top of the snow.
Several Northern Cardinals singing nicely.
No House Sparrows for some reason.
Bernie Sloan
------Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070215/f4 c8e33a/attachment.htm From lambeth at ad.uiuc.edu Thu Feb 15 17:30:26 2007 From: lambeth at ad.uiuc.edu (Gregory S Lambeth) Date: Thu Feb 15 17:32:00 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Peregrine Falcon References:
The Peregrine Falcon was on East side of Sherman Hall on the University of Illinois campus just under the air conditioning unit at 5:15pm this afternoon. I haven't seen the bird there since mid-December even though I look several times per week.
Greg Lambeth From bernies at uillinois.edu Thu Feb 15 21:32:09 2007 From: bernies at uillinois.edu (Sloan, Bernie) Date: Thu Feb 15 21:32:14 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Yard birds - late PM Message-ID:
I was out refilling feeders tonight a bit after sunset, just before dark set in. I had just gotten back from a walk to County Market to pick up some bird seed. Very cold!! Still a few Cardinals flitting about...one even sang briefly
200 Canada Geese flew overhead in a south southwesterly direction, maybe 900 feet up.
Four or five cottontail rabbits are on the fringes of the yard, waiting for me to go back inside so they can begin feeding.
Bernie Sloan From threlkster at gmail.com Thu Feb 15 22:13:29 2007 From: threlkster at gmail.com (Brian Threlkeld) Date: Thu Feb 15 22:13:32 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] House sparrow, with anomalous plumage Message-ID: <[email protected]>
A male house sparrow got into a cage trap I set near the house for mice. I've seen this one around before (see 4 Feb. 07 Birdnotes posting, "HOSP, odd plumage"). He has unusually prominent white tips on the median coverts (near the shoulder), for a bird in what should be non-breeding plumage. He also has small spot of white on the left side of the nape of his neck -- probably less than a quarter inch across, rather than dime-sized, as I estimated last week.
I'll try to get a few photos before I release him tomorrow morning, and see if I can post them for easy access.
______Brian Threlkeld 107 E Michigan Ave Urbana IL 61801-5027
217-384-5164 [email protected] ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070215/d2 56bbac/attachment.htm From threlkster at gmail.com Fri Feb 16 08:49:23 2007 From: threlkster at gmail.com (Brian Threlkeld) Date: Fri Feb 16 08:49:28 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] C. wren behavior Message-ID: <[email protected]>
For the past few minutes I've been watching our pair of Carolina wrens foraging on the trunk of the old ash out back. They seem to be channeling brown creepers, or even nuthatches -- sometimes they hop along the bark head down. I'm really curious what they might be gleaning from the bark; could any invertebrates still be exposed in this brutal cold (about -8 F., per NWS)? Or would they be after some vegetable matter? They're clearly probing the bark, and working their mouths as though consuming something, but at a range of 30 to 35 feet, my binoculars can't resolve what they're getting.
______Brian Threlkeld 107 E Michigan Ave Urbana IL 61801-5027
217-384-5164 [email protected] ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070216/5c c8ae71/attachment.htm From bernies at uillinois.edu Fri Feb 16 09:09:38 2007 From: bernies at uillinois.edu (Sloan, Bernie) Date: Fri Feb 16 09:09:49 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] C. wren behavior In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> References: <[email protected]> Message-ID:
Cornell's Birds of North America notes:
"Although they generally feed on or near the ground, foraging individuals sometimes climb trunks and branches like a creeper (Certhia) or nuthatch (Sitta)."
Bernie Sloan
______
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Brian Threlkeld Sent: Friday, February 16, 2007 8:49 AM To: Birdnotes Cc: Weir, Tom; Threlkeld & Stein (Bend) Subject: [Birdnotes] C. wren behavior
For the past few minutes I've been watching our pair of Carolina wrens foraging on the trunk of the old ash out back. They seem to be channeling brown creepers, or even nuthatches -- sometimes they hop along the bark head down. I'm really curious what they might be gleaning from the bark; could any invertebrates still be exposed in this brutal cold (about -8 F., per NWS)? Or would they be after some vegetable matter? They're clearly probing the bark, and working their mouths as though consuming something, but at a range of 30 to 35 feet, my binoculars can't resolve what they're getting.
______Brian Threlkeld 107 E Michigan Ave Urbana IL 61801-5027
217-384-5164 [email protected]
------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070216/15 121ac5/attachment.htm From vaiden at isgs.uiuc.edu Fri Feb 16 09:58:27 2007 From: vaiden at isgs.uiuc.edu (Vaiden, Robert) Date: Fri Feb 16 09:56:42 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] C. wren behavior Message-ID: <[email protected]>
That's what mine do...Sometimes have trouble telling whether it's a wren or creeper at first glance! Bob Vaiden :-)
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Sloan, Bernie Sent: Friday, February 16, 2007 9:10 AM To: Brian Threlkeld; Birdnotes Cc: Weir, Tom; Threlkeld & Stein (Bend) Subject: RE: [Birdnotes] C. wren behavior
Cornell's Birds of North America notes:
"Although they generally feed on or near the ground, foraging individuals sometimes climb trunks and branches like a creeper (Certhia) or nuthatch (Sitta)."
Bernie Sloan
______
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Brian Threlkeld Sent: Friday, February 16, 2007 8:49 AM To: Birdnotes Cc: Weir, Tom; Threlkeld & Stein (Bend) Subject: [Birdnotes] C. wren behavior
For the past few minutes I've been watching our pair of Carolina wrens foraging on the trunk of the old ash out back. They seem to be channeling brown creepers, or even nuthatches -- sometimes they hop along the bark head down. I'm really curious what they might be gleaning from the bark; could any invertebrates still be exposed in this brutal cold (about -8 F., per NWS)? Or would they be after some vegetable matter? They're clearly probing the bark, and working their mouths as though consuming something, but at a range of 30 to 35 feet, my binoculars can't resolve what they're getting.
______Brian Threlkeld 107 E Michigan Ave Urbana IL 61801-5027
217-384-5164 [email protected] ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070216/53 21bdea/attachment-0001.htm From threlkster at gmail.com Fri Feb 16 10:30:57 2007 From: threlkster at gmail.com (Brian Threlkeld) Date: Fri Feb 16 10:31:01 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] YBS Message-ID: <[email protected]>
YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER, male 9:45 a.m. Fri., 16 Feb. 2007 Heard him down the street, then found him in the front yard at the southeast corner of Michigan and Broadway. He was foraging fruit off a small tree, then flew east to the trunk of a mature tree next door, and finally returned to yard at the corner. He wasn't more than five feet off the snow, either place, and was talking quite a bit.
______Brian Threlkeld 107 E Michigan Ave Urbana IL 61801-5027
217-384-5164 [email protected] ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070216/7c 0ecc8b/attachment.htm From jbchato at uiuc.edu Fri Feb 16 11:19:46 2007 From: jbchato at uiuc.edu (John & Beth Chato) Date: Fri Feb 16 11:19:51 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Great Backyard Bird Count, APNC Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Birdnoters, A correction to the time Audubon watchers will be at Anita Purves. Someone will be there from 9am (not 8) to at least 3pm. However, the Center does open at 8, and if anyone wants to start tallying birds sooner, that would be great.
Beth Chato From jbchato at uiuc.edu Fri Feb 16 11:44:24 2007 From: jbchato at uiuc.edu (John & Beth Chato) Date: Fri Feb 16 11:44:28 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Nature Center Hours Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Birdnoters, A correction to my correction on feeder watching at Anita Purves Nature Center. The Center doesn't open until 9am.
Beth From charleneanchor at msn.com Fri Feb 16 13:05:44 2007 From: charleneanchor at msn.com (charlene anchor) Date: Fri Feb 16 12:55:35 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] C. wren behavior Message-ID:
Although the wren may move around the branches like a creeper or nuthatch, according to what I've read (it may have been at the Cornell website as well) the nuthatch is the only bird that can actually go head first vertically down a tree. It has a special longer toe in back which keeps it from falling off. Not even woodpeckers can do that.
Charlene Anchor
----- Original Message ----- From: Sloan, Bernie Sent: Friday, February 16, 2007 9:09 AM To: Brian Threlkeld; Birdnotes Cc: Weir, Tom; Threlkeld & Stein (Bend) Subject: RE: [Birdnotes] C. wren behavior
Cornell?s Birds of North America notes:
?Although they generally feed on or near the ground, foraging individuals sometimes climb trunks and branches like a creeper (Certhia) or nuthatch (Sitta).?
Bernie Sloan
From: [email protected] [mailto:birdnotes- [email protected]] On Behalf Of Brian Threlkeld Sent: Friday, February 16, 2007 8:49 AM To: Birdnotes Cc: Weir, Tom; Threlkeld & Stein (Bend) Subject: [Birdnotes] C. wren behavior
For the past few minutes I've been watching our pair of Carolina wrens foraging on the trunk of the old ash out back. They seem to be channeling brown creepers, or even nuthatches -- sometimes they hop along the bark head down. I'm really curious what they might be gleaning from the bark; could any invertebrates still be exposed in this brutal cold (about -8 F., per NWS)? Or would they be after some vegetable matter? They're clearly probing the bark, and working their mouths as though consuming something, but at a range of 30 to 35 feet, my binoculars can't resolve what they're getting.
______Brian Threlkeld 107 E Michigan Ave Urbana IL 61801-5027
217-384-5164 [email protected] ______Birdnotes mailing list [email protected] https://mail.prairienet.org/mailman/listinfo/birdnotes ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070216/9f 5287a4/attachment.htm From leiterp at msn.com Fri Feb 16 13:00:34 2007 From: leiterp at msn.com (Pam Leiter) Date: Fri Feb 16 13:00:42 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] C. wren behavior In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> Message-ID:
At least one naturalist has found caterpillars in the stomach of birds (kinglets in this case) during winter on days colder than we have had recently. See p. 121-130 of "Winter World" by Bernd Heinrich. (this book is a great read)
>From: "Vaiden, Robert"
>______>Birdnotes mailing list >[email protected] >https://mail.prairienet.org/mailman/listinfo/birdnotes
From threlkster at gmail.com Fri Feb 16 13:46:22 2007 From: threlkster at gmail.com (Brian Threlkeld) Date: Fri Feb 16 13:46:27 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] C. wren behavior In-Reply-To:
I've seen that, too, in Sibley -- though I can't recall if the text stated that nuthatches are the "only bird" that can go down vertically head first, or just the only one that can do the trick among nuthatches, creepers, and woodpeckers. Carolina wrens and chickadees are such acrobats that I'd think they can move just about any way imaginable on a tree . . . .
Anyhow, I watched our birds with that behavioral comment in mind, and I was interested to see that the wrens did at times head *down* on the trunk. It is true that I saw them moving down on a diagonal, not a vertical, heading, but I didn't stay around to watch them all that long, so wasn't prepared to conclude from my own observations that they'd never head down vertically.
Brian
On 2/16/07, charlene anchor
I squeezed in about 40 minutes in Meadowbrook later this afternoon. Sunny, 20 degrees, strong biting breeze from the south.
Just wanted to mention that if any of you are thinking about hitting Meadowbrook as part of the Great Backyard Bird Count, the Urbana Park District does a really good job of keeping the sidewalks cleared. For the most part this afternoon the sidewalks were free of snow, with just a couple of small snow-covered areas. (Of course we are supposed to get some snow tonight).
Of course the interior "dirt" trails are quite the challenge. Sometimes the walking is easy, much of the time it is not. I tried twice, in two different spots, and backed out after about 200 feet. On the other hand, if you have snowshoes or x-country skis it would be a different story.
As far as birds are concerned, Meadowbrook was D-E-A-D. I did hear approximately three Eastern Bluebirds in the brush along Race Street, but never did see them. Lots of pheasants, maybe 15, including one tentatively perched about 15 feet up on thin branches of a tree eating berries. Not quite sure I'd seen that before. NO Cardinals. NO Starlings. NO sparrows (House or native).
Birds:
Eastern Bluebird - 3(?), heard Ring-necked Pheasant ? 15 American Robin ? 1 American Crow - 1 Mourning Dove ? 3 Blue Jay ? several American Goldfinch ? 3 Downy Woodpecker - 1
Plus three Whitetail does bedded down along Douglas Creek.
Bernie Sloan
------Expecting? Get great news right away with email Auto-Check. Try the Yahoo! Mail Beta. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070216/21 73c34a/attachment-0001.htm From threlkster at gmail.com Sat Feb 17 14:13:35 2007 From: threlkster at gmail.com (Brian Threlkeld) Date: Sat Feb 17 14:13:42 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Geese flights Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Sat., 17 Nov. 2007 >From East Michigan Ave in Urbana, while out in the wind (per Nat'l Weather Svc, out of the north or northwest at 22-24 mph, with gusts to 30, at still-air temp of 21 F.) to shovel some blown snow off the walks, I saw big skeins of geese flying south and calling loudly. They were probably at least several hundred feet up, over the Vine Street and Race Street area. Here are approximate times, and even more approximate counts (in other words, on this side of wild-ass guesses, but just barely . . .). I'm pretty confident, however, that I'm not *over*estimating.
1:25 150 birds
1:35 250 birds
1:45 70 birds
1:50 100 birds
______Brian Threlkeld 107 E Michigan Ave Urbana IL 61801-5027
217-384-5164 [email protected] ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070217/b2 b32e20/attachment.htm From limey at uiuc.edu Sat Feb 17 20:55:05 2007 From: limey at uiuc.edu (John Buckmaster) Date: Sat Feb 17 20:55:08 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] more on geese Message-ID:
To follow up on Brian's observations, I was shoveling my driveway from about 11 to 11:30 (roughly 2 hours before Brian's observations) and at 5 to 10 minute intervals huge skeins of geese passed overhead, plus there were flights that I could hear but not see. I live near G Huff and Race.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ John Buckmaster
Professor Emeritus Department of Aerospace Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Unless you know where I am located, address all mail to:
1717 W Kirby Ave, PMB 212, Champaign IL 61821-5507 cell phone: 217.621.9786
Urbana residential address: 2014 Boudreau Dr, Urbana IL 61801-5802 217.344.6103
Oregon residential address: 120 Marlboro Ln, Eugene OR 97405-3599 541.342.3172
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ------next part ------A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 901 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070217/69 14d925/attachment.bin From bgsloan2 at yahoo.com Sat Feb 17 22:25:13 2007 From: bgsloan2 at yahoo.com (B.G. Sloan) Date: Sat Feb 17 22:25:16 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] more on geese In-Reply-To:
I was driving east on I-74 in the snow today, somewhere east of Danville, and noticed maybe 200-300 Canada Geese sitting in a cornfield as if they were sitting in open water. Made me wonder if they had been forced down by the weather??
Bernie Sloan
John Buckmaster
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ John Buckmaster
Professor Emeritus Department of Aerospace Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Unless you know where I am located, address all mail to:
1717 W Kirby Ave, PMB 212, Champaign IL 61821-5507 cell phone: 217.621.9786
Urbana residential address: 2014 Boudreau Dr, Urbana IL 61801-5802 217.344.6103
Oregon residential address: 120 Marlboro Ln, Eugene OR 97405-3599 541.342.3172
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^______Birdnotes mailing list [email protected] https://mail.prairienet.org/mailman/listinfo/birdnotes
------Looking for earth-friendly autos? Browse Top Cars by "Green Rating" at Yahoo! Autos' Green Center. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070217/d1 f0304d/attachment.htm From jwhoyt at prairienet.org Sun Feb 18 13:51:55 2007 From: jwhoyt at prairienet.org (James Hoyt) Date: Sun Feb 18 13:52:01 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] more on geese (Friday Sighting) In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> Message-ID:
Birders,
There have been a large concentration of geese around the pond NW of the I-74 and North Mattis Avenue overpass.
The pond was about frozen.
Don't know if they are still there but these "Urban" flocks may be the ones which are moving south.
Also saw 3 skeins of geese (about a hundred or so in each) going south about Country Fair Drive area yesterday.
Only other bird I saw was one crow. Jim :)
-- James Hoyt "The Prairie Ant" Champaign Co. Audubon Illinois Audubon Society Co-steward Parkland College Prairies. Volunteer Monitor; Urbana Park District Natural Areas. Champaign County Master Gardener East Central Illinois Master Naturalist Grand Prairie Friends - Prairie Grove Volunteers Allerton Allies Prairie Rivers Network The Xerces Society The Illinois Chapter of the Nature Conservancy
======"The way to keep a trail alive is to walk on it". Author unknown ======
*********************************************************************** ******** *********************************************************************** ******** "The human culture is considered to be a 'geologic force' and with good reason. But if we are at a stage where our actions are to decide the world's future, then surely we have reached a level where we can be held acountable for the world's future." Durward L. Allen "Our Wildlife Legacy" *********************************************************************** ******** *********************************************************************** ********
From norris at pdnt.com Sun Feb 18 19:43:14 2007 From: norris at pdnt.com (Pat Norris) Date: Sun Feb 18 19:43:24 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] horned larks Message-ID:
Yesterday and today midmorning there were many horned larks along the road side and in the fields. They were along 2200 N and 2175 N and in between on 700 E in Hensley Township.
Pat Norris
From vaiden at isgs.uiuc.edu Sun Feb 18 20:45:01 2007 From: vaiden at isgs.uiuc.edu (Vaiden, Robert) Date: Sun Feb 18 20:45:56 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Geese flights East Main References: <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Saturday afternoon about 3:30...Granddaughter and I shoveling snow.
2 flights of Geese headed south. Total of about 250 geese.
Bob Vaiden
______
From: [email protected] on behalf of Brian Threlkeld Sent: Sat 2/17/2007 2:13 PM To: Birdnotes Cc: Weir, Tom; Threlkeld & Stein (Bend) Subject: [Birdnotes] Geese flights
Sat., 17 Nov. 2007 >From East Michigan Ave in Urbana, while out in the wind (per Nat'l Weather Svc, out of the north or northwest at 22-24 mph, with gusts to 30, at still-air temp of 21 F.) to shovel some blown snow off the walks, I saw big skeins of geese flying south and calling loudly. They were probably at least several hundred feet up, over the Vine Street and Race Street area. Here are approximate times, and even more approximate counts (in other words, on this side of wild-ass guesses, but just barely . . .). I'm pretty confident, however, that I'm not *over*estimating.
1:25 150 birds
1:35 250 birds
1:45 70 birds
1:50 100 birds
______Brian Threlkeld 107 E Michigan Ave Urbana IL 61801-5027
217-384-5164 [email protected]
From charleneanchor at msn.com Mon Feb 19 08:39:44 2007 From: charleneanchor at msn.com (charlene anchor) Date: Mon Feb 19 08:29:42 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] horned larks Message-ID:
Yesterday, mid-afternoon (again not the best birding time!) I took a quick walk around Meadowbrook. Didn't see much but saw and heard 1 Bluebird. So at least one has hung on during this time. I returned to Neil via Curtis Rd and saw at least 30 Horned Larks (probably more) along the edge of the road. They kept getting chased off by the passing cars. Also had 9 mallards in the creek where I crossed the bridge and a Kestrel on the phone wire checking out the ground below.
Charlene Anchor
----- Original Message ----- From: Pat Norris Sent: Sunday, February 18, 2007 7:43 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Birdnotes] horned larks
Yesterday and today midmorning there were many horned larks along the road side and in the fields. They were along 2200 N and 2175 N and in between on 700 E in Hensley Township.
Pat Norris
______Birdnotes mailing list [email protected] https://mail.prairienet.org/mailman/listinfo/birdnotes ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070219/da 343d19/attachment.htm From bgsloan2 at yahoo.com Mon Feb 19 12:00:47 2007 From: bgsloan2 at yahoo.com (B.G. Sloan) Date: Mon Feb 19 12:02:16 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Urbana Wild Turkey Update Message-ID: <[email protected]>
As usual, send your questions, comments and turkey sighting reports directly to me and not to the list...
Some of you might be wondering how the Urbana turkeys have fared during the recent blizzard and sub-zero temperatures (not to mention 25 below zero wind chills).
This morning, February 19, I received a report of two turkeys sighted in southeast Urbana at 9:45AM, in the same relatively small area where almost all of the sightings have occurred in the past six weeks or so.
Bernie Sloan
------Food fight? Enjoy some healthy debate in the Yahoo! Answers Food & Drink Q&A. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070219/36 c65c4d/attachment.htm From lambeth at ad.uiuc.edu Mon Feb 19 13:13:01 2007 From: lambeth at ad.uiuc.edu (Gregory S Lambeth) Date: Mon Feb 19 13:13:06 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Spring Migration ? Message-ID: <[email protected]>
I had a Rough-legged Hawk flying high over campus this morning at 11:00am. It was headed directly North. Given the change in wind direction, I'm thinking this bird was moving North -- perhaps one of the first spring migrants?
Greg Lambeth
------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070219/45 501855/attachment.htm From bpalmore at egix.net Mon Feb 19 13:31:16 2007 From: bpalmore at egix.net (Bland Palmore) Date: Mon Feb 19 13:31:18 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Raptors Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Did you all watch the TV (PBS) program on Raptors on Sunday night? It was well worth viewing if you missed it. It will be aired again Tuesday at 2:00 a.m. and next Sunday at 2:00 a.m. Bland
From bernies at uillinois.edu Mon Feb 19 13:49:39 2007 From: bernies at uillinois.edu (Sloan, Bernie) Date: Mon Feb 19 13:49:44 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Raptors In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> References: <[email protected]> Message-ID:
This program was very good. Here's the web site for the program: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/raptorforce/
There are a couple of interesting video clips at: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/raptorforce/video.html
There was one amazing scene (not in the above video clips) where a Red-tail was flying too close to a Peregrine nest. One of the Peregrines flew very high up and stooped into a dive towards the Red-tail and hit the Red-tail at full speed. The Red-tail started to fall out of the sky (they didn't show what eventually happened with the Red-tail).
Bernie Sloan
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Bland Palmore Sent: Monday, February 19, 2007 1:31 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Birdnotes] Raptors
Did you all watch the TV (PBS) program on Raptors on Sunday night? It was well worth viewing if you missed it. It will be aired again Tuesday at 2:00 a.m. and next Sunday at 2:00 a.m. Bland
______Birdnotes mailing list [email protected] https://mail.prairienet.org/mailman/listinfo/birdnotes From bgsloan2 at yahoo.com Mon Feb 19 13:52:47 2007 From: bgsloan2 at yahoo.com (B.G. Sloan) Date: Mon Feb 19 13:52:51 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Spring Migration ? In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Related to spring, I seemed to notice an increase in bird songs over the weekend.
Bernie Sloan
Gregory S Lambeth
Greg Lambeth
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------Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070219/1f 3b4048/attachment.htm From vaiden at isgs.uiuc.edu Tue Feb 20 08:23:49 2007 From: vaiden at isgs.uiuc.edu (Vaiden, Robert) Date: Tue Feb 20 08:22:07 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Spring Migration ? Message-ID: <[email protected]>
I heard my first Cardinal singing this morning at the Geological Survey. Bob Vaiden
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of B.G. Sloan Sent: Monday, February 19, 2007 1:53 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Birdnotes] Spring Migration ?
Related to spring, I seemed to notice an increase in bird songs over the weekend.
Bernie Sloan
Gregory S Lambeth
Greg Lambeth
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Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta.
----- Original Message ----- From: Vaiden, Robert Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 8:22 AM To: B.G. Sloan; [email protected] Subject: RE: [Birdnotes] Spring Migration ?
I heard my first Cardinal singing this morning at the Geological Survey. Bob Vaiden
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:birdnotes- [email protected]] On Behalf Of B.G. Sloan Sent: Monday, February 19, 2007 1:53 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Birdnotes] Spring Migration ?
Related to spring, I seemed to notice an increase in bird songs over the weekend.
Bernie Sloan
Gregory S Lambeth
Greg Lambeth
______Birdnotes mailing list [email protected] https://mail.prairienet.org/mailman/listinfo/birdnotes
Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070220/f6 726361/attachment.htm From lambeth at ad.uiuc.edu Tue Feb 20 10:57:02 2007 From: lambeth at ad.uiuc.edu (Gregory S Lambeth) Date: Tue Feb 20 10:57:06 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Campus Peregrine Message-ID: <[email protected]> The Peregrine Falcon was on the North side of Sherman Hall on Monday afternoon at 4:30pm just under the air conditioning unit.
Greg Lambeth ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070220/3c 8c89fd/attachment.htm From bgsloan2 at yahoo.com Tue Feb 20 11:32:37 2007 From: bgsloan2 at yahoo.com (B.G. Sloan) Date: Tue Feb 20 11:32:42 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Meadowbrook Hawks (Goshawk, Red-tails, Coopers, Sharp-shinned) Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Lots of hawk activity in Meadowbrook early this AM:
Northern Goshawk - 1, juvenile, perched in cottonwood tree along Douglas Creek east of the Marker statue. Didn't spook as easily as the Meadowbrook Red-tails do. I stood and observed it for maybe 5 minutes before it flew off. Looked like it had some white spots on its back. One interesting thing...there were a number of crows in the vicinity and they were ignoring the Goshawk, even though it was in plain view.
Red-tailed Hawk - 3 (2 heard along McCullough Creek and 1 flying over Windsor Road from north to south as I left)
Coopers Hawk - 1, flying west to east over the prairie south of Prairie Play
Sharp-Shinned Hawk - 1, perched in tree by "rabbit bridge"
Other birds:
Ring-necked Pheasant - 12, including 3 perched about 15 feet up in the thin branches of a tree along the Hickman Wildflower Walk. They were eating dried up berries. Eastern Bluebird - 1-2, heard along McCullough Creek south of the Windsor Road pedestrian bridge. American Crow - 10 Northern Cardinal - many, including many singing Blue Jay - 6-7 Dark-eyed Junco - 1 Carolina Wren - 1, heard Mourning Dove - 25+ House Sparrow - 2 Song Sparrow - 1 European Starling - 8 Downy Woodpecker - 1 American Robin - 1 American Goldfinch - 4-5
Also saw a herd of maybe 10 White-tailed Deer in the prairie north of Douglas Creek. One buck, with 10-point antlers. Also heard a coyote yap several times along McCullough Creek.
Bernie Sloan
------Sucker-punch spam with award-winning protection. Try the free Yahoo! Mail Beta. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070220/ea 7f5ab5/attachment.htm From jbchato at uiuc.edu Tue Feb 20 11:55:44 2007 From: jbchato at uiuc.edu (John & Beth Chato) Date: Tue Feb 20 11:55:49 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Great Backyard Bird Count Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Birdnoters, Here's what I sent in as our report of birds seen at the ANITA PURVES NATURE CENTER feeders on February 17. Thanks to counters Elaine Regehr, Dorothy Neuman, Charlene Anchor, Joyce Hoffman. If you have any other observations from last weekend, do send them in to www.birdsource.org/gbbc. Also it is interesting to check out the State and National results. Nationwide robins are the most numerous species reported! Statewide it is Canada Geese.
Beth
Here is the reportThank you for entering your observation in this year's Great Backyard Bird Count. Below is a report summarizing the bird checklist you submitted.
Here is the information you gave for this observation.
Record ID: S2770158 Email: [email protected] Locality: Urbana, Champaign County, IL Observation Date: FEB 17, 2007 Start Time: 9:00 AM Total Birding Time: 6 hours Party Size: 5 Skill: excellent Weather: excellent Snow Depth: 12 - 14 in (30.5 - 35.6 cm) Habitat(s): deciduous woods Number of Species: 21 All Reported: yes Checklist: Canada Goose - 40 Cooper's Hawk - 1 Mourning Dove - 4 Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2 Downy Woodpecker - 3 Hairy Woodpecker - 1 Blue Jay - 3 American Crow - 2 Carolina Chickadee - 1 Black-capped Chickadee - 2 White-breasted Nuthatch - 2 Brown Creeper - 1 Carolina Wren - 1 American Robin - 1 American Tree Sparrow - 2 White-throated Sparrow - 2 Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) - 20 Northern Cardinal - 10 House Finch - 10 American Goldfinch - 4 House Sparrow - 20
Information submitted through February 19, 2007 will be included in online reports within 30 minutes. Information submitted after February 19, 2007 will be included in online reports within 2 hours. To see how your results fit into the big picture, go to the Great Backyard Bird Count home page http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/?and click on "Results." If your bird checklist included unusual species or high numbers of individuals, you may receive an email from a regional editor requesting more details.
Thanks for participating in the 2007 Great Backyard Bird Count. Please join us again for next year's count. Mark your calendars for February 15-18, 2008.
If you enjoyed the Great Backyard Bird Count, check out eBird at http://www.ebird.org,?where you can report the birds you see every day of the year. eBird helps you keep track of your lists--and archives your sightings so they're accessible to everyone, including other bird watchers and scientists. It's easy and fun to use--and it's absolutely free!
The Great Backyard Bird Count and eBird are joint projects of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society. Please help support these and other efforts on behalf of birds by becoming a member. Visit http://www.birds.cornell.edu/Membership?for membership in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology or http://www.audubon.org/gbbc/index.shtml?for membership in the National Audubon Society. Thank you for your support!
------John C. Chato 714 W. Vermont Ave. Urbana, IL 61801 217-344-6803 From BackyardBirds1 at aol.com Tue Feb 20 11:59:31 2007 From: BackyardBirds1 at aol.com ([email protected]) Date: Tue Feb 20 11:59:54 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Re: Birdnotes Digest, Vol 37, Issue 27 Message-ID:
In a message dated 2/20/2007 8:22:19 AM Central Standard Time, [email protected] writes:
Related to spring, I seemed to notice an increase in bird songs over the weekend.
What fun...the spring songs...I have had Carolina Wrens and Cardinals getting all tuned up! Vickie
**************************************
Check out free AOL at http://free.aol.com/thenewaol/index.adp. Most comprehensive set of free safety and security tools, millions of free high-quality videos from across the web, free AOL Mail and much more. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070220/51 f99d46/attachment.htm From threlkster at gmail.com Tue Feb 20 12:15:25 2007 From: threlkster at gmail.com (Brian Threlkeld) Date: Tue Feb 20 12:15:32 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Spring Migration ? In-Reply-To:
I'll corroborate the cardinal song; I heard one near our home as I got into the car a few minutes past 8:00 this morning. Seemed a bit optimistic with all the snow still on the ground, but I guess they do start early.
______Brian Threlkeld 107 E Michigan Ave Urbana IL 61801-5027
217-384-5164 [email protected]
On 2/20/07, charlene anchor
Red Tail flying over Law Building at about 1:05 PM
Bob Vaiden ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070220/31 4aa563/attachment.htm From threlkster at gmail.com Tue Feb 20 17:26:08 2007 From: threlkster at gmail.com (Brian Threlkeld) Date: Tue Feb 20 17:26:13 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Eagle? Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Thought I might have seen a bald eagle, about 4:10 p.m., eastbound on I-74 at mile marker 161 (about 20 miles west of I-57), perched in a tree on the south side of the road. This was in good light, the sun behind me, at a range of 90 to 100 feet, but viewed only for a second or two. The ID seems unlikely, and as briefly glanced the bird didn't strike me as larger than typical large hawks, but the markings seem hard to square with anything else. It was facing my direction, had solid brown underparts, and solid white head and neck, with white feather tips splaying down into the brown like the fringes of a lace collar.
A bit further east, around mile 167, at 4:17, I got a glance at a strikingly colored large hawk. Field guide illustrations of red-tailed hawks seem to correspond most closely to my recollection of the head pattern.
As usual, both going to and coming from Springfield I saw a lot of hawks with light undersides perched along the Interstate.
______Brian Threlkeld 107 E Michigan Ave Urbana IL 61801-5027
217-384-5164 [email protected] ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070220/89 b25e5b/attachment.htm From sdbailey at inhs.uiuc.edu Tue Feb 20 18:08:07 2007 From: sdbailey at inhs.uiuc.edu (Steve Bailey) Date: Tue Feb 20 18:08:11 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Eagle? Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Brian, It is possible that it was a Bald Eagle, especially since with the relatively recent freezing up of most bodies of water further north, there have been numerous sightings of Bald Eagles moving through our area and other areas in Illinois where eagles are seen only infrequently, searching for open bodies of water. Bald Eagles will sometimes feed on carrion, including along roadsides, and I have observed this on roadsides and highways up in Wisconsin and Minnesota in the winter, especially on road-killed deer. However, with that said, I don't think that I have ever seen an eagle perched alongside an interstate highway anywhere, at least in the midwest, at any time of the year. It is probably more likely that you had a "Krider's" Red-tailed Hawk.
Steve Bailey Rantoul
>Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2007 17:26:08 -0600 >From: "Brian Threlkeld"
The suggestion of Krider's is interesting, and reasonable because of the behavioral factors that you state (ones that I was wondering about, too). I searched for web images of Krider's specimens, and some certainly have a whiteness of the head that could correspond with what I saw. For example, see
Nevertheless, none of the Krider's images or descriptions corresponds at all with what I saw as a solid, dark brown underside. Even if I actually saw the bird looking directly over its back -- and I don't think I saw it from the back -- none of the Krider's images present such a solid brown back.
I understand the skepticism that Steve and others are reacting with; I acknowledge that I'm uncertain about the ID of what I saw, if for no other reason than that the location would be highly anomalous. My memory of what I saw seems very clear to me -- but, as someone who practices in and has published scholarly writing on criminal law, I am thoroughly familiar with how unreliable the memory of eyewitnesses has proven, time and time again.
I'm grateful, at least, that my memory isn't telling me I saw an IBW . . . .
-- Brian
On 2/20/07, Steve Bailey
Brian and Steve,
Steve Bailey's statement that he had never "seen an eagle perched alongside an interstate highway anywhere, at least in the midwest, at any time of the year" jogged something in my memory, although I am not sure why I remembered. :-)
In a November 10, 2006, posting to Birdnotes Helen Parker reported that she and her son had seen an immature Bald Eagle perched along I-74 near the Fithian exit on November 8. The subject line of her Birdnotes post was "Interstate eagle".
Like I said...not sure how I remembered this...especially since I have trouble remembering other things I need to remember. :-)
For what it's worth...
Bernie Sloan
Steve Bailey
Steve Bailey Rantoul
Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2007 17:26:08 -0600 From: "Brian Threlkeld"
Subject: [Birdnotes] Eagle?
Thought I might have seen a bald eagle, about 4:10 p.m., eastbound on I-74 at mile marker 161 (about 20 miles west of I-57), perched in a tree on the south side of the road. This was in good light, the sun behind me, at a range of 90 to 100 feet, but viewed only for a second or two. The ID seems unlikely, and as briefly glanced the bird didn't strike me as larger than typical large hawks, but the markings seem hard to square with anything else. It was facing my direction, had solid brown underparts, and solid white head and neck, with white feather tips splaying down into the brown like the fringes of a lace collar.
A bit further east, around mile 167, at 4:17, I got a glance at a strikingly colored large hawk. Field guide illustrations of red-tailed hawks seem to correspond most closely to my recollection of the head pattern.
As usual, both going to and coming from Springfield I saw a lot of hawks with light undersides perched along the Interstate. ______Brian Threlkeld 107 E Michigan Ave Urbana IL 61801-5027
217-384-5164 [email protected] ______Birdnotes mailing list [email protected] https://mail.prairienet.org/mailman/listinfo/birdnotes______Birdnotes mailing list [email protected] https://mail.prairienet.org/mailman/listinfo/birdnotes
------Any questions? Get answers on any topic at Yahoo! Answers. Try it now. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070220/87 0d6f88/attachment.htm From smithsje at egix.net Wed Feb 21 09:57:14 2007 From: smithsje at egix.net (Jim & Eleanor Smith) Date: Wed Feb 21 10:00:11 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] eagle Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Hello, Bird, I do not recall of ever seeing an eagle perched along an Interstate, but I've certainly seen alot of them perched along main two lane highways, and even feeding on road kills just a few feet from the pavement. Most have been immature birds. Before dead animal disposal regulations became so strict, I placed dead cattle out on an open field for coyotes, crows, hawks and eagles. Sometimes an eagle woulds find it and feed for weeks. These were usually immatures, but occasionally, an adult.
Best regards.
Jim & Eleanor Smith [email protected] 2007-02-21
From ryetimothy at gmail.com Wed Feb 21 11:24:02 2007 From: ryetimothy at gmail.com (Timothy Rye) Date: Wed Feb 21 11:24:10 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Snow Goose along Interstate 57 Message-ID: <[email protected]> While driving down from Champaign this morning, I noticed a lone SNOW GOOSE flying across interstate 57 between Arcola and Mattoon. This is my second sighting of a snow goose along the highway. My first was monday morning just south of Tuscola.
Timothy Rye ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070221/f3 95a4df/attachment.htm From leiterp at msn.com Wed Feb 21 11:31:24 2007 From: leiterp at msn.com (Pam Leiter) Date: Wed Feb 21 11:31:31 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Screech owl during the day? In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> Message-ID:
The staff at the Education Center at Homer Lake heard a screech owl calling today (Wednesday) at about 11 am south of the Center. Seems like an odd time for them to be calling, (unless what we heard was someone out there with a tape recorder broadcasting calls).
Has anyone else ever heard screech owls during the day?
Thanks, Pam
From bgsloan2 at yahoo.com Wed Feb 21 14:17:32 2007 From: bgsloan2 at yahoo.com (B.G. Sloan) Date: Wed Feb 21 14:17:39 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Turkey Vulture! Message-ID: <[email protected]>
I was taking a brief break from the computer and looked out my back yard window to see what kinds of birds might be out and about.
I was surprised to spot a Turkey Vulture gliding off to the south. Don't know if I have every seen one in Urbana in February.
Bernie Sloan
------Bored stiff? Loosen up... Download and play hundreds of games for free on Yahoo! Games. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070221/21 307623/attachment.htm From bgsloan2 at yahoo.com Wed Feb 21 14:43:39 2007 From: bgsloan2 at yahoo.com (B.G. Sloan) Date: Wed Feb 21 14:43:43 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Meadowbrook: Pheasant-hunting Goshawk plus Chickadees and Bluebirds Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Spotted the immature Northern Goshawk again this morning at Meadowbrook. The snow has melted enough, and there is enough of a crust, that it wasn't too bad to walk on the "dirt" paths. Initially the Goshawk was perched near the top of a big cottonwood along McCullough Creek, maybe 150 downstream from the split rail fence that separates the Prairie Play lawn from the prairie.
I watched the bird through my binoculars for maybe 20 minutes, trying to confirm that it was indeed an immature Goshawk. As it took off from the cottonwood I thought that I had finally spooked it after 20 minutes of staring at it. But it dove right in my direction maybe 20 feet over my head and hit the prairie maybe 40 feet away from me. It popped back up out of the prairie grass and pounced again. Seconds later a hen pheasant made a beeline into the brush along McCullough Creek with the Goshawk in close pursuit (they were only 15-20 feet away from me as they passed by). The Goshawk crashed into the brush and thrashed around for a while. Then it flew up into a small tree, staring intently into the brush. Three or four times over the next 20 minutes or so it dove into the brush and thrashed around. Eventually I had to leave, but the Goshawk was still perched in the tree. It was fascinating!! And it also maybe explained something I had noticed before...a lot of pheasants seem to be hanging out in the brush along McCullough Creek rather than out in the prairie...more than I have remembered in the past. They might be using the brush as cover from the Goshawk??
I got lots of close-up views of the Goshawk with my binoculars while it tried to locate the pheasant...the small tree it perched in was maybe 40 feet away from me. It had the distinctive head shape of an accipiter and had all the markings of an immature Goshawk including the pale stripe over the eyes and the zigzag tail banding.
Also spotted the Meadowbrook Chickadees again. There were two or three of them. I first found them in the pines south of the Hickman Wildflower Walk and followed them to the east along McCullough Creek. Got to watch them and listen to them for quite a while. In the past, I've never been quite sure if they are Black-capped, Carolinas, or hybrids. I'm certainly no Chickadee expert, but based on what I heard and saw, and what I read in Sibley, I am leaning towards Black-capped over Carolina for the ones I observed today.
Heard 2-3 Eastern Bluebirds again, along McCullough Creek. Heard them towards the beginning of my walk, and then towards the end. I was kind of concerned at the end of my walk, as I was hearing them relatively close to the Goshawk as it waited for the pheasant.
Sightings:
Northern Goshawk - 1, immature Red-winged Hawk - 1 Coopers/Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1, the size made it hard to pick which one it was Eastern Bluebird - 2-3 Chickadee - 2-3 (maybe Black-capped) Ring-necked Pheasant - 15 American Tree Sparrow - 1, dead on south sidewalk Song Sparrow - 6-7, several singing beautifully...makes you understand why they are called "song" sparrows. :-) House Sparrow - 2 European Starling - 10 American Crow - many, including several feeding on sumac berries American Goldfinch - many...saw one male that was starting to turn very yellow Dark-eyed Junco - quite a few, some making a weird clicking noise that I don't think I'd heard before Northern Cardinal - many, with several in full song Blue Jay - 8-10 Mourning Dove - 40+, scattered in small groups throughout the park American Robin - 15-20 Downy Woodpecker - 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1 Northern Flicker - 1 Canada Goose - 25, flyover, headed north
And a herd of maybe 10 Whitetail Deer in the middle of the main prairie. Mostly does...a couple of bucks with antlers. I can't recall a winter where I have consistently seen so many deer in Meadowbrook as this winter.
Bernie Sloan
------Never Miss an Email Stay connected with Yahoo! Mail on your mobile. Get started! ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070221/00 45aa21/attachment.htm From jwhoyt at prairienet.org Wed Feb 21 15:31:57 2007 From: jwhoyt at prairienet.org (James Hoyt) Date: Wed Feb 21 15:32:04 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Possible Harrier along South Mattis Avenue. In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> Message-ID:
Saw a possible Harrier perched on wire along South Mattis Avenue just north (Maybe a block or two) of Windsor Road.
It flew down to the west (sailing with 3 quick wingbeats) not quite hovering before it disappeared behind some houses where there were pines.
It had a long thin tail with flat end and was just a bit smaller than a buteo.
Jim :)
-- James Hoyt "The Prairie Ant" Champaign Co. Audubon Illinois Audubon Society Co-steward Parkland College Prairies. Volunteer Monitor; Urbana Park District Natural Areas. Champaign County Master Gardener East Central Illinois Master Naturalist Grand Prairie Friends - Prairie Grove Volunteers Allerton Allies Prairie Rivers Network The Xerces Society The Illinois Chapter of the Nature Conservancy
======"The way to keep a trail alive is to walk on it". Author unknown ======
*********************************************************************** ******** *********************************************************************** ******** "The human culture is considered to be a 'geologic force' and with good reason. But if we are at a stage where our actions are to decide the world's future, then surely we have reached a level where we can be held acountable for the world's future." Durward L. Allen "Our Wildlife Legacy" *********************************************************************** ******** *********************************************************************** ********
From bgsloan2 at yahoo.com Wed Feb 21 16:11:29 2007 From: bgsloan2 at yahoo.com (B.G. Sloan) Date: Wed Feb 21 16:11:37 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Turkey Vulture! In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Just got back from an extended walk through the neighborhood and spotted the Turkey Vulture three more times. It was gliding just a few feet above treetop level.
Bernie Sloan
"B.G. Sloan"
I was taking a brief break from the computer and looked out my back yard window to see what kinds of birds might be out and about.
I was surprised to spot a Turkey Vulture gliding off to the south. Don't know if I have every seen one in Urbana in February.
Bernie Sloan
------Bored stiff? Loosen up... Download and play hundreds of games for free on Yahoo! Games.______Birdnotes mailing list [email protected] https://mail.prairienet.org/mailman/listinfo/birdnotes
------Bored stiff? Loosen up... Download and play hundreds of games for free on Yahoo! Games. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070221/96 d1ab39/attachment.htm From ryetimothy at gmail.com Thu Feb 22 13:58:18 2007 From: ryetimothy at gmail.com (Timothy Rye) Date: Thu Feb 22 13:58:31 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Cedar Waxwings Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Hi all,
I had a small flock of CEDAR WAXWINGS outside one of the dorms at Eastern Illinois University this afternoon, at the same place I saw them last year.
Timothy Rye ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070222/84 058632/attachment.htm From jwhoyt at prairienet.org Fri Feb 23 02:26:27 2007 From: jwhoyt at prairienet.org (James Hoyt) Date: Fri Feb 23 02:26:34 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Meadowbrook: Pheasant-hunting Goshawk (no sightings) In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> Message-ID:
Birdnoters,
My Dad once told me about a Red Tailed Hawk (Any Buteo) which flew into a woven wire fence while in pursuit of a pheasant in the 1960's!
According to my memory the pheasant escaped to live another day...
So pheasants have always shown some ability to escape raptors.
Evidently they are getting better as the years go by.
Thanks to Bernie for his posts!
Jim :)
PS. Did hear a couple of Modos fly out of a pine tree outside my apartment when I went off to work! Then saw a couple of House sparrows on Sixth Street and Chalmers in a tree.
PPS. THere is still a good hearted individual who places bird seed just south of Coble Hall on Campus. Lots of Modos, Sparrows, etc. Sometimes a Hawk (Last Year). -- James Hoyt "The Prairie Ant" Champaign Co. Audubon Illinois Audubon Society Co-steward Parkland College Prairies. Volunteer Monitor; Urbana Park District Natural Areas. Champaign County Master Gardener East Central Illinois Master Naturalist Grand Prairie Friends - Prairie Grove Volunteers Allerton Allies Prairie Rivers Network The Xerces Society The Illinois Chapter of the Nature Conservancy
======"The way to keep a trail alive is to walk on it". Author unknown ======
*********************************************************************** ******** *********************************************************************** ******** "The human culture is considered to be a 'geologic force' and with good reason. But if we are at a stage where our actions are to decide the world's future, then surely we have reached a level where we can be held acountable for the world's future." Durward L. Allen "Our Wildlife Legacy" *********************************************************************** ******** *********************************************************************** ********
From ryetimothy at gmail.com Fri Feb 23 13:20:54 2007 From: ryetimothy at gmail.com (Timothy Rye) Date: Fri Feb 23 13:21:00 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Red-winged blackbirds Message-ID: <[email protected]>
I saw my first 4 RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS next to the parking lot of Walmart in Charleston this morning.
Timothy Rye ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070223/92 c152a1/attachment.htm From carrollc at inhs.uiuc.edu Fri Feb 23 14:01:02 2007 From: carrollc at inhs.uiuc.edu (Connie Carroll Cunningham) Date: Fri Feb 23 14:01:05 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] backyard birds and grackels Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Hello Everyone! We had 2 grackels visit our bird feeder this morning! These are the first we've seen this year. (We live in Vermilion County south of Oakwood a couple of miles)
Below is listed the species that are regular visitors to our feeders - although some of the numbers were bumped up this past weekend due to the snow, plus a few other species we see on a pretty regular basis.
Birds counted on each day of Feb 18 & 19 (Sunday & Monday)
Cardinals 20 males and 22 females Tree Sparrows 28-30 Juncos 18 Hairy Woodpecker 2 Downy Woodpecker 2 Red-Bellied WP 1 Fox Sparrow 1 White-throated Sparrow 1 Song Sparrows 10-11 House Sparrows 5-6 Goldfinches 6-7 Mourning Doves 10 (although there are about 20 that roost on a south facing slope south of our house) Titmouse 1 Chickadee 1 BlueJay 3 Carolina Wren 1 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 also saw what I'm pretty sure was a Rough-legged Hawk fly over on Monday - it flew over quickly and I didn't have time to get my binos, but I could definitely see the dark "wrists" on the underside.
Tuesday a Cooper's hawk surveyed our area for a while. We see him about once a week. My husband got to witness this bird hide in the brush pile close to our house. He tucked himself down inside the pile and waited until some house sparrows perched in the pile above him, then he "jumped" out of the brushpile to successfully snag one of the sparrows! I'm sorry I wasn't home to see that!
We also generally have a couple of Red-tail Hawks that we see a few times a week. And if we're really lucky, we sometimes spot a Great-horned Owl or a Barred Owl in the early morning hours perched along the tree line.
Can't wait for spring and more birds to come!
Connie Cunningham
------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070223/96 fa1cff/attachment.htm From jbchato at uiuc.edu Fri Feb 23 15:35:06 2007 From: jbchato at uiuc.edu (John & Beth Chato) Date: Fri Feb 23 15:35:11 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Red winged Blackbird Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Birdnoters,
Spring is on its way. I went to Meadowbrook on Tuesday hoping to see some of these neat hawks that others have seen. No luck with hawks, other that a Red Tail. However I heard a fammiliar call note and looked up to see a Red-winged Blackbird perched along the stream. Also had a Fox Sparrow, and watched some White Throated Sparrows taking baths in the newly thawed stream. Just now I reallized that our neighborhood juvenile Cooper's Hawk is eying me through our upstairs window from his perch above my hanging feeder. I check out all juvenile hawks carefully as I don't want to pass over a visiting Red-shouldered or other stranger. Beth John C. Chato 714 W. Vermont Ave. Urbana, IL 61801 217-344-6803 From bgsloan2 at yahoo.com Fri Feb 23 19:25:38 2007 From: bgsloan2 at yahoo.com (B.G. Sloan) Date: Fri Feb 23 19:25:42 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Illini Union Coopers Hawk? Message-ID: <[email protected]>
I was walking by the Illini Union tonight a little before 5:00 and heard an odd call...almost sounded like a weird Woodpecker or Flicker. Never heard a call quite like that before, and couldn't imagine a Woodpecker or Flicker hanging out at the Union.
I walked around the Union a couple of times trying to locate the source of the call. Eventually I saw a raptor perched on the weathervane on the north wing of the Union. I watched it cruise over the Union and a couple of nearby buildings several times.
I didn't have my binoculars with me and the light was fading. The way the bird flew/cruised over rooftops and returned to its perch I thought it might be the campus Peregrine. But when I got home and played recordings of raptor calls I'm pretty sure it was a Coopers Hawk.
Bernie Sloan
------Sucker-punch spam with award-winning protection. Try the free Yahoo! Mail Beta. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070223/76 537340/attachment.htm From birder1949 at yahoo.com Fri Feb 23 21:21:39 2007 From: birder1949 at yahoo.com (Roger Digges) Date: Fri Feb 23 21:21:44 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Red-wings, Killdeer and Peregrine Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Had to make a quick trip to Charleston and back late this afternoon. Saw several Red-winged Blackbirds along I-57, also a Killdeer.
On the way into town, saw a large dark falcon (from size and flight characteristics, I'm assuming Peregrine) fly southeast of the intersection of Country Fair and University. Having also seen an adult twice at Cunningham and Perkins, and an adult southwest of Windsor and Race, I'm wondering size of a Peregrine's territory and how many we have in town. Roger Digges
______Never Miss an Email Stay connected with Yahoo! Mail on your mobile. Get started! http://mobile.yahoo.com/services?promote=mail From carrollc at inhs.uiuc.edu Sat Feb 24 10:47:39 2007 From: carrollc at inhs.uiuc.edu (Connie Carroll Cunningham) Date: Sat Feb 24 10:47:46 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] oops, correction - grackles Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Ooops, sorry about the typo! (twice even...) make that 2 grackles at our feeder
This morning we also saw our first Robin of the year - for our backyard list, and 3 Cowbirds - which have been very scarce at our place this winter
Connie Cunningham
----- Original Message ----- From: Connie Carroll Cunningham Sent: Friday, February 23, 2007 2:01 PM To: Birdnotes Subject: [Birdnotes] backyard birds and grackels
Hello Everyone! We had 2 grackels visit our bird feeder this morning! These are the first we've seen this year. (We live in Vermilion County south of Oakwood a couple of miles)
Below is listed the species that are regular visitors to our feeders - although some of the numbers were bumped up this past weekend due to the snow, plus a few other species we see on a pretty regular basis.
Birds counted on each day of Feb 18 & 19 (Sunday & Monday)
Cardinals 20 males and 22 females Tree Sparrows 28-30 Juncos 18 Hairy Woodpecker 2 Downy Woodpecker 2 Red-Bellied WP 1 Fox Sparrow 1 White-throated Sparrow 1 Song Sparrows 10-11 House Sparrows 5-6 Goldfinches 6-7 Mourning Doves 10 (although there are about 20 that roost on a south facing slope south of our house) Titmouse 1 Chickadee 1 BlueJay 3 Carolina Wren 1 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 also saw what I'm pretty sure was a Rough-legged Hawk fly over on Monday - it flew over quickly and I didn't have time to get my binos, but I could definitely see the dark "wrists" on the underside.
Tuesday a Cooper's hawk surveyed our area for a while. We see him about once a week. My husband got to witness this bird hide in the brush pile close to our house. He tucked himself down inside the pile and waited until some house sparrows perched in the pile above him, then he "jumped" out of the brushpile to successfully snag one of the sparrows! I'm sorry I wasn't home to see that!
We also generally have a couple of Red-tail Hawks that we see a few times a week. And if we're really lucky, we sometimes spot a Great-horned Owl or a Barred Owl in the early morning hours perched along the tree line.
Can't wait for spring and more birds to come!
Connie Cunningham
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------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070224/ff 232543/untitled-2-0001.htm From birder1949 at yahoo.com Sat Feb 24 14:56:56 2007 From: birder1949 at yahoo.com (Roger Digges) Date: Sat Feb 24 14:57:00 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Raptor survey Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Cathy and I just got back from doing our February raptor survey (mostly ahead of the storm). We didn't see a lot of individual raptors (only 17 as opposed to 26 last month), but saw 7 different species including
Bald Eagle (just south of River Bend Forest Preserve) Northern Harrier (in west central Piatt County) Sharp-shinned Hawk ((just north of DeWitt bridge at Clinton Lake) Cooper's Hawk (an immature chasing a pheasant at Mascoutin) Rough-legged Hawk (southwest of the Clinton power plant) plus the usual Red-tailed Hawks and American Kestrels.
Got wonderful close-up views of the Harrier, Cooper's and Rough-legged so worth the snowy roads and slippery conditions.
Roger Digges
______Need Mail bonding? Go to the Yahoo! Mail Q&A for great tips from Yahoo! Answers users. http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396546091 From fluidfive at hotmail.com Sat Feb 24 18:20:28 2007 From: fluidfive at hotmail.com (Matthew Winks) Date: Sat Feb 24 18:20:35 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] DeWitt Co. Peregrine + spring migrants Message-ID:
Hi all,
I ran down to Clinton Lake Saturday morning to see some birds. I walked out over the ice on the east end of the lake and had a great look at adult PEREGRINE FALCON flying over. It was a gorgeous view against the eerie strato-q type clouds. The bird was coming from the NE and heading towards the main basin like it was late for a brunch date. Most of the waterfowl was congregating near the ice shelf between the Parnell and IL 48 bridges. There was an abundance of COMMON and HOODED MERGANSERS along with a few COMMON GOLDENEYES. On the spring migrant side, I noticed a few PIED- BILLED GREBES, 8 WOOD DUCKS near the beach area and a TURKEY VULTURE.
Matthew Winks El Paso, IL
From leiterp at msn.com Sat Feb 24 19:02:52 2007 From: leiterp at msn.com (Pam Leiter) Date: Sat Feb 24 19:01:19 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] wood ducks at meadowbrook References:
Also found a dead song sparrow.
A ways downstream I also found a spot that looked like a possible favorite feeding spot for an accipiter - it was a sheltered spot about a foot off the ground on a branch; there seemed to be feathers from several different species strewn about, and several bird scats.
Other than that, I didn't see much other than Downies, Flickers, crows, bluejays and mourning doves (this past week is the first I heard mourning doves singing this year ). It was pretty windy.
Pam ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070224/4a ca377d/attachment.htm From charleneanchor at msn.com Sun Feb 25 12:14:30 2007 From: charleneanchor at msn.com (charlene anchor) Date: Sun Feb 25 12:04:14 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Meadowbrook A.M. Message-ID:
A simple thrill, but a thrill none the less, hearing the RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS when they first return. They were singing and calling throughout Meadowbrook this morning. When the females return it will really get interesting. NORTHERN CARDINALS singing and some in pairs. SONG SPARROWS singing. Lots of GRACKLES, some calling.
Most interesting was again seeing a CHICKADEE in the little woodsy patch just west of the Rabbit Bridge. It was being quiet but I saw enough white on the wings to identify it as a BLACK-CAPPED - I thought. The number of dead trees are building up in that little area and maybe that is what is attracting the Chickadee since they need soft, rotten wood for excavating. Close by was a WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH, quiet also and poking around the limbs.
Flying over the east edge of Meadowbrook and then turning north were 2 gulls. They were up high and I'm not a great gull identifier especially at a distance. But they seemed too small for HERRINGS. White underneath with black wing tips. Could not get adequate look at face or bill. Would guess RING-BILLED, but couldn't be sure.
Charlene Anchor ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070225/0d eece2d/attachment.htm From birder1949 at yahoo.com Mon Feb 26 20:10:36 2007 From: birder1949 at yahoo.com (Roger Digges) Date: Mon Feb 26 20:10:40 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Singing Eastern Meadowlarks Message-ID: <[email protected]> Spent some time slogging the bike trail at Lake of the Woods (not recommended), but did manage to hear two singing Eastern Meadowlarks; one flew across the bike path. There was also a female American Kestrel hovering nicely over the path. No other birds noted other than residents except for some singing White-throated Sparrows.
Roger Digges
______Get your own web address. Have a HUGE year through Yahoo! Small Business. http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/domains/?p=BESTDEAL From leslienoa at gmail.com Mon Feb 26 20:11:36 2007 From: leslienoa at gmail.com (Leslie Noa) Date: Mon Feb 26 20:15:52 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] UofI Cedar Waxwings Message-ID:
I saw a group of 20+ Cedar waxwings this afternoon on Goodwin Ave near Krannert. They were eating the berries from the trees on either side of the road. Some of the trees looked very picked over.
Leslie Noa Champaign ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070226/bf 3b6cfd/attachment.htm From LewsaderBud at aol.com Tue Feb 27 17:05:04 2007 From: LewsaderBud at aol.com ([email protected]) Date: Tue Feb 27 17:05:24 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Herons At Heron Park Message-ID:
This morning at about 10:30AM. I drove past Heron Park. I counted 15 Great blue Herons at the Rookery. And one Adult bald Eagle was in the top of a tree next to the road.
Bud Lewsader Danville, Illinois
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AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com. ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070227/25 866a15/attachment.htm From brockprice at sbcglobal.net Tue Feb 27 18:00:40 2007 From: brockprice at sbcglobal.net (Brock Price) Date: Tue Feb 27 18:00:45 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Ducks Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Went to Lake Mattoon and Lake Paradise ( Coles County ) today in hopes they were open - there were a few open areas but they were mostly still frozen over.
Highlights: Greater White-fronted Geese - over 100 Lesser Scaup Ring-necked Duck Northern Pintail Common Goldeneye Ring-billed Gull ------next part ------An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/birdnotes/attachments/20070227/69 4b6f93/attachment.htm From bgsloan2 at yahoo.com Wed Feb 28 18:59:33 2007 From: bgsloan2 at yahoo.com (B.G. Sloan) Date: Wed Feb 28 18:59:38 2007 Subject: [Birdnotes] Meadowbrook: Lots of Red-tails and Red-wings (and deer) Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Stopped by Meadowbrook around 4:30-ish this afternoon. Because of my schedule I haven't been able to stop by there since last Friday AM. I went because the sun had been out, but the clouds rolled in before I got there, so it was sort of gray and dark. Most of the usual suspects were notably absent/quiet.
A couple of items of note...
Blackbirds (mostly Red-winged) were everywhere, but most were just passing through. All heading in a northerly direction. Keeping my eyes to the sky I would estimate that at least 600 passed over while I was there, most likely more (one flock had at least 150 birds). A few smaller flocks (~40 birds) briefly stopped to rest along the creeks. I checked them out with my binoculars. Looked like they were mostly Red- winged, with a few Common Grackles and a few more Rusty Blackbirds.
Saw six Red-tailed Hawks soaring as a group over the southwest corner of Meadowbrook, and over Forestry, gradually moving to the north. The most Red-tailed Hawks I have ever seen soaring together prior to this was three.
Sightings:
Blackbirds - 600+ Red-tailed Hawk - 6 American Crow - 15 American Goldfinch - 2 American Robin - 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1 Ring-necked Pheasant - 1 Mourning Dove - 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1 Canada Goose - 3 (flyover)
White-tailed Deer - A herd of at least 15 near the prairie viewing platform!
Bernie Sloan
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