Late July through mid-August is usually a slow period for birding around here. At the later end of the period, a few warblers begin trickling through and of course there are shorebirds, but no one has found any really good habitat nearby. One spot, a detention basin in Will County, drew a little variety but [...]
Continue reading about Prairie Perfection and a Neo-tropical Cormorant
The mother of all rivers remained bloated on our second round of Prairie Island bird surveys. In between our trips this year, the Mississippi began to recede but then began to rise. Overall whatever differences existed were not all that noticeable. We again finished the work in three days.
This is the first time since we [...]
Continue reading about Where Yellow Warblers Are King: Return to Prairie Island
Having finally tired of our imaginary children, Cindy and I have become the proud owners of Heinrich (name subject to change). Here he is being prepared for his trip from Franklin, Louisiana to our home in Westmont, Illinois. Isn’t he beautiful?
Summer in the Marsh
This year’s Wadsworth breeding surveys were cut from six to four. There was ample water at each of the primary sites and no major storm that caused a sudden increase. I was expecting a surfeit of mosquitoes but except for one or two visits to the wooded portions they were not too [...]
This was the third year Andy Sigler and I headed north to do bird surveys for the Prairie Island Indian Community near Redwing, Minnesota. Gabe Miller, the biologist we would be working with, warned us that there might be a problem: water. Lots of water. Although most publicity regarding the swollen Mississippi pertained to areas [...]
Continue reading about A Swollen Mississippi: Cruising Redwing
Among the charms of tall grass prairies is that their colors change throughout the growing season as one plant blooms and another recedes into senescence. The first great spectacles reach their peak in mid-May with the Krigia, cream white indigo, and bluets and go from there. Each prairie seems to have its own special times [...]
Continue reading about Can’t Get Enough of those Spring Prairies
No matter what else is going on in your so called life, if you aren’t out birding in mid May you need to undergo a serious reevaluation of priorities. I did not get out as often as I sometimes do, but I did manage to see most of the warblers that move through the Chicago [...]
Continue reading about Strong Offshore Winds are Fine in Fall, But Please This is May
Carolyn Fields and I had not seen each other for well over a year and she had never really explored the Palos region. We decided to focus on McLaury Springs, McGinnis Slough (besides a few lingering gadwall not much else of note), and a few other miscellaneous places. A perfect outing in the making. Palos [...]
I visited Wadsworth nine times this spring. Although there were days of mild temperatures I seemed to select the cold ones. Several outings in mid-April were so chilly the chorus frogs did not begin singing until noon, about the same time I took off my gloves. The wind and low temperatures also kept me from [...]
It had been a couple of years since I have visited the two fens of Elgin and even longer since I have made the pilgrimage in spring. My friend Sara Russell lives in that general vicinity so it was a great opportunity for a joint field outing in her neck of the woods. (For an [...]
Continue reading about With Fens Like This: A Trip to Elgin, Illinois