Author Archives: Amy

This morning we walked at Rollins Savanna from about 6:45 to 9:00am. I really like this preserve and I’m so happy that it’s the closest one to our house. One of these days we are going to try and bike there, although I’m not sure how we can do it safely. When we drive there we take a fairly busy road that I wouldn’t want to cycle on. One of our favorite places to go birding in the Netherlands was Starrevaart, which we could cycle to from our home in Leiden in about 45 minutes. Wouldn’t it be great if we could also cycle to our favorite birding spot from our house here?

We counted 27 observed bird species plus a few deer, one muskrat and a maybe mink.

The sky was overcast but the birds were out singing. Red-winged Blackbirds were claiming their territories.

We spotted a couple of Yellow-headed Blackbirds in the reeds.

An American Coot was preening in the marsh.

Later, the sky opened up and the sun started to shine. We saw a pair of Gadwall on this pond.

We’ve seen them before in the Netherlands as well as Spain. It’s interesting learning which birds are the same in different countries. Some species we see here, like the Great Egret, Northern Shoveler, Sanderling, Dunlin, Herring Gull and Winter Wren are the same ones that live across the pond.

On the other hand, a lot of birds have an equivalent similar species in both regions. For example, in Europe you’ve got the Bittern, Crane, Common Coot, Golden Plover, Nightjar, Woodcock, Common Kingfisher, Fieldfare, Great Tit and Nuthatch. Here we’ve got the American Bittern, Sandhill Crane, American Coot, American Golden Plover, Common Nighthawk, American Woodcock, Belted Kingfisher, American Robin, Black-capped Chickadee and White-breasted Nuthatch. Notice how a lot of the European birds are called “common” or have simple names, while the American ones are often called “American” or have more descriptive names?

One bird that you might think was an equivalent situation is the Robin vs. American Robin, but you’d be wrong. Check out this post from Birdchick where she recently encountered a Robin of the European kind in Frankfurt.

We saw a few more birds on this walk (including a lifer) that I’d like to share on the blog, but I’m saving them for other posts. Stay tuned!

This morning we went out birding at Grant Woods. It was the second time we visited the preserve. The walk was sponsored by Lake Cook Audubon and Lake County Forest Preserve District and was lead by Ken Klick. Our group was made up of about 30 birders from all levels of experience.

Arthur and I counted 23 observed species although I am sure others in the group got more. Several even saw a Ruby-throated Hummingbird – which we have yet to see this year, drat! I wonder if anyone has ever named a hummer their nemesis bird?!

Grant Woods is a huge preserve with two main sections of about 500 acres separated by a thin strip of land. We walked the north part of the park. Habitats include prairie, woodland forest and marsh. Here is a path we passed by during our walk.

It sure looks lovely, doesn’t it? We’ll have to take it next time!

We saw a lot of Indigo Buntings on this walk, including this guy, singing his heart out.

Other highlights were a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher on a nest, fussing and singing, and really good looks at a Blue-winged Warbler and a Golden-winged Warbler (much better than the below photo would have you think).

It was another fun bird outing – and the resulting warbler neck wasn’t too bad, either!

We went out this morning with the Lake-Cook Chapter of the Illinois Audubon Society to two Lake County Forest Preserves: Daniel Wright Woods and Ryerson Woods. For a group hoping for a warbler fallout, the excursion was a bit short on warblers but heavy on flycatchers (5 species). It was a great morning out with about 28 other birders and 57 different species seen by the group.

We started at Daniel Wright at 7:00am.

The trees were full of birds.

I swear, they were! What else would these people be looking at? (Can’t tell they are birders, can you?)

I didn’t have a prayer to photograph most of the birds we saw today. You know how warblers are.

We saw this Olive-sided Flycatcher (the one that says “quick, three beers!”) working over a bug, maybe a bee.

We also spotted a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher nest and two adults foraging on a picnic table. We got very nice looks but I only managed these butt shots.

All during the morning our large group had to clear the path for runners, walkers, and bikers. We would shout out “bikers!” or “runners!” to warn the rest of the our group of birders to clear the way. At one point during the walk, our group split up a bit and the part of the group that had walked ahead spotted a Black-throated Blue Warbler – a great find. When the birders in the second group heard what we had, well, we had to shout out “running birders!” because they really hustled over to get on the bird. 🙂 Here’s part of our group working on their warbler necks.

Another interesting find for the day was this unusually-plumaged Indigo Bunting singing his heart out. He is probably young as he is rather dull and does not sport the bright blue feathers typical of this species.

The group was lead by Mike Trahan and I thought he was another outstanding leader. He, along with fellow members of Lake-Cook Audubon, made sure everyone got looks at all of the birds.