Category: Birds

A Sam Adams’ Favorite

I am not going to sugarcoat it, you are going to get Hitchcocked with Bird posts this month (and maybe even next month). I am sooooo far behind getting my pictures processed and posted it is absolutely ridiculous. If I do not get on top of this soon I’m going to be having this same discussion at the end of the year. Besides, I really, really, really want to get to the fruits of my recent vacation as soon as possible. Probably go with a few more posts than usual, but maybe cut down the dialog a bit so I can get in and out between processing the images.

Part of the issue is actually a good problem to have. The trips to Chain O’ Lakes, Allerton, Starved Rock and the recent vacation have resulted in a high number of new additions to the Bird Life List! Not sure it is enough to counter the recent haul from my brother Ron, but at least helps to stem the tide. Unfortunately, in compliance with the birding rules outlined in the Birding Competition Rules outlined in the previous post, I have to feature the bird in a post before it gets the official check mark. Not wasting any more time, let’s get to the latest +1 on the birding count – the Brewer’s Blackbird

Brewer's Blackbird Shot At Chain O' Lakes State Park

As with the many of the recent posts, this bird was also shot at the Chain O’ Lakes State Park. I distinctly remember when I spotted this bird because I was drawing a bead on it when my brother was viciously attacked by a pond hell spawn bent on sucking the soul right out of him. That is his narrative, of course. In reality he accidentally spooked a Pheasant out of the brush by the pond – a frightened bird simply trying to escape imminent danger (Rumors about rocket propelled nets and stun grenades have been swirling about the area). I must say that Ron’s startled reaction was quite the comic scene. Even with the commotion, the Brewer’s wasn’t startled and simply continued chatting it up. I was not exactly sure what it was out in the field but the bright yellow eye stood out against the blackness. A quick look on the Cornell site and a validation by Ron confirmed the +1 on the count.

Brewer's Blackbird Shot At Chain O' Lakes State Park

I only got a few shots of this bird – probably due to trying to get Ron back from the brink of terror hehehehe. I better get to some facts. They pretty much cover the US and middle Canada regions across the Summer, Winter and migration periods. Looks like this one might have been migrating up to the Summer area based on the Cornell maps. Ummm… that’s about it – pretty weak. The females lack the brilliant yellow eye and apparently are incorrectly maligned by some farmers who do not understand they are a farmer’s friend and not much of a detriment to their crops. Put away the poisons boys, they actually eat crop damaging insects. Reminds me of the rampant misunderstanding of Wolves out West. They do carry a Least Concern Conservation Status – the fact that they tend to colonize in the hundreds probably helps their overall survival.

All I have for tonight folks – need to go rest some tired legs from the evening run.

Because Chaos Is Fueled By Absence of Right – 1st Draft

Rules Updated: 6/5/15

“It is the beginning of wisdom when you recognize that the best you can do is choose which rules you want to live by, and it’s persistent and aggravated imbecility to pretend you can live without any.”  – Wallace Stegner.

National Crane Foundation

It is a new month, so figured it was time to get this post out of the way.  As you know, I fit the profile of a Birder.  If you have been reading my blog of late you may also know that my brother Ron also fits the profile of a Birder.  He is a more recent entry into the birding hobby but quickly making a name for himself as his life list is growing at a rapid pace.  In light of this accomplishment, I now affectionately refer to him as the Doerfler of DuPage County.   If you see him stalking a bird while out in the nature preserves, stop by and say hi.  Be sure and talk to him as looooong as you can – he likes that – ask him what birds he has seen, where he’s been lately,  his favorite McDonald’s menu item, maybe even something about the Nomography Cult.  Take care to talk really loud too (he is a little hard of hearing) and maybe take some firecrackers with you – yeah, firecrackers – light them off at random times.  What you may not know is we have a little friendly competition going.  One area we do differ is unlike my pacifist demeanor, Ron is extremely competitive.  Couple that with his near anarchist pension to push boundaries in pursuit of victory it is a necessity to establish very clear and concise rules as to guide our little competition.  Victories are hollow if you don’t know the criteria that separates a win from a loss (although I lack a competitive DNA I do feel strongly about competitive events having winners and losers and strictly opposed to the concept of everyone wins – if that is what you want, fine, call it a picnic, not a sport).  In an effort to alleviate any grievances or scoring discrepancies, I’ve created a set of Competitive Birder Rules of Engagement.  It should be noted, that this is as much in the bird’s best interest as it is for our little challenge (again, Ron is uber-competitive and we do not want any winged ones getting harmed in the process now do we!?!)

Caroline Stevermer summed it up well – “How dreadful…to be caught up in a game and have no idea of the rules.”  I am considering this as the first public draft and welcome comments to help provide clarity or shore up any gaps/deficiencies that may exist.

Hit the jump to read the first set of rules!

Continue reading Because Chaos Is Fueled By Absence of Right – 1st Draft

The Wigs in the Tin

I’m guessing some of you out there were thinking this was the month, the month that the quota finally prevailed and a long coveted streak had finally come to an end.  Truth is, I’ve been on a quest as of late that has consumed my time.  The details are destined for a post, of course, but as a hint Linda and I just traveled 2,000 miles to add two new birds to my Life List.  For the non-birders out there, it is trip of chance since there is no guarantee that said bird will be in that particular area but the sheer chance of spotting it is enough to get you excited – it’s 5 parts the hunt, 3 parts spotting and 2 parts executing a shot to remember it the rest of your life.  So we packed up the RV, gathered up the poodles and headed out to Georgia last week to add two specific check marks – we’ll get to the details later, but let’s just summarize that endeavor as mission accomplished!

It is hard enough to deal with all the photography elements of the journey, but trying to get a post out at the same time makes it a little difficult.  The last post was actually done on the road along with the quick photo prep for this post.  Getting number 5 out of the way took the pressure off – just need to close out the month with our latest check addition to the Birding Life List.

American Wigeon at Chain O' Lakes State Park

As with a number of other post this month, this find was also made while birding with my brother Ron at the Chain O’ Lakes State Park.  As Ron can attest, I really do not spend a lot of time looking at the LCD screen on the back of the camera.  There are a few reasons for this, the main one being I do not want to risk missing another bird that might happen through the area.  Another reason is how hard it is to really see enough detail on that small screen to discern enough of the features to properly identify a bird anyway.  This results in a pleasant surprise from time to time when a new bird materializes while in the digital darkroom.  The birds you see are one such occasion and because I wasn’t aware of how special they were to me, I have to apologize for the execution.  The Beast has a bad habit of obscuring small obstructions in the foreground while looking through the viewfinder.  Apparently some of the long grass on the shoreline was photobombing my shot – ugh.   Guessing these birds were mistaken for Green Teals while in the field.  They are not Green Teals, but rather American Wigeons

American Wigeon at Chain O' Lakes State Park

Both the Green Teal and the Wigeon sport a green highlight on the side of their head.  The Wigeons are lighter (at least in my opinion) and has a whitish forehead.  The Greenie is much darker brown on the head and has a distinctive white vertical bar on their wings.  I did not get a lot of pictures of this species so I better get to some of those interesting facts before it is too late.  First off, they used to be referred to as Baldplates because the white patch on their forehead looked like a bald man’s head (yeah, that seems like a stretch to me as well).  They are indeed dabbling ducks that usually nest in tall grass far from the water.  Their range is fairly extensive as they migrate through the various seasons.  They spend their Summers up in Western Canada and their Winters in pretty much the lower middle of the United States.  Beyond that, Cornell’s website really didn’t have much to offer other than they do carry a Least Concern Conservation Status (yeah!)

American Wigeon at Chain O' Lakes State Park

Not much else to really say about this bird.  One thing for sure, next time I’m up in the Chain O’ Lakes area I’m going to pay more attention in hopes of getting some better shots.  If you are curious, I think the duck to the right is actually a Gadwell (hmmm maybe I do not have that one checked off either).

Time to hit the hay, got a date with pavement early in the morning – take care and see you again next month.

A Super Cooper

I managed to get distracted tonight and didn’t get a chance to prep the images for the running post I promised last post.  The weather was outstanding tonight actually turning cool enough to put a coat on.  That translates to the perfect  conditions to get half my yard trimming down – by half I mean literally upwards of 2+ hours to get the upper portion of the lot done.  The lower will take an equal amount of time but I’ll let that go a bit more.  Since I am just sitting here watching for ticks to start randomly appearing on my skin, figured it would be a good time to get another post out (helps keep my mind off the fact there is likely a tick crawling somewhere on my body – shudder).  Lucky for me I can always go back to the bird well for content so like last offering, today features another +1 from the Chain O’ Lake State Park birding outing with my brother Ron.

Cooper's Hawk at Chain O' Lakes

This is one of those sets that came out a tad soft, but based on the conditions, a lot better than expected.  Just before we located the Fox Sparrow from last post, we noticed the bird pictured circling above where we were standing.  Unfortunately, it was quite a ways up and at the time we were not really sure what it was.  My first guess was a Northern Harrier based on seeing them there on numerous trips.  I remember telling Ron to try and get the white strip on the top of the tail so we could quickly identify it later.  At the same time something seemed odd about this particular specimen (assuming it was a Harrier).  First off, Harriers tend to hang in the air a bit while hunting prey (that being one of the special abilities of Harrier).  This one just kept circling more characteristic of the Red Tails seen so often around here.  The other thing I couldn’t seem to figure out at the time but later confirmed was the wing shape.  This one was a bit thicker and the head seemed pulled back a bit into the wings.
Cooper's Hawk at Chain O' Lakes

Hit the jump to find out what we decided this bird was

Continue reading A Super Cooper

Fox in the Brush

About time I got the dust shaken off of this blog.  To be honest, the long delay from the previous post is just laziness since I have PLENTY of blog fodder from a number of recent birding outings with my brother Ron.  Well, maybe not all laziness since there was a big running event earlier in the month, which I’ll be getting to soon.  Since my last post was all about a race, figured it would be a good time to break out a bird post.  Not just any bird post mind you – a +1 on the birding type of featured bird
Fox Sparrow at Chain O Lakes

Before I go any further, these shots of this bird are sub-par at best from an execution perspective.  I totally blame the bird for this!  As eluded to earlier, I’ve had the pleasure of birding with my brother at several locations recently.  These shots came from Chain O’ Lakes State Park up in Antioch, IL.   Chain is one of my favorite State Parks (second to Jubilee) because it never fails to produce good subjects to shoot.  If you recall, I’ve already featured inhabitants like Sandhills (link Sandhill Cranes), Egrets (link here), Deer (link Deer)  and Teals (link Blue Winged Teal).  Linda, the boys and I were staying the weekend at the park for an agility dog show.  This left me a whole day to trek the land, so called up Ron who was glad to see what they had to offer.  I cannot remember at the moment how far or how long we spent that day, but let’s just say it was a loooong time.  We covered the entire perimeter of that park and then some more along the Fox River.  I had found some interesting trails on a previous visit and was lucky enough to find them again this time.  This particular bird was shot next to what appears to be a gravel pit of some sort.  It is also bordered by an archery range which is a little unnerving.  A little bit into the trail we noticed some rustling in the underbrush.  For the next 20 minutes we hunted for the source, catching glimpses of it from time to time.  The following was one of the few luck shots that actually came out from the brush that showed any characteristics at all.

Fox Sparrow at Chain O Lakes

Hit the jump to find out what this intriguing bird is

Continue reading Fox in the Brush

Sora, Glad to Knowya

I decided to go ahead and stay with the programming interruption for yesterday.  Normally the fruits of my photography shoot labors go on my FIFO darkroom queue.  Unfortunately, that means you might not see anything for a long long time – (as regular readers may know, the Yellowstone trip from May 2013 is just know being worked up.  Since yesterday’s post was such a downer, thought I’d brighten it up a bit and talk about a silver lining that came out of the tragic event.  Once everything was wrapped up with the wreck, we continued on to  Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge – or intended destination before we were sidetracked for an hour or so.  The wildlife was primarily made up of water chickens but my golden rule is to look for the outliers.  This was what I was doing while standing on the cement blocks along the shore.  Disappointed that a potential find ended up being just another chicken I lowered The Beast.  At that time movement was detected.  Absolutely stunned, this appeared.

Sora shot at Havan, IL - Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge

Up came The Beast and the snapping commenced. To be honest, I was not exactly sure what it was.  It definitely did not fit the Sandpiper family – the bill was way too thick and those feet where mega-thick.  As my brother can attest, I’m not one for really doing my identification in the field.  If it is bright out, it virtually impossible to see the 7000’s LCD screen anyway.  Check the image histogram (which is easy to read) to make sure the full range of exposure is available and focus on getting as many angles as possible to aid in the ID process.

Sora shot at Havan, IL - Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge

Hit the jump to read a bit more about this unique bird.

Continue reading Sora, Glad to Knowya

Another Cleverly Named Bird

Now that I have given myself some breathing room with the previous non-bird post, I can check a few more off my NA Birding Life List (yeah).  Today’s featured bird is the Yellow Warbler.
Yellow Warbler from South Dakota

My title needed to be wrapped by the sarcasm tags since we once again have have zero originality in our bird discoverers.  “Hey look, a YELLOW bird!”  This particular specimen was taken on our stop at Lake Andes in South Dakota.  Yes, that is the same location that has been producing new birds for my list in a number of recent posts.  Still not at Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve in Nevada levels, but surely worth the jaunt over while on our way to Yellowstone National Park.

Yellow Warbler from South Dakota

Hit the jump to see a few more shots of this yella fella.

Continue reading Another Cleverly Named Bird

Cormorant Need Nomorant

It was a big birding day today! Early count puts me somewhere in the 14 to 16 new birds to add to my list and should put some distance from my brother’s recent charge. Based on that haul I can probably take the rest of the year off from bird posts so all of you non-aviary oriented readers out there are probably going to rejoice knowing this is probably the last post of its kind until 2016 (I can already hear the collective cheers).

I have to say, today’s featured bird is one of those I always knew I had in the tin, but just wasn’t sure when it was obtained and which location it was taken at. This is primarily due to the huge delay in getting things processed as of late. Truth to be told it is really which of the location”s” was going to come up first since I know this bird was shot during at least 3 or 4 different shoots.

Double-Crested Cormorant in South Dakota

Turns out, the first one to pop off the queue was the series taken at Lake Andes in South Dakota.  If you recall from the previous posts, Lake Andes turned out to be quite the haul for new birds.  Unfortunately, these particular specimens were holding court a significant distance from where we were able to shoot on the banks.  The Beast was straining with all its might to pull them in and as you would expect (and in this case physically see the results), the shots turned out a little soft.  Not bad for the distance, but definitely not gallery worthy in any manner.  Luckily, the quality of the shot doesn’t come into play on whether you get the checkmark or not (I won’t mention names, but I know someone that is claiming a certain yellow highlighted bird on his birding list that has an equal chance of being a school bus based on the shot results hehehe).

Double-Crested Cormorant in South Dakota

Hit the jump to read a bit more about this large bird.

Continue reading Cormorant Need Nomorant

A Rusty Visitor from Central America

Today we are back at my new favorite South Dakota birding spot.  If you recall, I have had a number of posts already from Lake Andes thanks to the very successful birding outing we had there while making a brief stop on our way to Yellowstone National Park.  As mentioned numerous times before, for a spot that had zero people visiting while we were there and little to no advertising in or around this specific location but for a small sign in the parking lot, this location provided a wealth of new fodder for the blog and numerous ticks on the Bird Life List.  Pretty much the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve equivalent of the South Dakotas!

With that, I’d like to introduce you to the newest member of my birding list, the Orchard Oriole.

Orchard Oriole, Lake Andes, South Dakota

Truth be told, I had no idea what species this bird was while out in the field snapping the shots.  Initial guess was a molting Oriole only because it was similar to the Baltimore Orioles I’ve seen, but a lot duller.  The Baltimores wear a brilliant shade of orange compared to this specimen.  It did sport that daunting dagger of a bill found on Orioles and quite frankly was as flighty as those more colorful versions.  Up, down, left, right, near, far … the damn thing wouldn’t stand still long enough for me to get a good angle on it.  It is a miracle the Beast was able to catch it, much less get all the critical angles to help identify it in the digital darkroom.  Although it would have been ideal to get more of the bill in the next shot, it is still my favorite of the lot since it gives a nice view of the markings making it super easy to identify.

Orchard Oriole, Lake Andes, South Dakota

Hit the jump to read a bit more about this interesting bird.

Continue reading A Rusty Visitor from Central America

Redstart at Spearfish

I was sitting in my den watching some NCAA Tournament basketball doing some decompression after a stressful day at work when it occurred to me I could be doing something more productive .. while still watching some NCAA Tournament basketball.  Let’s see, we could finish up a really cool LEGO project that David and Dr. G. gave me (uber cool, but we’ll just save that for a future post!).  There’s that Build 3-D Wonders of the World project that scares the crap out of me every time I take the lid off of it or possibly put that new computer together that is filling up half my den with Amazon boxes.  Unfortunately, all those would require me to get off my chair hmmmm what to do, what to do.  Oh, how about ANOTHER bonus post.  Now we’re soaking the Kingsford bricks with starting fluid.  Add the spark that it is a post on a new bird to the Bird Life List and we are in jeopardy of singeing (talk about a tough word to spell) our eyebrows off.

Without further delay, introducing the American Redstart!
American Redstart at Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota

The unique coloring on this tiny bird puts it high on my favorites bird list.  The black in the base layer turned out blue in a number of my shots due to the different angles in the sun.  The colored patches high and on the side of the breast are actually a brighter, more reddish hue of orange than the pumpkin orange on the wings and tail highlights.  Black, blue, red orange and straight orange – quite the distinctive bird.  It is this range of coloring that allowed me to spot the little guy darting through the thick branches at Spearfish Canyon in South Dakota.  We were on our way to Yellowstone National Park back in May, 2013 and had made our usual stop at the canyon to photograph their wonderful waterfalls.  Well, Linda photographs the waterfalls, I spend the time scanning the woods looking for something more difficult to shoot (hehehehe – I’ll pay for that, but at least I’ll know when she bothers to read my blog).  We had just made the trek back from one of their falls and started putting our stuff in the car when the ears picked up a high pitched whistling on the other side of the parking lot.  Back out came the Beast and the hunt was on.  It took awhile to locate the source due to thickness of the branches and the fact it was constantly moving.  Eventually the coloring gave it away as it popped out for a brief moment.  So brief that by the time the Beast zeroed in on it, it was gone again.  This game went on quite awhile to the point Linda had the car going and was pulling out of the parking lot (see what I have to deal with people! … kidding, she is usually fairly patient with me unless she’s hungry or her T.B. kicks in.)  The branches were playing havoc with the Beast focus so most of the shots came out less than stellar – the first image was the best of the lot which gives you a hint on how bad the rest of the shots were.  The following one was included just to give you a look at the side coloring of the bird (and the hint of blueness on the head that was mentioned previously).

American Redstart at Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota

It took me quite awhile to properly ID this dude thanks to the assumption it was in the Oriole family.  The Redstart is actually part of the Warbler family.  Google managed to come through with a basic black and orange small bird query (you let me down Cornell – you would think that a similar bird search on the Oriole page would have this bird included for those of us not familiar with the different species).

How about some quick facts (Cornell redeems themselves).  To aid in hunting, the Redstart will flash the bright coloring on their feathers to startle insects into flight – very similar to clowns who use their horrific face coloring to scare children into running from their hiding places.  These males are polygamous but go that extra mile to make sure their mistress is set up in their own condo in another territory across town (up to a quarter mile away).  Males do not get their full coloring until their second fall (so this one is at least two years old).  They actually split up their chicks for feeding duties with the male taking certain ones and the female taking the other.  My guess is they know they will get divorced when the female finds out about the hottie across town so this just alleviate that whole custody battle thing.

Well, it looks like Iowa has pulled it out and the Badgers are in control of their game so the Big Ten is still putting up a fight – unlike my crappy Illini that lost in the FIRST round of the NIT a couple of days ago – pathetic not to mention they have the nerve to ask me to write our governor to tell them how awful it is that their funding is getting trimmed – no Chief no money, suck it up.