Jon Duerr on 8/28 reported via e-mail: Between 7:35 and 7:55 Monday evening, 320 Chimney Swifts were seen at Lincoln Elementary School in St. Charles.

Lucy DeLap on 8/28 reported via IBET: The orioles have been thick here [in East Dundee] as well. We usually have frequent daily visits for most of the summer, then a few weeks with few or none, followed by a quick uptick in activity for a couple of weeks before they are gone for the year. This year, they've been coming 4 to 6 at a time and have been doing so for a couple of weeks now. It seems like their late summer visit is lasting longer than in previous years to me. They've gone through 2 big jars of jelly in the last 3 weeks!

John Heneghan on 8/26 reported via IBET: A few days ago, we had a male Baltimore Oriole show up in the yard [in Big Rock]. We put what we thought was the last of the grape jelly, out. The oriole has been here since. This AM, we had 4 male Orioles at the jelly (I did buy another jar). We had 2 pair produce young in the area this summer. I  don't recall Fall Orioles in the past. 

I had 8 1st year Black-Throated Blue Warblers in my yard Saturday 8/26 in the evening.

Chris & Jackie Bowman on 8/24 reported via e-mail: From 11am to 1pm we walked the main asphalt trail through the woods, back and forth at Burnidge FP.   Tallying 34 species of birds, which included 10 species of warblers in two separate packs along the trail.  The best sighting was in the second pack where we observed no less than 6 Golden Winged Warblers (male, female and first year), feeding in the patch of Butterweed at the edge of the trail.  Migration is upon us!

Jon Duerr on 8/22 reported via e-mail: In addition to 3 Common Nighthawks, 1215 Chimney Swifts at Marberry Cleaners in St. Charles. Jon started counting at 8 PM.

Pete Fenner on 8/22 reported via eBIrd: The White-winged Dove continues at the Kaneville cemetery. "Observed feeding on ground with MODO under feeders from west side of cemetery at 8:33 am for only a couple of minutes. Didn't vocalize. Unable to get a decent photo due to fencing. Talked to resident who said the tray feeder that it preferred broke. Finally successful on third try for this continuing but very difficult bird!"

John Heneghan on 8/21 reported via IBET: I have seen many Sandhill cranes over the years. I have seen a pair frequently along Fabyan Pkwy west of Randall Rd in Geneva. Today, on the way home from work, there was a large group of geese, most either sleeping or laying in the grass. Among the geese were 2 sandhill cranes laying in the grass sleeping. I was surprised as I have never seen Sandhills laying on the ground sleeping. I though it interesting that the 2 sandhills seemed to be relying on the 2 or 3 geese that were acting as sentries. I wish I had my camera. 

Kathleen O'Deen on 8/21 reported via e-mail: Frenzy at my feeders on the day of the Solar eclipse.
 

Oliver Burrus on 8/20 reported via IBET: Hi everyone.

Birds are everywhere today! I found the first warbler of the season for our yard, an American Redstart! Other birds included tons of American Robins, a female Scarlet Tanager, a few Baltimore Orioles, a Hairy Woodpecker, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, and lots of Cedar Waxwings.

Walt Lutz on 8/18 reported via e-mail: There's currently a nice, large fluddle on  the east side of McCornack Road just south of Big Timber Road (this is a little west of Burnidge Forest Preserve). Lots of Lesser Yellowlegs, a handful of Pectoral, Least & Semipalmated Sandpipers. Lots of Great Egrets. [The following text has been corrected.] It is drying up extremely fast - probably only another couple days left. It's a very lightly travelled road which makes it nice for viewing.

The Mute Swans are still at Burnidge F.P. Unfortunately the cygnet was nowhere to be seen.
 

Mute Swans photo courtesy Walt Lutz

Donnie Dann on 8/17 reported via IBET: The RED-NECKED PHALAROPE continues at the SE corner of Breen Park in St Charles, Kane County...

Thanks to Leo Miller and Bob Morgan who helped me get on the bird.

Al Stokie on 8/16 reported via IBET: Hello Bird People...

James O, Breen Community Park/Kane Co (10:45-11:10 a.m.)

Regina Mc has already reported that the Red Necked Phalarope seen by many yesterday was still present today but I'll add that it was still present between 10:45 & 11:05 a.m. when I was there. Looked 1st in the S.E. corner where Brendon L said to look but did not find it there. That was because it was right in front of me in the N.E. corner! Now that was a great, close look! Later I could not re-find it but it was then back in the S.E. corner like yesterday. To further confuse the issue it later returned to the N.E. corner. Just look at the east end where the water is shallow as it likes to move around. It never swam in circles while I was there as it only fed by running around on the mud or in shallow water. This was my 2nd ever Kane Co R.N. Phalarope having seen the 1st in 2015.

Other birds here were D.C. Cormorant (4), Great Egret (1), Mallards (including 5 small young), Killdeer (42), Lesser Yellowlegs (1), Spotted (2-IM), Least (4), Semipalmated (1) & Pectoral (1) Sandpipers & 41 Ring Billed Gulls. A few Barn Swallows flew over the football field & House Sparrows were by the parking lot.

Thanks to Brendon & Regina for doing IBET reports as I often forget to check ebird.

Bird-Of-The-Day to the Red Necked Phalarope...

Regina McNulty on 8/16 reported via IBET: The Phalarope was present as of 8:30 this morning at the pond in James O. Breen Community Park in St. Charles.  

Brendon Lake on 8/15 reported via IBET: I received a report of a Red-Necked Phalarope at the pond at James O. Breen Community Park in St. Charles. The bird is still present as of 3:45pm. Park at the lot on Peck Road, south of Campton Hills Road. Walk south through the football fields to the edge of the pond. The bird is currently very active in the southeast corner of the water. 

Bob Andrini on 8/15 reported via eBird: Finding a Red-necked Phalarope in the pond along Peck Road in James O. Breen Community Park in St. Charles.
 

Red-necked Phalarope photo courtesy Bob Andrini

Jay Sturner on 8/14 reported via e-mail: This morning I meticulously scanned Nelson Lake for bitterns, rails, and migrating shorebirds. I struck out on the bitterns, and there weren't many shorebirds, but I did hit the jackpot with rails: four Soras and five Virginia Rails, the latter of which included two chicks! It was such a joy to watch their little black bodies as they darted about with mama. The show didn't last long though, for in true rail fashion, the birds quickly disappeared into a sea of cattails without so much as a goodbye. Oh well, I was lucky to have seen them at all. Also of note were three Green-winged Teal, a Lesser Yellowlegs, and nearly 100 Wood Ducks. After that I went looking for more shorebirds and found Least, Semipalmated, Pectoral, Solitary and Spotted Sandpipers in addition to both Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs. These were seen at Tanner Trails Park in North Aurora and James O. Breen Community Park in St. Charles (along the muddy shorelines of their respective ponds). It was a great day, but the baby rails were definitely the highlight!

Jon Duerr on 8/13 reported via eBird: And so it begins. In a span of 15 minutes, Jon had 3 Common Nighthawks and 865 Chimney Swifts at Marberry Cleaners at Main and Fourth Avenue in St. Charles. The last birds tucked into the chimney at 8:20 PM.

Brendon Lake on 8/13 reported via IBET: Hey all! A stopover at James O'Breen Community Park (Peck Road in St. Charles, south of Campton Hills Road) showed plenty of promise for shorebirds at the retention pond at the south end of the football fields. Notables were:

Caspian Tern - 2
Killdeer - 38
Spotted Sandpiper - 4
Least Sandpiper - 7
Semipalmated Sandpiper - 2
Lesser Yellowlegs - 2
Double-Crested Cormorant - 5
Horned Lark - 1 flyover

I spent the last hour of daylight at the South Elgin Dam, where Great Egrets congregated in large numbers to roost, and there were 3 Black-Crowned Night-Herons (2 adults, 1 imm.). I finished counting Great Egrets at 8:08pm, at which time 73 were present! Quite a sight to see!

Eric Secker on 8/13 reported via IBET: Not much to report as far as birds go other than a Dickcissel singing nearby, but there was a large swarm of about 2000 dragonflies over the preserve at Jelke Creek in Kane Co., some low but extending way up into the sky if you looked into your binoculars. I wish there was a Kite or some other bird to go along with that report but sadly not.

Donnie Dann on 8/13 reported via IBET: Finally, on my 4th trip and 3 1/2 hours of waiting this morning, the White-winged Dove appeared for me at 10:24 at the feeders just west of the Kaneville Cemetery. He fed on the ground between the water fountain and the bar-b-que grill. Phew!

Bob Fisher on 8/12 reported via IBET: Thanks to Steve Huggins post, Karen and I made our 6th visit to the cemetery Saturday late AM and got great looks at the [White-winged] dove feeding with a couple of [Mourning Doves] under the feeders at the W side of the cemetery. A state bird for Kar and a new buddy bird for us. I saw the W-w Dove back on 7/9 but Karen was not able to go along for that 7/9 trip. So it's been hanging around Kaneville for over a month now.

Thanks Steve!

For those into that type of list keeping, it's fairly easy to have a 4 dove day in Kaneville if you see the White-wing. MoDos, Rock Pigeons (by the grain elevator) and Eurasian Collared Doves are all findable in and around town and the cemetery.

There are likely 5 dove sp. around. We've also seen on a couple of our visits a bird we believe is a (non-countable) Ringed Turtle-Dove - similar in appearance but smaller and 'whiter' than a EuCoDo with all white undertail coverts.

Steve Huggins and Carly Giometti on 8/12 reported via IBET: The White-winged Dove showed up in the Kaneville Cemetery / feeders at about 8.10am, also a female Merlin. Over 330 Killdeers on the recently plowed sod.

State tick for us both :)

Debbie Wisser on 8/11 reported via e-mail: There were six Black-crowned Night-Herons above the South Elgin Dam today. This was the most I've ever seen at one time.
 

Black-crowned Night-Herons photo courtesy Debbie Wisser

Joe Lill on 8/11 reported via eBird: At some fluddles on Burlington Road, about a mile south and east of town, a Dunlin: "First seen by Sue Zelek, identification confirmed through my scope. Juvenile plumage, with a mottled black belly, brownish back and thin, decurved black bill."

Regina McNulty on 8/11 reported via eBird: Having two(!) Monk Parakeets visit her Geneva yard on Thursday evening.

Walter Lutz on 8/10 reported via eBird: Finding a Lesser Scaup in the Pingree Grove water treatment plant marsh.

John Leonard and Leo Miller on 8/10 reported via eBird: Spotting a Merlin at the Kaneville cemetery: "Small dark striped falcon about one third larger than the Brewers blackbird it caught on the ground sod behind Kaneville cemetery . No obvious cap or moustache."

Jason Newton and Jen Waters on 8/10 reported via eBird: The White-winged Dove continues at the feeders west of the Kaneville cemetery.

Julie Long on 8/9 reported via e-mail: I am excited to report that the Carolina wrens in the nest on my front porch have two day old babies.They had built a nest in a flower box before we left town the first week of July but I thought I was only seeing one parent around after we got home last week, and that the eggs perhaps would never hatch. My tall daughter had peeked in last week and said there were five eggs. We feel it is the same pair that were starting to build a nest in the ladder in our garage. We had to chase them out since we could not leave our garage doors open when we were out of town.

Unfortunately the nest is not really visible from any of our windows and it is just a few inches from our door. So it will be hard to get to photos or to watch much action. We are trying not to disturb them which is hard with house guests here off and on since last week.

If anyone needs Carolina wren sightings for their year list please contact me though I have house guests now and through the weekend.

Lucy DeLap on 8/8 reported via IBET: I have had blue-gray gnatcatchers here [in East Dundee] all summer. I believe they nested in a tree in a nearby yard. I don't remember hearing them in previous years but there has been no mistaking them in 2017.

Our ruby-throats (primarily female) continue to be frequent feeders (when they aren't busy chasing off other hummers).

After a few weeks of inactivity, the Baltimore orioles have returned for what I anticipate will be a short visit before they head south.

I try to keep track of when I first and last see these summer birds as well as the first and last sightings of winter birds. (Interesting to note - the hummingbirds usually leave us around the first week of October and the juncos show up about a week later.)

Keith McMullen on 8/4 reported via IBET: Craig Taylor and I just had the WHITE-WINGED DOVE fly in to the ground feeding station next to the cemetery in Kaneland after a 3 hour search here and around town!

Also, we've checked and rechecked the nearby sod farms for Buff-breasted Sandpipers with no luck.

Walter Lutz on 8/4 reported via eBird: At the Pingree Grove water treatment plant marsh, an American Wigeon.

Geoffrey Williamson and Jennifer Hoffman on 8/2 reported via eBird: Spotting a Blue Grosbeak on the road along the east side of the Dunteman sod farm in Kaneville.

Lucy DeLap on 8/2 reported via IBET: I had an awesome experience on Saturday evening at a gathering at a friend's home.

I encourage anyone in the area near sundown to spend some time on that bike path and observe this spectacle of nature.

Diane Meiborg on 8/1 reported via IBET: My husband Roger and I were lucky enough to find one buff-breasted sandpiper at the Dunteman Turf Farm in Kaneville this Tuesday morning around 11 am. Lots of sun, heat waves and sprinklers made it really hard to see what was out there. The buffie flew up and to the left of all the killdeers and we could not relocate. Not a lifer for us but a cool bird.

While we were looking, a guy drove up in a pickup truck and asked what we were viewing. That lead into a discussion about migration and other general birding topics. We then discovered that we DID have a lifer when he told us he was Bill Dunteman. Our talk continued, including the ID of two TVs lazing in the sky above his field, his crops, and local birders' respectful viewing of the birds on his property. Nice talk, and great to put a face to a familiar name.