Sean Fitzpatrick on 1/30 reported via eBird: A Tundra Swan at Glenwood Forest Preserve in Batavia. Chris Weishaar on 1/29 reported via IBET: Two bald eagles over the fox river in st. Charles at route 25 and Moore street. 1 adult and 1 immature. Stephen Pack
on 1/29 reported via IBET: I set out Saturday mid-morning hoping to
see Horned Larks and Lapland Longspurs. I drove Main Street from Deerpath
Road to Dauberman Road in Kane County. I fairly quickly encountered a
flock of 7-8 Horned Larks in a field of stubble about a half mile
east of Green Street. They were singing and quite active... Anne Fabing on 1/28 reported via e-mail: I spotted a Blue Heron flying over the Batavia Library as I was getting to work at 8am on Friday, January 27th. Don Lowe on
1/28 reported via IBET: There was one male and one female Northern
Pintail in the Fox River in Batavia (Kane County) at 11:30 this
morning. Jackie Bowman
on 1/27 reported via e-mail: This afternoon I received a phone call
from my husband, telling me to bring my camera out to a field near Peck
Farm in Geneva. When I arrived at the field Chris was observing a Red
Tailed Hawk enjoying his early dinner of fresh Geneva Rabbit, all that
was left was the hind legs (yuck). We presume he was so full that he was
content to just sit while I took a few photos of him, soon after he flew
up to the rooftop of a nearby house.
Jim Narovec
on 1/26 reported via e-mail: On 1/26, spotted a pair of Bald Eagles
in a tree on the east bank of the Fox River in Carpentersville.
Julie Long on 1/26 reported via IBET: My husband (the "non-birder" who does know cranes) told me last night that there was a flock of sandhill cranes flying over our house yesterday, west of Fox River in ST Charles. I had hoped that someone else may have seen them and reported them to IBET but I don't see any postings about them. Isn't this quite late in the winter for them to be going south? I know it has been a mild winter but... Maybe the hunting season in Kentucky will be finished by the time they fly over, and they knew that!! Marion Miller
on 1/24 reported via e-mail: Rich and I birded some areas around Kane
County yesterday and found two unusual sightings. The first was an
American Coot near the bridge in Geneva. It was swimming with a flock
of Mallards. The second was an American Tree Sparrow with a
white head! After placing it on IBF for some identification discussion,
there was some difference of opinions on it's name: either a Leucistic
American Tree Sparrow or a Partially Amelanistic American Tree Sparrow.
One thing everyone agreed on, was that it was a pretty neat looking bird!
The picture isn't the best but I wanted to share this unique American Tree
Sparrow with KCA members. We found it on Seavey road with a group of about
11 Tree Sparrows.
Sue Wagoner
on 1/24 reported via e-mail: This Red-Bellied Woodpecker comes
to my feeder from time to time. It appeared last week that he was storing
sunflower seeds in a neighbor's tree. Other than an occasional
White-Breasted Nuthatch and Blue Jay not much interesting visits my
feeders (sorry Doves, Sparrows, House Finches and Juncos!)
Yeanette
Johnson on 1/22 reported via IBET: A few cool birds seen during a Soda
Pop Run this evening... Walter Lutz on 1/22 reported via e-mail: Burnidge Forest Preserve During a morning snowshoe hike - Short-eared Owl in the prairie area north/northwest of the parking lot. Barred Owl in the evergreens south of the campground and a small flock of Bluebirds near the creek in the southeast part of the preserve. John Janunas
on 1/21 reported via e-mail: Lots of action today on the Fox River [in
Batavia]. The cold weather really brought in the Golden Eyes.
Marion Miller
on 1/20 reported via e-mail: A beautiful Cooper's Hawk was
perched on the front yard fence when I arrived home from a bird outing
yesterday. I guess it wanted to be included in the sightings count for the
day!
Yeanette Johnson on 1/19 reported via IBET: Marion Miller, Theresa Le Compte, and I did some birding together today. Target Birds were SNOW BUNTING & LAPLAND LONGSPUR (The Bunting needed for my Year List and "Life Birds" for both of the other gals! Theresa also needed the Lappies for her Life List). I was also hoping for a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK which did not happen :-( Here is our list
for the few hours we spent together: Marion Miller
on 1/16 reported via e-mail: Drove some Kane County roads in hopes of
finding a Snowy Owl, instead found 5 Sandhill Cranes off Bliss Rd.
Karen Land on 1/15 reported via IBET: This afternoon about 2:45 we saw 2 adult Bald Eagles in a nest on the Mooseheart property. This is not the man made nest. My partner drives this way daily to work and back and sees at least one several times a week. Eric Secker
on 1/15 reported via IBET: On the way out for church this morning I
heard / saw a COMMON REDPOLL with a group of four American
Goldfinches in one of the crabapple trees by our apartment. Also, the
goldfinches have been feeding on the crabapples quite regularly which I
found to be interesting. Chris Madsen on 1/14 reported: At around noon today, flocks totaling about 200 birds on Seavey Road just west of Bliss Road produced nearly equal quantities of Lapland Longspurs and Horned Larks. Saw no Snow Buntings. Jon Duerr on 1/14 reported via e-mail: At the beginning of our walk Sat. morning at the St. C Hickory Knolls Discovery Center, a Merlin streaked in and grabbed a Junco! We relocated and confirmed the id. 15 min. later south of the Discovery Center. Lots of White-crown, Tree, and Song Sparrow and one Field Sparrow. An E. Towhee was reported but not seen. Jim Frazier on 1/14 reported via IBET: The Mockingbird showed up this morning [at our house in Batavia] at 8am! Feel free to visit - we're heading out. The driveway and patio aren't cleared of snow, so fair warning. [Scroll down to see Jim's original post on 1/2 for directions to the bird.] Julie Long on 1/13 reported via IBET: There were about 100 sandhill cranes headed south along the west side of the Fox River in South Elgin today at about 4 pm. I hope they find something to eat in the snow covered fields. We probably have about four inches of snow here. Ron Dickenson
on 1/11 reported via e-mail: The Mooseheart Eagles in their
nest late this afternoon.
Jim Narovec on 1/11 reported via e-mail: Lunchtime on 1/11, spotted a pair of Bald Eagles in one of their favorite hangouts along the West Bank of the Fox River in Carpentersville. Vern LaVia on
1/10 reported via IBET: I visited Oakhurst Forest Preserve in Aurora
from 4 - 5 pm today and had both Grt hrn Owl and Barred Owl
about 200 yards apart from each other on the same trail. John Janunas
on 1/9 reported via e-mail: Looks like this guy has some new feathers
to grow. Jan 9 at the quarry.
Jon Duerr on 1/9 reported via e-mail: We found a grove of Alder shrubs with 20-25 Redpolls feeding. Take Freeman Road west of the Rt 47 stoplight (east of the light is Huntley Mall, all just north of the I 94 overpass). Drive west about 200 yd. to the first street on the south side (left). This is the entrance to an industrial park where only one lot is built upon. Drive about 100 yd to the cul-de sac and to the west is the grove of Alders surrounding a detention pond. We were there around 12:00 Sunday. Rich Miller
on 1/7 reported via e-mail: A couple of pictures from today's walk at
Nelson Lake.
Jim Narovec on 1/7 reported via e-mail: 1/6/12 Midday, spotted a Bald Eagle along the west bank of the Fox by the C'ville, W. Dundee border. Later heard from a friend that he spotted 3 Eagles in the Fox River Shores FP about the same time. Andrew
Aldrich on 1/6 reported via IBET: Hello! Inspired by all of the recent
posts about Common Redpolls, I set out today to find some of my own. I
found one, but just one. It was feeding with a flock of 12 or so Pine
Siskins at Oakhurst in Aurora. Also notable were the hordes of House
Finches. I counted at least 50, and they were all over the preserve. I
usually get a few, but I've never seen this many there. Some other
species/numbers of note below: John Heneghan on 1/6 reported via IBET: We had a pair of redpolls this AM at our feeders. They were sharing the nyger "socks" with goldfinches and pine siskins. We have had more sparrows than in the past and very few house finches or woodpeckers. Also no red breasted nuthatches nor titmouse. The redpolls were a first for us at the house. We live near Big Rock FP. Ron Dickenson
on 1/5 reported via e-mail: Common Mergansers on the Fox River
across from the Batavia quarry today.
Walter Lutz
on 1/5 reported via e-mail: 12/5/2012 Midday Scott Cohrs
on 1/5 reported via IBET: There were about 20-25 Common Redpolls
in the alders at Binnie FP today during lunch. Binnie is west of
Carpentersville in Kane County. They were very flighty and for the most
part quiet, but if you are patient they'll eventually make their presence
known. I spent about 20 minutes there before I even heard a bird. Jim Narovec
on 1/5 reported via e-mail: On 1/5, spotted a Bald Eagle in the
same tree as on 1/4 in the Old C'ville area along the east bank of the Fox
River. It later flew south across the river and met up with its mate.
Jim Narovec on 1/4 reported via e-mail: On 1/4/12 around 12:45, spotted a Bald Eagle in the dead tree they seem to like to perch on in the Stone place on the east side of the Fox River in Old C'ville. Then sighted 2 others that were soaring above the Carpenter Park area, the one in the tree may have joined the other two. Ron Dickenson
on 1/3 reported via e-mail: One of two Bald Eagles on the
island across from the quarry in Batavia today.
Sue Wagoner on 1/3 reported via e-mail: On January 2, I was aroused from my football-game-induced coma by a "Murder" of about 15 American Crows seen flying to a nearby tree in the neighborhood. By the time I got outside an estimated 250 of the big and noisy guys were gathered in 2 trees about a block away. (Does this make it a "Mass Murder?") It certainly is
a welcome sight for anyone who remembers the Crow depletion by the West
Nile Virus not so many years ago.
Urs Geiser on 1/2 reported via IBET: ...Waterfowl on the Fox River between Batavia and North Aurora was slim, with only a few COMMON MERGANSER (at Les Arend) and Mallard. A GREAT BLUE HERON tried to stay out of the wind at the Batavia dam. I had single adult flyover BALD EAGLES both in Batavia and in North Aurora, perhaps the same bird. Jim Frazier
on 1/2 reported via IBET: Kate has had a Mockingbird coming to
a winterberry shrub in our [Batavia] yard since the day after Christmas.
It's still appearing and was seen this afternoon around 1pm. Usually it's
been seen mid-morning probably because that's when she is looking. Anyone
is welcome to stop by for it, but beware that it's sporadic and you may
wait for over an hour. |
.JPG)
