Margaret Myers on 6/30 reported via e-mail: Double-Crested Cormorants enjoying the sun, taken near I88 and Farnsworth.
 

Double-crested Cormorants photo courtesy Steve Myers

Steve Smith on 6/30 reported via IBET: Now that the loop trail prairie at Bowes Creek Woods Preserve has been mowed there are 2 or 3 Grasshopper and at least 1 Vesper Sparrow pretty consistently.

Chris Mussachio on 6/26 reported via e-mail: Spotted this Savannah Sparrow & Spotted Sandpiper at Jelke Bird Sanctuary. Beauty even on a gray/gloomy day.
 

Savannah Sparrow photo courtesy Chris Mussachio

Spotted Sandpiper photo courtesy Chris Mussachio

Marion Miller on 6/25 reported via e-mail: Visited Big Rock after the morning rain on Monday in hopes of finding a White-eyed Vireo. I quickly found 2 (one on the main path to the quarry and the second just a short walk after turning right on the path that goes around the quarry). Also enjoyed Cedar Waxwings feeding their young, Rose-breasted Grosbeak pair eating berries, many singing Yellow Warblers, Indigo Buntings, Savannah Sparrows, and Baltimore Orioles. A large Spiny Softshell Turtle in the middle of the path was an unexpected sight.
 

Rose-breasted Grosbeak photo courtesy Marion Miller

Spiny Softshell Turtle photo courtesy Marion Miller

Margaret Myers on 6/23 reported via e-mail: So happy to see there is success this year with the Eagles [at Mooseheart].
 

Bald Eagles photo courtesy Steve Myers

Marion Miller on 6/23 reported via eBird: Observed a Peregrine Falcon in downtown Aurora on Leland Tower.

Chris Mussachio on 6/22 reported via e-mail: Ring-Billed Gulls at the South Elgin Dam always make for good shooting practice when not much else is going on. Luckily I was not on the menu for this one.
 

Ring-billed Gull photo courtesy Chris Mussachio

Chris Mussachio on 6/20 reported via e-mail: My first Dickcissel photographed at Jelke Bird Sanctuary and a Northern Rough-Winged Swallow at the South Elgin dam.
 

Dickcissel photo courtesy Chris Mussachio

Northern Rough-winged Swallow photo courtesy Chris Mussachio

Sue Wagoner on 6/19 reported via e-mail: On a short walk through West Aurora Forest Preserve Pat Prieditis and I saw and/or heard: Blue Jays, Field Sparrows, Catbirds, Robins, Eastern Towhee, Goldfinches, Yellow Warblers, Indigo Bunting, Common Yellowthroats, Song Sparrow, Cedar Waxwings (in a cedar tree), Northern Cardinal, Brown Thrasher, and Empidonax flycatcher, species unknown (not a willow). We were pleasantly surprised to hear and then get a good long look at a Bell's Vireo. From the Hankes Rd. parking area take the trail on the right, through the small wooded area and when it branches, go left and continue down the path 1/2 to 2/3 of the way to the gravel path. The bird was singing on the right side of the trail.
 

Bell's Vireo photo courtesy Sue Wagoner

Gray Catbird photo courtesy Sue Wagoner

Walter Lutz on 6/16 reported via e-mail: This might not be news but it begs repeating - there's a nice little colony of Cliff Swallows at Sherman hospital under the building overhang at the lake. Hopefully the maintenance people will let them be. It appears a few nests either failed or were purposely destroyed; it's hard to tell.

Notables at Burnidge F.P.: Scarlet Tanager, Bobolinks, Ring-necked Pheasant.

Walter Lutz on 6/15 reported via e-mail: Bald Eagle (mature) perched on a snag in the middle of the Fox River just above the Carpentersville dam.

Chris Mussachio on 6/14 reported via e-mail: The Red-Headed Woodpeckers have decided to take up residency again in Carpentersville. I can hear babies and both parents are feeding them constantly.
 

Red-headed Woodpecker photos courtesy Chris Mussachio

Heidi Hohman on 6/13 reported via e-mail: I was birding late this morning and did not see anything until I sat down to rest, and I noticed a bird at the top of a tree. It was much bigger than an indigo, very blue in the sunshine, and I did not hear it sing. It was near the back of Raceway Woods where the path goes down into the oak forest. I saw the blue grosbeak at approx. 11:30am.

Bob Meierhans on 6/13 reported via e-mail: We first saw the Sandhill Crane chick in our [rural Elburn] backyard in early June this year. The photo above was taken June 12. For a size comparison, duly noting that the black bird in the foreground looks larger because it's closer, the chick appears to be no more than 10 to 12 inches tall. Its parents are 42 inches tall!

This is the only chick we see this year. We've heard lots of commotion (squawking) in the area of the marsh where we think the family nests, which may be indicative of dogs, cats, coyotes, raccoons or other animals interfering with Sandhill domesticity. Or the squawking could be the Sandhills' reaction to being bombarded by the ever-present redwing blackbirds that share the marsh as their nesting area.
 

Sandhill Crane family photo courtesy Bob Meierhans

Chris Mussachio on 6/13 reported via e-mail: Never seen a Red-Tailed Hawk or any hawk get this comfortable on a roof at Wood Creek Watershed sucking up the morning sun.
 

Red-tailed Hawk photo courtesy Chris Mussachio

Darrell Shambaugh on 6/11 reported via IBET: I took a bike ride from Riverside Park in Geneva to Batavia about noon today. The best bird was a singing PROTHONOTARY WARBLER along the river where the [trail] branches off for quarter mile that hugs the riverbank. This was a totally surprising bird, although the area looks like someplace a Prothonotary would like. My only other Kane County Prothonotary Warbler was on May 3, 2008, at Riverside Park about two miles north of today's Prothonotary. It was still there, singing away, when I returned about 1:00 PM.

The other birds I saw, or mostly heard, were
 

Margaret Myers on 6/9 reported via e-mail: Just found the new nest. Better late than never. Looks like they are almost ready to leave the nest.
 

Mooseheart Eagles photo courtesy Steve Myers

Chris Mussachio on 6/8 reported via e-mail: Bald Eagles might be gone from my neck of the woods, but luckily they aren't too far away. Mooseheart has it going all year.
 

Bald Eagle with juveniles at Mooseheart photo courtesy Chris Mussachio

Julie Long on 6/8 reported via e-mail: I have had a red headed woodpecker coming to my peanut feeder the last two days. I have lived here thirty years and only seen a few in migration in the past. Perhaps all of the dead ash trees in this area have opened up new nesting opportunities for these birds. We did see one on the spring bird count in the neighborhood just across Ferson Creek from us.

I live in St Charles between Randall Rd and rt 31 just north of downtown St Charles

Chris Mussachio on 6/7 reported via e-mail: I surprised this Wood Duck family as much as they surprised me at Les Arends Forest Preserve.
 

Wood Ducks photo courtesy Chris Mussachio

Kathy and Bob Andrini on 6/7 reported via phone: While doing bird monitoring at Delnor Woods, spotted a Red-headed Woodpecker near the pond along Route 25.

Chris Mussachio on 6/5 reported via e-mail: This could be the first time I have ever seen a Barn Swallow not flying and lucky for me it landed about 15 feet away just long enough for a quick shot at the Carpentersville Dam.
 

Diane Hansen on 6/5 reported via e-mail: Early Sunday morning I was passing the pond on Randall Road just a little north of 90 and at the west side I saw more herons (4) and egrets (5) together than I have ever seen together.
A group of cormorants was using the aeration ring, which was off at the time, as a perch.
 

Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons photo courtesy Diane Hansen

Double-crested Cormorants photo courtesy Diane Hansen

Chris Mussachio on 6/3 reported via e-mail: Eastern Bluebirds are still hanging around at Freeman Kame these days. Nice to see this female catching some early morning rays.
 

Eastern Bluebird photo courtesy Chris Mussachio

Debbie Wisser on 6/1 reported via e-mail: I spent time at Burnidge Forest Preserve 5/31 and 6/1. Highlights included a singing Clay-colored Sparrow, Henslow’s Sparrow, Dickcissel and Willow Flycatcher. The Clay-colored Sparrow was a life bird for me and the Dickcissel and Willow were the first I’ve seen this year. Out in the fields, Bobolink numbers have increased, and there were pairs of Eastern Kingbirds chasing each other around. In the woods I saw male and female Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Scarlet Tanager. Also seen were Baltimore Oriole, Orchard Oriole, Indigo Bunting, Eastern Wood Pewee, Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Bluebird, Eastern Towhee, Field Sparrow, Gray Catbirds, Common Yellowthroat Warbler, and Yellow Warbler. Turkey Vultures, Great Blue Herons, and a Double-crested Cormorant flew over while I was walking out in the fields. Of course the usual suspects were present as well.