Jackie Bowman on 10/31 reported via e-mail: Chris and I observed the Rufous Hummingbird in Elgin at 9:09 and 9:55am, 10/31.
 

Rufous Hummingbird photo courtesy Jackie Bowman

Matthew Cvetas on 10/30 reported via IBET: A male Rufous Hummingbird is coming to a private feeder in Elgin. Birders are welcome to visit. The homeowner requests that you be respectful of them and their neighbors.

Address is 14N141 Gunpowder Lane in Elgin. Please park on the street and do not block the drive way. You are welcome to approach closer in the front yard.

A somewhat late staying female Ruby-throated Hummingbird is present as well.

Tracy Finnegan on 10/30 reported via e-mail: Nelson Lake has been quite active the last couple days. Bryan and I went there Wednesday in the late afternoon and yesterday around 11.

There were hundreds of geese, mallards, coots but quite a few gadwalls, pintails, northern shovelers, ruddy duck, widgeon, ring billed gull, a tundra swan, walking through the fields and woods saw a different group of small birds, over 50 robins, quite a few small warblers, hawks, bluejays, red wing blackbirds, grackle, cardinals, juncos, nuthatch, warblers, white throated sparrow and our new favorite a ruby crowned kinglet over near the east platform eating some of the seeds near the goldenrod. Even a couple of deer posed for us.
 

Ruby-crowned Kinglet photo courtesy Tracy Finnegan

Katherine Hamby-Meindl on 10/29 reported via eBird: A Rufous Hummingbird at her home feeder west of Burnidge Forest Preserve.

Jason Newton on 10/29 reported via e-mail: On Saturday afternoon (10/28/17), I saw that someone had reported a Marbled Godwit on ebird just south of Big Rock on Granart Rd north of Rhodes Ave. I headed over to check it out and met up with Marion Miller at the fluddle. Sadly there was no godwit present, but there were a large number of shorebirds. Marion soon left and I stayed to sort through the shorebirds, hoping that the godwit may make a return. Shorebirds at the fluddle included:

10 late American Golden-Plover
43 (at least) Killdeer
42 Dunlin
3 Least Sandpiper
3 Pectoral Sandpiper
8 (at least) Wilson's Snipe
12 Greater Yellowlegs
4 Lesser Yellowlegs

Also of note was a lone male Brewer's Blackbird foraging around the fluddle. I stayed a while enjoying the views and eventually Phil Doncheck, Jay Sturner, Daryl Coldren arrived. Although the godwit never showed, patience eventually paid off when we were graced by a flyover of 4 Whooping Cranes.
 

Whooping Cranes photo courtesy Jason Newton

Suzy Deese on 10/29 reported via eBird: At Nelson Lake, 2 LeConte's Sparrows and an Ovenbird.

Tim Klimowski on 10/29 reported via eBird: At Geneva's Prairie Green Wetlands, a LeConte's Sparrow.

Jay Sturner on 10/29 reported via eBird: At Nelson Lake, two LeConte's Sparrows and a flyover Red Crossbill.

Scott Cohrs on 10/28 reported via eBird: At Grunwald Farms Forest Preserve, a Red Crossbill. "Calling fly-over, heading west near lake. Kip kip kip notes."

Jason Newton, Daryl Coldren, and Jay Sturner on 10/28 reported via eBird: Seeing 10 American Golden Plovers ("Exact count. Each bird studied to rule out black-bellied plover. All of them showed petite bills and bold facial patterns with dark caps and pale supercilia. Poor photos showing several.") and 4 Whooping Cranes ("Flew over from north to south...") at a fluddle at the intersection of Granart and Jericho roads in Big Rock township.

Eddie Kasper on 10/28 reported via eBird: Finding a Marbled Godwit at a fluddle at the intersection of Granart and Jericho roads in Big Rock township. "...obvious upturned [orangish] reddish Bill. Buffy breast large bird"

Walt Lutz on 10/28 reported via e-mail: With the help of a few bluejays I found this Short-eared Owl yesterday at Jelke Bird Sanctuary.
 

Short-eared Owl photo courtesy Walt Lutz

Marion Miller on 10/26 reported via eBird: At her feeders in Batavia, an Oregon race Dark-eyed Junco. "Junco with complete black hood, chestnut brown back and rufous-colored flanks."
 

Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) photo courtesy Marion Miller

Jay Sturner on 10/26 reported via eBird: An American Bittern at Nelson Lake. "Flying along lake edge on side closest to me. Medium-sized brown and white heron with two-toned wings and thick brown stripes going down the thick neck. Second American Bittern in Kane County within a week."

Alex Peterson on 10/26 reported via e-mail: On 10/24/17 around 4:00pm, surprised to find 2 sandhill cranes on the walking path in my Campton Hills subdivision.
 

Sandhill Cranes photo courtesy Alex Peterson

Eric Secker on 10/25 reported via IBET: Sounds like finches are on the move. We had one flyover RED CROSSBILL this afternoon at Raceway Woods in the south / west fields and evergreen area. Also at least 12 PURPLE FINCHES including some nice males that were eating berries in the trees. Full list is below.

Hopefully the trend will continue!

Raceway Woods Forest Preserve
Oct 25, 2017
2:20 PM
Comments: West/South fields and evergreens.
 

*Flyover circled a couple times. Calling jip-jip-jip. One of the slightly higher pitched types.

Jason Newton on 10/23 reported via e-mail: Thanks to a tip from Jay Sturner, I went out to Prairie Green in Geneva on Sunday afternoon (10/22/17) in search of the American Bittern he had seen in the marsh. On my way in, I saw a late Common Yellowthroat in some scrub. I walked the perimeter of the marsh and eventually flushed the American Bittern from a mowed down lane of cattails before I even saw it. It flew to the other side of the marsh, giving a nice view in flight before disappearing into the reeds.

Afterward, I continued searching through the many sparrows around the marsh, hoping to perhaps find a Nelson's Sparrow. Surprisingly, I flushed a rather late Grasshopper Sparrow. I ventured into the drier parts of the prairie to look for LeConte's Sparrows. I'm fairly sure I saw one briefly, but it was distant and the rain was starting. I walked over toward it but couldn't manage to find it again.

On the south side of the marsh, I encountered a Canada Goose in pretty poor health. It seemingly couldn't walk nor fly, but had no visible injuries. Nearby it was a freshly deceased Canada Goose. Later that day, I returned with my girlfriend and we caught the goose and brought it to Fox Valley Wildlife Center in Elburn. The rehabber thought it could possibly be a case of some sort of pesticide poisoning, which she said had been an issue last year and that IDNR was investigating it.
 

American Bittern photo courtesy Jason Newton

Grasshopper Sparrow photo courtesy Jason Newton

Jay Sturner and Jason Newton on 10/22 reported via eBird: An American Bittern at Prairie Green in Geneva.

Diane Hansen on 10/22 reported via e-mail: On Wednesday I birded along the river in South Elgin both before and after Jazzercise.  It was after class that I stopped above the dam and at first didn't see very much.  I stayed for a while walking towards the dam along the guard rail when something zoomed past me, circled over the water and landed on a dead tree in the water.  It stayed there for almost a full minute.  This is my first really good look at a Merlin. I got confirmation on my ID on the KCA Freeman Kame walk yesterday.
 

Merlin photo courtesy Diane Hansen

Jon Duerr on 10/18 reported via eBird: A Ruby-throated Hummingbird visited his yard in St. Charles.

Dave Kolosowski on 10/16 reported via e-mail: Adult male Belted Kingfisher has been spotted frequently last year for short time and again this past summer behind our residence. I was not able to confirm his identity until last week with a couple of close fly byes and rest in a near by branch. Odd thing is I am not aware of any fish in the retention area.

The city of Elgin transformed a street run off an aging retention basin a couple of years ago into a more natural wildlife area and the new habitat is just being discovered by many species never seen before in these parts. Thank you City of Elgin.

Rich Miller on 10/16 reported via IBET: Two Snow Geese at 12:05pm on the Geneva retention pond just north of the Best Buy on Randall road.

Walt Lutz on 10/8 reported via e-mail: We still have a Ruby-throated hummingbird in the yard in Elgin - the latest we've ever had one here I think.
 

Ruby-throated Hummingbird photo courtesy Walt Lutz

Regina Gilson and Roland on 10/8 reported via e-mail: A flock of about 15 Philadelphia Vireos came through our Sugar Grove backyard, visiting our birdbaths. Thursday 5th of October, around 5pm.

It wasn't easy to identify, but the black line through the eye, and the white line just above it, and no wingbars I think clinched it. Observed both by eye and binoculars for more detail.

Kane County Audubon birders on 10/7 reported via eBird: Seeing a Kentucky Warbler on the monthly walk at Nelson Lake.

Chris Bowman on 10/6 reported via e-mail: Friday Oct 6th, 11 am had an unusual bird for Geneva’s Peck Farm - Clay-colored Sparrow was amongst the many American Goldfinch in the field lining the lake loop trail at the northwest corner. Also of note, was the first of season migratory waterfowl, a single Ruddy Duck on the lake.

Al Stokie on 10/5 reported via IBET: Hello Bird People,

Looked like a good day for shorebirds considering that...Breen Park had been hosting large numbers of species & individuals lately. But for a longer than usual day all I found were 2 shorebird species! The last 2 visits to J.O. Breen Park had 79 & 86 individual shorebirds but today it was 5 individuals of 2 species. Turns out I had 1 more goose species than shorebird species something I never would have expected. But birding often results in the unexpected & that's 1 reason we do it...

James O. Breen Community Park (1-1:25 p.m.)

Who would have thought the only shorebirds here would be Killdeer (3) & Pectorals (2)? Also here were Great Blue Heron (2), Mallard (4) & Shoveler (1-PR). But sneaking around among the 86 Canada Geese were 2 tiny CACKLING GEESE with the small bills we are supposed to check for. I checked! One Red Tailed Hawk flew overhead & one Eastern Meadowlark also decided to sing in October...

Jackie Bowman on 10/3 reported via e-mail: Do you think we need a bigger bird bath?  It was entertaining to watch this visiting Cooper's Hawk enjoying a cool foot bath and drink today in our back yard.
 

Cooper's Hawk photo courtesy Jackie Bowman