Clowning Around With Birds

The weekend looked great since early this week weather-wise, with temperatures predicted to be ABOVE freezing! Friday was the first day in eleven days that the temperatures did get back above 32 degrees in northern Illinois, and Saturday (today) was the second straight day of such pleasant weather for January. It was a much needed break, and a great opportunity to really do some big year birding! My original plan for the day: Search for the Snowy Owl near Sugar Grove, head north to get a Northern Shrike, then over to the Fox River to try for a Northern Pintail that had been spotted recently.

Those plans however, were very quick to change. An email from a fellow birder had me scrambling to get out the door and down to Walton Island in Elgin, as a very rare bird for inland Illinois, a Harlequin Duck, had been spotted there! This bird was a welcome rarity to add to my big year list for Kane County, so with my mom accompanying me, we headed down there as quickly as we could! The Snowy and the Shrike were going to have to wait (and I don't say that too often). When we arrived there, we could see other birders looking for (or perhaps following) said Harlequin Duck. We walked down along the river looking for it, but could not find it. That was when my mom grabbed my attention, asking me to look at a duck she saw hanging with the Mallards on the ice. This was a great surprise, a Red-Breasted Merganser drake (#40) was preening on the ice! This is another bird that is pretty uncommon on the Fox River.

Red-Breasted Merganser Drake Preening

We continued on and crossed the river over to Walton Island via a footbridge, and found two birders watching and photographing something on the other side of the island. I approached and first saw a Belted Kingfisher (#41) flying north, then saw the Harlequin Duck (#42) in the water on the west side of the Island, with some Common Goldeneyes! As I walked up to get a better view, something flew in over my shoulder and landed along the east shoreline of the river, it was a Peregrine Falcon (#43)!

Peregrine Falcon Along the Fox River

With the Peregrine, I had seen all three of the expected falcon species for Kane County, in just 11 days! I wasn't really very confident that I would get either Merlin or Peregrine Falcon, so boy am I relieved! 

I kept walking north up the island, and found that I couldn't re-locate the Harlequin Duck. So, I then approached another group of birders (Andrew A., Bill K. and Dianne ?) and showed them the Peregrine. They didn't know it was there, so I was happy to point it out. They were also able to point out that the Harlequin had relocated to the east side while I was watching the falcon. Here I was able to get some better views and photos.

Harlequin Duck

Harlequin Duck

This next one is my favorite shot of the day, with the Harlequin Duck in the foreground, and the still present Peregrine in the background!

Harlequin Duck and Peregrine Falcon

The brown stripes on either side of the crown (most obvious in the first shot) and all the white on the face, along with a hint of green (1st shot) all point to this Harlequin Duck being a young male! 

And one more of the Peregrine!

Peregrine Falcon

I was glad to speak with Andrew A. and Bill K., especially since they were able to point me in the direction of a Pied-Billed Grebe (#44) that was tucked away amongst some shoreline boulders on the west side of the Fox River. After a while, this group of birders departed, and some new birders came in to enjoy this wonderful bird. I stayed for a total of a little over an hour, and then departed for South Elgin, where I hoped to have the same luck as I had here and to find the Northern Pintail. Unfortunately, these plans didn't go as well.

The South Elgin Dam had very little going for it, but it did provide new year birds in American Robins (#45) and Eastern Bluebirds (#46), and a female Hooded Merganser was hanging out with a crowd of Mallards just below the dam. Seba Park was no better, with the only new birds being about 5 Bald Eagles (two putting on a great show as they fished) and three Common Mergansers. The Common Mergansers helped me to complete the Kane Co. Merganser tri-fecta in one day! So with that, it was off to Dauberman Road now, to search for the elusive Kane Co. Snowy Owl!

On the way down Dauberman, we found an immature dark-morph Rough-Legged Hawk feeding in a field on the west side. Luck was still not entirely on my side here either, as the Snowy went without being found by me or other birders looking for it. I will get this bird before January is over! However, a strange bit of flitting captured my mom's attention in a field on the north side of Scott Road near where it meets Dugan Road. She asked me to take a look, and what I found surprised me. It was an Eastern Meadowlark (#47)! That's a bird I don't usually get until March!

Eastern Meadowlark

And with that, it was getting to be late, but I wanted to go for one more bird, a Northern Shrike that I had been told about. So, we headed back north towards the Shrike location, and arrived there at quarter after 3. I walked the path I was told to walk, and scanned the area I was told to scan for a total of 2-3 minutes, when a small gray blob appeared at the top of a distant bush. Bingo, Northern Shrike (#48)!

Northern Shrike

And so, this ended my big day birding in Kane County, but I had one more bird I wanted to try for just outside of the county borders. It was 4:33 pm, when we came across a man with a scope pulled over to the side of a DeKalb County road. We pulled over, and I scanned the direction he was pointed in, and sure enough, there was the Snowy Owl! We watched it, and drew the attention of someone who lived nearby as she was leaving for church. She asked if we were alright, and we told her why we were pulled over. She couldn't believe what she was hearing, a Snowy Owl was out there! I asked if she wanted a quick look through my binoculars, and she pulled the car over and stepped out to get that look. She was delighted, and we were glad to answer any questions she had about it as well! I don't think there is a better way to end a day of birding than that!

Brendon Lake

Kane County Big Year- 48 Species

Illinois List- 49 Species