With the temp in the mid-40s, we thought a jaunt to McGinnis Slough Forest Preserve would be a good way to spend the morning. We brought the scope (and saw some delightful birds that way), and muddied our shoes, and boy, did we have a good time. (Ebird checklist)
Here are some of the friends we saw:
TukreTurke
The Daylight Savings Time clock shift happened last night, so we went to Fermilab to see what the birds think of the time shift.
We went out with friends from the Will County Audubon Society to look out for those cute goofballs out strutting their stuff — woodcocks.
It was a dim evening, but we saw a bunch of fun birds nonetheless.
This nicely dappled Fox Sparrow was spotted by the group leader, and we were lucky enough to see it for a few minutes. In the crummy light, this is the best pic we got.
Our goal was to spot American Woodcocks, hopefully out for their evening strut, but no luck there. That said, we spotted one in a tree, which startled and flew overhead. We got a good look as it flew overhead, silhouetted against the evening sky, but no luck with the camera. Shortly after, we arrived in a field where the Woodcock was doing a mating ritual in which it “meeps” a dozen or so times, then flies up in the air and makes a chirping sound with its wings, then dive-bombs back to where it started, and repeats. We did catch a bit of recording of the meep sounds.
First Meadowlark of the year! One of three we saw this evening.
Way across the lake, we spotted a Bald Eagle nest and a nesting couple. At the extreme edge of the lens, we got these goofy pictures of the nesting parents.
Fun to see the flycatchers starting to return. It’s the first of the Eastern Phoebes.
It wasn’t all feathered friends, though. We saw a muskrat and a deer.
