Summer lull

Tuesday, July 22nd dawned rather grey and uncertain, but grew into sunny warmth as our bird walk around the 16th line home of Barbara & David Higgs progressed. Dock-turned-boardwalk into the cattails gave us quite close-up encounters with marsh wrens, mostly in the form of loud song, but a few sightings as well. Yellowthroats, always maddeningly present vocally, managed to elude viewing until the end of our walk, when Marjorie caught a quick glimpse of one before it dropped out of sight at the marsh edge.

Caspian terns were fishing in the shallow bay, herons flew overhead, and a couple of flickers were noisily interacting in the treetops on the far side. The nasal voices of white-breasted nuthatches were frequently heard, and we viewed one circling its way headfirst, as usual, down a stout trunk. From the poison-ivy-filled woods across the inlet, the flutey and persistent “ee-o-lay” of a wood thrush easily reached us. In contrast, the sharp “che-bek” of a least flycatcher in a tall willow was not repeated.

Away from the marsh, in hawthorn and other scrubby mixed vegetation, one catbird, in particular, was both vocal and visible. Numerous cedar waxwings sat quietly or emitted their high-pitched, brief whistles, while only a few yellow warblers and song sparrows were singing. The cheery “chickadee-dee-dee”ing and haunting singing of a chickadee or two could also be heard, as well as the distant voices of a crow and bluejays. Robins scolded us from several locations. A house wren or two vied with the marsh wrens and flickers for the noisiest-bird-of-the-day prize. On the ground, a nearly tailless young brown thrasher tried begging food from a nearby parent. Goldfinches, including one inspecting a thistle, showed off their bright colours. A hummingbird visited bugloss at the end of its blooming, and checked out some other plants, too.

A couple of barn swallows swooped low over the water, along whose edge the deep, vibrating voices of bullfrogs could be heard. A mother wood duck and her very young brood scuttled quickly through the water into the safety of the cattails, into which and from which redwinged blackbirds disappeared and appeared.

Bunnies of various sizes were tamely everywhere. Again this week, we saw several tiger-swallowtail butterflies.

Next week (29 July) we hope to visit another marshy area - at the southern end of the third line.

Pee-ee-weee

The Eastern peewee’s haunting, namesake song followed us throughout our trek through the lovely old-oak forest at Hank Connell’s Sugar Woods at the northernmost end of the 12th line. House wrens were also making their little presence known with their big voices. At one point, a couple of rival males confirmed their mutual territorial boundary by singing on gateposts on either side of a single gate.


Eastern Peewee

Crows and bluejays voiced their annoyance at our presence, and that of a fox, and possibly that of a roosting owl. Flickers were also noisily vocal. One demonstrated beautifully the “yellow-shafted” part of its name.

Although we’d hoped to see one of the badly named Red-bellied woodpeckers that has been hanging around Sugar Woods for months, we were disappointed in this goal. However, there was plenty of evidence of pileated woodpeckers, and a number of downies were viewed.

A mother oriole and her fledged, still-begging offspring, all noticeably yellow, swarmed through the tall canopy. Yellow warblers & song sparrows were also present.

Besides birds, we were fortunate enough to view some lovely butterflies: Tiger Swallowtails, which have become relatively numerous in recent weeks, a version of the White Admiral (“proserpina” form of the Banded Purple), and, deep in the woods, a Northern Pearly Eye.


Northern Pearly Eye

Next week we’ll meet on the 16th line, just beyond the quarry, at the Higgs’ place, not far from the south shore, with boots on. However, if there’s been rain within the previous two days, we’ll continue on to the 18th line.

A celebratory outing

Canada Day got off to a lovely start, bird watching amongst a mix of evergreen and deciduous trees around the North Shore home of Maggie Crothers and Rob Stuart. Although the number of species was not great, many individuals we did see posed beautifully for examination of diagnostic features! Among these models were Eastern kingbirds, male yellow warblers, female redwing blackbirds, and a pair of cowbirds, preening in full view in the warm morning sunlight.

Eastern Kingbird, photo by Ron Austing

Resident robins and barn swallows took turns on their nests. A female redwing was picking insects and spiders off garden furniture for hungry offspring, some of whom are now flying.

Overhead, the usual tree and barn swallows were joined by purple martins from their apartment across the road, their twanging unmistakable amongst the chattering of the swallows. Cormorants, grackles, and ring-billed gulls were flying over, too. Goldfinches undulated by quickly. The resident song sparrow was uncharacteristically reticent.

Nancy Steele and Carolyn Dossett, freed from usual work commitments, were joyful to be able to join us; Maggie, Kay and Pete Ryan, Claire Muller, Barbara and David Higgs, Betty Anne and David Field, Connie Carr, Barbara , and Marjorie Bousfield.

Next Tuesday, the 8th of July, we intend to visit the woods and creek-bottom land along the northern part of the 3rd line.

Meadow delights

What a lovely morning we had on Tuesday, June 17! And sightings from three habitats!

Claire Muller, Jean Cruickshank, Connie Carr, and Marjorie Bousfield traveled together from the village and met up with Barbara & David Higgs, Pete & Kay Ryan, Ed Taugher, and Christine Morrissey at the meadow-surrounded home (Queen Anne’s B & B) of Greg & Beth Caldwell. Tree swallows were swooping and nesting all around, but it was another swallow, perched on a wire, that caught our eye – a bank swallow, no doubt from a colony in the wave-cut soft cliff at the nearby headland along the river. Male red-winged blackbirds and bobolinks were as noisy and territorial as ever. Females of both, so different in appearance than their mates, were spotted disappearing into the tall grass with beaks full of insects. A couple of Eastern kingbirds somersaulted from fence wires, catching breakfast. Rather than its usual plaintive song, a meadowlark emitted nasal warning calls from above us (&, no doubt, its nest) on a power line. The odd barn swallow sliced through the air, while killdeer circled, sounding their name. A single burst of buzzy song from a solitary savannah sparrow gave away its position on a sapling. Others, surely, must be all around, nesting warily. Grackles, goldfinches, robins, starlings, and song sparrows completed the picture.

In stands of trees, yellow warblers sang conspicuously, as usual, while other birds watched quietly. A male oriole and rose-breasted grosbeak flew further into the woods.

Spotted Sandpiper

Lone herons were flying by. A spotted sandpiper fluttered from rock to rock above the high water levels of the river, while a pair of mallards, failed or late in their nesting attempt, swam from us. Caspian terns were diving and catching small fish in the bay, while herring gulls winged by. Cormorants took off from further out, and the characteristic, haunting laugh of a loon reached us from a distance.

Caspian Tern

Delicious cinnamon muffins served with coffee and tea rounded off a delightful outing.

Next Tuesday (24 June) we hope to encounter the thrushes around the Carrs’ home on the front road.

Hawthorn Haven

A tangled mass of last-blooming hawthorns and other shrubs and small trees near the southshore riverfront home of Suzanne Paquette and David Clark on Holliday Point Road provides wonderful shelter for numerous small birds. On the beautiful spring morning of Tuesday, June 3, yellow warblers, of course, predominated in making their presence known, with the large and noisy grackles and male red-winged blackbirds close runners-up. The odd song sparrow sang to us from atop obvious perches, as did a willow flycatcher, though "fitz-bew" hardly seems a song. Silent atop similar perches were three cedar waxwings. Earlier we had watched them voraciously munching apple blossoms.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak    photo © Barbara Ballentine

Suzanne had reported rose-breasted grosbeaks still appearing at their seed feeders. We glimpsed a beautiful male atop the shrubs. At the feeder was a pair of house finches. Goldfinches were flitting and feeding amongst the vegetation. A bright male oriole was sipping from the oriole feeder. Earlier, a female oriole had been flitting and posing amongst shrub stems and vegetation.

On a boulder in the bay, a great blue heron landed in slow motion. A single rough-winged swallow and several barn swallows performed aerobatics overhead. Another acrobatic flyer, a common tern, characteristically beat by.

On the ground, one of several spotted and virtually tailless young robins begged after a parent. Several times, we glimpsed a brown thrasher, its ruddiness striking against the green, hunting elsewhere on the ground.


Brown Thrasher from Fernbank Science Center

The chatty display-warble of bobolinks drifted from surrounding fields. Two bluejays flew swiftly by and a hummingbird watched our departure from his powerline perch.

Ed Taugher, Barbara and David Higgs, and Kay and Pete Ryan left in their separate vehicles. Claire Muller, Renie Marshall, Maggie Crothers, and Marjorie Bousfield rode back to the village together in Claire’s van via the Southshore Road. Bobolinks and meadowlarks fluttered up from and back into long green grasses. A small warbler flitted amongst roadside vegetation. High against the paling blue to the north, a redtailed hawk hovered over potential prey.

Next Tuesday, we plan a walk along the 10th line, between the marsh and scrubland just south of Brophy’s Point.

Misty May morning

Moody mistiness formed the backdrop for this Tuesday’s morning bird walk, or, more accurately, vehicle loop. Claire Muller and Marjorie Bousfield made birding stops along the 4th line south of Reed’s Bay Road and on the 5th line around the grove-sheltered pond across from the McKintosh farmhouse. The last, especially, brought some treats. A kingfisher drilled by overhead, its staccato laugh piercing the stillness; it is a kookaburra cousin, after all. In contrast, was the muteness of a startled bittern as it wheeled away.

Blackpoll Warbler from eNature.com

Underneath, but neck-craningly high above us in the fresh-green canopy, a pair of blackpoll warblers flitted maddeningly about, breakfasting. A male magnolia warbler was doing likewise. And, of course, yellow warblers seemed everywhere. Much more sedate was a warbling vireo, who posed nearby, lovely in its plainness. Far from plain, a male yellowthroat paused briefly near us before flitting off to continue his distinctive singing from a more distant perch. We also heard least and willow flycatchers, and a watery cowbird male, his mate no doubt stealthily scouting out potential nests in the vicinity.

Yellowthroat from Pictorial Guide to Illinois Birds

A male chestnut-sided warbler rewarded our 4th-line stops, where we also heard a willow flycatcher and meadowlark. Otherwise, the morning’s birds included the usual meadow and shrub-surrounded water suspects: bobolinks, ring-billed gulls, tree & barn swallows, Savannah sparrows, mourning doves, starlings & grackles, and red-winged blackbirds, mallards, robins, & song sparrows.

Chestnut-sided Warbler Copyright © 1997, John H. Boyd III

At the other end of the day, north of Kingston, I watched a pair of bluebirds, particularly the female, making continuous feeding trips to its nest in one of many holes in a tall tree stump.

Frankly, Scarlet ...

Frankly, Scarlet, where were you?

The sole stone schoolhouse on Wolfe Island, S.S. No. 8 on the west side of the 9th line, was the meeting point for our morning bird walk on Tuesday May 20th. Arthur Keyes had reported seeing a scarlet tanager male feeding on the flowers of a large maple across from the schoolhouse. Similar sightings had been reported over the previous few days in and near the village (Marysville).

Photo: Indiana University Research and Teaching Preserve

Unfortunately, we missed this striking bird Tuesday morning. However, the day was gloriously sunny and warm, and plenty of other birds were singing, feeding, and flitting about. The rather mournful tune of an Eastern meadowlark drifted to us over a field of tall fresh grass, above which male bobolinks were displaying and singing and chasing each other. Savannah sparrows perched on the barbed wire fencing; bobolinks on the posts.

Bright as the dandelions beneath them, yellow warblers flittered amongst apple and maple and hawthorn leaves, flitted from bush to bush, and burst into song everywhere. Red-winged blackbird males and grackles were also ubiquitous. And we were never out of earshot of song sparrows.

In the distance, a pair of crows was being attacked by a much smaller bird, perhaps an Eastern kingbird. A kestrel flew past, steadily searching for prey.

Arthur himself interrupted his hauling of manure to greet us and share his sightings with David and Betty-Anne Field, Barbara and David Higgs, Renie Marshall, Claire Muller and Marjorie Bousfield.

We moved back up the road (north) to Wilmer Road, which leads east toward Bayfield Bay. Claire had informed us of this lovely site, and that the landowners have no problem with respectful birders visiting.

An outbuilding near the well-kept stone house is home to barn swallows; tree swallows had been swooping over the fields near the 9th line. A male Baltimore (Northern) oriole showed himself atop a tree, whereas a catbird was gurgling, chirping, and singing as usual in a much less conspicuous site - on the lowest branch, not far from the trunk, in a grove of small trees.

A male cowbird paused briefly atop a dead tree. In the distance, no doubt back on Arthur’s land, a male ring-necked pheasant crowed. To the north, a rough line of five great blue herons drifted over the treetops.

Sweet-sweet-sweet

“Sweet-sweet-sweet shredded wheat!”

Male yellow warblers, newly arrived from points south, were singing and feeding on early-season insects in great numbers as we began our season of bird walks on a drizzly Tuesday morning, 13 May. Also prominent, feeding on the ground and singing, were the distinctive white-crowned sparrows, which absolutely dwarfed the delicate chipping sparrows feeding nearby. The latter have been around for a while, and will remain for the summer, but the white crowns are just now migrating through en route to the northern boreal scrub (taiga) and tundra.

White-crowned Sparrow Adult


Jean and David Cruickshank welcomed us to their property and home, which is surrounded by an array of various types of trees, shrubs, and feeders, most of the last to be removed presently for the summer. Male and female finches (gold, purple, and house) were taking advantage of the last days of supplemented feeding, as were grackles. The oriole feeder was being visited in turn by a male ruby-throated hummingbird and by recently arrived Baltimore orioles. A male downy woodpecker and female hairy woodpecker were feeding on the suet. No appearance by the rose-breasted grosbeaks, which have been back for the past week or two, nor by cardinals, though they were certainly singing in the distance. Overhead, tree swallows swooped and fed.

While en route home, Marjorie spotted a male yellow-rumped warbler amongst the yellow on the newly unfurled leaves of roadside bushes and trees.

It was a lovely start to the season for all (Betty-Anne and David Field, Barbara and David Higgs, Greg Caldwell, the Cruickshanks, and Marjorie).

Next week, we hope to visit a very different habitat – open field and shore at Carpenter’s Point.

Chipping Sparrow