By Aaron Gyllenhaal, as told to Ted Wolff

The first thing I saw was a bird flying over me with a bright red belly. I got my binoculars on it and saw it land. The next thing I saw was a blue head and a green back, which is when I freaked out.

I went from confused to surprised to floored in what seemed like a second. It was an emotional roller coaster. I had trouble getting out an intelligible sentence because I was stunned. Luckily, I was able to get Ted Wolff on the bird, and only then was I able to take in what I was looking at. My heart was pounding in my chest while I was staring at this beautiful bird that I had hoped, but did not expect, to see. My breathing bordered on hyperventilation, but somehow I had the sense to snap a few pictures to confirm the sighting. That reflex proved to be unnecessary, however, because the bunting flew from the dense cottonwood tree above us to an exposed power line, where it perched in full view, singing for nearly ten minutes. I was in a state of euphoria watching this bird.

The moment I rediscovered the bunting is one that will be etched in my mind forever.

Background

I should provide some background on the trip to East St. Louis, and the sighting of the Painted Bunting on May 29, 2016.

I actually had this bird on my state list for a few years. Early in my birding career my family stopped at Front Street in East St. Louis during our vacation. We heard a distant Painted Bunting singing, but never saw it. At the time I decided that was enough to count it. While going through my state list a few years ago, I chose to remove the Painted Bunting because, while I heard what I thought was its song, I was not sure I could eliminate other similar songs due to my lack of experience. Thus Painted Bunting became one of my biggest nemesis birds. The number of sightings in surrounding states, combined with the lack of sightings in Illinois, began to annoy me, so I decided to check the place most likely to have them.

I was not convinced they were still around. In fact, I was convinced that the buntings left years ago. However, this is the only place in Illinois where they were reliable at in the past, so I figured it would be the best place to start looking for them.

The last sighting I can remember of Painted Bunting in the state was in Iroquois County, in 2012, and I believe that bird was on private property. The last sighting in East St. Louis was in 2011, about a mile south of where we re-found the bird. I chased the 2011 bird, but my dad and I struck out. I believe the last time that breeding was confirmed along Front Street was 2008.

Research

I wanted to do more than drive to Front Street and start looking, so I did some research. My two main sources of information were the IBET archives and eBird. Together these made me confident that I had not missed any reports. I then messaged the people that seemed to have the most experience in finding the buntings for advice on where to look. A few years prior, when my dad and I tried for the bunting to no avail, I had messaged multiple southern Illinois birders. I therefore knew that Dan Kassebaum and Keith McMullen would be the most likely to help, both because of their general birding knowledge, their specific knowledge of the Metro St. Louis area, and also because of their generous spirits; it seems like they are always willing to share their knowledge and help out other birders. Dan has been checking for the buntings multiple times every year, so he was able to give me as much information as I needed.

Memorial Day birding trip

I got in touch with Ted Wolff, with whom I have had good luck chasing birds, from our first trips in 2013 for a Harlequin Duck at 63rd Street in Chicago and the Spotted Redshank at Goose Pond, Indiana, which was our first long-distance trip,

This trip had a major, but not a single, focus. We hoped to see a number of rarities, knowing full well we had little to no chance of getting some, but if you don’t look you definitely won’t see!

The bird we thought we had the best chance of getting was a Brown Pelican that had been seen at Melvin Price Lock and Dam in Alton, on the Mississippi River, but unfortunately it has not been reported for a week prior to the trip. We went there first on Saturday afternoon, May 28, and missed it. We went back Saturday evening, and again Sunday morning before seeing the Painted Bunting, but we missed it every time.

Other target birds included White-winged Dove (reported outside of Springfield the day before we left), Western Kingbird, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Black Rail (the unlikeliest of them all), and more southern Illinois specialties.

Ted picked me up early in the morning, and we left Oak Park and headed for the White-winged Dove spot in Menard County, where we ran into Phil Doncheck and enjoyed the hospitality of the birder and homeowner, and passed a pleasant hour on his deck looking at the feeders, but without seeing the dove. We left for East St. Louis, and just past Lake Springfield I saw a report on IBET of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks at Lake Springfield. We turned around, got to the lake, and quickly found the group of ducks on the far bank, near the power plant, in the shade of some trees.

We then continued to Alton, where we failed to refind the Brown Pelican early Saturday afternoon; headed to Front Street in East St. Louis, where we dipped on the bunting; and then back late Saturday afternoon for another miss on the pelican. We went one last time early Sunday morning, hoping to get there before the fishermen showed up and disturbed the bird, but again there was no pelican.

After dipping for the last time we headed to Front Street in East St. Louis where this time, after an hour of viewing and listening, we first saw the Painted Bunting singing and giving great looks on the power line near the Illinois American Water Company facility.

Mission accomplished!

After I calmed down I texted a few of my birding buddies to let them know that the bird had been refound, and we decided to continue our trip to southern Illinois for the other specialties.

The rest of the trip

We headed south, and after just a few miles we saw Black-Necked Stilts in a roadside wetland. Ted stopped the car, backed up, and we got the stilts in view on the far side of the wetland. Then I looked down on the near bank and there, partially hidden by the vegetation, was a group of three Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks! It’s always great to see an uncommon species, but it’s so much sweeter to discover the bird on your own. This was icing on the cake of an already great morning. I texted Keith McMullen, who lives nearby in Fallon, as I was sure he’d rather drive for fifteen minutes to see the ducks than drive all the way to Lake Springfield.

Other good birds on the trip included Western Kingbird at the casino in E. St. Louis and at the substation outside Havana, the Whimbrel found by Kevin Richmond, also outside Havana, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, King Rail, and Least Tern.

Birds we missed were the Brown Pelican, Black Rail, Upland Sandpiper, Glossy Ibis, White-faced Ibis, and Western Sandpiper.

A little bit about me

I used to be a lot bigger on chasing than I am now. Now most of my birding time is spent at the former US Steel South Works property on the south side of Chicago, which I call the “87th Street steel mills.” This includes Steelworker’s Park and Park 566.

The only potential target birding I currently have in mind is a hunt in southern Illinois this winter for a Great-tailed Grackle. I don’t have any other specific birding plans at the moment, but I can never turn down a good trip.

I am going into the second semester of my sophomore year at Illinois State University. I have settled on public relations as my major with a minor in math and business analytics. Beyond that, my interests mainly lie in music and birds. I hope to have an internship this summer at a public relations agency and continue working at Wonder Works Children’s Museum in Oak Park. However, I always find time to go birding, mainly because my sanity requires it.

Beau: So tell us a little bit about who “Andy Stewart” is.
Andy: Well, I grew up in Texas and have always been interested in natural history. Collecting has also always been an interest of mine. I have a sort of “hoarding gene” if you will. Birding sort of fits in that category of “collecting” species. I started birding in high school in Texas in the early ‘70s. It was great fun birding in Texas then. Once I graduated from the University of Texas my birding kind of slowed down a bit. I would chase specialties or lifers. But I didn’t really pursue it as a full-time hobby after starting at Abbott and starting a family and the whole bit. When I retired from Abbott five years ago, it became more of an interesting thing to do full time.

Beau: When you were working, what was your job?
Andy: I was a medicinal chemist at Abbott for 27 years.

Beau: What got you into birding?
Andy: I think it is part of my collecting/hoarding pursuit. I’m just a natural collector, and, as I mentioned before, it also combines with my interests in natural history. I started with butterfly collecting in 1st grade. Snakes were a preschool interest of mine. I also had fossil collections and stamp collections, so I kind of always liked collecting, finding and organizing stuff. Growing up in Texas in the ‘60s you spent a lot of time outside constantly seeing a lot of interesting birds. I wondered what all was out there and it became a hobby for me to find out and “collect” all these birds. It also seemed like a “hippie” cool kind of thing to do back then.

Beau: Did you have a mentor growing up at all?
Andy: When I first moved to Austin as a freshman at the University of Texas, I went on a Travis Audubon Society Field Trip and met Texas birder Ed Kutac, one time president of both Texas Ornithological Society and the Travis Audubon Society. He was an accountant by profession but he was an avid birder. From 1972-1980, I joined Ed on many field trips to Big Bend, The Valley, Texas Coast, High Island, etc. After that, I was pretty much on my own.

Beau: When did you move to Illinois from Texas?
Andy: 1985

Beau: What did you find about birding in Illinois that was different about birding in Texas?
Andy: Initially, birding only part time, I would only chase lifers by following the phone answering tape rare bird alert. Rare gulls, Snowy Owl, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Snow Bunting…basically your northern specialties that normally cannot be found in Texas. White-winged Scoter was another lifer I chased at Waukegan. But I have now seen that Lake County also experiences amazing bird migration, influenced by the lake. Some of the peak migration days in May and fall can be similar to impressive passerine migrations I remember on the Texas coast.

Beau: So let’s go over some highlights of your Lake County Big Year last year. What was your species total?
Andy: 269 (previous best was 265)

Beau: Best bird?
Andy: It was the Hudsonian Godwits at Atkinson Rd. fluddle in May. Both a male and female in breeding plumage. The only down side was that I didn’t find that bird. That was the bird of the year for sure, but there were tons of other great ones, 9 Short-eared Owls one windy morning at Illinois Beach State Park (IBSP) South, another morning 6 Whimbrels on the beach at the Dead River were unforgettable. I think shorebirds were a highlight because I found almost all of the expected birds or those that had been seen in the area.

Beau: Was there a favorite day that you had?
Andy: Some day in May. There are so many great days with such a density of birds that it’s hard to pick one. The Sparrow migration in both spring and fall is also fantastic.

Beau: What did you miss that you think you should have gotten?
Andy: Wilson’s Phalarope, Red Knot (We actually saw this bird at IBSP during a big day but the fog covered it to the point where it was only a silhouette). We saw only shape, and we called the ID. But we couldn’t really call it for sure, or “count it” with the view we had, without seeing any color or plumage field marks. Someone else reported and photographed a Red Knot on eBird 2 hours later also from our location. Ross’ Goose (1 day late!), missed 2 Swanson’s Hawks at the IBSP Hawkwatch by about 30 min one morning, and also missed Northern Goshawk (almost an expected miss).

Beau: What continues to fuel your interest for birds these days?
Andy: Just the beauty of birds up close combined with the magnitude and power of seasonal bird migration. It’s almost unbelievable. It gives you a sense of reality that you can’t get any other way. It’s also the mental challenge of staying focused every day to find as many species as possible. I think 300 is a good number (Lake County life birds).

Beau: What was your biggest challenge last year?
Andy: Physically you just can’t bird 10 hours a day 365 days a year. You can’t. Not just physically but mentally. Going to the same place every day knowing you’re probably not going to see anything new can wear you down. How many times do you look up in a tree for a Long-eared Owl and see nothing? Maybe I’m not organized enough to thoroughly check out different spots at different times but it can be mentally exhausting.

Beau: Did your big year help you improve as a birder?
Andy: Absolutely. I think you always improve as a birder just by getting out a lot. I look at gulls every day and I still learn new stuff about them when I see them. Herring Gulls are so diverse. The repetition helps you to learn.

Beau: You did a really nice job of documenting your sightings. What equipment did you use out in the field?
Andy: I use 12x Leica binocs, and for documentation a Samsung Galaxy S5 phone for pics through my scope (Leica Televid 77). I like the added magnification of the 12x bins for finding waterfowl especially, but I’ve just grown used to them and could never go back to 8x magnifications of any of my favorite birds. If you’re an experienced binocular user you adjust to and accept the limitations of 12x bins. Weight and stability while following distant flying birds is the most problematic.

Beau: What’s your favorite field guide?
Andy: Sibley just because it has the most pictures. That’s what field guides are about is pictures. I also really like the artwork in the old Peterson guides.

Beau: So what would be your advice to anyone doing a Lake County Big Year?
Andy: Start in January, so plan ahead. Plan on spending lots of field hours on the lakefront. There are very few birds that you won’t get on the lakefront. You can switch over to the Des Plaines River area in May to look for warblers, but most of the year, the lakefront is where it’s at. North Point Marina and IBSP South Unit. Waukegan is more hit or miss but always produces its rarities.

Beau: Favorite brding location?
Andy: Probably the South Unit at IBSP just because of the varied habitat and the wide expanse of shoreline. Final thoughts: eBird has made finding birds much easier, and is great for planning and organizing county level Listing.

The 5th Edition of the IOS Field Checklist of Illinois Birds is now available. Download the checklist now!

In advance of the IOS Gull Frolic, Amar Ayyash gives some advice to those just starting to get bit by the gull watching bug. Read Amar’s tips on his blog, Anything Larus.