Rufous Hummingbird: Saline County (South) – On 27-Nov-2016, Cathy DeNeal has a hatch year female Rufous Hummingbird coming to her feeder in Harrisburg, Saline County.
Mottled Duck (unconfirmed): Mason County (Central) – On 25-Nov-2016, Mike Ingram reports a Mottled Duck in the extreme south corner of the upper pool at Chautauqua NWR near Eagle Bluff.
Townsend’s Solitaire: Winnebago (North) – On 25-Nov-2016, Ray Fini found a Townsend’s Solitaire at Rock Cut State Park near the first parking lot off IL-173 on the north side of the prairie.
California Gull: Peoria County (North) – Matthew Winks and Mike Ingram found a second cycle California Gull on the Peoria riverfront at the Riverplex on 20-Nov-2016.
California Gull by Matthew Winks
Townsend’s Solitaire: Jo Daviess County (North) – On 20-Nov-2016, John Jankowski photographed a Townsend’s Solitaire on private property in Stockton, Jo Daviess County.
Ferruginous Hawk (unconfirmed): Lake County (North) – Paul Sweet reports seeing a Ferruginous Hawk at the Illinois Beach State Park Hawk Watch on 20-Nov-2016 in Zion, Lake. If accepted, this would be a state 7th record.
Cave Swallow (unconfirmed): Lake County (North) – On 19-Nov-2016, Steve Huggins and Carl Giometti observed a possible Cave Swallow at Waukegan. If accepted, this would be a 9th state record.
Start Time – 9:30 a.m. (please note the later start time).
The Gull Frolic is a unique winter event at Illinois’ premier gull-watching hotspot: North Point Marina. Bring your binoculars, scope and cold weather gear, and join birders outside of the yacht club to enjoy close study of some of our harder-to-find winter species such as Thayer’s, Iceland and Glaucous Gulls! A variety of waterfowl typically make an appearance too (scoters and other diving ducks), along with the occasional raptor, owl, or winter finch. Birders wearing bright orange hats will be available to help answer questions along the “boardwalk”.
On November 5th, 2016, IOS conducted an inland reservoir field trip. This concept was originally conceived by former field trip chair, Travis Mahan, and has proven to be an excellent way to survey Illinois Reservoirs. This weekend has historically been an excellent time to find some of the less likely loons, grebes, scoters and gulls. The reservoirs which have been selected for this trip are in close enough proximity to allow groups to move to other reservoirs when rarities are located.
Lake Shelbyville reported by Tyler Funk Sunrise over Lake Shelbyville
A cool morning greeted the birding crew at Lake Shelbyville with virtually no wind. The sunrise was magnificent, reflecting off the glassy lake surface and the scope views were quite good of the birds we encountered. The group circled much of the lake throughout the day with not a lot of activity. Due to the warm, almost late summer-like weather, very few diving ducks, or even dabblers, have arrived in this area. Decent numbers of Bonaparte’s and Ring-billed Gulls were seen feeding over most portions of lake. Variety was not the spice of life throughout the day. Afternoon came and so did our first couple of nice birds. An adult Lesser Black-backed Gull and Red-throated Loon, seen from the Lake Shelbyville–Findlay Bridge East Access point (as it is listed in ebird). However, the R-T Loon identification gave the group some trouble, due to its plumage, even resulting in a paid boat trip to try and get pictures (not with positive results…).
Scoping from Rebel Point
Most of the Lake Shelbyville group met on Friday evening at the Prairie Falcon roosting spot and were rewarded with nice looks of the Prairie Falcons. A bonus was added by Ron Bradley who reported a White-winged Scoter at Larry Closson State Habitat Area (aka. Hickory Ridge).
White-winged Scoter by Ron Bradley
The Shelbyville Group (Ted Wolff, Phil Doncheck, Arlene McFadden, Ron Bradley, Jon and Carolyn Grainger, Travis Mahan and Tyler Funk) finished Saturday with 55 species. Birds of the weekend included:
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Franklin’s Gull
Red-throated Loon
Black Scoter (Seen by Travis Mahan at Findlay point)
Long-billed Dowitcher
Prairie Falcon
White-winged Scoter
Clinton Lake reported by Matt Fraker
Black Scoter by Matt Fraker
Birds of interest which were seen on Friday evening included:
White-winged Dove: Cook County (North) – Luis Muñoz reports White-winged Dove at Montrose by the beach house in Chicago, Cook on 10-Nov-2016.
White-winged Dove by Luis Munoz
Say’s Phoebe: Carroll County (North) – Illinois Young Birder, Ethan Brown, and his mom, Cindy, photographed a SAY’S PHOEBE on Scenic Bluff Rd outside of Savanna, Carroll County on 9-Nov-2016.
Say’s Phoebe by Cindy Brown
Brant: Cook County (North) – Steve Huggins reports a BRANT on Northerly Island in Chicago on 8-Nov-2016.
The eastern or yellow subspecies of Palm Warbler (Setophaga palmarum hypochrysea) was photographed in Chicago on 8-Nov-2016. There are only five officially documented records of this subspecies in Illinois. The expected subspecies is the brown or western Palm Warbler (S. p. palmarum).
A series of rare birds were seen over the weekend!
GRAY KINGBIRD: Clinton County (South) – A state record 3rd GRAY KINGBIRD was photographed by Dan Kassebaum at South Shore State Park, Carlyle Lake on Saturday, 5-Nov-2016.
VERMILION FLYCATCHER: Grundy County (North) – A state record 7th VERMILION FLYCATCHER was photographed by Tim Belassie at Goose Lake Prairie on Sunday, 6-Nov-2016.
TOWNSEND’S SOLITAIRE – Cook County (North) – Tammy and Mike Daley photographed a TOWNSEND’S SOLITAIRE at Sag Quarries in Cook County on Sunday, 6-Nov-2016.
An underweight nestling picked up in Cook County confirms Illinois’ first breeding record of Merlin. To find out more, read this article by IOS Member, Josh Engel, at the Field Museum’s Blog.
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck (3), 29 May 2016 (with one staying to 5 Jun 2016), Sauget, St. Clair County (2016-034; Frank Holmes)
Mottled Duck, 11 December 2015 to 3 January 2016, Clinton Power Station outflow channel, DeWitt County (2016-060; Matthew Fraker; Matthew Cvetas, Ted Hartzler, Alyssa Rod, Dan Williams)
Eurasian Collared-Dove, 6 Jun 2016, Urbana, Champaign County (1998-094; Gregory S. Lambeth)
White-winged Dove, 27 May 2016, south of Lewisburg, Menard County (2016-036; Colin Dobson)
White-winged Dove, 28 May 2016, Harrisburg, Saline County (2016-037; Rhonda Kaylor)
RUFF: Fulton County (Central) – A Ruff was found on 5-Jul-2016 by Kevin Richmond at Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge, South Globe in Waterford Township. It was originally viewed from a parking lot off County Rd. 9.
