A s I write this note, the warbler migration is on the downside. As the saying goes, once we see the Mourning Warbler, we birdwatchers go

into mourning, since they are one of the last warblers to migrate through our area. Well, we had a Mourning Warbler on our ramble today. On the upside, we can now return to all those household activities that we (or is it just me) have put off since we were out birding. Life is good!

With the coming of summer, KCA will once again start its summer meetings (on the second Wednesday of each month) at a local forest pre-serve. Check the newsletter for locations. Many members bring a sack lunch, arrive before the walk begins, and enjoy socializing with others. It’s a good time to get to know fellow birders. I think one of KCA’s strongest character-istics is the fellowship that has been built up over the years.

Speaking of “over the years,” this fall we will mark the 50th year of Kane County Audubon being members of the Illinois Audubon Society. As a celebration, our October meeting will be dedicated to our history, and the executive director of the Illinois Audubon Society, Tom Clay, will be pre-sent and talk about the organization. Look for the fall newsletter to have more information.

This summer, we have planned field trips on almost every Saturday to locations both near and far. One of the trips will be to Nachusa Grasslands to view the buffalo and summer birds of the grasslands. We will also go to some places that many members go to, but we have rarely scheduled trips to. Birding is a full year activity, so if you have some time this summer, come join us in our field trips.

If you have not been getting emails from me (KCAbirdalert), please let me know so you can be added to the KCA mailbox.

—Bob Andrini

SUMMER 2016

From the Presidential Bird Feeder

Mourning Warbler Photo courtesy National Audubon Society

KCA Birders Participate in Great Backyard Bird Count

T he 19th annual worldwide Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) was held Feb. 12-15. The results were incredible. Through March 3, more than 162,052 checklists had been turned in around the world. Some 130 countries

participated, and 5,689 species were reported. That’s more than half the known bird species in the world. Outstanding!

In the lower 48 states, 130,707 checklists were submitted and 610 species were reported. Illinois had 3,643 checklists and 139 species.

Kane county was third in the state, with 293 checklists and 80 species. The top listers were Bob Andrini (19 checklists) and Justin Wrinn (16).

Top birding hotspots in Kane County were: Burnidge Forest Preserve, 27 species. Jon Duerr Forest Preserve, 25 species. Fermi Lab (Kane County), 24 species. Johnson’s Mound Forest Preserve, 19 species. Les Arends Forest Preserve, 19 species.

KCA Summer Walks June 8: Glenwood Park. Walk begins at 6 p.m.; brown-bag dinner starts at 5:30 p.m. June 18: Nachusa Grasslands. Carpool from Hickory Knolls Discover Center. Meet at 7 a.m. June 25: Big Rock Forest Preserve, 8 a.m. July 2: Nelson Lake, 8 a.m. July 13: Jelke Creek Forest Preserve. Walk begins at 6 p.m.; brown-bag dinner starts at 5:30 p.m. July 23: Fitche Creek Forest Preserve, 8 a.m. August 6: Nelson Lake, 8 a.m. August 10: Jon Duerr Forest Preserve. Walk begins at 6 p.m.; brown-bag dinner starts at 5:30 p.m. August 20: TBA. Carpool from Hickory Knolls Discover Center. Meet at 8 a.m.

Last year, Kane County turned in 225 checklists with 69 species, so we improved in each category. Way to go Kane County!

To see all the results of the GBBC, go to www.birdsource.org. —Bob Andrini

Spring Bird Count Tallies 161 Species

S ome 161 species were reported during KCA’s 45th annual spring bird count, which was held May 7. That’s the lowest total since

2008, and it’s 13 fewer species than the 45-year high of 174 set in 2010.

Some 41 birdwatchers (the fewest since 2007), grouped in 20 observation parties, participated in this year’s count. All totaled, 157.5 man-hours were spent counting birds.

Record-high totals were reported for nine species: White-Throated Sparrow (595), White-Breasted Nuthatch (97), Eastern Tow-hee (88), Turkey Vulture (79), Cooper’s Hawk (32), Hairy-Woodpecker (30), Bald Eagle (10), Caspian Tern (7), and Horned Grebe (2). The Caspian Terns were particularly notable, since they had not been reported since 2013.

Other notable sightings included Red-Shouldered Hawk (only the third sighting in the past 45 years and the first since 2000); Forster’s Tern (the seventh sighting in the past 45 years and the first since 2010); and American Pipit. The latter had been reported in small numbers every year between 2005 and 2013, but hadn’t been reported since.

Somewhat notable by their absence were several waterfowl species. Mute Swan, Ring-Neck Duck, Green-Wing Teal, Canvasback, and Greater and Lesser Scaup had been reported in six of the past 10 years (albeit in small numbers), but are missing from this year’s count. (On the other hand, Ruddy Duck has been reported in double-digit numbers in each of the past three years—a marked difference from previous years.)

Also notably absent from this year’s count are Northern Harrier and Willow Flycatcher. Both species had been logged in six of the past 10 years, but were not seen this year.

Numbers of Henslow’s Sparrow appear to be increasing. Prior to 2011, the bird was a relative rarity on our counts. However, it has now been reported in double-digit numbers in four of the past five years.

Numbers of Hairy Woodpecker may also be rising. Record-high totals for this species have been set in three of the past five years, including 2016.

Many thanks to everyone who participated in this year’s count. For complete results, visit the KCA website.

A Red-Shouldered Hawk was reported during the spring bird count for only the third time in 45 years.

Top 42 Species, 2016 Spring Bird Count

10-year 1-year Species 2007 2015 2016 change change Red-wing blackbird 1,722 1,965 1,691 -2% -14% American robin 1,020 1,223 1,051 3% -14% Canada goose 691 973 926 34% -5% White-throated sparrow 361 119 595* 65% 400% Mallard 435 497 477 10% -4% Chimney swift 366 437 475 30% 9% American goldfinch 581 385 434 -25% 13% Tree swallow 277 467 392 42% -16% Blue jay 263 285 351 33% 23% Northern cardinal 343 365 333 -3% -9% Brown-headed cowbird 450 313 323 -28% 3% European starling 487 397 305 -37% -23% Song sparrow 287 390 297 3% -24% White-crowned sparrow 221 85 265 20% 212% Mourning dove 270 193 254 -6% 32% Yellow-rumped warbler 463 248 241 -48% -3% House sparrow 195 201 240 23% 19% Palm warbler 289 189 230 -20% 22% Common grackle 675 375 209 -69% -44% Baltimore oriole 202 318 205 1% -36% Black-capped chickadee 133 178 196 47% 10% American coot 97 205 182 88% -11% Blue-grey gnatcatcher 139 179 179 29% 0% House wren 148 171 173 17% 1% Barn swallow 562 267 167 -70% -37% Rose-breasted grosbeak 73 162 165 126% 2% Red-bellied woodpecker 101 139 147 46% 6% Downy woodpecker 88 98 147 67% 50% Rough-winged swallow 152 254 147 -3% -42% Wood duck 92 157 145 58% -8% Common yellowthroat 169 270 139 -18% -49% Yellow warbler 111 186 138 24% -26% Double-crested cormorant 75 94 113 51% 20% Field sparrow 72 65 109 51% 68% White-breasted nuthatch 60 57 97* 62% 70% Northern flicker 100 80 96 -4% 20% Grey catbird 141 260 96 -32% -63% Eastern towhee 44 49 88* 100% 80% Turkey vulture 37 59 79* 114% 34% Great blue heron 87 114 77 -11% -32% American crow 111 79 72 -35% -9% Nashville warbler 68 55 70 3% 27% * Record high

KCA’s U.S. Birding Trips Yield 1,691 Lifers

B irding is an adventure. It doesn’t matter whether you bird—whether it’s in your backyard or a distant trip to an exotic loca-tion. They’re all adventures.

Starting in the spring of 2012, Kane County Audubon embarked on four of those distant adventures, taking members to some pretty neat places: Southeast Arizona, the Lower Rio Grande Valley in south Texas, South Florida, and southern California. Each trip presented unique diversities of bird life, and enabled participants to enjoy parts of the country they hadn’t visited before.

Our first adventure started in Tucson, AZ, and was led by Bob Andrini. Over a period of eight days, birds abounded. We had exciting encounters with such local species as Western Screech and Whiskered Owl, White-Throated Swift, Arizona Woodpecker, Greater Peewee, Mexican Jay, Western Scrub-jay, Mexican Chickadee, Curve-billed and Crissal Thrasher, Lucy’s Warbler, Grace’s Warbler, Red-faced Warbler, Painted Redstart, Hepatic Tanager, Bronzed Cowbird, and Hooded and Scott’s Oriole to name but a few. The trip yielded 115 species with 484 cumulative lifers!

In 2013, KCA landed in south Texas and the Lower Rio Grande Valley. The sojourn started in San Antonio and gradually worked its way down to the border towns of McAllen and South Padre Island. The timing was perfect. The group not only got to see local birds, but was able to witness a true fallout of migrants coming across the Gulf of Mexico. Black-bellied and Fulvous Whistling Duck; Least Grebe; White-tailed, Zone-tailed and Gray Hawk; Lesser Nighthawk and Common Pauraque; Ringed and Green Kingfisher; Aplomado Falcon; Tropical Kingbird; Cave Swallow; Golden-Cheeked Warbler; White-Collared Seedeater; and Altamira Oriole were added to the huge lists of warblers, sparrows and other passerines on their way north. A total of 239 species were identified, and participants gathered up 393 cu-mulative lifers.

The third trip in 2014 took us to South Florida. Covering the southwest coast, the Keys and the greater Miami area, the group saw a total of 130 species and collected 241 cumulative lifers. Both on land and at sea, the counts included Masked and Brown Booby, Snail Kite, Gray-Headed Swamphen, Roseate Tern, White-Crowned Pigeon, Antillian Nighthawk, Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Nanday Parakeet, Black-Whiskered Vireo, Red-Whiskered Bul-bul, Bahama Mockingbird, Bachman’s Sparrow, Shiny Cowbird and Spot-breasted Oriole. A trip to remember.

Last year, the adventure took us to Southern California. Once again, we were not disappointed. The combined total for both land and sea birds was 156 species and included many birds we could never see in Illinois. Western and Clark’s Grebe, Sooty Shearwater, California Condor, Ridgway’s Rail, Wandering Tattler, Scripp’s Murrelet, Cassin’s Auklet, Elegant Tern, Allen’s Hummingbird, White-Headed Woodpecker, Pinyon and Steller’s Jay, Island Scrub-Jay, Yellow-billed Magpie, California and Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, California and LeConte’s Thrasher, Abert’s, California, and Green-tailed Towhee, Tricolored Blackbird and Lawrence’s Goldfinch added to the excitement of the trip. For the 12 participants, 312 cumulative lifers were added to the lists.

All totaled, the four trips have accounted for 403 ABA-countable species and an astounding 1,691 cumulative lifers! This year 10 members are off to southwestern Alaska. Who knows what that will bring?

Hopefully, there will be more trips in the future and it would be great to see you there. —Paul Meyer

Aplomado Falcon

Gray-Headed Swamphen

Mexican Jay

Photos by Paul Meyer

Kane County Audubon, A Chapter of Illinois Audubon Chapter President Bob Andrini, 630-584-8386 Vice President John Sprovieri Secretary Nancy Schnaitman Treasurer Jane McMillan Program Chair Chuck Peterson Field Trips Jon Duerr Historian Jerry Hope Hospitality Sue Peterson, Carol Ludemann Website Chris Madsen Publicity Sue Wagoner Stamps Tim Klimowski Ink Cartridges Cheryl Hayes IAS Representative Bob Andrini and Jerry Hope KCA website WWW.KANECOUNTYAUDUBON.ORG

Ducks Unlimited Preserves Central Illinois Wetland

O ne or two years ago, I wrote a short piece describing the role Ducks Unlimited (DU) plays in the conserva-tion of waterfowl, as well as a large variety of other birds and wildlife. I also pointed out that DU was work-

ing closely with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) to identify and preserve wetlands in Illinois. In the latest edition of DU’s magazine, an article appeared with details of another land acquisition—Stewart

Lake—by DU, and its subsequent donation to the State of Illinois and the Illinois Audubon Society. Located adja-cent to the Sanjanois Fish and Wildlife Area in Mason County, this shallow, backwater lake is important as a wa-terfowl stopover during migration. The 1,500-acre Stewart Lake is perhaps one of the most secluded and pristine lakes in the Illinois River Valley. The western half of the lake will be donated to the IDNR, and the eastern 800 acres will go to Illinois Audubon (public access is available).

—Paul Meyer

KCA to Lead Field Trip to Nachusa Grasslands

K ane County Audubon will travel to central Illinois Saturday, June 18, to bird the Nachusa Grasslands.

Administered by The Nature Conservancy, Nachusa Grasslands is a 3,500-acre preserve of tallgrass prairie located near Franklin Grove in Lee County.

In total, the preserve is home to 700 native plant spe-cies and 180 species of birds, including Grasshopper Spar-rows, Dickcissels and Henslow’s Sparrows. Badgers, Blanding’s turtles and many other uncommon or rare animals call Nachusa home.

Scientist Ron Panzer conducted one of the world’s first successful reintroductions of the rare gorgone checker-spot butterfly at Nachusa. The butterflies were rescued from prairie fragments that were lost to development and transported to Nachusa, where they have an improved chance of long-term survival.

In October 2014, 30 bison were released at the preserve. As of July 2015, 14 calves have been born at Nachusa. (Note: The bison can be viewed from the public roadsides only. The herd roams across 500 acres of roll-ing land and are often not visible from the road.)

Many rare plants can also be found at Nachusa, including prairie bush clover, fame flower, Hill’s thistle, kit-tentails, forked aster and downy yellow-painted cup

If you want to see what Illinois looked like 200 years ago, don’t miss this field trip. We will carpool from Hickory Knolls Discover Center. We will meet at 7 a.m. Bring tick repellent!

For more information, visit http://tinyurl.com/jtrppw6.