Birders call them megas, as in mega-rarity, a name for the occasional OMG birds that send dedicated watchers racing for their car keys and binoculars
The younger, hotshot birders call them megas, as in mega-rarity -- their name for the occasional OMG birds that send dedicated watchers racing for their binoculars and car keys.
News of a feather I'll get to those sightings in a bit. First, let's review the year's bird-related news, leading off with the serious stuff: The Bird Conservation Network released a landmark study based on 22 years of bird census data."Breeding Bird Trends in the Chicago Region 1999-2020" calls out the importance of protected lands as critical habitat for nesting species.
Monty did not die from avian flu, but an outbreak of the virus last spring caused the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to advise a shutdown of bird feeders and bird baths. Willowbrook took in several raptors for rodenticide poisoning last winter, including a bald eagle and snowy owl. Both were released after successful treatment.
New video from Louisiana prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to pause plans for declaring the ivory-billed woodpecker extinct. Hope is still alive. Six woodpecker species, none of them an ivory-bill, were among 205 birds found on May 13 by the Big Day team of Mike Avara, Colin Dobson, Mark Vukovich and Mike Ward.
State of the Birds, mentioned above, singled out wetlands as the one habitat in which bird numbers are increasing. Kaneville Cemetery produced a white-winged dove and once again proved to be the most reliable place to find a Eurasian tree sparrow.Morton Arboretum produced cerulean warbler, northern mockingbird, blue grosbeak, western kingbird, and pileated woodpecker. Best of all was a spotted towhee in October. A brief evening grosbeak invasion in November gave birders hope for a colorful winter. These bellied up to a feeder at Sagawau Environmental Learning Center in Lemont.
Observers at the Greene Valley Forest Preserve hawk watch tallied 1,809 migrating broad-winged hawks on Sept. 26, the site's fourth-highest daily count for the species. Marsh dwelling black rails were heard in both Cook and Lake counties, and a yellow rail turned up in a Ravenswood back alley. Will County pitched in with Barrow's goldeneye, great-tailed grackle, Smith's longspur, and painted bunting, the latter at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie in Wilmington.
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