Comins Lake

As if we couldn't get enough birding in during our work days at Spring Valley, nearly every day on the way back to the hotel we stopped at Comins Lake. Located in Steptoe Valley, Comins Lake is an artificial lake that was created in 1953 when Highway 93 was realigned, damming Steptoe, Cave, and Willow Creeks.


Although dormant, the plant community immediately surrounding the lake appeared rather interesting, with a dominance of rushes and sedges.


On most days, we only spent a few minutes watching waterfowl on the lake, but on a couple of occasions when I had a bit more time I walked or drove around other parts of the lake and spent more time birding. Comins Lake was very productive and played a huge part in my reaching 80 bird species for my trip list.


I simply could not get enough of the Yellow-headed Blackbirds (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus - now that's a descriptive Latin name if I've ever seen one... yellow head yellow head). These loud, obnoxious Icterids with bright yellow heads and striking white wing patches were present in large flocks every day at Comins Lake.


I'd only seen Cinnamon Teal (Anas cyanoptera, below) in books and photos, so it was a real treat to see this reddish duck on several occasions at Comins Lake. I was surpried at just how red the males were; females are quite drab, and I was really only able to identify them at long range by their association with the brightly-colored male.


Cinnamon Teals are dabbling ducks, meaning that they feed mostly at the surface. The two ducks below are diving ducks, meaning that they dive for food and often spend several seconds under water. This can be frustrating when trying to photograph them.


Above is a male Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis) in breeding plumage. This is an unmistakable duck, with its powder blue bill, red body, black cap, white face, and rudder-like tail that often sticks straight up. If ever there was a cute duck, Ruddy Duck is it.


On the opposite end of the size spectrum for diving ducks is the much larger Canvasback (Aythya valisneria). Those of you familiar with aquatic plants will recognize the specific epithet of the Latin name for Canvasback as the genus for eel grass (Vallisneria americana). The winter buds and roots of Eel grass are said to be the preferred food of this diver during the non-breeding period.


We observed one or two Common Loons (Gavia immer, above) on the lake. One of its alternate names (Great Northern Diver) provides a precise description of the habits of this bird. Common Loons can dive up to 200 feet deep in search of fish to feed upon. Growing to over three feet long, Common Loons can weigh up to 12 pounds; they are not the most graceful of birds in flight.


A common bird on Comins Lake that was intermixed with American Coot (Fulica americana, not pictured) was the Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis), known in some places at the Black-necked Grebe. The birds in the photograph above are in breeding plumage; in non-breeding plumage, they are much less spectacular, with a grayish body, whitish neck and face, and dark cap.


I only saw one gull that was close enough to identify during my trip. Bonaparte's Gulls (Chroicocephalus philadelphia, above) have black hoods when in breeding plumage, but in non-breeding plumage, as I usually see them in Indiana, they have white heads with a small black spot behind the eye. During migration, this species can be seen throughout nearly the entire United States, but to see them on breeding grounds, you would need to travel north to the taiga and boreal forest regions of Canada.


I was excited to see the bird in the photograph above, Brewer's Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus). Brewer's Blackbirds are fairly uncommon in Indiana during migration, but this species is common in the western United States during the summer (and year round in some places). Brewer's Blackbirds can be difficult to distinguish from the more eastern Rusty Blackbirds (Euphagus carolinus), but males of the former are more glossy than those of the latter, and the female Brewer's Blackbird often does not have the yellow iris (seen in the male above), whereas the female Rusty Blackbird does have a yellow iris.


Finally, as I posted previously, one of the highlights for me at Comins Lake was American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana). This shorebird is primarily a western species, but I have seen them on one occasion along Lake Michigan at Indiana Dunes State Park. The very smooth looking plumage, white eyering, and upturned bill makes these birds look cartoonish to me.


Other birds of interest at Comins Lake included Clark's Grebe (Aechmophorus clarkii), Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps), Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus), Great Egret (Casmerodius albus), Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias), White-faced Ibis (Plegadis chihi), Gadwall (Anas strepera), American Wigeon (Anas americana), Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata), Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca), Redhead (Aythya americana), Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris), Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis), Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola), Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus), Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis), Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus), Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago), Common Raven (Corvus corax), Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor), Northern Rough-winged Swallow (Stelgidopteryx serripennis), Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica), Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris), Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides), and Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta).

Zoo Birds II

In March 2009, I posted about some of the interesting birds that Lindsay encountered on a spring trip to the St. Louis Zoo. Last weekend, Lindsay and I were back in St. Louis, visiting Jenny, Frank, and Allison, and we visited the zoo for Boo at the Zoo. After all of the tricks and treats, we walked through some of the exhibits, including a couple of bird exhibits. Below are some of the birds we encountered.


One of the exhibits, located in the 1904 World's Fair Flight Cage, features birds of North American cypress swamps. This was one of the most interesting displays that I have ever seen at a zoo... both the plants and the birds are native to the cypress swamps along the Mississippi River. Usually, zoos seem to feature mostly animals native to far away, exotic places; to see an exhibit highlighting the diversity found just next door was refreshing. The bird above is a Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis), a common species that can often be found eating insects off of the backs of cows in pastures within its range.


Another bird we saw in the cypress swamp exhibit was Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis), pictured above. This was certainly the best look we've ever had at this cute duck species. One feature that really stands out on this 15" long duck is the long, paddle-like tail that often can be seen sticking straight up when a Ruddy is on the water. Ruddy Ducks are known as divers, and when they are under water searching for food, they use this broad tail as a rudder to propel them towards prey.


"Oh, look... a flamingo!" If I could get just a dollar for each time I've heard this misidentification blurted from the mouths of awestruck observers who have no idea that there could be another species of pink bird, I would be able to blog about long, exotic trips instead of vacations to a zoo! One look at the spoon-shaped bill of this bird (you may need to click on the photo to see this better) tells you that it is not a flamingo at all, but is in fact a spoonbill... a Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja), to be exact. You can see in the photo above that the nostrils are all the way at the base of the bill. This is very important, as Roseate Spoonbills feed primarily by "head-swinging" (sticking their partially open bills nearly all the way into the water and swinging them back-and-forth in arcs to create currents that bring insects, mollusks, crustaceans, etc. into feeding range). When the spoonbill feels the vibrations of its prey nearby, it closes its bill and scoops up a meal. With nostrils so far back on the bill, Roseate Spoonbills can breath while their bills are almost completely under water.


The bird above was difficult to photograph, even though we knew a covey of them was within 15 feet of us. This is a Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus). Bobwhites are often heard (they produce a whistling "bob-white" song that rises in pitch through the second syllable; but don't be fooled by a mimicking European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)), but rarely seen. They are often quite well hidden amongst grasses and brushy vegetation.

Although it is much more exhilarating to find these species flying and foraging free in nature, having an exhibit to show the unknowing public some of the beauty and diversity that is within just a couple of hundred of miles is a good idea that can really open the eyes of potentially budding naturalists. I wish more zoos had local exhibits similar to this.

Hocus Pocus

For the past several years, Lindsay and I would join Brian Miller of South Bend-Elkhart Audubon Society for a fall camping trip to Indiana Dunes on the first weekend of October. This year, Brian wanted to try something different. Instead of a camping trip, the three of us joined Pat Underwood and the Berrien Birding Club on 2 October 2010 for a field trip to Chicago to, among a few other places, a birding hotspot known as the Magic Hedge. More formally, this location is known as Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary.


After getting out of our vehicles, our view of a stormy Lake Michigan with the metropolis of Chicago as a backdrop didn't seem like such a great place to spend a blustery October morning looking for birds, but the Magic Hedge never fails to produce. A short walk from this location yielded the Magic Hedge itself, which consists mostly of non-native honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.) shrubs planted decades ago to block the view of the army barracks that previously were present. The Magic Hedge is named both for these shrubs and the fact that an abnormally high number of migrant birds find shelter here each year during migration. Although warblers and sparrows usually provide the most excitement, our highlight bird at the Magic Hedge was initially seen with a flock of gulls flying over land. As our highlight bird emerged from the flock, I noticed that it was dark in color, had narrower wings than the gulls with which it had been flying, and its wings were sharply bent at the "elbow." My first thought was Black Tern (Chlidonius niger), but I quickly realized that the bird had an extension on the tail characteristic of jaegers. Our bird turned out to be a Parasitic Jaeger (Stercorarius parasiticus), a seabird rare in the Chicago Region that is normally seen far out over Lake Michigan! With a Parasitic Jaeger and a plethora of Yellow-rumped Warblers (Dendroica coronata), Golden-crowned Kinglets (Regulus satrapa), Ruby-crowned Kinglets (Regulus calendula), and other passerines, I was so busy looking at birds that I failed to take a single photo of "the hedge" itself!


Another part of Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary consists of the beach community pictured above. Normally this is a good place to find LeConte's Sparrows (Ammodramus leconteii), Snow Buntings (Plectrophenax nivalis), and Horned Larks (Eremophila alpestris), but on this windy Chicago day any bird that we saw was blown out of view almost as quickly as it arrived.


Ring-billed Gulls (Larus delawarensis) don't normally grab my attention, but I couldn't resist a couple of photos of this one walking into the wind on a breakwall.

Our next stop was at Wooded Island, aka Paul Douglas Nature Sanctuary at Jackson Park. Our target was Monk Parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus), an escaped species that has become established at a few locations in northeast Illinois and northwest Indiana. We were able to find a nest and we saw one of the characteristic neon green feathers on an opening in the nest, but no birds were seen.


This was certainly the strangest thing we saw all day. The best we could tell, this Raccoon (Procyon lotor) had climbed 25-30 feet into this tree, into the hollowed out portion of the trunk, and couldn't get out. We were pretty sure that it was no longer alive.


Lindsay couldn't resist a couple of shots of this statuesque Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias).


At Wooded Island, we saw our first-of-season Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) having a snack in an ornamental pine tree (Pinus sp.) in the Osaka Japanese Garden.


We saw this odd couple from a distance. You can get a better look by clicking on the photo. On the left is arguably the cutest of all of the ducks, a Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis); on the right is a snake bird, a Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus).


The Parasitic Jaeger was the highlight of the day, but a close second was the insect shown above. For as long as I have known of their existence, I have wanted to see a mantidfly. Lindsay and I were behind the group birding when we noticed many in our group beginning to congregate. Wanting to know the cause of the commotion, we caught up to the group and saw the insect that had landed on a member of our field trip. As others were trying to figure out what kind of insect would have the forelegs of a mantis and the body of a fly, I blurted out "mantidfly!" This mantidfly is Dicromantispa sayi. Thanks to Ted MacRae of Beetles in the Bush for verifying my identification.


The final stop on our Saturday excursion was at the Migrant Trap, aka Hammond Lakefront Park and Bird Sanctuary in Hammond, Indiana. Like its counterpart the Magic Hedge in Chicago, the Migrant Trap is a small wooded area within highly urbanized surroundings that is a haven for migrating birds that are exhausted from their flight across Lake Michigan on their trip south for the winter. Also like the Magic Hedge proper, there aren't many botanical wonders at the Migrant Trap, but the birds don't care.


We didn't spend much time at the Migrant Trap, and most of the birds were hunkered down to stay out of the relentless winds. This Brown Creeper (Certhia americana) was out in the open but blended in quite well with the River Birch (Betula nigra) on which it was "creeping."

For the day, our group tallied 49 species:

• Double-crested Cormorant
• Great Blue Heron
• Canada Goose
• Mallard
• Ruddy Duck - one at Wooded Island
• Cooper's Hawk - at the Magic Hedge; more than we've ever seen in one place, unless the same bird flew by us 10+ times
• Red-tailed Hawk
• American Kestrel
• Peregrine Falcon - one in Illinois (at the Magic Hedge) and one in Indiana (at the Migrant Trap)
• American Coot
• Ring-billed Gull
• Parasitic Jaeger - (!) one at the Magic Hedge
• Rock Dove
• Mourning Dove
• Chimney Swift
• Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - several at the Migrant Trap
• Northern Flicker
• Eastern Phoebe
• American Crow
• Black-capped Chickadee
• Red-breasted Nuthatch - our first of the season
• White-breasted Nuthatch
• Brown Creeper
• Winter Wren - at the Migrant Trap; we didn't see it, but the group did
• Golden-crowned Kinglet - lots
• Ruby-crowned Kinglet - lots
• Hermit Thrush
• American Robin
• Gray Catbird
• European Starling
• Cedar Waxwing
• Nashville Warbler - at the Migrant Trap
• Cape May Warbler - one of the first birds seen by our group at the Magic Hedge, but Lindsay and I missed it
• Yellow-rumped Warbler - everywhere, couldn't miss 'em
• Black-throated Green Warbler - at the Migrant Trap
• Pine Warbler - one at Wooded Island
• Palm Warbler - here and there
• Blackpoll Warbler - one at the Magic Hedge, with characteristic yellow feet
• Northern Waterthrush - one at the Magic Hedge
• Eastern Towhee
• Song Sparrow
• Lincoln's Sparrow - at the Migrant Trap; the group saw it, but Lindsay and I missed it
• White-throated Sparrow - I love their songs, which are filling the air right now
• White-crowned Sparrow
• Dark-eyed Junco - many; our first of the season
• Northern Cardinal
• Rusty Blackbird
• American Goldfinch
• House Sparrow

Hocus pocus! A magical day, indeed!