Birds and books fill a memorable May
(published 6-12-24)
Miller Woods, Indiana Dunes National Park |
Two books also kept me from my writing table. First came
“The Bald Eagle: The Improbable Journey of America’s Bird,” a 400-pager by Jack
E. Davis, a Pulitzer Prize winner.
The Bald Eagle is quite the recovery story, a great victory
for conservation. Davis covers that, of course, and tons of other information. Benjamin
Franklin, I learned, did not formally propose the Wild Turkey as our national
bird, and even today the Bald Eagle does not officially hold that title.
My first eagle sighting in the wild came in South Carolina
in 1996. I’ll never forget it. Now we see Bald Eagles regularly in the Chicago
region. Amazing! I even have the species on my yard list (just once, a distant
flyover).
Bald Eagle by Sid Padgaonkar |
On Mother’s Day, our family was dining at Village Links in Glen Ellyn when an adult eagle cruised low across the 18th fairway. The bird then put on a show, circling over the patio for all to see.
An immature Bald Eagle—just as large but without the white
head and tail—visited Cantigny Golf in Wheaton during the Spring Bird Count on
May 4, wowing our group as it sparred with a pesky Red-tailed Hawk.
Eagles came back from the brink of extinction. The Passenger
Pigeon wasn’t so lucky.
Exactly 10 years ago we were commemorating the 100th
anniversary of the last Passenger Pigeon on earth. Her name was Martha, and
today she’s inside a glass display case at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of
Natural History. I visited her in April.
Seeing Martha is both a sad and inspiring experience. She is
a star, an icon, the last of her kind. How could the most abundant bird species
on earth be made extinct in only 50 years? It’s true: In1850, up to 5 billion
pigeons rules the skies; by 1900, virtually none.
Martha |
Spring birding was ramping up when I returned from Washington, with Martha still on my mind. The migration started early, confirmed by a backyard hummingbird on April 30, a week sooner than usual. For once my nectar feeder was ready but she zipped right by.
A Baltimore Oriole discovered the sweet treat instead,
prompting me to lay out the grape jelly. Wouldn’t you know, the jelly went
untouched all month. Maybe it was the brand. I have a friend who swears that
orioles only like Welch’s.
Early-morning backyard birding was productive. MTVs
(most-treasured visitors) were Red-headed Woodpecker, Common Yellowthroat, and
Wilson’s Warbler. None were first-time guests but all three were coffee
spillers. Male Scarlet Tanagers dazzled me two days in a row.
Another fine moment came while jogging on the Illinois
Prairie Path, between Glen Ellyn and Lombard. Not far off I heard a singing
Wood Thrush, a declining species with a heavenly voice. I floated on air for
the next mile.
Picking the region’s bird of the month is easy: Black-tailed
Gull, spotted May 29 at Waukegan Beach by Matt Tobin. Hundreds of birders got a
look, a lifer for most.
Black-tailed Gull by Matt Zuro |
Wisconsin tempted Illinois birders with two remarkable first
state records, Varied Bunting and Bar-tailed Godwit. The bunting was in
Grafton, just north of Milwaukee; the godwit turned up near Hartford.
I attended my fourth Indiana Dunes Birding Festival May
17-19. Attendance hit 750 for the festival’s 10th anniversary, a new
record. I go for a lot of reasons, and one is Cerulean Warbler. Indiana Dunes
State Park is a great place for it—you almost can’t miss, and I didn’t. The
festival’s surprise bird was Tricolored Heron, one of 189 species recorded.
On the last day of the fest, I birded Miller Woods in Gary,
a wonderful preserve near Lake Michigan, inside the national park. I’d never
been and will surely go back. Highlights included more Red-headed Woodpeckers
than we could count, a wailing Pied-billed Grebe in courtship mode, and a
handsome lizard that our excellent guide Michael Topp identified as a Six-lined
Racerunner.
Chicago Birding Alliance (formerly Chicago Audubon) exhibited
at the festival marketplace, rallying support for new regulations that will
help make Chicago safer for migrating birds. It also dropped a news bomb:
Chicago, finally, is getting a birding festival of its own. CBA is partnering
with several other birding organizations to stage the inaugural Urban Birding
Festival, Sept. 14-15. Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum will be home base.
For now, it’s all about the red-eyed bugs, and that’s OK. Turns
out the cicadas are saving me money. They’re good eating! For the birds, I
mean. I haven’t refilled my sunflower feeder in 10 days.
Copyright 2024 by Jeff Reiter. All rights reserved.