A Very Big Day

Sixteen young birders and their families rose well before sunrise to meet our guest field trip leader, Beau Schaefer, at Illinois Beach State Park (IBSP) – South Unit for our first ever Big Day. Beau is a veteran of Lake County Big Days and we would take advantage of his expertise throughout the day. We gathered in the parking lot at 4am to briefly go over our itinerary as Eastern Whip-poor-Wills began to call around us. We listened for Eastern Screech-Owl, but were instead serenaded by a displaying Wilson’s Snipe. We walked up the road to try for rails, but heard none on a breezy morning.

Our next stop was Waukegan Beach where we were treated to an endangered Piping Plover on nest. Standing near the pier, we picked up the swallow slam, watched nesting Common Terns flyby at close range, and spotted a flyby White-rumped Sandpiper and Black-crowned Night-Heron. Brewer’s Blackbirds and an Eastern Meadowlark foraged in the grass.

We moved onto Greenwood Ave. where we heard calling Dickcissels and watched a Peregrine Falcon fly onto a smokestack at the power plant. Some of our young birders spotted brightly colored European Goldfinches near the pines.

From there, we made our way to Lyons Woods, where we picked up a trio of breeding warblers – Hooded, Blue-winged, and Chestnut-sided. A walk through the woods also netted singing Scarlet Tanager.

Back at IBSP – South Unit, we walked through the dunes to find Grasshopper Sparrow and noticed a Forster’s Tern at the mouth of the Dead River. The walk back to the cars turned up perhaps the biggest surprise of the day, a late Hermit Thrush.

We then visited IBSP – North Unit where two suprise Redheads were on Sand Pond. In the grasses near the Hawk Watch, we heard singing Henslow’s Sparrows and found our only Eastern Phoebe of the day.

Our final stop before lunch was Spring Bluff Forest Preserve where we picked up Semipalmated Sandpipers, Great Egrets, and a singing Alder Flycatcher. “Ree-beea!”

After lunch, we made our way to Crawford Rd. for its specialty, Vesper Sparrow. Sure enough, we found one bathing in dirt on the side of the road and another singing across the agricultural field.

At Rollins Savanna, we added several waterfowl including breeding Trumpeter Swans and their four cygnets, Gadwall, and Pied-billed Grebes. Here, we were treated to the bubbly songs of Bobolinks.

As the temperatures soared into the 90s, we headed for the shade of Daniel Wright Woods. There we heard singing Red-eyed Vireos and Acadian Flycatcher.

Despite being just two shy of the century mark, we called it quits at about 5pm. Our final tally ended up being 98.