Prairie companions

Today I visited the largest prairie restoration east of the Mississippi River. Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie is near Joliet, Ill., on the site of the former Joliet Army Ammunition Plant. The 19,000-plus acre preserve was created in the 1990s.

I went seeking three life birds and came away with two of them(!). I saw a Bell's vireo at the parking lot at the Explosives Road trailhead and later recorded a Henslow's sparrow along the Henslow's Trail. Both are uncommon and elusive, most often heard and not seen in their very specific habitat. Alas, I did not see an upland sandpiper, which are apparently even more scarce at Midewin now than ever. I also missed out on loggerhead shrike, at the northern extent of its range.

Still, it was a beautiful morning, with lots of singing dickcissels (above) and many other prairie birds. Other highlights included: about 30 bobolinks on the Henslow's Trail, grasshopper sparrow most everywhere and a male orchard oriole. I also encountered a number of ticks and managed to (mostly) keep them at bay.

Online birding

Fickle weather is one reliable aspect of a Midwest spring migration. Since March, we've seen cold, heat, cold again, heat again and now cold once more. My birding this spring has been inconsistent, too, in terms of number of species and the number of days I've spent in the field. One constant has been my enjoyment of eBird, the real-time online checklist program. EBird makes it easy to keep track of birds, and ensures that sightings are added to the scientific record. Birders can compare their sightings with other birders in their community and sort their lists by hotspot and species. So I know I've seen 91 total species this year while submitting 13 lists. I'm tied for 50th in Cook County with 77 species.

Among the highlights this spring: three singing blue-winged warblers at Indiana Dunes' Heron Rookery Trail (above). No Swainson's thrush and nary a vireo all spring, but nice sightings of orchard oriole, tennessee warbler and black-throated blue warbler. And two more species for the yard list: least flycatcher and american goldfinch. And in a non-avian note, I saw a white-tailed deer at Montrose this week, a first for me there.