Starved Rock

So on Sunday, Natalie and I got up at 6am to drive out to Starved Rock State Park which is about 2 hours west and a little south of downtown Chicago. I've been wanting to go ever since I learned that Bald Eagles go there in droves. After doing some research I realized that the Bald Eagles aren't there until October or November, but we were itching to go hiking so we went anyway. Ever since Mom and I did some bird watching at Eagle Creek I've been interested in becoming a better birder. So I've bought lots of books and read them and I bought a new pair of binoculars. So here are my birds!

The find of the day was definitely the Osprey. He was circling overhead the Illinois River next to the dam. We were on top of Starved Rock (the actual overlook) looking down into the river. I noticed him circling and with their white head and brown ocular stripe (extending from the eye) they're unmistakeable. I saw my first one at the dam at Lake Shafer around 2000 and I've always wanted to see another one.

The other find of the day was what I think was a Red-shouldered Hawk. I saw two of them on telephone poles as we were driving on the state road right outside the park. I nearly crashed the car when I saw them! Then we saw one more as we were leaving. There's a possibility that one or all of these were actually Red-Tailed Hawks - my raptor identifying skills are not highly developed. But I'm pretty sure that at least the last one was a Red-Shouldered Hawk due to its very distinctive red-shoulders. I saw him flying away low over a field and was therefore able to see his back. Also I looked very hard for the black patagial bars (on the leading edge of the underside of the wing between its "elbow" and "wrist) and red tail that identify the Red-Tailed Hawk and was unable to see it. That said, I looked at the tail and don't remember seeing the distinctive black and white striping of the Red Shouldered Hawk either. The underside of the tail is pale for both Hawks and that's all I really saw. The Red-Shouldered Hawk is significantly smaller than the Red-Tailed by about 5" in body length and 10" in wingspan but I wasn't really able to gauge their size. I did find some information that said that Red-Shouldered Hawks are known to nest in Starved Rock, but they are more commonly found in the canopy of forests whereas telephone poles over fields are more the domain of Red-Tailed Hawks. But it was right on the edge of the forest. You can see where this gets difficult. Especially since they fly away as soon as you get out of the car. This first picture is what he looked like perched. Normally Red-Shouldered Hawks have a very reddish breast, but hawks of any kind have a widely varied colored plumage so you can't rely on that alone.

Here you can see the distinctive red shoulder. The third one that I saw flying low had a back whose coloring looked very much like this, but you can see on this guy that the chest is barred in a more red color rather than pale.

My final determination might have to be that the first two were Red-Tailed Hawks and the last one was a Red-Shouldered Hawk.

Anyway. We got into the actual park and as we were leaving the visitor's center we went past the Hummingbird garden and saw plenty of them.

We then climbed Starved Rock where we saw the Osprey (and plenty of gulls). Then we climbed down and climbed up the other side of the canyon to Lover's Leap and Eagle Look and saw lots and lots of these:

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

Double-Crested Cormorant:

As we were hiking down we saw these little guys jumping all around in the brush. They were a fun identification problem because I've never seen them before so I just memorized the description: Very small, gray, long black tail, white and black barring on the wings, white ocular ring. They were so cute!

Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher

Behind us a couple of these guys chirped at us. They were slightly dull and may have been molting.

Northern Cardinal

In a clearing Natalie picked up on the American Goldfinch at the far side of the clearing. We saw another one up on the cliff walls.

Then we managed to get lost. Kind of. We were trying to find French Canyon and went down some stairs, then up, then down again...then up. But it ended up being a good thing, because at a bend in the trail this little guy caught our eye. He was very playful and seemed to like hanging upside down off the branches :)

Black-Capped Chickadee

As we were watching him, something black and white caught my eye. Then another, and another...we were within 4 feet of 3 Red-Bellied Woodpeckers. They hopped all over the place eventually flying above us. One of them was even pecking the branch he was on. You can't see here, but they really barely have a red belly - it's actually rufous (rusty) and some of them it's barely visible. Our guys' head weren't that bright either (it's not mating season).
I noticed a reddish-brown bird down in the brush near the ground with the woodpeckers and loftily explained to Natalie that the females look nothing like the males and that it was a female Red-Bellied Woodpecker. Yeah, not so much. The females look the same. I didn't get a great look at it except to say that it was strikingly rufous colored and around the same size as the woodpecker. Going on that alone, it had to have been a Brown Thrasher or Wood Thrush. The Brown Thrasher is around the size of a Mockingbird (same family) and the Wood Thrush about 4 inches smaller. The Wood Thrush's main habitat is forest, whereas the Brown Thrasher tends toward more marshy areas, but will also be found in forests. They are both ground foragers so I just can't make a determination since I was too quick to write it off as a female woodpecker and didn't look closely. I did find a few notations on the internet saying that Wood Thrushes were common at Starved Rock, but both birds are common to Illinois.

Brown Thrasher

Wood Thrush

Last find of the day (before the skies opened up) just a Common Grackle. He was difficult to identify because he was backlit on a tree way far away, but his all or mostly black coloring and tail gave him away.

So obviously, I had a blast. Next time I'll try to take pictures of the canyons and hopefully some Bald Eagles. I did try to take some this time, but they are all bad and very blurry, so you get professional photographer's pictures instead.