Where can all 15 species of cranes that exist in the world be viewed in one location? At the International Crane Foundation (ICF)

in Baraboo, Wisconsin, of course! You’re invited to travel to see these cranes with McHenry County Audubon on Sunday, July 11,

2010. One highlight of the tour will be the newly opened African Crane exhibit. Randy and Nancy Schietzelt are leading this trip

and planning on the following schedule.

Participants need to be aware that the tour will take place rain or shine. The fee will be $7.00 which will need to be collected

before the tour begins, so it will be helpful to have correct change. Please call (815-356-1710) or email (buroak@owc.net) the

Schietzelts by Thursday, July 8th if you plan go with the group. More information about ICF is available at www.savingcranes.org.

The McHenry County Green Drinks group gathers monthly upstairs at Duke’s

Alehouse & Kitchen, 110 N Main Street in Crystal Lake. We welcome folks from all

over McHenry County. (oh, heck - we’ll welcome you even if you’re from the Windy

City... or Wisconsin... or wherever!)

Preset drink menu includes fun, food and friends, info and inspiration, business

and pleasure. Come talk about “greening” the future with others. Must be 21 to purchase alcohol. Non-alcoholic drinks are

available, of course! We have an information table set up, and you are welcome to bring information about your green products

and services each month to share. Additional parking is available at the train station.

For more information on Green Drinks and how it is gathering interested people from all over the world (currently over 640 groups

meet monthly!) go to www.greendrinks.org For local information, check with the Environmental Defenders of McHenry County:

GreenDrinks@mcdefenders.net. Subsequent gatherings to be held on the 1st Wednesday of each month - August 4th,

September 1st, etc. all at Dukes Alehouse in downtown Crystal Lake, Illinois.

7:15 a.m. – Meet in the parking lot at MCC near the entrance to the Conference Center to carpool to WI

7:30 a.m. – Departure time

10:00 a.m. – Walk and bird around the Leopold Shack and Leopold Center near Portage

11:30 a.m. – Depart for Baraboo

12:00 noon – Lunch at Log Cabin Restaurant in Baraboo

1:30 p.m. – Begin guided tour at ICF

3:30 p.m. – Leave for home

Members of the McHenry County Chapter of Illinois Audubon Society (IAS) collectively donated $1,095 to help oil-slicked birds

along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Members of the local Audubon group made these donations in response to a challenge

individuals from McHenry County Audubon made contributions on top of MCA’s original $100 club donation for a total of nearly

$1,200!

Contributions were sent through American Birding Association - www.aba.org/donate/gulf.php - where “95% of the funds donated

to the Gulf Coast fund will go directly to Gulf area bird monitoring and recovery efforts.” The donations are tax deductible but the

motivation from MCA’s club members is much more personal. Several members of McHenry County Audubon have enjoyed

birding in the Gulf area over the years. According to MCA donor Lori Valus of McHenry, “The pictures of the oily birds down there

make me cry! I saw and swam with beautiful green sea turtles in Hawaii in January and the pictures of those dead sea turtles

washing up on shore make me sick...”

American Birding Association has been involved in leading strategy sessions designed to bring environmental leaders in

Washington D.C. together with environmental organizations of all persuasions. According to a May 19 ABA press release, “Several

National Wildlife Refuges are in the immediate damage zone of the spill... They are home to sandhill cranes, brown pelicans,

more than 30 species of sea birds and shore birds, and over 340 species of birds that rely on the wetland areas, especially during

spring and autumn migration. The entire Gulf Coast NWR Complex is at risk.”

According to David Hartley, Director of Communications for American Birding Association “We have at this point

(June 22) received nearly $42,000 and distributed over half of the total to three organizations in Louisiana on

the ground doing monitoring work, as well as to cover our Gulf Coast Coordinator’s efforts in the region.

The three organizations are Barataria Terrebonne Estuary Program, Louisiana State University’s Bird

Resource Center and Baton Rouge Audubon Society.” For details on the organizations’ projects and ABA

funds distributed, visit http://www.aba.org/gulf/where.html. Hartley adds “ABA coordinator, Drew

Wheelan, will be moving into Alabama and Mississippi to start working with organizations and efforts

in these states. ABA will make more distributions once the need is fully understood in these states as

well as Florida, which is just starting to get hit with oil.” For the latest on American Birding

Association’s efforts in the Gulf visit http://www.aba.org/gulf.

The McHenry County Chapter of Illinois Audubon Society, the county’s oldest environmental

organization, was formed in 1961 to foster the education and appreciation of natural history in McHenry

County. For more information visit www.McHenryAudubon.org and www.IllinoisAudubon.org.

been tempted to recheck their calendars! Forty degree temperatures, howling winds, rain and eventually some hail seemed

reminiscent of some winter counts…not early May. Yet as the wind deadened many bird calls and the rain kept some species

hunkered down, our group of adventurous birders still found some great birds!

As bodies warmed and clothing dried, a review of the day’s sightings revealed that 161 species and over 23,000 individual birds

had been found! Our total species count of 161 was actually higher than the last three years of totals between 155 and 158.

There were many highlights of the day. Birds that were new to our McHenry County Spring Count or not seen in many years included

a bald eagle, peregrine falcon, least bittern, Wilson’s phalarope, and a pileated woodpecker! Other good finds included

single counts of a red breasted merganser, least bittern, semi-palmated sandpiper, Bonaparte’s gull, sanderling, Forester tern,

brown creeper, Louisiana waterthrush and a late but beautiful Lapland longspur! Because of the abundance of marsh and

wetlands in our county, we continued to have an excellent number of sandhill cranes reported. This year’s total was 76!

As far as species groups, we had a disappointing show of ducks, mainly due to work around

Vulcan Lakes. The bright spot was success with wood warblers. Led by the Crystal Lake

Team’s amazing find of 20 species, we ended up with 23 warbler Species.

Thanks to the captains who once again fielded teams to cover their areas throughout McHenry

County. They included Vicki Buchwald, Karen Lund, Maggie and Doug Crane, Jim Turner, Walt

Dembos, Dwight Dalton, Susan Tauck and Ann Lange. A special thanks goes out to Dwight Dalton for

hosting our tally night.

Thanks for everyone’s help!

If the old saying ‘you should have been here yesterday’ has any truth to it, then you should have been at Marengo

Ridge for the birding Saturday. Eight of us birded and several had life birds. We were looking for warblers and found

and heard some good ones. We had long looks at several blue-winged warblers which was a lifer for many. Then

saw/heard seven other warblers. Other great birds: red-headed woodpeckers, white-eyed vireo, tufted titmouse, scarlet

tanagers, rose-breasted grosbeaks, and Baltimore orioles. All told we had 41 species. And the real plus—sunshine and

warmer!! Thanks for coming to Maggie, Susan, Nancy, Myrna, Tom, Mark and Lorraine.

McHenry County Audubon Society took part in the

Algonquin Community Conservation Day on June 18,

2010. Randy and Nancy Schietzelt manned the

educational display at the event attended by area

residents. In the photo at left, Randy is preparing to

show two young participants the nesting cavity of a

downy woodpecker.

woodpecker, blue jay, white-breasted nuthatch, wood thrush (heard), American robin, starling,

northern cardinal, common grackle, chipping sparrow, house finch, American goldfinch, house

sparrow and white crowned sparrow. A wren occupied her own house close to

the patio and made herself easily heard. Eastern chipmunks ran around out

on the patio and a green frog was spotted in the koi pond along with the

resident fish. To be fair, we need to add Tami and Gregg’s 5 cats (although not

all were seen!) and the neighbor’s dog to the list of critters! The

neighbor’s cat even showed up to greet everyone! Thank you to all of the

members who attended: Darlene, Lorraine and Mark, Walt, Frances,

Mercedes, Nancy and Randy S., Dwight, Myrna and Nancy L.

Stacy Iwanicki has graciously volunteered to be the Crane Count Coordinator starting in April of 2011. Please

contact her at boglady@wonderwave.net or 815-344-1294 to volunteer for a census site or ask any questions.

May 9th-

On Mother’s Day, around 1:00pm, our neighbor rang our doorbell to show us

pictures he had just taken of a turkey leaving our yard.

Here we were sitting inside totally unaware! We live in Johnsburg, just north of

Ringwood Road and two blocks east of Spring Grove Road.

Where this guy came from we have no idea, but he has been back. At least the

fact that our platform feeder is completely empty some mornings tells us that

he’s been here probably around dawn.

Sunday, May 22nd-

This photo was taken during my McHenry

Dam walk. The red-wingeds clearly did

not want the sandhills there!

Wednesday, May 26th-

Not a bird sighting, but neat anyway. While driving

home from work, spotted a coyote in broad

daylight mousing along the side of Stearns School

Road in Gurnee, just a mile or so west of Gurnee Mills

Mall. Really had a beautiful coat, especially in the late

afternoon sun.

May 25th-

Went over to Coral Woods on and again this year

found nesting Acadian flycatchers. Two males were

calling in the trees trying hard to outcall the noisy

red-eyed vireos. To find the

flycatchers, start down the path

past the bathrooms, take a left on

the Nature Trail, go through the

meadow and follow the trail

about 200 yards. If you get to the

bench along the trail you are a

bit too far.

The other day I saw a rather plain dull brown bird with

gray streaking on its breast land on the edge of our

bird bath. Dag nab it, an immature cowbird. In a few

seconds along came a female cardinal and fed the

young cowbird. At that moment I wished I had my Daisy

red rider bee bee gun.... but alas, I’d probably hit the “wrong”

bird, or shoot my eye out. Cowbirds seem more numerous this

year in our yard here in Crystal Lake. Did you know that the female

cowbirds don’t even make their own nests yet produce up to 40 eggs

annually, plopping them in the nests of other birds? They are probably off

getting their nails painted while someone else raises their kids. What

kind of deal is that?

Sunday, May 22nd-

As I was driving along Rt.173, east of Hebron, I was

surprised to see a male yellow-headed blackbird

flying across the road in front of me. Later that

morning along Lake Geneva, got good looks at three

black terns flying around Williams Bay. They were quite

close to shore — no need for binoculars. Nearby there

was a mallard hen keeping an eye on her 14 newlyhatched

puffballs.

My daughter has a dove nesting in a hanging flower

basket on her front porch, and the 2 babies are the

first brood. In fact I know they sometimes nest into

September !! This photo is of the first brood—and

yesterday we found she had a second pair of young

‘uns. Last year Jennifer named the mama and papa

King Henry VII and his Queen Elizabeth because she

had just gotten back from London. So this year, the

first babies were Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.

So the newest pair are Henry and Anne Boleyn!

Maybe we’ll get to the third brood this year!

Following up on the reported yellow-headed

blackbirds at Goose Lake Conservation area on

Rte 173, Maggie and I spotted three in short

order from the pull off between the cornfields on

Memorial Day weekend. A safe place to park but

you will need a scope to see the birds at the

East end of the pond area. One can also walk

down the Hebron Trail, the West end has

parking off Seaman Rd, which will bring you right to

the pond and a small observation platform. Look

Southeast from there.

June 17th-

I scared up a covey of three gray partridges at the Land

Conservancys’ Land of Oz preserve near Marengo. This is a 60

acre marsh surrounded by farm fields that still have

significant corn on the ground from last fall. Additional

sightings of a pheasant, woodcock, and many shotgun

shells imply this area is good for upland game birds.

Randy Schietzelt stopped by to pick something up and I asked him to help me identify a call I

was hearing out back. He said it was a red-eyed vireo “and you’re lucky to have one.” HA,

lucky ? From sunrise to almost dawn this creature, that I have yet to find in the dense leafed

out trees, has the most monotonous song I can think of: “look-up, way-up, tree-top, see-me,

here-I-am,” “look-up, way-up, tree-top, see-me, here-I-am,””look-up, way-up, treetop,

see-me, here-I-am,””look-up, way-up, tree-top, see-me, here-I-am,” Forty

time a minute I’ve read. It’s driving me nuts actually. Reminds me of a little

kid, tugging at my pants leg, “Look at me” over and over and over. AND, I’ve

read it eats fruit. It better stay away from the wild black raspberries... that

would be the last straw! LUCKY, yeah right!

May 2nd-

We had a red headed woodpecker at

our feeder in the morning and later in

the afternoon. What a beauty!

June 20th-

I walked my Coral Woods bluebird trail this morning.

While in the grassland area, I heard what I thought was a

mockingbird along the tree & shrub line, but couldn’t see

it and eventually convinced myself it was a brown thrasher

with aspirations. However, as I returned to my car, I found

the mocker perched along the restricted trail leading back

to the MCCD maintenance/volunteer parking lot. He was

having a sing-off with a rose-breasted grosbeak; each

seemed like it was trying to sing louder than the other. Of

course, once I retrieved my camera from the car, he had

moved into denser vegetation. I usually have my camera

with me; but there were nestboxes to repair, and I lugged

along the tool kit instead.

There was a recent mockingbird sighting at a Bull Valley

(Woodstock area) residence; possibly this is the same

bird.

Coral Woods is on Coral Rd. between Rte. 23 and Rte.

20, south of Marengo.

June 6th -

wishing well and then flew to the driveway to pick up insects and then flew to

look over the birdbath. He’s been there for 1/2 hour. Amazing!!

May 5th -

I had a Northern mockingbird in my backyard in Woodstock. It

stayed for four days feasting on grape jelly and enjoying the

birdbath. Just when I thought it was going to stay, it left. I did not

realize the bird was a rarity here until a couple of experienced

birders at the feeder watch were surprised that I saw one. They

said to put the observation on record. Looking at it for the few

days it was here was quite a treat!

June 21st -

While hiking at Saguaro West National Park

near Tucson, I noticed a black-tailed

gnatcatcher that was flitting about in a bush

by the trail. To get a decent photo I tried

“phishing” to get him into a better position.

You know “phishing”, where you mimic the

alarm calls of small birds like wrens.

Curious birds then come over and see what

the commotion is all about. So I try that, and

a second gnatcatcher flies into the bush.

Hey, it worked! So, I’ve got their behavior

figured out. Right? Then the two birds start

mating. Ok, well, I guess I have no idea if my

“phishing” really worked or not.

June 12th -

I was out on my patio at about 10:00am and something orange colored startled

me. I looked up to see a beautiful red fox trotting by about 40 feet away, looking at

me too! It seems I have seen a lot more of them this spring and summer.