Listing Through Life

cistothorus (from kistos, a flowering shrub, and thouros, rushing) palustris (marshy)

Wednesday, April 29, 1981 — 2:45 pm

Inverness, Illinois — Palatine Road east of Barrington Road

The large marshy area about a mile east of Barrington Road where I saw this Marsh Wren has since been incorporated into another housing development. Most of the reeds have been removed and replaced with sterile grassy edges. At the time of this sighting, it was still fairly wild. Only the roads for the housing development had been put in.

I walked and waded through the cattails for about twenty feet until I got to the edge of open water. I stood there for about twenty minutes and watched. A Sora poked out of the weeds just a few feet away and foraged through the reeds without noticing me. It was still in the area when the Marsh Wren appeared. It was right at the edge of the open water, moving about actively. It often perched between two reeds with one foot on each.

xanthocephalus (from xanthos, yellow, and kephale, head) xanthocephalus (ditto)

Friday, April 17, 1981 — 9:10 am

South Barrington, Illinois — Mundhank Road

I heard about these Yellow-headed Blackbirds on the hotline. The small marsh where they were seen is approximately a mile east of Barrington Road about three miles from Crabtree, but I had never been there. In 1981, the area was farmland. The open water was surrounded by a thick band of reeds. Three or four Yellow-headed Blackbirds were singing in the brush and reeds about thirty yards from where I stood. They occasionally glided out over the pond to land on a different perch.

This is a beautiful bird, and the Lord, to keep them from getting conceited, gave them the worst birdsong in the bird world. They puff themselves up all proud and call forth with what appears to be maximum effort. And out comes this raucous, hoarse cacophony. It sounds like a truck-full of chickens crashing through a hardware store. They sing even worse than I do.

nyctanassa (from nyks, night, and anassa, queen) violacea (violet-colored)

Wednesday, April 15, 1981 — 3:30 pm

Barrington, Illinois — Baker’s Lake

Two Yellow-crowned Night Herons were on the island in the middle of the lake, perched on a branch about 20 feet up a tree. One mounted the other and stood erect on its back for a few seconds, then flapped down into the brush that hid the lower part of the tree. A few minutes later, it reappeared, rising straight up like an elevator, wings flapping slowly; then, hovering in one spot, it turned around and landed on a branch.

bubulcus (concerning cattle) ibis (a sacred Egyptian bird)

Wednesday, April 8, 1981 — 10:30 am

Palos Hills, Illinois — Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center

I had never birded in the Palos area, so after I saw the Eurasian Wigeon, I drove around, stopping frequently at ponds, sloughs, and fields. I saw a Northern Harrier and a Turkey Vulture, among other things. I happened upon the Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center. I wasn’t impressed. It was rather run-down and crawling with kids on field trips. I walked a short loop trail that cut through a brushy area along the flooded shore of a muddy slough. In a small clearing, about 40 feet from the trail, I saw a Cattle Egret standing in mud. It bent over for a drink, then walked slowly off through the shrubs, pausing occasionally to pick at the mud.

anas (duck) penelope (a kind of duck)

Wednesday, April 8, 1981 — 9:30 am

Palos Hills, Illinois — John J. Duffy Preserve — 131st and Will-Cook Road

This Eurasian Wigeon was reported on the hotline. I drove down to the south side of Chicago and found the bird without difficulty. It was swimming and feeding in the midst of a large flock of American Wigeons in a slough filled with dead trees. It seemed to swim lower in the water than the American Wigeons. As I watched, three other birders showed up and flushed the flock. The Wigeons flew over to the other side of the slough.