carpodacus (from karpos, fruit, and dakos, biter) purpureus (purple)
Friday, November 14, 1980 — 8:40 am
Des Plaines, Illinois — home
I woke up this morning and was greeted by a lifer. A male Purple Finch was eating sunflower seeds on the platform feeder about 20 feet from the window.
buteo (hawk) lagopus (hare-footed)
Wednesday, November 12, 1980 — 2:30 pm
Barrington, Illinois — Crabtree Nature Center
This one was easy. I was driving along the entrance road at Crabtree when I spotted two Rough-legged Hawks. They were standing at the edge of a cornfield about 20 yards off the road. They flew to the middle of the field, landed, then flew to the far end and landed on the ground again.
accipiter (a hawk) striatus (striped)
Saturday, October 11, 1980 — 11:30 am
Barrington, Illinois — Baker’s Lake
I walked across the field on the ridge south of the lake. I saw the Sharp-shin fly straight up, like a rocket going off, alongside the trunk of a dead tree at the edge of the field near the lake. It perched on a branch for a few seconds then took off. It flew past me about 40 feet away. Its flight was a series of short wing-flaps interspersed with short glides.
vermivora (from vermis, worm, and vorare, to devour) celata (concealed, referring to orange crown)
Saturday, October 11, 1980 — 9:30 am
Barrington, Illinois — Crabtree Nature Center
This bird was a challenge. It was foraging in the brush along the start of the prairie trail. For most of the time, it was perched on and picking at the top of a dried weedstalk.
piranga (a South American name for a bird) olivacea (olive colored)
Tuesday, October 7, 1980 — 3:20 pm
Barrington, Illinois — Crabtree Nature Center
I was walking down the path from the visitor center toward Crabtree Lake. I saw the Scarlet Tanager catching a bug in mid-air. It landed in the top of a tall oak in the meadow along the path and perched there until it was scared off by a group of people walking by.
