lophodytes (from lophos crest, and dytes, diver) cucullatus (hooded)
Wednesday, November 14, 1979 — 10:30 am
Deerfield, Illinois — pond next to I-94
I walked across a cornfield to get a closer look at some ducks I’d seen swimming in a pond along the highway. They turned out to be Ring-neck Ducks, and they flushed and flew away as soon as I got there. But then I saw two Hooded Mergansers swimming and diving in the same pond.
aythya (a seabird) collaris (the neck, with collar)
Wednesday, November 14, 1979 — 10:30 am
Deerfield, Illinois — pond next to I-94
I noticed several ducks swimming in a small pond next to the tollway. I didn’t know what they were, so I went to check them out. When I parked and walked across a cornfield, I saw six Ring-neck Ducks swimming in the open section. They flushed and took off, running across the surface to get airborne.
As an interesting side note, that pond is no longer there (as of about 1990). It is now a small hill built to shield a housing development from the tollway.
spizella (finch) arborea (trees)
Tuesday, October 30, 1979 — 10:00 am
Barrington, Illinois — Crabtree Nature Center
This sparrow was moving around in a row of bushes, approximately 12 feet off the ground, between Bulrush Pond and Turkey Foot Prairie.
larus (a ravenous seabird) delawarensis (of Delaware)
Tuesday, October 30, 1979 — 9:00 am
Barrington, Illinois — Crabtree Nature Center
These Ring-billed Gulls were swimming in Crabtree Lake.
ixoreus (from ixos, mistletoe, and oreos, mountains) naevius (varied)
Sunday, October 28, 1979 — 1:00 pm
Des Plaines, Illinois
Again, checking the action out my bedroom window paid off. I had just gotten back from church when I spotted this bird. Varied Thrushes live west of the Rockies, and as far as I knew, shouldn’t have been anywhere near Des Plaines. I found out later that they are rare but regular wanderers. Every winter, a handful of them show up anywhere from Nebraska to the East Coast. But what are the chances of one showing up in my backyard just months after I started birding? I knew what it looked like from field guides and recognized it quickly.
What appears below is the original note that I wrote that day. “First noticed when it landed in top of tall tree. I thought it was a Robin. It flew to the crab apple tree behind the shed, on a low branch facing away from me and looking to its right. I distinctly saw a dark crown, orange stripe above the eye, black eye stripe and orange beneath that. I noticed gray-black wings with orange bars and a gray back and tail. It stayed for about a minute, then flew off. Not believing, I looked at every other bird in the book. The closest was the Bullock’s Oriole, but this bird was larger, Robin-shaped with a Robin-like bill. It had no orange rump and no white on the wings. Whether or not anyone believes me, I am convinced. My first rare bird — what beginner’s luck!!
I went outside and tried to find it again without success. I debated long and hard with myself whether to put this bird on my life list, and obviously, I decided to do so. But I will be happy when I see another Varied Thrush some day.
UPDATE: I finally saw another Varied Thrush in Colorado on January 1, 2018. It had been discovered by another birder the day before, hanging out along a creek in Cheyenne Canyon just outside Colorado Springs. I had it in view for about 10 minutes and even took photos. There will be no second-guessing this time!
