toxostoma (from toxon, bow, and stema, bill) rufum (red or rufous)
Tuesday, August 28, 1979 — 5:30 pm
Northbrook, Illinois — residential area
I saw this Brown Thrasher while on my roofing job. I call it a residential area, but that doesn’t describe it very well. It was a very posh neighborhood, with lots of three or four acres. The Brown Thrasher was feeding in the front yard, in the middle of the large expanse of lawn.
spizella (finch) pusilla (very small)
Sunday, August 19, 1979 — 10:00 am
Barrington, Illinois — Crabtree Nature Center
This Field Sparrow was feeding on sunflowers planted along the fence row between the apple orchard and a large field near the observation deck.
buteo (hawk) lineatus (striped)
Sunday, August 19, 1979 — 8:30 am
Barrington, Illinois — Crabtree Nature Center
I confess. This sighting is tainted. The bird had been raised in captivity and released only a few days before. It was a good deal tamer than normal. It sat on a branch of a dead tree on the island in Sulky Pond and ignored me I stood on the path, maybe 25 yards away. I think I even had some i.d. tips from the park naturalist to help us figure out what it was.
Now for the real thing:
Sunday, March 2, 1980 — 3:00 pm
Waukegan, Illinois — Illinois Beach State Park
An adult Red-shouldered Hawk was sitting in a lone dead tree in a marsh along the entrance road. I stopped the car, and looked at it for a while. When I got out for a closer look, it took off. It flew to three different perches as I followed, dropping down after take-off, flying just above the reeds, then rising just before landing on its next perch.
myiarchus (from myia, fly, and archos, chief, ruler) crinitus (hair)
Saturday, August 18, 1979 — 6:00 pm
Barrington, Illinois — Crabtree Nature Center
These birds were flycatching perch to perch in some tiny trees in a meadow next to Turkey Foot Prairie.
icterus (jaundice, the name given to a small, yellow bird by ancients, the sight of which, according to tradition, cured jaundiced persons, at which the bird died) galbula (a small yellow bird)
Saturday, August 18, 1979 — 5:30 pm
Barrington, Illinois — Crabtree Nature Center
My records seem to indicate that I spent eight hours at Crabtree this day. It is difficult for me to understand how I could spend that much time and only see three new birds. On the other hand, it may well be that I left and came back. I did that sort of thing in those days.
Six Baltimore Orioles were foraging in the small trees and bushes by the marsh along the bus parking lot.
