This is the story of my first big day and my first birding competition. I had read about the Southernmost Illinois Birding Blitz in the Meadowlark, a magazine that was sent out quarterly to members of the Illinois Ornithological Society. Starting then and still to this day, this event is more exciting to me than Christmas. I decided I had to put a team together. My team consisted of my wife, my youngest brother, and myself. We were probably the greenest birding team the blitz had ever seen. We only had 78 species at the end of the day but it was a great time. I spent several days prior to the event looking over ebird lists from previous birding blitzes trying to put together the best route for seeing birds. Every place we were going to be visiting was new so it was all going to be exciting regardless.
We opted to do the dawn to dusk category because there was no way my wife and little brother were going to bird any longer than 15 hours. We drove to my parents’ house in Mt. Vernon aka The Ranch where we stayed the night. I don’t believe I got very much sleep. I never do before a big day because I’m so excited. I got everyone up at 3 so we could make the hour drive to our first stop.
We started the day at Ferne Clyffe State Park. I figured we could get all of the nocturnal species we needed at this one location. Eastern Screech-Owl, Barred Owl, Great Horned Owl, Eastern Whippoorwill and Chuck Will’s Widow were all frequently reported. We managed to get the Barred Owl right away if I remember correctly. We also got Wild Turkeys. I grew up listening to Whipppoorwills singing all summer long in Mt. Vernon. It had been at least ten years since I had heard one out at the Ranch. My parents had it in their minds that the Wild Turkeys were the reason why there were no more Whippoorwills on the property. This is not the only time I have heard this theory. All of my reading points to habitat loss which has mostly affected the food source for these birds. I wanted to join a research team that studies these amazing birds but haven’t been able to get away to do so. I heard a nightjar song as soon as I opened the car door. I heard it on the other side of the lake and listened very carefully. Could it be a whipporwill? It was not a song I could forget. It sounded like one but the tune was different. It was a Chuck Will’s Widow which was a life bird for me at the time. I wonder if I ever heard these birds in my youth and didn’t know what it was. Maybe I had heard it as a kid and thought it was a variation to the Whippoorwill’s song. What if I could go back in time and list all the birds I observed as a kid?
As the sun started to creep up we saw swallows flying over the lake. Upon closer look with my very cheap binoculars I was able to identify Northern Rough-winged Swallow and Eastern Kingbird. We were going to stay at Ferne Clyffe for a few hours because I believed we could get a good deal of warblers and other songbirds there. My wife was able to photograph a Great Blue Heron on the other side of the lake. Walking along the road towards a hiking trail we heard several sparrows and Indigo Buntings. We also heard Eastern Towhee and Common Yellowthroat.
Walking along the trail we did not add too many new birds but we kept going because of how beautiful the landscape was. There was a buzzy bird in the ferny cliffs that we waited for several minutes to view. It was a Worm-eating Warbler, a lifer for all of us. We hiked pretty far on the trail and one memory I will forever have was the voice of one crow that almost spoke. We all heard a clear sound of a crow saying “ GO BACK!” over and over. We eventually did follow the bird’s advice and headed back to the lake. In the trees next to the car I saw several Yellow-rumped Warblers. I remember being a little discouraged at how slow of a start we had. Only three warbler species and it was getting to be later in the morning already. At the first location we had logged only 33 species. When I look back at this total in the future I wonder to myself how I could have missed so many birds.
The next stop was Heron Pond. We left Ferne Clyffe around 8 AM and started to add a few birds on the way. Northern Mockingbird was an important one to get because moving from hotspot to hotspot you often miss common birds you would see at home. We arrived at Heron Pond at approximately 8:30. Heron Pond was another place that was all about the views. We hiked a good way there but did not add a lot of species. We only had 22 total at this location. I did get Prothonotary Warbler, Northern Parula, Yellow-throated Vireo, and Blue-headed Vireo. We ended up heading back because my wife really needed to use the bathroom.
The next stop was Mermet Late. We arrived at 11 AM. My wife was asleep as my brother and I drove around the lake twice. We never birded the lake like this in any years after and we always had way more species. We only saw 17 species in the hour we spent there. We were able to get our first duck, the Blue-winged Teal as well as some shorebirds. The highlight was a group of 9 Willets but we also had a Spotted Sandpiper. Towards the end was a dispute between my brother and I about the identity of a hawk we saw fly over. I only saw a Red-tailed Hawk but my brother insisted it was a Broad-winged Hawk. We have no documentation so we may never know for certain but I never counted it as anything but a Red-tailed Hawk.
The next few minutes we drove a little aimlessly trying to find another spot. I remember seeing a Eurasian Collared Dove on a power line. These doves used to hang out in my neighborhood but as I’m writing this they have not been seen for a few years. Driving through a meadow towards Cypress Creek we added Eastern Meadowlark. We got to Limekiln Slough and walked through the woods a bit. We were not getting many birds but we did find some frogs. Palm Warbler was the only addition to the day list.
At 3 PM we were at Giant City State Park. This park never gets much attention from me on any blitz. We spent more time here this first visit than I ever have since. We hiked a trail and admired some of the rocks. There were a lot of other hikers out by this time. The only addition to the list here was a Louisiana Waterthrush, a bird that we should have easily gotten anywhere else had we been familiar with the song.
Next we moved on to Little Grassy Lake where we walked only a short way to add a Baltimore Oriole and Bald Eagle. Heading north towards home we made it to Williamson county to try Crab Orchard. It was about 4 PM so we still had a good amount of time before the finish time of 8:45. We hiked a trail and were finally starting to add some birds again. My wife was able to snap a photo of a Summer Tanager which may have been her favorite bird of the day. I remember spending some time watching a Red-headed Woodpecker. We saw mostly repeat birds the rest of the trail. We drove out to the causeway and added a Dickcissel to the day list. I really wanted a Black Vulture but we never saw any.
By this time my wife and brother were spent. They definitely wanted to be done and thought it was ridiculous that I wanted to keep birding. In the end they won out and we headed home. We passed a regular park and I wanted to check out the trees to possibly add any bird to the list total. I managed to get a Northern Flicker. I ran back to the car and we drove out of Blitz territory into the next county. After an hour drive we were back in Mt. Vernon to share the stories of our first blitz with the rest of the family.
There was an awards ceremony and brunch the next day that we did not attend because my wife had to work. For two more years we would be the mysterious Dawn to Dusk family of birders that no one ever saw. We had a total of 78 species for out first blitz. # of lifebirds? It would be years before I broke the 100 barrier for a big day. We could get 78 species in one stop on future blitzes.
