Vertebrate Zoology Journal #5- Lincoln Land Community College Grounds

Lincoln Land Community College

Tuesday, September 13, 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM

Temperatures: 82-85 degrees Fahrenheit

It's been  two busy weeks since I last wrote a blogpost (though you saw it later than that), and I am very far behind.  Fall birds and fall homework have both begun in earnest.  Thankfully, Lincoln Land Community College is a great place for both.  This is the only community college in Illinois with a bird banding program, run by renowned bird expert Vern Kleen.  For more information, see here.

We started our hike at the bird banding station, where this House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) was released. They also had a Swainson's Thrush, an Eastern Wood-Pewee, and a Black-capped Chickadee, which were all banded and released swiftly.  While there, I spotted a dark shape up in the sky, and it turned out to be a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), with an oddly torn tail:

We walked along the edge of the woods for a bit, but there were few birds of note.  Birds, indeed, were all that we saw.  There were a few House Sparrows and House Finches, five Blue Jays, three American Crows, and about four Chimney Swifts.  A Red-bellied Woodpecker, two Northern Cardinals, three Black-capped Chickadees, and a Downy Woodpecker were heard calling as we walked through the woods.  For one reason or another, including even getting a phone call in the middle of my taking a picture, I got very few photos from that section.  The 'common-ness' of these birds also played a factor in my lack of pictures.  I did find a beehive, however, so that was exciting:

We  saw four American Crows sitting up in a tree, occasionally diving at a well-concealed bird.  Hoping for an owl, we instead found this Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) after a bit of looking.

Considering the size of the grove of trees, without the mob of crows (and a couple of Blue Jays that joined in at the end) we would never have found this hawk:

We also spotted an Eastern Phoebe and a White-breasted Nuthatch in the trees nearby.  Near this point, behind Mason Hall, we discovered a small flock of House Sparrows and Chipping Sparrows, about fifteen and five, respectively.  We then crossed back over the parking lot towards the gym, where we discovered six immature Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis), products of the local nest boxes:

These bluebirds can be seen seemingly everywhere on campus, ironically except where the banding nets are located.  They especially enjoy hunting bugs in the athletic fields:

Overhead, we spotted a couple of Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) and zooming in on top of a nearby cell tower,  I spotted several more.  Some days, depending on the winds, over a hundred Turkey Vultures circle over Lincoln Land's campus.  They roost in the trees to the south and east at night, it seems.  In the morning and evening, they are easiest to see in great numbers.

As we walked back, fifteen Canada Geese flew overhead and landed in the pond.  While looking up at them, we also spotted this lone vulture, sitting on the power lights.  It wasn't a great success of a trip, but this was all the way back in early September.  I've had better luck since...

Ebird Checklist:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31572164