Spring banding season has come and gone, and it seems to go so fast. The 2023 Spring season was better with the increased number of captured birds, 1860 compared to 1708 in 2022. Each year we are asked several times as to the status of birds migrating back to the...

Every banding season the question is, “What returns have we received of birds we banded in past seasons?” 2022 was a year with several migrants that returned to the Sand Bluff area. In birds that we recaptured, most notable, was an Eastern Kingbird caught in the...

The Sand Bluff Bird Observatory hawk station gained a new bit of flash this fall. It now sports a radio mast and 3 antennas, making it one of the newest receiver stations in the Motus network. The Motus network is...

Redpolls breed in the arctic tundra and boreal forests, so it is a real treat when an irruption year occurs, and the birdsseek a winter food source farther south. The last time I saw...

    Mid-October: it’s predawn, silent and cool, at ColoredSands Forest Preserve as I begin to open the netsnear the Sugar River. There is no wind, so I hear... Dec 2021 Birder

  Greetings fellow avian enthusiasts,It’s midsummer. Red-eyed Vireos, Indigo Buntings, Common Yellowthroats and many other species can yet be heard advertising their territories with song. Still, there is a sense that the season is moving on from the nesting...

  Bird watching can relieve the doldrums during the long Midwest winter months and in 2021, a pandemic. A favorite winter feeder visitor and year-round resident is the White-breasted Nuthatch; a little gray sparrow-sized bird havinga dark cap, white cheeks and...

  The fall season at SBBO has wound down and while banding was successful, we truly have missed sharing our work with visitors. Covid-19 is still an issue but there is a light at the end, and we are hopeful things will have improved by spring migration. Inthe...

  The day is the 28th of April, spring of 2020. Winter has been long and stressful, but on this day, I receive a gift that truly lifts my spirits. I amgreeted with the perky song of an old friend.It is May 9. I watch as he awkwardly maneuvers sticks into a nest...

Everyone is familiar with the Blue Jay’s striking blue color and raucous jay-jay-jay call. Listen for its musical weedle-eedle; and the next time you think you hear a Red-tailed or Red-shouldered Hawk, check to see if it’s not a Blue Jay imitating their calls. Blue...