Each year there are numerous birds that fly through the state of Illinois that are considered rarities and really should not be in our area. December 2024 Birder

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. In June, I visited Sand Bluff and was awed by the beautiful prairie flowers, butterflies and voluminous song of cicadas singing in the woods.  August 2024 Birder

Hello fellow Bird Lovers! There are signs of spring in the air. Northern Cardinals and House Finches are practicing their songs, Red-winged Blackbirds are trickling in and Sand Hill Cranes are showing up in pairs. It’s time to shake off winter’s cold, leave our...

Sand Bluff’s fall migration season has come to an end. This year has been exceptional for both spring and fall. Spring numbers of 1,860 new birds and Fall’s 3,087 gave us a total of 4,947 new birds for the year and add in 1,469 retraps gave us a grand total of 6,416...

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...