RedHead

Redheaded Woodpecker's in Coles County unofficially are holding their own. However in other parts of the country they are on the decline. Usually, loss of habitat is the reason for the decline in population numbers but other woodpeckers who depend on the same habitat are still doing quite well. My back yard has white, red and black oak trees plus hickorys and walnuts. I also leave standing dead trees which they use for homes. In this series of pictures a Redhead is climbing down a red oak looking for some corn that I have thrown out on the ground.
I take my pictures with a Canon 20D using a 300MM F4 IS lens. I usually have a 1.4 extender attached but with these pictures I didn't. The reason I didn't was I was fairly close and it was late in the day and very cloudy. I had the aperture wide open and had set the ISO to 400.

GreenBird

West of my house is a small pond that over the years has been silted in from neighboring farm fields. It is only 2 or 3 feet deep and literally is a frog pond. It is also a good feeding area for many birds. Today there was a Spotted Sandpiper, Solitary Sandpipers, Great Blue Heron, Killdeer, Tree Swallows, Barn Swallows, Purple Martins, and a Green Heron. A country road goes by the pond on two sides and as I drove by on my 4 wheeler I noticed a Green Heron standing on a little mud flat. I knew from past experience that motor vehicles didn't scare him but as soon as he saw me with my long lense he would be off. So I parked so he couldn't see me and carefully walked towards him. I got three or four shots off before he spied me and away he flew.

YellowShafted

The Northern Flicker is a large woodpecker and unlike other woodpeckers is often seen foraging on the ground. There are two forms -the red- shafted form occurs in the West and the yellow-shafted form in the East. I got a picture of the yellow shaft of a male showing off to a female he was courting.

Arcola Slough

Today April 26 was good day for birding at the Arcola Slough. I saw an American Bittern, a Black Crown Night Heron, Sora Rail, Green Heron, Spotted Sandpiper, several ducks, a bunch of Yellow-rumped Warblers, and Palm Warblers to name a few. Pictured is a Palm who posed nicely for me on an old fence.

Downtown Turkey

I was driving through Urbana a couple of weeks ago and walking down a subdivison street were 4 turkeys. I followed them around for a while and got a shot of this guy standing on a fence.

April 23rd Picture

White-throated Sparrow

Birds in my Backyard

Today, Sunday the 23rd I took this picture of a Great Blue flying near my little pond.

The second warbler to arrive this year in my backyard was this Yellow-rumped Warbler. He arrived on April 12. The first was the Palm on April 10.
I am showing immature Red-headed Woodpecker which in the wooded area around my home I have at least 6, an Eastern Blue Bird which I have 7 boxes with at least three nesting pairs, and a Cedar Wax Wing who was cruising through with several of his friends last week.

Birds I have photographed at Douglas Hart 2006

This Solitary Sandpiper was seen Sunday near wetlands.

Douglas Hart Nature Center is located just east of Mattoon Illinois. It has a wooded area, wetlands, and tall grass prairie. It attracts several migrating birds and it also the permanent home to many. I am presently showing a Tree Swallow looking over a new Blue Bird Box. I will be posting more pictures later.

Rare sighting in Coles County

On April 15 I was contacted that a pair of Whooping Cranes had been seen SW of Lake Charleston near the Embarras River. I visited the site meeting other birders and sure enough they were there. It began to rain so I had to leave, but the next morning (Easter Sunday) I returned and they were still there. I had the good luck to photograph them and also hear their call a loud bugling. The photographs showed banding. At this time I think they are probably migrating from Florida to Wisconsin but I will need to double check this.