An unexpected experience with fourth graders from Sunny Hill School in late September prompts this month’s bird profile. We were just entering the prairie atop Galloping Hill, part of the ongoing prairie
On these waning summer evenings, one sweet birdsong often pierces the quiet that’s settling in. It belongs to the eastern wood pewee (Contopus virens), a bird that soon will depart for the
Get to know The Birds of Barrington with area naturalist, Wendy Paulson. Learn about our local bird population while enjoying the fall migration during Wendy’s upcoming schedule of guided Barrington Area Bird
Summer evening diners at one of the downtown Barrington restaurants with outdoor patios may note twitters in the sky above – not the twitter accounts regularly consulted on mobile devices, but those
On a bird walk at Crabtree Nature Center in early May, when trees still stood leafless though very warm weather had suddenly blown in, one small bird stood out like a little
Can there be a sweeter or more convincing herald of spring than the song sparrow? Certainly the bugling cries of sandhill cranes streaming overhead in March signal the emergence of fresh plant
January through April are prime months for ducks in the greater Chicago area and Barrington is no exception. Their location depends largely on where the ice is and where it is not.
Several recent appearances of an uncommon visitor to the Barrington area prompt me to add it to the growing assemblage of Barrington bird profiles. I struck out on a walk in the
Several years ago – actually, it may have been twenty! – there was a message on our voicemail from a neighbor to let me know that he had seen four eagles on
There are not a lot of birds singing this time of year. Most species have nested, raised their young, and have either scattered or are staging (gathering) in flocks before southward journeys.
For many migrant birds that nest in the Barrington area, it’s easy to predict where and when they’ll appear for their annual sojourn. Year after year, different habitats attract the species associated
Barrington hosts a fair number of large birds, ones that exceed four feet in length or six feet in wingspan. Think great blue heron, Barrington’s official town bird, or bald eagle, a
A bird that I’ve come to associate with early spring is the blue-gray gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea) , a woodland sprite that returns in early to mid-April from its wintering territory in southern
When I first became a serious birder while living in northern Virginia, I heard friends talk about the Amercian woodcock (Scolopax minor) and its extraordinary aerial displays in early spring. But I
One of the pleasures of winter birding is the search for wintering waterfowl. Ducks that have bred in wetlands at more northerly latitudes fly south to swim and forage in ponds and