Field Notes: Late Summer Goodies

Juvenile Black-crowned Night-Heron. Photo by Jeff Bryant.

By Colin Dobson, CCAS President

Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a great summer and is ready to see some migrants and some beautiful fall colors! Whether it’s joining us in our Sunday Morning Bird Walks, a field trip, or other activities, we hope to see you some time this fall!

Our next upcoming field trip is to Havana on Saturday, September 3rd, leaving from Busey Woods at 6:00 am. We’ll see plenty of migrants at Sand Ridge State Forest then bird at Chautauqua and Emiquon for thousands of ducks, shorebirds, and pelicans! It should be a great trip!

Some good birds have been found around Champaign this summer and are continuing. Most importantly a juvenile Yellow-crowned Night-Heron has been hanging around with other Night-Herons the last few weeks at Kaufman Lake in Champaign! I suspect this should linger into September! Besides other goodies like Buff-breasted Sandpiper and Snowy Egret, the South Waterfowl Impoundment at Middlefork and the Eastern Swine Pond on the south side of campus have been good for shorebirds! Plenty of migrants have also already been found at Busey Woods and surrounding areas!