I know what it is!

The "Mystery Bird" was just a Goldfinch. I emailed the Illinois Ornithological Society and I got a reply saying, "The bird is indeed an American Goldfinch as you first suspected.  They have a few different looks depending on the season.

Best wishes,
Geoff Williamson for IOS".

It was very disappointing, seeing as I worked on finding out what it was for at least a month. Happy birding anyway!

-Mr. Bird

Mystery Bird

Do you know what this is? I don't. It has olive shoulders, an olive white back, and a white rump with a yellow spot. It's about the size of a Goldfinch:

Notice the white wing bars, and the yellow neck. What are you, bird?!? The House Finch which shouldn't be there.

This is another picture from the side:

The mystery bird strikes back

It's not a Goldfinch though; the head, rump and wing bar's pattern do not match. It also looked as though it had a crest at one point, but I think that was just hurricane/superstorm Sandy's wind. Please comment if you think you know what it is. Thanks!

-Mr. Bird

A Goshawk in Illinois?

Can you believe this? I strolled outside to let our dog in, and guess what greets me? An American Crow chasing a Northern Goshawk! Goshawks are really rare in IL. That's insane! That happened just this morning.


-Mr. Bird

P.S.: Sorry I couldn't get a picture. I was totally unprepared! :)

Ah.../Nuthatches

Ah... nothing like a dreary, rainy, fall day. And I only say that because I'm so used to hot, dry, summer days. But this, oh, it's really nice. We have a White-Breasted Nuthatch living in our tree. I named him Nutty. Nuthatches have an unusual habit of descending trees upside-down. I think it's actually fascinating. These are pictures:

This is the male.

This is the female.

The related Red-Breasted Nuthatch is actually closer related to the European Pygmy Nuthatch than to the White-Breasted Nuthatch. These are pictures of them:

This is a male, too.

This is a female of the Red-Breasted Nuthatch.

Now that I've showed you pictures, maybe you can spot them. As I've said before (twice), happy birding!

-Mr. Bird

BBFG Ideas

Dear reader,

I was thinking, and I decided on some ideas for the club. We could start feather collections, donate money, or I could host a get-together on the day a birding station in our area is having a festival, celebration, etc. I will be brainstorming lots, so if I have a good idea, I'll post it. If you have a good idea, comment on this blog post, and I will probably say yes. Happy birding!

-Mr. Bird

I really don't like squirrels. Honest.

There is a squirrel that comes to our feeders every day, and steals bird seed. It's very annoying seeing it. I think it's a male Gray squirrel, but I'm not sure. We've tried thing from cutting tree branches to plexiglass, but nothing seems to work. I don't know what to do! Oh, and our baffle doesn't work either. Anything I can do? Please respond by commenting. I need help! 

-Mr. Bird

Too Many Finches!

Normally, we would have a normal amount of common birds, but this fall there has been a myriad of finches and sparrows. House Finches, in particular. House finches are common birds in Illinois and its surroundings. We have them here at our tube  feeder. They'll invade it when Black-Capped Chickadees or White-Breasted Nuthatches are eating. It's mean, to put it simply. But if that's their normal, natural behavior, I'll let them be. But one day, a very bossy House finch came to our hopper feeder. it guarded the feeder like it was its own! If another bird perched next to him (which none ever got the chance, I might add), he would chase it off. I became so fed up with it that I decided to scare it off. It flew away, but it came back just as I shut the back door, he came back again! I knew it was him, because he had a down feather sticking out of its back. Since my attempts to get him away were futile, I decided to leave it alone. This is a picture of one:

This is a close-up of it's head:

Here's a picture of a House Sparrow:

This is also a male.

The House Sparrows are nice, but the House Finches... ugh.

-Mr. Bird

Hello to All!

White-Breasted Nuthatch

I, Mr. Bird, am pleased to announce the great grand opening of... ‘Birds, Binoculars, Field Guides, Oh My!’ This will be a blog dedicated to the birds of the Great Plains. Birders (or birdwatchers) will plan to get together somewhere like the Sand Bluff Bird Banding Station of Illinois, or Rock Cut State Park, or other places. If you can’t come one day, that’s okay. There will be contributors emailing me their posts, and then I will put them on the blog for you to read! Like some people I know (I won't name any), I will remodel the blog every once in a while. Happy birding!

-Mr Bird


P.S.: The White Breasted Nuthatch (above) is my favorite bird. Just thought you should know! :)
P.P.S.: Please spread the word. That would be very kind to us.