Roscoe, Illinois

April 23rd - May 5th 2015

A short break visiting friends for their 50th Wedding Anniversary. Their house backs on to the Rock River and is surrounded by trees. In the time we were there, I logged 51 species of bird, 47 of which were in the vicinity of the house! Other visitors included White-tailed Deer, Groundhogs, Racoons and numerous Grey Squirrels. There was a Beaver Lodge just across the river but we didn't see the Beavers.

The first three photos are of the location, the "backyard", taken from their deck.

Red-breasted Woodpecker (8347)

Red-breasted Woodpecker (8486)

Great Blue Heron (8354)

Very similar to our Grey Heron

We were lucky enough to spot a family group of Great Horned Owls in a tree just up the river. They were around for a few days and we photographed them from the boat as this didn't seem to disturb them. The adults are the ones with the darker, more advanced plumage and the large "ear tufts"

Juvenile (8362)

Juveniles (8370)

Adult (8365)

Family Group - one of the juveniles is not in the photo. (8540)

There was a Bald Eagle nest just up the river and the Eagles were always present, either at the nest or flying over the river. Again, they were happy for us to get fairly close in the boat.

(8520)

(8395)

(8398)

(8404)

(8407)

(8423)

Northern Cardinal male (8376)

Northern Cardinal female (8374)

Brown-headed Cowbird (8431)

American Robin (8450)

American Robin (8564)

Yellow-rumped Warbler (8454)

Northern Rough-winged Swallow (8465)

Spotted Sandpiper (8471)

Black-capped Chickadee (8485)

Black-capped Chickadee (8565)

Eastern Phoebe (8487)

Eastern Bluebird (8492)

Eastern Bluebird (8493)

White-breasted Nuthatch (8496)

Osprey (8593)

Violet-green Swallow (8528)

Song Sparrow (8529)

Red-winged Blackbird (8535)

Turkey Vulture (8536)

Downy Woodpecker (8598)

Common Grackle (8563)

Wild Turkey (8566)

Red-tailed Hawk (8568)

Chipping Sparrow (8593)

Sandhill Crane (8616)

House Finch (8652)

American Goldfinch male (8670)

American Goldfinch female (8613)

Northern Flicker (a type of woodpecker) (8678)

American White Pelican (8686)

Rose-breasted Grosbeak (8695)

And finally, probably the most colourful bird we saw, the Baltimore Oriole. Unfortunately, the only time it came out into the open I was out on the boat with Jerry fishing!

This is a record shot.

I was amazed at the amount of wildlife around the house and as their migrants are only just arriving, we would have seen more had we gone a few weeks later. We did see a Ruby-throated Hummingbird briefly, the first one this year, but it did not return. I believe that in a year, this location could produce 100 species of bird.

We are returning for another 12 days in October...it will be interesting to see what different birds are present.