By Matthias Benko
The
gnats and mosquitoes are swarming all around me. I try to ignore the annoying
buzzes and the forming bites. As I keep walking around the parking lot with the
group, I catch my first glance at a gargantuan nest box. The next thing I feast
my eyes on stops me in my tracks. I have just seen my first Purple Martin.
The
Purple Martin colony I have described is located at Willow Slough FWA in
Morocco, IN. This is where the Indiana and Illinois Young Birders met up for
some birding this past Saturday. Getting there was no easy task for my mom and
me. It required waking at 5:30 in the morning, getting everything together, and
traveling 250 miles by car. However,
once we got there, I could tell the birds were worth a long road trip. As we
gathered at a central point in Willow Slough, we found a Red-headed Woodpecker
nest. It was definitely amazing to see such a beautiful creature feeding young.
We then walked around the parking lot, looking for species. We saw American
Robins, Common Grackles, Cedar Waxwings, and Chipping Sparrows. Once we reached
the lakeside, I saw my first Purple Martin. It was so mind-boggling to me that
a bird could be bright purple. After I had looked at the nesting colony for a
few minutes, our group heard thunder. Since the main attraction of this trip
was Kankakee Sands, we decided to drive over there before the rain struck.
The
drive to Kankakee was actually quite productive. On the way there we saw Indigo
Buntings, a Red-tailed Hawk, a Dickcissel (a new species for me), and an
Eastern Meadowlark. We arrived at our
destination, the headquarters, and I had my first amazing look at a Dickcissel
(the first one was obscured by brush). Then, a Henslow’s Sparrow was sighted,
and I got my first look at this species. I was so happy to see this bird
because, unfortunately, it is endangered in the state of Indiana. After the Henslow’s Sparrow, I got my first
look at a Grasshopper Sparrow. The other highlight at the headquarters was a
Common Yellowthroat. After that, our group decided to head to another area of
Kankakee.
The
first sighting in the area we arrived at was a Bobolink; however, only one
person saw it. Besides that, we also saw an Orchard Oriole, a Baltimore Oriole,
and a Lark Sparrow. We ran out of luck after the Lark Sparrow. It had begun to
pour so heavily that we decided to end the field trip a few hours early. It
would have been awesome to stay longer, but it would have been no fun to bird
in the pouring rain.
This
was truly an amazing field trip. I would like to thank the IYBC team for
planning such a marvelous trip. I can’t wait to go back to Kankakee on a sunny
day.
