Have to call some shenanigans with today’s #TenMinMerlin. While we have a pair nesting a couple miles away, I think I would have heard a trumpeter swan if one flew by.

They’re listed as a self-sustaining nonnative population in Illinois. Descendants of escaped cage birds. They’ve been in the Chicago area since 2003.

You guys. A goose is nesting under the Spoon Bridge and Cherry. This is our Romulus and Remus moment. We already became ungovernable. Now we become myth. #Minneapolis.

Because Hackmatack was kind of a noshow, here’s an extra #TenMinMerlin from my yard.

New lifer. Bonaparte’s Gull

It was a relatively quiet #TenMinMerlin.

My go-to location for birding is currently underwater and closed for the time being. The Fox River is expected to crest Wednesday, beating the current high water mark.

Here is a pic of the Dam Saturday morning.

Shrinking North American bird population is getting worse faster. Experts blame agriculture, warming A new study finds North American bird populations keep dropping, and that decline is speeding up for many species.

Welp, this is grim news.

apnews.com/article/bird...

American Goldfinch and European Goldfinch.

#TenMinMerlin time. I’m thinking some of these (the wrens and the tufted titmouse) are the result of European Starling vocal chicanery. An adult European Goldfinch was perched by one of the goldfinch feeders but Merlin didn’t report it.

It’s a week later and the osprey are still on their platform at the Dam. They were mewing pretty loud this morning.

#TenMinMerlin from Black tern Marsh

#TenMinMerlin is such a great idea. Here’s the gang outside my front door tonight. Not pictured but also around; a Cooper’s hawk and 2 Turkey Vultures.

Bluebird monitoring for the week of April 13th.
No eggs, but nests are being built at a handful of the houses, some have been started by EABL but then it appears that TRES have taken over.

New lifer!
Ross's goose (Anser rossii)
It’s the little white blur.

The rains we’ve been having are encouraging hatchling painted turtles to emerge from their nests. Must have encountered a dozen or so of these little guys while looking for Yellow-headed blackbirds yesterday.

There are Osprey back at the Dam after 5ish years, but the bummer is that they are less than a mile from a Bald Eagle nest on the other side of the River. The original pair left after the eagles built their nest.

Bluebird monitoring for the week of April 6th.
No active nests yet and tree swallows were present at 13 of the 16 boxes. The location definitely favors Tree swallows as it is open terrain surrounding a lake. Picked up a ton of golfballs littering the trail.

New lifer day!
A male Eurasian Wigeon (Mareca penelope) showed up just five minutes from my house.

Prothonotary warbler!

Time for eastern bluebird monitoring.
No activity noted for the week of March 30, with all boxes empty.
Pictured is Box 16