FIELD NOTES BLOG

October Bird Blog

Bryce Messer
October 3, 2024

As almost every avid birder and hunter knows, October is the month of waterfowl. This is because it's around this time of the year where a majority of the species of ducks, geese, and swans begin to leave their breeding grounds in the northern latitudes for places warmer in the southern latitudes. Illinois is a great locale to witness this as we not only sit directly in between the lush breeding grounds of Canada and the Gulf Coast, but we are also a part of the great Mississippi flyway which is host to some of the largest waterfowl migrations in the world. This is coupled with the fact that Rockford specifically is still relatively close to the Great Lakes, which serve as an important stopover for most species. Fall migration is even larger than the spring migration since the flocks of birds are flush with the young birds on their first migrations. So you can count this blog as a waterfowl special as all of the birds we will be covering this time are gonna be waterfowl you might catch flying overhead or spending time at your local water body. 

Hooded Merganser

Lophodytes cucullatus

Fall is a great time to catch a glimpse of this species of duck because unlike the other species on this list we actually have a year-round resident population of hooded mergansers. Come fall the migratory populations of Canada begin to pass down which drastically increases the number of birds present here. They are the smallest species of merganser in the United States and the second smallest in the entire world; only about 1 - 2 pounds in weight and having a 2-foot wingspan. Like all other mergansers they are piscivorous, meaning they eat fish, to help with this diet their beaks aren't very duck-like but instead are skinny, serrated and end in a hook. Males are ornate and strikingly patterned, they have a black body, white veins on their wing feathers, reddish brown flanks, and white breast feathers. Females are brown over most of their body though the breast is lighter than the flank and head. Their wings and back are a more gray-brown color. Both sexes have head crests, giving them their “hooded” title, the crests of the males are black but have huge white patches on both sides and the female’s crest is a reddish-brown. The wing speculum of the species is white and black, like an inside-out Oreo. Mergansers are a common sight in small ponds and rivers as they are filled with minnows and crayfish, so areas such as the rock and kish tributaries and the ponds of local municipal parks would be good places to look for them. Although they are usually silent, hooded mergansers make noises during courtship and near their nests. When a male is pursuing, it produces a deep, rolling sound similar to a pickerel frog's call, which gives it the Georgian nickname "frog-duck." When courting, females make a hoarse gack call. The rough croo-croo-crook that females use to call to newly hatched ducklings or while in flight is akin to that of many sea ducks.

Northern Shoveler

Spatula clypeata

The first and only dabbling duck, a duck that tips over and places its head into the water and it's rump up, we’ll be covering today. Its dabbling prowess is brought upon by its distinctive large, spoon-shaped bill. They have long, thick bristles along the protrusion on the bill that let them easily filter through the water for aquatic seeds and tiny crustaceans. Females look similar to a wide variety of other female dabbling ducks such as the mallard, black duck, and mottled duck. The only real difference to tell them apart from the females of the other species is the bill shape and the blue pastel blue, white, and green patterning on the wing. Males have a blocky coloration pattern with the head being iridescent green, the body being white, the flanks reddish-brown,and the wings, back and rump being a dark brown-black color. Males have a black bill, unlike the female’s yellow one but they still possess the same wing coloration. During the fall and winter months Wildlife Refuges and state parks are an excellent location to search for Northern Shovelers during their migration. Search the edges of shallow water for flocks of ducks that are concentrating on their feeding. You might also find them in smaller, murkier pools of water because they prefer to use stagnant pools of water. Their call is quite quiet and is a raspy “took-took” that is said in quick succession. Females let out a mallard-like quack, but are more raspy.

Red-breasted Merganser

Mergus serrator

Its name in Latin translates to water bird sawyer. Clearly, the forest part of its name comes from the fact that like all other ducks the merganser is most at home in the water, specifically it loves large lakes and the coastlines. The second part of its name comes from its bill which is similar in shape and function to that of the hooded merganser with it being thin and hooked. However, the serrated teeth-like protrusion on the bill are more numerous and distinct on the red-breasted, giving the appearance of a woodman’s saw. Surprisingly even though both sexes look distinct, both are quite colorful. Males have a strange assortment of colors and patterns. Firstly their heads are jet black save for their bright red eyes and bill; possessing a scraggly crest of feathers. Under the head is a white collar around the neck and the titular red breast. Their back and wings are jet black save for a white tripe located on the flight feathers. The flanks of the bird are a mottled black, gray, and white like that of a scaup or ring-necked duck. Females have a red-brown head with matching crest and the same red bill as the males but lack the red eyes. The rest of their body is a mottled gray. Of the five birds covered today, this species will be the hardest to get your binoculars on as they don't spend much time here only stopping over to sleep, drink, and eat as a recharge on time journey to the Gulf of Mexico. Your best bet might be to travel outside of Rockford to the Chicago area to catch them on Lake Michigan or test your luck at one of the local wetlands. Males meow like cats while females make a raspy or croaking noise. Females grunt harshly when in flight. Red-breasted Mergansers are usually silent otherwise.

Canvasback

Aythya valisineria

Holding the title of the largest diving duck in North America is the canvasback. They spend the migration and winter in large lakes and coastal waters where they can dive deep underwater to forage for their favorite foods, the roots and tubers of aquatic plants. The first thing you would notice about the canvasback is its unusual head shape which results from their foreheads having a heavy slope which blends into the sloping shape of the bill. The second noticeable feature would be the coloration of their bodies and wings which in males is a snow white and in females is a more gray or off-white coloration, giving the birds the appearance of a clean artistic canvas. Males have a black rump and breast while their head and neck is a reddish brown color. Females have a brown head and a more pastel or pale black on the breast and rump. Both sexes have a gray speculum on the wing though the eyes of the male are blood red while the females are black. Even though canvasbacks live through the entirety of North America the largest migrating population fly through the Mississippi flyway, giving you excellent opportunities to spot these birds at locations such as the Nygren and Pecatonica wetlands. Most of the time, canvasbacks are silent. When other Canvasbacks approach a feeding area, nonbreeding birds let out a wheezing call. Occasionally, females quack as they take off. Canvasbacks were once considered an aristocrat's delicacy with many banquets across the 1800s featuring the duck in their menus, as the wild celery that they ate gave them a sophisticated flavor.

Ruddy Duck

Oxyura jamaicensis

They are the only member of the stiff-tailed duck family that is native to North America, living across the continental USA, Southern Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Like all other members of their family, the Ruddy ducks have long brittle tails features that make the tails stand erect while walking and swimming. This feature is the easiest way to tell them apart from all other local ducks. Ruddies are compact and stout only having an 18-inch wingspan and weighting a little over 1 lb. Males have a striking bright blue bill and a head that is white on the for end and cheeks but black on the backside and around the eyes. Their bodies are a chestnut brown with a gray-brown breast that resembles a granite countertop. Females have a brown-gray coloration throughout the body except for light off-white areas on the cheek. They do not have the blue bill but instead have a black one in which a brown strip erupts from; passing under the eye. Typically, Ruddy Ducks don't say much. The female hisses when threatened and uses a high-pitched cry to drive off lustful males in addition to her nasal call to attract her brood. The male makes a single call during courting displays that resembles a belch. To steal a peek at this spectacular species look for marshy and muddy ponds or lakes as these provide them with the most food and cover. Interestingly these birds show us a case of an American species being moved overseas and becoming invasive. They escaped from captive populations across the UK and Europe and threatened the existence of the endangered white-headed duck which they dominate and interbreed with.

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America the Beautiful & Our Changing Relationship with Earth Day

April 22, 2025
From the rugged peaks of the Rocky Mountains to golden desert canyons, the rolling prairies to the ancient, mist-shrouded Appalachian mountains — America is a land rich in many beauties. We are home to the towering redwoods of the west coast, sun-drenched coastlines in the south, and the deep blues of the Great Lakes that collectively hold the largest volume of freshwater on Earth. These wild places offer a kind of quiet that stirs the soul. This vast, varied land is what we proudly call “America the Beautiful.” And on Earth Day, this is the America we celebrate. We scroll through snapshots of National Parks, photos of mountain trails, canyon vistas, tidepools, and wildflower filled prairies. Maybe we've seen these places with our own eyes — maybe we carry them like a dream we hope to one day reach. We’ve all, in some way, been struck by the beauty of this land. As I write these words, I’m sitting at my desk looking out the window into the woodland of Severson Dells, watching the first green buds emerge, listening to the fluting whistles of returning songbirds. How lucky are we to live among such beauty? But that beauty is in danger. Today, mountaintops in Appalachia are being blown apart for coal, their peaks stripped and valleys buried in rubble. Ancient forests in the Pacific Northwest are leveled for lumber, their centuries-old trees felled in minutes. Oil rigs rise like metal skeletons in Alaska’s fragile tundra, while pipelines thread through sacred Indigenous lands and important wildlife corridors. Wetlands that once buffered our coastlines from hurricanes are drained and filled. Prairies, once stretching unbroken across the heart of the continent like an ocean of grass, are disappearing under pavement and plow. Our coastlines are receding. Our coral reefs, once vibrant, are dying, bleaching bone-white. Even here, outside my window, invasive honeysuckle strangles the understory where spring ephemerals once bloomed, and the chorus of birds is quieter than it used to be — a stark reminder that nearly one-third of North American bird populations have vanished in the past fifty years. But this isn’t a new story. Ours is not the first generation to witness the cost of ‘progress’. The tension between beauty and destruction has shaped this nation since the Industrial Revolution. And while the challenges we face today are daunting, they are not insurmountable. Every year, on April 22nd, we celebrate Earth Day – a day that itself was born from a moment not unlike our own. America of the 1950’s and 60’s is almost unrecognizable from the America we know today. In 1943, Los Angeles residents awoke one morning to skies so dark and chemical-laden they feared they were under a gas attack . It was smog. Just 5 years later, a lethal blanket of smog from zinc smelters in Pennsylvania killed 20 people in just three days . The Merrimack River in New Hampshire ran a different color each day , depending on what the local mills were dumping. And in 1969, Cleveland's Cuyahoga River — thick with oil and industrial waste — burst into flames , its smoke billowing four stories high. These weren’t isolated incidents. They were the symptoms of a larger crisis—one brought on by decades of industrial expansion with few, if any, environmental safeguards. At the same time that America was enjoying unprecedented prosperity, it was also polluting its air, poisoning its rivers, and sickening its people. The economy boomed, but the environmental consequences were growing harder to ignore. In 1962, a marine biologist named Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, a book that would become a cornerstone of the modern environmental movement. Carson’s work focused on the effects of chemical pesticides—especially DDT—on ecosystems and human health. She warned of a future without birdsong, where toxins accumulated in the food chain and sickened both wildlife and people. Silent Spring struck a chord. It didn’t just present scientific facts, it gave voice to a deep, growing unease. People were already noticing the changes around them: the absence of fireflies in summer, the increasing number of fish kills in local lakes, the haze that lingered over cities for days. Carson’s words helped connect the dots, and it didn’t just inform, it inspired, and from it spurred the beginning of the environmental movement. By the late 1960s, a wave of activism was sweeping the country. Young people were leading protests against the Vietnam War, civil rights leaders were marching for justice, and college campuses had become hotbeds of political energy. Watching this cultural shift with inspiration was Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin. A long-time advocate for environmental protection, Nelson saw how the antiwar movement had galvanized young people—and he wondered whether that same passion could be channeled into fighting a different kind of crisis: the growing threat to America’s air, water, and land. His sense of urgency only deepened in early 1969, when tragedy struck the California coast. A blowout at a Union Oil drilling platform off the coast of Santa Barbara spilled nearly 100,000 barrels of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean . Black sludge washed up on miles of pristine beaches. Seabirds lay dying under slicks of oil. Dolphins and seals washed ashore. The air reeked of petroleum for weeks. The images were devastating—and they were broadcast into homes across the nation. Senator Nelson knew the time to act was now. In November of that year, he announced plans for a "National Teach-In on the Crisis of the Environment" —a day when Americans would come together to learn, protest, and push for meaningful environmental change. This name was later changed to Earth Day, and the date chosen was April 22, 1970—strategically placed between spring break and final exams to ensure strong participation on college campuses.  To bring this ambitious vision to life, Nelson turned to Denis Hayes, a 25-year-old student activist. With Hayes’ help, a 7 month timeline, and a shoestring budget of just $124,000, Earth Day sparked an unprecedented nationwide movement. College campuses began planning teach-ins and events. Newspapers picked up the story. Civic groups, churches, and schools joined in. The momentum built quickly—and organically. Within a few months, the Earth Day idea had become a nationwide grassroots event supported by millions of people. Colleges campuses across the country organized “teach- ins”, and major newspapers were writing about Senator Nelson's ideas. Earth Day may have been Gaylord Nelson’s idea, but American citizens made it happen. “Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level,” reflected Gaylord Nelson. “It organized itself.” Historian Adam Rome would later call it “the most famous unknown event in modern American history.” On April 22, 1970, an estimated 20 million Americans—nearly 10% of the U.S. population at the time —participated in what remains the largest single-day political demonstration in the nation’s history. People from all walks of life gathered for marches, cleanups, rallies, and teach-ins. The message was clear: the environment mattered, and the public was ready to fight for it. What made Earth Day so powerful was not just its scale, but its unity. The movement crossed ideological lines. It was bipartisan, supported by both Democrats and Republicans. At a time of deep national division, Earth Day reminded Americans that the health of our planet is a shared responsibility—and a common cause. Even more remarkable is that this enormous, coordinated event was pulled off without the tools we rely on today. No social media. No email. No cell phones. Just passionate people, printed flyers, rotary phones, and the belief that change was possible. The success of Earth Day didn’t just move the public—it resonated with leaders in Washington, and led to real change. In just a few years, the United States went from having almost no federal environmental policy to enacting an environmental policy infrastructure strong enough to slow down the era of unregulated industrial sprawl to protect our planet and public health. The success of the first Earth Day led to the passage of some of the most important environmental legislation in American history, including: The Clean Air Act (1970) The Clean Water Act (1972) The Endangered Species Act (1973) President Richard Nixon oversaw the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and signed the above landmark environmental laws into effect. In a 1970 speech, Nixon captured the spirit of the moment with a message that still rings true today: “The great question of the seventies is, shall we surrender to our surroundings, or shall we make our peace with nature and begin to make reparations for the damage we have done to our air, to our land, and to our water? Restoring nature to its natural state is a cause beyond party and beyond factions. It has become a common cause of all the people of this country. It is a cause of particular concern to young Americans, because they, more than we, will reap the grim consequences of our failure to act on programs which are needed now if we are to prevent disaster later. Clean air, clean water, open spaces—these should once again be the birthright of every American. If we act now, they can be. We still think of air as free. But clean air is not free, and neither is clean water. The price tag on pollution control is high. Through our years of past carelessness we incurred a debt to nature, and now that debt is being called. ” In the years that followed the first Earth Day, America made progress—rivers stopped catching fire, cities began to breathe a little easier, and wildlife rebounded. But the work was never meant to end in the 1970s. Earth Day is a reminder that the environment is not a limitless resource, and that protecting it requires action, accountability, and cooperation. Fifty five years later we face new environmental challenges, but Earth day is a reminder of what we can accomplish when we come together, regardless of party or background, to protect the natural world we all share. Today, the landmark pieces of legislation that were established in the 1970’s are under threat. The first hit to the Clean Water Act was the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Sackett v. EPA, which significantly narrowed the Act's scope, limiting protections for wetlands and many streams. This ruling has led to a significant weakening of federal oversight. More recently, the EPA has announced significant changes to the Clean Water Act that potentially puts the drinking water sources for tens of millions of Americans at risk. As for the Endangered Species Act, there is a proposed rule change that would limit violations of the Act only to actions that hurt or kill animals. Harming the habitats the endangered animals need to survive would no longer be a violation of the Endangered Species Act, which would open large swaths of land to logging, mining and development that were previously protected. As we all know, if a species doesn’t have the habitat to survive and breed in then it will eventually go extinct. This proposed rule change is open for public comment until May 19 in the Federal Register, so please consider sharing your opinion . Additionally, there is the Zero-Based Regulatory Budgeting To Unleash American Energy Executive Order. The legal community is still trying to figure out just how far reaching this EO is, but it is likely to have a significant impact on a wide range of environmental regulations. These threats to the health of our environment put “America the Beautiful” at risk. The spacious skies, amber waves of grain, purple mountain majesties, and the fruited plain from sea to shining sea are left vulnerable. Now more than ever, Earth Day calls on all of us to act to protect our beautiful environment. Earth Day is now celebrated in over 190 countries. But its roots lie in a time when people refused to accept the destruction of the world around them as inevitable. So, what will you do this Earth Day? Because history has shown us: when people care, when they act together, the world changes. The debt to nature is still being called—and we still have the power to answer. This Earth Day, don’t just celebrate – participate. Plant a tree. Call your representatives. Learn the name of the bird outside your window. Donate to organizations that support our natural lands, our water, and our future. Vote. Teach your children not just to love the Earth, but to fight for it. Talk about climate change, even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard. Use your voice, use your art, use your science. Join a local cleanup, start a compost bin, reduce your plastic use. Talk to your neighbors. Talk to your parents. Talk to your children. You can’t wait for someone else to take action. You don’t need to be perfect. You don’t need to do everything. But you do need to begin. Because the Earth doesn’t need more perfect people, it needs millions of imperfect people who care enough to act with intention everyday. Sources: Klein, Ezra, and Thompson, Derek. Abundance . Simon & Schuster, 18 March 2025 “Gaylord Nelson & Earth Day Origins.” Nelson Earth Day , https://nelsonearthday.net/gaylord-nelson-earth-day-origins/ . Accessed 18 Apr. 2025. Gammon, Katharine. “The Deadly Donora Smog of 1948 Spurred Environmental Protection—But Have We Forgotten the Lesson?” Smithsonian Magazine , 26 Oct. 2018, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/deadly-donora-smog-1948-spurred-environmental-protection-have-we-forgotten-lesson-180970533/ . Accessed 18 Apr. 2025. Lamoreaux, Naomi. “The 1943 Hellish Cloud Was the Most Vivid Warning of L.A.'s Smog Problems to Come.” Smithsonian Magazine , 15 Jan. 2018, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/1943-hellish-cloud-was-most-vivid-warning-las-smog-problems-come-180964119/ . Accessed 18 Apr. 2025. “The Merrimack River: How Revisiting Its History Helps Renew Action.” Forest Society Blog , Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, 26 Sept. 2022, https://www.forestsociety.org/blog-post/merrimack-river-how-revisiting-its-history-helps-renew-action . Accessed 18 Apr. 2025. Pyne, Stephen J. “The Cuyahoga River Caught Fire at Least a Dozen Times, but No One Cared Until 1969.” Smithsonian Magazine , 22 June 2019, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/cuyahoga-river-caught-fire-least-dozen-times-no-one-cared-until-1969-180972444/ . Accessed 18 Apr. 2025. Westervelt, Eric. “How California’s Worst Oil Spill Turned Beaches Black and the Nation Green.” NPR , 28 Jan. 2019, https://www.npr.org/2019/01/28/688219307/how-californias-worst-oil-spill-turned-beaches-black-and-the-nation-green . Accessed 18 Apr. 2025.