I left the motel early enough to beat the Milwaukee rush-hour traffic. It was about an hour drive from the motel to the Illinois Beach Hotel in Illinois Beach State Park where I would look for European Goldfinch. I got to the park at around 6:30 AM and slowly drove the road back to the hotel. One pond held 2 Blue-winged Teal, a Northern Shoveler, a Ring-necked Duck, and a Pied-billed Grebe. A Great Blue Heron flew by as I parked the car.
I checked the pines around the hotel and found several American Goldfinches present.
After about 45 minutes of searching, I finally found a European Goldfinch in the pines at the west corner of the hotel, my third 'lifer' of the trip!
Later, another one was found in the same group of pines.
A third bird was found preening in a nearby tree.
I was occasionally hearing calls of Sandhill Cranes and then saw one fly by and land farther up the road.
Birds seen behind the hotel on Lake Michigan included around 80 Red-breasted Mergansers, 150 American Herring Gulls, and 7 Double-crested Cormorants. While slowly driving out the road, I heard a 'grunting' Virginia Rail and saw Tree and Barn Swallow, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Hermit Thrush, and White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows among roughly 200 Red-winged Blackbirds.
Out near the entrance to the park, I had a Red-headed Woodpecker and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.
I left there and headed south for the Killdeer Wetlands, a spot southwest of Chicago that had Smith's Longspurs in past Springs. I got there around 10:30 and found 2 Wilson's Snipe, an American Tree Sparrow, 3 Swamp Sparrows, and an Eastern Meadowlark among around 50 Red-winged Blackbirds, but no longspurs were found.
Striking out there, I headed another two hours south to a spot near Monticello, Illinois where Smith's Longspurs had been seen a few days before. When I got to the spot, I couldn't believe my luck. The field was being plowed, so all of the corn stubble habitat was gone. I did see a Killdeer, 4 Horned Larks, 6 Vesper Sparrows, and 3 Savannah Sparrows but, again, there were no longspurs.
I had one more chance to find them, so I headed about three hours east to a spot near Frankton, Indiana where my friend, Jason Horn, had seen Smith's Longspurs the week before. It was around 6:00 PM when I got there. I walked up and down the road and found a pair of Horned Larks and a Savannah Sparrow. It looked pretty bleak when I happened to see seven birds fly across and drop into the field. I got my scope on them and they were Smith's Longspurs! I got some extremely long-distance, documentation photos of a few of them that barely show the bright buffy underparts and the black and white head pattern. They blended in fantastically with their surroundings.
I was hoping that they might come closer to the road, but around sunset, I watched all seven take off, fly overhead, and head north out of sight. Happy with now seeing every target bird, I got a room at the Best Western near Gas City, Indiana, had dinner at the adjacent Cracker Barrel restaurant, and watched the Flyers again win their hockey game, a great end to a very long day.
Thursday, April 23, 2026
I got a good night's sleep, left around 9:00 AM, and started the 9-1/2-hour drive back home. I backed into the garage around 7:00 PM, ending a trip that encompassed 2200 miles in four days. I tallied 86 species and saw three 'life birds' and the breeding-plumaged male Smith's Longspurs. The trip list follows.
Midwest Trip List - April 21-24, 2026
1) Canada Goose (ON)(MI)(IN)(WI)(IL)(OH)
2) Mute Swan (MI)
3) Baikal Teal* (ON)
4) Blue-winged Teal (ON)(WI)(IL)
5) Northern Shoveler (ON)(IL)
6) Gadwall (ON)
7) American Wigeon (ON)
8) Mallard (ON)(IL)
9) American Black Duck (ON)
10) Northern Pintail (ON)
11) Green-winged Teal (ON)
12) Ring-necked Duck (IL)
13) Lesser Scaup (ON)(WI)
14) Red-breasted Merganser (WI)(IL)
15) Rock Pigeon (ON)(MI)(IN)(IL)(OH)
16) Eurasian Collared-Dove (WI)
17) Mourning Dove (ON)(IN)(IL)(WI)(OH)
18) Virginia Rail (IL)
19) Sandhill Crane (MI)(IL)
20) Killdeer (ON)(IN)(OH)(WI)(IL)
21) Wilson's Snipe (IL)
22) Lesser Yellowlegs (ON)
23) Greater Yellowlegs (ON)
24) Dunlin (ON)
25) Pectoral Sandpiper (ON)
26) Bonaparte's Gull (WI)
27) Ring-billed Gull (ON)(IN)(WI)(IL)
28) American Herring Gull (ON)(WI)(IL)
29) Caspian Tern (WI)
30) Pied-billed Grebe (IL)
31) Common Loon (WI)
32) Double-crested Cormorant (ON)(IN)(IL)(OH)(WI)
33) Great Egret (IN)(WI)
34) Great Blue Heron (ON)(IL)(OH)
35) Turkey Vulture (ON)(MI)(IN)(WI)(IL)(OH)
36) Osprey (IN)(IL)(WI)(OH)
37) Bald Eagle (ON)
38) Red-tailed Hawk (ON)(WI)(OH)
39) Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (WI)(IL)
40) Red-headed Woodpecker (WI)(IL)
41) Red-bellied Woodpecker (WI)(IL)
42) Downy Woodpecker (WI)
43) Northern Flicker (MI)(WI)(IL)
44) American Kestrel (WI)
45) Eastern Phoebe (WI)
46) Blue Jay (ON)(WI)(IL)
47) American Crow (MI)(IN)(WI)(OH)
48) Black-capped Chickadee (WI)
49) Great Tit* (WI)
50) Horned Lark (IL)(IN)
51) Tree Swallow (IN)(WI)(IL)
52) Barn Swallow (ON)(WI)(IL)(IN)
53) Ruby-crowned Kinglet (WI)(IL)
54) Golden-crowned Kinglet (WI)
55) White-breasted Nuthatch (WI)
56) Brown Creeper (WI)
57) Northern House Wren (WI)
58) Winter Wren (WI)
59) Carolina Wren (IL)
60) European Starling (MI)(IN)(OH)(WI)
61) Brown Thrasher (ON)
62) Hermit Thrush (WI)(IL)
63) American Robin (ON)(MI)(WI)(IL)(IN)
64) House Sparrow (MI)(WI)
65) House Finch (IL)
66) Purple Finch (WI)
67) European Goldinch* (IL)
68) Pine Siskin (WI)
69) American Goldfinch (IL)
70) Smith's Longspur (IN)
71) Chipping Sparrow (IN)
72) American Tree Sparrow (WI)(IL)
73) Dark-eyed Junco (WI)
74) White-crowned Sparrow (IL)
75) White-throated Sparrow (WI)
76) Vesper Sparrow (IL)
77) Savannah Sparrow (IL)(IN)
78) Song Sparrow (IN)(WI)(IL)
79) Swamp Sparrow (WI)(IL)
80) Eastern Towhee (WI)
81) Eastern Meadowlark (IL)
82) Red-winged Blackbird (ON)(MI)(IN)(IL)(WI)(OH)
83) Brown-headed Cowbird (ON)(IL)
84) Common Grackle (ON)(MI)(IL)(WI)(OH)
85) Orange-crowned Warbler (WI)
86) Northern Cardinal (ON)(MI)(IN)(WI)(IL)
* Denotes a 'life bird'.
(ON)-found in Ontario, Canada.
(MI)-found in Michigan.
(IN)-found in Indiana.
(IL)-found in Illinois.
(WI)-found in Wisconsin.
(OH)-found in Ohio.
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