Peete UB rOON. Bie Ee Ts IiN 1 
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Again in March I spent a week-end in Indiana, going to Randolph 
county, east of Muncie. Active building projects near my home had kept 
early spring migrants from reporting in LaGrange Park. By the time we 
reached U.S. route 30 flocks of robins, red-winged blackbirds, bronzed 
grackles, a few cowbirds, meadowlarks, juncos and tree sparrows were 
much in evidence. It is to be regretted that in motoring six hours not a 
single hawk was observed. In the Herbert Davis forestry farm (owned by 
Purdue university) near Farmland, Ind., the first turkey vulture was seen. 
Later in the day two flocks of a dozen each soared above the forest. They 
had recently arrived. 
One large swamp was dotted with a half dozen Canada geese, many 
mallards, and pintails. Canvas-backs were identified earlier in the day. 
Prairie horned larks and a loggerhead shrike were in a corn field. In an 
adjoining quarry were seen a handsome horned grebe and a coot. Wood 
duck nest in the swampy area of the state woods. One female was seen 
on the White river. 
Downy, hairy, red-headed and red-bellied woodpeckers and flickers were 
listed. The phoebe and kingfisher were both seen along the creek in the 
woods. Flocks of chickadees, a nuthatch, titmice, and brown creepers were 
in small shrubs along the river. Toward evening three great blue herons 
flapped over where three barn owls patrolled fields in which mice were 
abundant. This was a daily occurrence. 
While searching for great blue heron nests here one May day we dis- 
covered two young barred owls of different sizes. When small boys became 
too intimate with the nestlings a parent suddenly appeared with a warn- 
ing whoop. Great horned owls frequent the heavy timber where their large 
pellets are found. Screech owls are common. Red-tailed, marsh and spar- 
row hawks were observed. A half dozen species of hawks winter in this 
area. Through a class of a dozen enthusiastic bird students an effort is 
being made for their protection. 
Two purple martin scouts in the same region were observed inspect- 
ing summer apartments March 26. Their dates of arrival are a week or 10 
days in advance of records in Chicago. 
It is fun to greet the migrants on their journey north. 
315 N. LaGrange rd., LaGrange Park 
ai ft ft 
Evening Grosbeaks 
The winter just past saw concentrations of evening grosbeaks as well 
as snowy owls in Illinois. They were reported from several localities late 
in the winter. Paul Downing banded 41 grosbeaks in Lake Forest between 
the first week of March, when they were first seen in the vicinity, and the 
third week of April, and reported a small flock was still there at that time. 
Previously he had banded flocks at the same location in 1942 and 1945; 
none was seen in intervening years. The banding trap was situated in a 
residential district of Lake Forest, near houses, not a place where one 
would expect to find such large numbers of grosbeaks, Downing said. 
