ete Cet BeOUNe BU ty BaTatn 9 
warning: dress twice as warmly as you think there could be any possible 
need for. Night air feels twice as cold as the thermometer shows when 
you are sitting or reclining motionlessly for any length of time. 
We watched for about four hours the night of September 13, 1952, in 
an empty parking lot in Spring Mill State Park, near Mitchell, Indiana, 
while a late whip-poor-will and a distant barred owl called occasionally. 
We averaged about 20 birds an hour in that sitting. Either a whip-poor- 
will or a nighthawk fiipped about the face of the moon once during Anne’s 
turn at the scope. 
Wednesday, October 1, we planned an all-night watch at Orland Wild- 
life Refuge, southwest of Chicago, but we had barely started when it 
clouded over so heavily with the arrival of the cold front mentioned earlier 
that we had to stop. The next night we set up the telescope on Northerly 
Island in Chicago, above the bathing beach just south of the Adler Plane- 
tarium. The temperature was 47° at 8 p.m. when we started and 38° when 
we stopped at 1:30 a.m. A strong wind was blowing from the north, most 
uncomfortable for us but apparently just to the liking of the fall migrants. 
They came at times as fast as five in three minutes. Between 9 and 11 
p.m. we averaged better than 30 birds an hour. Then there was an abrupt 
slackening, but we still were getting frequent birds when we stopped, as 
we both had to work the next day. Once that night, and once in Sep- 
tember, we saw two birds on the face of the moon simultaneously. 
The next night, Friday, October 3, Anne met me with full equipment 
when I finished work at 10:30 p.m., and we were set up for observation 
at the same place on Northerly Island by 11 p.m. We watched. I sat facing 
a chill wind, from the south this night, for 45 minutes. Anne then took 
over and watched until 12:10 a.m. when we gave up. Neither of us had 
seen anything except the moon and some wispy clouds that were gradual- 
ly becoming thicker and obscuring the moon for brief intervals. 
Mr. Harold H. Lenz, a fellow director of the Illinois Audubon Society, 
and members of his family watched for several hours also on Friday 
night at his home in Mundelein, Ill., starting earlier in the evening than 
we did, but they saw not one bird cross the face of the moon. 
Mr. Lenz said his group heard almost continuous sounds of small birds, 
possibly warblers and sparrows, chirping and fluttering about in shrubbery, 
at times coming within inches of the observers. We heard not a bird 
sound that night, although we had heard and seen killdeer all evening 
Thursday, our big count night. Mr. Lenz said the killdeer is common 
around his home and he often sees and hears it after dark, but he heard 
none that night. 7200 Coles Avenue, Chicago 49, illinois 
fl fl = 
Audubon Screen Tours 
The second in our series of “Audubon Screen Tours” will be presented 
in James Simpson Theater of the Museum on Saturday, January 3, at 
2:00 p.m. Howard Cleaves will show his color film on “Animals Unaware.” 
