[From Nature Notes (the journal of the Webster Groves Nature Study Society), Vol. 72, No. 7, Sep., 2000]

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Abbreviations: Busch = BCA, Horseshoe Lake = HL, Riverlands = REDA, Carondelet Park = CP, Carlyle Lake = CL, Castlewood State Park = CSP, Lost Valley Trail = LVT, Tower Grove Park = TGP, Forest Park = FP, Mark Twain National Wildlife Refuge = MTNWR, Marais Temps Clair = MTC, Rockwoods Reservation = RKWD.

Approximately 75 Snowy Egrets were counted at REDA on 7/9 (CA) and by 7/14, 300 were estimated at the pool on Hwy. 255 (JZ).  Helen Wuestenfeld reported 300 Snowy Egrets and 300 Little Blues from MTNWR on 7/29. Torrey Berger found 250 Great Egrets in a mixed flock on the South Levee Roads on 7/15.   King Rail and Sedge Wren were located at Clarence Cannon NWR on 7/25 (T Bo).  A few Coots apparently bred at HL (FH).  A Willet was a good find at REDA on 7/1 (DB).  A breeding plumage Sanderling was found at REDA on 7/16 (CA) and the Barkers had one there on 7/22.  Torrey Berger found Stilt and Solitary Sandpipers on the South Levee Road on 7/16.  Baird’s Sandpiper was observed at REDA on 7/22 (RAB,VB).  Pectoral Sandpipers numbered 40 at REDA on 7/20 (CA).  On 7/9, Yvonne Homeyer videotaped an Upland Sandpiper at REDA (JZ).   Good counts of shorebirds included 85 Least Sandpipers, 4 Semipalmated Sandpipers and 8 Spotted Sandpipers on Dresser Island on 7/23 (T Be).  Two Laughing Gulls were a good find on 7/9 at CL (KL).  Jackie Chain found a Least Tern at REDA on 7/21.  On 722, the Thursday group located Caspian Tern at REDA.  An adult Bald Eagle was an unusual find at REDA on 7/23 (MT). A very early N. Harrier was seen along Bend Road/HL  in unusual juvenile plumage on 7/8 (JZ) and Frank Holmes saw a young Cooper’s Hawk there on 7/30.   Torrey Berger found 10 Kestrels on Bruns and Bischoff Roads on 7/6.  A flock of 500 Mourning Doves was found at Little Creve Coeur Marsh on 7/2 (T Bo). 

Yellow-billed Cuckoos were reported from MTC with Eurasian Tree Sparrows on 7/23 (MT).  The Barkers found a Black-billed Cuckoo at REDA on 7/15.   The week of the 23^rd, Dan Kassebaum counted 13 Western Kingbirds on Front Street in East St. Louis and Kent Lannert had 6 more along the biking trail leading to Chain of Rocks bridge.  On 7/7, Don and Cheryl Delashmit* found a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher in Union, Mo., and on 7/8, Jim & Charlene Malone* located the pair on their nest.   On 7/15, Yvonne Homeyer videotaped the male incubating.  (Blue Grosbeak and Dickcissel were seen in the adjacent field.).  Linda Virga and Martha & Bob Gaddy separately reported Carolina Wrens with young in their yards.  Two Bewick Wrens were found in CSP on 7/4 (T Bo) and Rose Ann Bodman had a Sedge Wren at REDA on 7/22.  

Mike Thelen heard all of the breeding vireos at BCA and Weldon Springs on 7/9.  Mark Peters found a Black-and-white Warbler at his home in Jefferson County on 7/2 and on 7/15, Dennis Bozzay had a Chat at his home. On 7/25, Marc Lund found Black-and-white Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, and Hooded Warbler with young in BCA.  A Lark Sparrow was found at MTNWR on 7/28 (T Be).  Nine singing Henslow’s Sparrows were heard in Calhoun Co., Ill, on 7/5 (HW, m. ob.).  A Grasshopper Sparrow, located in May on Schoolhouse Road, continued to be seen all summer (BK, FH).   The find of the summer was a pair of nesting Painted Buntings with 2 young on 7/29 (DK*, Keith McMullen, m. ob.).  The birds were thoroughly documented, photographed and videotaped.  However, the nest was found on the ground and one baby was dead (specimen).  This is the first officially documented St. Louis record and the first nesting record for Illinois.  Blue Grosbeak, Western Kingbird, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Black-and-white Warbler (DK) and Bell’s Vireo (FH, P&BJ) were all located at the Painted Bunting site.  A Peregrine Falcon also made an appearance early Sunday morning, 7/30.  

CONTRIBUTORS: Connie Alwood, George & Terry Barker, Paul Bauer, David Becher, Torrey Berger, Rose Ann Bodman, Tom Borman, Dennis Bozzay, Viola Buchholtz, Frank Holmes, Yvonne Homeyer, Dan Kassebaum, Bob Kleiger, Kent Lannert, Jim & Charlene Malone, Jeannie Moe, Mike Thelen, Linda Virga, Helen Wuestenfeld, Jim Ziebol, many observers.   An asterisk means “documented”.  

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