Mud Flats at Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge

I had heard that some nice shorebird habitat has recently appeared on the Wilder Tract at Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge along the Spoon River, so Scott and I drove down to check it out.

As we approached the parking area, a group of 15-20 Turkey Vultures were feeding on dead fish trapped when the waters receded after recent flooding.


They flew off before I could get my camera attached to the mono-pod.


Whirligig beetles, black, flattened and streamlined for aquatic life have eyes that allow them to see both above and below the water surface. Several groups of the erratically moving beetles swam on the surface of the water in the canal running from the Spoon River Overflow.


The Wilder Track has great habitat right now; gulls and shorebirds foraged actively far out on the mud flats.






American White Pelicans congregated in large flocks on the north side of the area.


Dickson Mounds Museum emerges from the bluff behind the pelicans, several miles away.




Herons and egrets hunted the mudflats and shallow pools of water.


They also hunted in the canal running between the levee and the road.

Clark Road Prairie

The trees that TNC planted near Clark Road will one day make this area a bottom land forest.




A female Indigo Bunting grabbed a bug, and then watched me warily before disappearing in the Horsetail weeds.


Gnats (not the dreaded Buffalo Gnats, which are gone) swarmed above the seed heads of a wild parsnip plant.


A tree hanging over one of the ponds had more than a dozen Blue Dasher's waiting for prey on its branches.


Pearl Crescent butterflies are small butterflies, and this one seemed smaller than most, about an inch across. Adults live from early spring through three or more generations into fall. The species overwinters in the larval stage.


An immature Hummingbird flew out of the brush and landed in a tree overlooking the mowed path.


An immature Eastern Wood Pewee also peaked out of the leaves.


Then I found a pair of Black Saddlebags mating.


On the way back to the car an Estern Amberwing and a male Widow Skimmer posed for the camera.