Red-tailed Hawk looking over the marsh at Cooper's Park.
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Red-tailed Hawk taking off in flight.
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Red-winged Blackbird.
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Hooded Mergansers. We had a great birding afternoon at Copperas Landing. We followed the dike road from Banner, and saw some wonderful birds. A pair of Pileated Woodpeckers flew over the road as we drove out to the landing. Three or four Great Blue Herons were feeding along the banks of the Illinois. A flock of several dozen Dark-eyed Juncos were feeding at the landing. And many dozens of Wood Ducks were seen flying out of the creek bed as we drove on the road along Copperas Creek on our way back from the landing. But the highlight of our visit occured when I stopped to photograph a pair of what I thought were Wood Ducks. When we got home and I enlarged the photographs I could see that they were Hooded Mergansers, a species I've never spotted before. It isn't a great photo, but it is a photo of Hooded Mergansers!
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A Song Sparrow among the dozens of Juncos at Copperas Landing.
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Canadian Goose at Banner Marsh.
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Friendly Folks of Banner, Illinois.
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View across the Illinois River from Copperas Landing.
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Copperas Landing.
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Wood Duck flying low over Copperas Creek.
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Wood Ducks Over Copperas Creek.
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Tufted Titmouse # 1.
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Tufted Titmouse # 2.
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Tufted Titmouse # 3.
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Deer over the bridge.
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Deer at Forest Park Nature Preserve.
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Cropped photo of deer with tongue exposed.
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Great Blue Heron at Copperas Landing, Banner, IL.
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Deer going up the creek bed, Forest Park.
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Boardwalk at Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge.
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Bridge over the Spoon River.
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Shadows over the Spoon River.
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Large, woody polypore.
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Tree blossoms against a bright blue sky.
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Bird Houses.
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Tree Blossoms.
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Bird House at Emiquon.
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Coopers Hawk at Forest Park Nature Preserve. Scott and I spotted three hawks flying through the woods on our way out of the park today. I was able to get photographs of two of them. This is the second one that I was able to photograph.
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Coopers Hawk, same hawk as above, side view.
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Cooper's Hawk, ready to depart. This is the first of the three hawks we saw this morning.
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Coopers Hawk, same hawk as above, taking off.
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American Robin hunting on the trail.
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This deer takes a closer look at me.
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Deer at Forest Park Nature Preserve, Peoria, IL.
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Grackles were everywhere this afternoon, 40 or 50 of them worked their way from one yard to another.
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Two grackles sitting in a tree.
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Song Sparrow or American Tree Sparrow?

# 1 -- probably a Song Sparrow; photographed at the Northgate Entrance to Merwin Nature Preserve. He was hard to spot among the grass and leaves. The cloudy day didn't provide much light for contrast. His beak looks black to me, which confused me when I was trying to identify it, but it is probably just the way it looks to the camera in the poor lighting.



# 2 -- I'm confident now that this one is a Song Sparrow; photographed at Cooper's Park in East Peoria. This little bird was singing up a storm.



# 3 -- possibly an American Tree Sparrow; photographed at Cooper's Park in East Peoria. He was busy looking for food under the leaves in the woods near the beaver pond.

Cooper's Park

Downy Woodpecker in the morning haze at Cooper's Park in East Peoria, Illinois.
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Redwinged Blackbird singing in the marsh.
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Redwings Flying.
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Redwinged Blackbird, singing.
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Canadian Geese flying under the contrail.
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Boardwalk through the wetland at Cooper's Park.
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Reflections of a Wetland Stump.
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Song Sparrow, singing.
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Giant City State Park

Giant City State Park # 1. I took these photos on a visit in October, 2003.
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Giant City State Park # 2.
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Giant City State Park # 3.
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