Great Blue Heron imitating a stump on a log.

Mute Swan nesting on an island with a Goose. What is the goose doing there? Another island at Banner Marsh has a swan nesting and a goose. How weird!

Another view of the unknown sparrow.

What kind of Sparrow is this? It looks like a Field Sparrow or a female house sparrow to me.

Banner Marsh, East Access, Peoria County

Great Blue Heron at Banner Marsh. Banner Marsh is a great place to bird from your car. We drove down the gravel road towards the dike and walked out to the duck blind, where we found some geese and a Baltimore Oriole. Later we got back in the car and drove down to the boat launch. Along the way we spotted a Great Blue Heron hunting close to the road. We stopped and got out and I was able to get some great photos of this magnificent bird. Here is a link to the path we drove:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=350203

Great Blue Heron 2.

Great Blue Heron 1.

Great Egret.

Great Blue Heron stalking its prey.

Baltimore Oriole.

Great Blue Herons flying overhead.

Unknown sparrow or finch.

Morels are Back!!!

Morchella elata (Grey Morel). Morels are in season. The park where we hunt for them was packed with people out looking for the tasty fungus. This tiny morel was overlooked by the previous mushroom hunters that passed through the woods.

Gyromitra esculenta (False Morel). Don't eat this one!

Verpa conica. Don't eat this one either. They will make you feel sick.

Polyporus squamous (Dryad's Saddle). This one is edible, but I wouldn't try it. It smells like watermellon. I don't think it would taste very good, so what would be the point?

Large Yellow Morel hiding behind some plants.

Tiny, newly emerged Morchella esculenta (Yellow Morel).

Three Yellows.

Dimpled Morchella esculenta.

Morchella esculenta (Yellow Morel).

Twins!

Tiny, newly emerged Morchella esculenta (Yellow Morel).

Morchella elata (Grey Morel).

Morchella esculenta (Yellow Morel).

Devil Urn.

Group of three.

Morchella esculenta or Morchella deliciosa (which ever you call it, it is a delicious Yellow Morel, albeit a really tiny one).

Purple Trillium.

Coprinus micaceus (Mica Caps).

Polyporus acrularious 2.

Polyporus acrularius. I don't know if it is poisonous or not, but no one would want to eat it. It is very tough and fuzzy.

Northern Flicker Courtship

Northern Flickers were everywhere on Tuesday morning, more than a dozen. Four of them were courting in the same tree and allowed me to take several photographs before moving on.

Northern Flicker attracting attention of the female in the woods off to the side of a little park at the end of Lorentz Ave in Peoria, in a bit of undeveloped land along the Illinois River. Scott and I stopped by to see what we might find and happened upon a number of flickers.

Great Egret at the edge of the marsh across the river from Peoria.

Great Egret at the edge of the marsh at Cooper Park.

Mallard Duck fleeing. Hamm's Landing on Friday, April 14.

Northern Rough-winged Swallow at Hamm's Marina in Chillicothe last Friday.

Bullfrogs hiding in the beaver pond at Cooper Park on Tuesday morning. They blend in so well, I could only see them through my 400mm lens.

Common Snapping Turtle on a log in the beaver pond at Cooper Park.

Tree swallows. Cooper Park on Tuesday morning.

Tree Swallow doing a back flip.

Killdeer wings raised. There were a couple of Killdeer at Spindler Marina on Tuesday morning. One of them was busy trying to distract us. It worked pretty well.

Killdeer in flight.

Killdeer taking a short hop to the next rock.

Kildeer on the riff raff.

Honk, Honk! Geese coming through!
J G Ward

And they're off!
J G Ward

Here they come!
J G Ward

Duck! no, I mean Goose!
J G Ward