Eagles at Cooper Park

This morning around 9:00 am Scott and I walked the boardwalk at Cooper.

As we walked the first section of boardwalk we saw an eagle through the trees. It rested for a short time before taking off again.

Three eagles were working the river at the edge of the marsh.
They would fly into the wind and then turn around and ride it back,
hunting all the way.




One of the eagles landed in a tree out at the edge of the marsh.


Lots of Mallards Ducks and Canada Geese. Many Ring-billed Gulls and one Herring Gull. A dozen crows were cruising through the flooded woods and marsh. The water is over the beaver dam but not the boardwalk.



Red-winged blackbirds were trilling from many different locations. Starlings, of course, were present, imitating other birds. Chickadees, a Robin, and a Downy Woodpecker were also present.

Snow Geese at Emiquon!

Scott and I did our hawk run on Tuesday and then explored Emiquon for a while. It was marvelous, as always. There is something about the winter browns and golds of the wet prairie surrounding Lake Thompson that pleases my eye. I parked at one of the pull-offs and walked down to the lake to get a better look at the waterfowl congregating in an open pool. A small bird flew into tree in front of me. It was a Meadowlark! A sure sign of spring!


I attempted to get closer to the Meadowlark when an eagle flew over with a headless Coot in its talons. It dropped the Coot while I was photographing the scene.



Another eagle circled over the large flock of Greater White-fronted Geese before landing on the ice behind the flock.




Canvasback Ducks flew over and joined a mixed group of ducks in an open pool.


Another eagle flew over, and then another. As I looked around I realized there were about 7 eagles far out on the ice. Altogether there were 20 eagles flying over and around Lake Thompson.




Just as I was about to head back to the car I noticed a flock of white and black birds flying in a huge whirlwind of birds. This was the largest flock of Snow Geese I have ever seen. It looked like a million birds flying in and circling from one side of Thompson Lake to the other. They covered the horizon at one time, then they tightened their circle and dropped down from the sky.






Meanwhile, some American Coots came walking over the ice to the open pool near by.

Eagles along River Beach Drive

Last week Scott and I drove up to Chillicothe along River Beach Drive. We found 6 eagles, including a pair that may be the eagles nesting in Marshall County, at least I like to think so!




We also found some waterfowl, several groups of Goldeneyes and a few Common Mergansers.

Cooper Park On Ice

Cooper Park was under ice after a deep freeze when Scott and I visited on February 7, 2009.

Heron Park, Vermillion County

Scott had a meeting in Danville on Tuesday morning. After his meeting we drove to Heron Park to check out the heron rookery. The parking area was closed, and huge chunks of cement were stacked behind one of the gates. There was room to pull off the road in front of the gate. We parked and walked the boardwalk before checking out the rookery.


We saw four Turkey Vultures soaring in the air over the park and later over Danville. Although there were no Herons sitting on the nests, four Herons flew over while we were there.

Two Red-tailed Hawks were cruising the area.


Four Bald Eagles flew over while we walked the trail near the Heron rookery.



Thousands of Canada Geese were on the water, with more coming in the entire time we were at the park. The sound of their honking filled the air.

These two geese were in the little pond by the rookery.

Several Red-winged Blackbirds were trilling around the edges of the water.