Ruby-throated Hummingbird # 6.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird # 7.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird # 8.

Great Blue Heron in the beaver pond at Cooper Park.

Champaign and Vermillion County Wetlands

Immature Bald Eagle soaring over the wetlands at Middle Fork River Preserve in Champaign County. Who knew there were wetlands in Champaign County? Not easy to find, it is a wonderful bird sanctuary, closed to the public during nesting time in the spring.

Wetland at Middle Fork River Preserve in Champaign County. Some shore birds were milling around on the mud flats but I could only identify the Killdeer. Too far for binoculars or my telephoto lens. Other photos of the shore birds are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/jward199/ShorebirdsAtMiddleFork

Osprey at Heron County Park in Vermillion County. He flew over the wetland and landed in a tree not far from the boardwalk. He stuck around for several minutes before flying over to the sothern edge.

Egret on a stick.

Great Blue Heron flight.

Great Egret.

View from the Observation Tower.

Observation Tower at Heron County Park.

Red-headed Woodpecker at Heron County Park.

American Kestrel. He was sitting in the lightning-struck Oak Tree in the savanna at Springdale. Three Northern Flickers were on guard duty.

A juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker finally chased him away.


Juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker.

Boletus Chrysenteron, possibly. We found several of these in the grass at Springdale.

A young White-tailed Deer was eating grass by the side of the road leading down the bluff at Springdale Cemetery. She still had spots! She watched me photograph her for a while then went back to eating. Usually the deer in the cemetery run when they see a car approach. Maybe mom was near by, making her feel safe.

Common Nighthawks at Springdale Cemetery

Common Nighthawks flew over Springdale Cemetery last Saturday evening.

Common Nighthawk.


More Common Nighthawks at Springdale.


You can see more photos in my Picasa Web Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/jward199/Nighthawks

Birds at Cooper Park and Jubilee College State Park

Song Sparrow with a cutworm at Cooper Park.

Goldfinch at Cooper Park.

Goldfinch eating aphids. The plants along the point at Spindler Marina, north of Cooper Park, were full of Goldfinches. We counted 8 eating aphids from these plants.

Red-bellied Woodpecker at Jubilee State Park. His head is rather splotchy; he must be molting.

Unknown bird in the bush at Jubliee.

Unknown bird above me at Jubilee. He flew away before I could get a better photograph.

Red-eyed Vireo at Jubilee.

Wilson's Warbler, cropped.

Eastern Wood-Pewee and Wilson's Warbler (look in lower left corner).

Mushrooms at Jubilee College State Park

A beam of sunlight coming through the canopy at Jubilee Park. Various kinds of mushrooms were everywhere on both sides of the main road.

Russula emetica. The name means "causing vomit," so don't eat this one.

Hygrocybe miniata, one of the waxey mushrooms.

This looked like one of the Saddle mushrooms, but it was gilled. We didn't do a spore print and haven't identified it yet.

Marasmius siccus. Arising from hardwood leaves and sticks, these tiny orange beach umbrellas covered both sides of the road at Jubilee Park yesterday morning.

Clavulina cristata, or Coral Mushroom.

Mycena haematopus, most likey.

One of the Inky Caps, starting to self-digest to release spores.

An unknown brown mushroom, about 10 cm diameter with cream colored gills and white spore print. We're still working on the ID for this one, which we found at Springdale Cemetery growing in the grass.

Kingfisher and Pelicans at Hamm's Marina

Belted Kingfisher on one of the abandoned barges at Hamm's Marina. It was overcast, about to rain, but we saw some interesting birds. The dark sky made for some soft photos, but you can get the idea of the number of pelicans out there. My photos of the Great Egrets feeding along the west side of the river did not turn out,too blurry from lack of light, but some of the photos of Pelicans give the idea of the huge number present on the river, and I captured this nice photo of a Belted Kingfisher.

American White Pelicans flying away from Hamm's Marina in Chilicothe, Illinois. There were more than 1,000 pelicans in the air and on the mudflats across from the marina yesterday morning.

Pelicans coming and going 1.

Pelicans coming and going 2.

Pelicans came flying in to join their friends on the mudflat across from Hamm's Marina.

Hamm's Debris 1. The ground at the marina is covered with all kinds of junk, from barges to machine parts. Pieces of metal and plastic liter the ground between the junk.

Hamm's Debris 2.

Ring-billed Gull on an abandoned barge.

Song Sparrow.

Forest Park Nature Center

Cooper's Hawk. Early Friday morning Scott and I went for a walk at Forest Park. In a tree overlooking the Prairie remnant a Cooper's Hawk was sitting in a tree. I got one shot before he flew away.

Tiny Snail on Rusulla Mushroom.