Emiquon in April

Before the Emiquon Corp of Discovery meeting I took a walk along the ridge. I walked down a tractor path leading to the prairie below. On my last visit a couple of weeks ago this prairie and the ridge had been burned by The Nature Conservancy; it is already turning green again. Field Sparrows singing all over the place, each declaring his territory. Tufted Titmice, White-crowned Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Northern Flickers are just the birds I could identify in the poor light. The view of Thompson Lake from the ridge is expansive; Emiquon lies spread out before you, as far as you can see in all directions, from horizon to horizon. You can see the Havana power plant to the south and the Canton plant to the north. That's how far you can see! On the way back to the car, four crows flew over and an American Kestrel flew rapidly by. One American Bald Eagle was soaring over Thompson Lake. The sun began peeking through the cloudy sky. Hundreds of American Coots were swimming in the shallow waters of Thompson Lake. Thompson Lake has expanded so far! it covers the roads that we used to be able to drive!

 

 

 

Emiquon Ridge in Black and White.

 

 

 

The Nature Conservancy has been doing controlled burns at Emiquon, in the prairie and up on the ridge. It is amazing how fast it is turning green again!

 

 

 

 

Surf's Up on Peoria Lake

The wind was strong, 30 miles per hour, driving white caps across the lake to break on the shore off of the point by Spindler Marina.

 

 

 

 

Peoria Skyline from the point at Spindler Marina on a very windy day.

 

 

 

Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker

A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker stopped by the Pine tree outside my office window.

 

Snapping Turtle at Cooper Park

A large Common Snapping Turtle blended in so well with the mud in the stream running through the wetland at Cooper Park in Tazewell County, Illinois that I almost didn't see it. On our return trip he had disappeared without a trace, the pond scum hadn't moved at all, just a space empty of scum where he had been lying.

 

 

A Downy Woodpecker created quite a rucous as it hunted for bugs. His call got my attention before I saw him fly past into a tree near the board walk.

 

Krieder Hawk?

As we drove back into Peoria on IL SR 29 we spotted a very light hawk on the power line. I turned around at the Fire Training ground and drove slowly back towards the bird. Luckily there was no traffic on the highway and I was able to stop and take a few photos. I turned around at Jill's restaurant and headed back, passing the bird again. He was beautiful!

 

Cormorants and Red-tailed Hawk at Emiquon

Hundreds of Double-crested Cormorants were sitting around and swimming in the sloughs on the side of IL 78 at the Emiquon Preserve. All of a sudden they began to leave, filling the sky with their striking silhouettes.

 

 

 

A Red-tailed Hawk soared over Thompson Levee at Emiquon.

 

The Nature Conservancy recently burned a large portion of the newly emerging prairie and the ridge on the Northwest side of Emiquon.

 

 

Thompson Lake is growing. The area surrounding it is becoming submerged. The wetland is returning!

 

Just Before the Rain at Allerton

Friday morning I visited Allerton Park in Piatt County, Illinois. The 1500-acre woodland, garden, meadow, and prairie landscape that surrounds the Allerton Mansion was once the private estate of Robert Henry Allerton. Named “The Farms,” the estate was the center of the 12,000-acre Illinois agricultural enterprise acquired during the latter half of the 1800s by Robert’s father Samuel. In 1946, Robert Allerton gave his beautiful Illinois estate to the University of Illinois for use as “an educational and research center, as a forest and wild-life and plant-life reserve, as an example of landscape architecture, and as a public park.”

I visited the park on Friday, March 21. Clouds were building up and I knew it would rain soon, but I walked the path to the river bottom and found the bottom land to be full of birds: Five Chickadees, four Nuthatches, three or four Brown Creepers, one Eastern Phoebe, one Fox Sparrow, six Cardinals, two Blue Jays, three Crows, one Great Blue Heron, three Turkey Vultures, five Red-headed Woodpeckers, three Red-bellied Woodpeckers, four Downy Woodpeckers, and at least eight Robins. The sky grew increasingly dark while I was there, making photographs difficult. I was able to crop some soft photos of some of the smaller birds.

White-breasted Nuthatch

 

Fox Sparrow

 

Brown Creeper

 

Red-headed Woodpecker

 

Dreaming of Spring

I took this photo with my Nikon CoolPix 995 in April 2006. A Maidenhair Fern with a Bee Fly, at Jubilee State Park. Each year when I hunt Morel mushrooms I find these marvelous ferns. I just found out the name of the fern at my Allerton Corp of Discovery class at the Illinois Natural History Survey. We used some photos their photographer (Michael Jeffords) had taken to learn photographic choices and I recognized the fully grown fern and asked its name. This is a new one, just emerging, with a lovely Bee Fly to form the focal point.

(Click on the Title to link to some information about Maidenhair Ferns.)

 

Eagle Nest

Eagle on Sentry Duty. He sat in a tree downstream from the nest where his mate was sitting low.

 

 

 

 

Blond Squirrel

After eagle watching, we drove past Hamm's Marina looking for waterfowl. In the neighborhood just south of the marina I spotted this unusually colored squirrel. I've never seen a blond squirrel before.