Category Archives: Illinois

Last Sunday we rented a canoe for some paddling at Chain O’ Lakes State Park. It was a beautiful morning and an easy paddle.

One of the highlights was seeing large groups of swallows hunting for bugs over the still water and congregating on snags along the shore.

Among them was a very light bird, a possible leucistic Tree Swallow. Leucism (sometimes incorrectly called partial-albinism) is a condition characterized by reduced pigmentation. I’ve never seen a leucistic swallow before, but they’re definitely out there.

Have you ever seen a leucistic bird?

* The original title I wanted to use for this post is apparently the name of a porn movie. That’s some traffic I don’t need on this blog. Hirundididae is the Latin name for the Swallow family of birds. 😉

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Waterfall Glen is a DuPage County Forest Preserve, located southwest of Chicago and about 90 minutes driving from our home in the northern suburbs. We visited this odd-shaped preserve today after reading Owlman’s post about his recent visit. Go read his post Indigo bunting oasis! to find out why we were so intrigued (and to view better photos than below!).

Prior to reading Owlman’s post, I had never heard of Waterfall Glen. I had, however, heard of Argonne National Laboratory. The forest preserve property surrounds the lab’s property, making the preserve doughnut-shaped. Argonne is a U.S. Dept of Energy research facility focused on national security, energy and biological & environmental systems.

The main trail at Waterfall Glen is a nearly ten-mile loop. There are several parking areas around the preserve and smaller looping trails are available. We walked about 3.5 miles on the northwest side of the park, taking the Tear-Thumb trail shortcut from the main trailhead parking lot.

First, as expected, we were eaten alive on the grass path.

The gravel main trail was much better – no mosquitoes but plenty of birds and other creatures.

The main trail was virtually crawling with these slugs and tiny thumbnail-sized frogs.

And we also saw & heard Indigo Buntings, yes! Unfortunately most of our views were like this:

After this little hike we drove to another area of the park to see the waterfall.

We had a lovely morning there and will surely visit this preserve again. Many thanks to Owlman!

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This morning we biked to Round Lake after watching the local Independence Day parade. At the lake we visited a newly dedicated (June 6) part of Lakefront Park. The little park has an interpretive path and even a small restored wetland!

Part of the park is woodland. An interpretive sign showed aerial photos of the land taken in 1939, when the former forest was cleared as farmland. In another photo you could see that by 1993 the farmland was gone and the woods were returning.

Yay for suburban parks and restored habitats! Have a great Independence Day, fellow Americans, and a great July weekend to everyone else!

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We found this Oriole nest while walking at McHenry Dam at the end of May.

After the nest was discovered, I asked one of the outing leaders if Orchard Orioles make the same kind of nest as Baltimore Orioles. Everyone was saying we had found a Baltimore’s nest so I wondered if Orchards make the same kind. The leader wasn’t sure so when we got home I checked Cornell’s All About Birds. Baltimore Orioles indeed make gourd-shaped nests in a ‘weaver’ style. Orchard Orioles, on the other hand, make open cup nests.

When we visited the Gambia, we saw several different species of weaver.

We found a weaver nest on the ground while waiting for the ferry to cross the Gambia River at Georgetown. Arthur picked it up so I could take a photo of it. Unfortunately I don’t know what species of the 12 made this one. It was very tightly woven and the entrance was separated from the nest cavity as if it had a foyer.

I think weaver nests are pretty neat, especially after seeing that one in the Gambia up close. Sociable Weavers are a species of weaver that live in southern Africa. Dozens of families will live in huge complex structures of woven hanging nests, which are among the largest bird-created structures. Check out this photo of a Sociable Weaver nest colony. Other weaver nests can look almost obscene.

Looking at my Gambia bird guide, it looks like there are at least 12 species of weaver there. I’ve been trying to find out if any other bird species that make pendant-style woven nests live here in Northern Illinois. Looking through Wikipedia and All About Birds, I found that five other Oriole species that live in the United States build weaver-style nests: Altamira; Spot-breasted; Hooded; Scott’s; and Bullock’s. However, all of these are either western or southwestern species; none range in Northern Illinois. Does that mean that if we find a weaver nest here, it is definitely from a Baltimore Oriole? That would be pretty handy, identification-wise.

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Yesterday I posted about our walk at Glacial Park. We saw 33 species and our favorite was a pair of birds seen in this tree:

There are at least two birds in this photo. Can you see them?

Does this help?

Two Red-headed Woodpeckers!

Here’s the total list for the day.

1 Canada Goose
2 Wood Duck
3 Mallard
4 Great Blue Heron
5 Western Great Egret
6 Turkey Vulture
7 Sora
8 Sandhill Crane
9 Killdeer
10 Mourning Dove
11 Red-headed Woodpecker
12 Red-bellied Woodpecker
13 Northern Flicker
14 Eastern Kingbird
15 Blue Jay
16 American Crow
17 Tree Swallow
18 House Wren
19 Blue-grey Gnatcatcher
20 White-breasted Nuthatch
21 Grey Catbird
22 Brown Thrasher
23 Common Starling
24 Eastern Bluebird
25 American Robin
26 House Sparrow
27 American Goldfinch
28 Palm Warbler
29 Brown-headed Cowbird
30 Red-winged Blackbird
31 Eastern Meadowlark
32 White-crowned Sparrow
33 Northern Cardinal

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