Volo Bog - Volo, Illinois

 Saturday July 24th

The Volo Bog State Natural Area is registered National Natural Landmark, owned and managed by the State of Illinois. Its a rare geographical feature, called a quacking bog, leftover after the ancient glaciers melted away. The property features wetlands, savannas and upland forests. MAP

Came here last month to bird and to do some photography. 

House Wren

Bird List - Wood Ducks, Mourning Doves, Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, Sandhill Crane, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Green Herons, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Kingbird, Red-eyed Vireo, Blue Jay, American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee, Tree Swallow, Barn Swallow, House Wren, Gray Catbird, Eastern Bluebird, Veery, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, Cedar waxwing, House Sparrow, American Goldfinch, Field Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Eastern Towhee, Baltimore Oriole, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow Warbler and Northern Cardinal. Also White-tailed Deer, Widow Skimmer and Northern Pearly-eye.

Prairie Coreopsis

Widow Skimmer

Scotch Pine

Red Osier Dogwood

Pale Purple Coneflower

Sensitive Fern

Tamarack

Gray-headed Coneflower

Wild Calla

Swamp Birch

Rollins Savanna Forest Preserve in Grayslake, Illinois

 Tuesday, July 20th

Trumpeter Swans at Rollins Savanna

On my recent visit with family in Illinois, I spent some of my time birding and doing some nature photography. Always enjoy spending time at Rollins Savanna which is a considered to be an outstanding  birding location.

The popular trails circle the oak savannas and wetlands at this preserve. Lots of joggers, walkers, bicycle riders, dog walkers and nature lovers. lots of birds and wildflowers too.

Great Blue Heron

Canada Geese

Meadow Anemone

BIRD LIST - Canada Geese, Tundra Swans, Blue-winged Teal, Mallards, Hooded Mergansers, Mourning Dove, Virginia Rail, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper, Ring-billed Gull, Double-Crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Green Heron, Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Kingbird, Tree Swallows, European Starlings, American Robins, House Sparrow, American Goldfinches, Song Sparrow, Bobolinks, Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbirds, Common Grackles, Common Yellowthroat and Dickcissel.

Foxglove Beardtongue

Dickcissel

Brown-headed Cowbird

Hoary Vervain

Wild Quinine

American Robin in the Dogwoods

Compass Plant

Honeysuckle

Pale Cone Flower

Baby Mallard

Wild Bergamot

Prairie Coreopsis

Necedah National Wildlife Refuge - Juneau County, Wisconsin

 Tuesday July 13th

 

Added a stop at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge to look for Whooping Cranes and Trumpeter Swans. Necedah has been a part of the Whooping Crane recovery plan in establishing an eastern migrating population to safeguard the viability of the species. It was the northern terminal for the famous whooping crane flights using ultralight aircraft to teach young cranes on how to migrate, till the program ended a few years ago. 

Five years ago Bob Pelkey and I can across one of the ultralights used by 'Operation Migration' at the southern terminus at St Marks NWR in Florida. Seems they were wrapping up the final flight, as conservation efforts were headed in other directions. 

Back in February 2016 this Ultralight was a part of Operation Migration
seen at St Marks National Wildlife Refuge

Our visit here included checking out the area around Headquarters Road and Goose Lake. We enter the refuge at Headquarters Road were we started with a pair of Cliff Swallows. Further along we had White-tailed Deer, Bobolink, Dickcissel, Red-tailed Hawk Red-eyed Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Eastern Bluebird, Robins, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Eastern Phoebe. American Goldfinch, Song Sparrow, Baltimore Oriole, Red-winged Blackbirds, Gray Catbirds, Yellow Warbler, American Redstart, singing Common Yellowthroats and Sandhill Cranes. Stopped at the observation tower were we saw a pair of Whooping Cranes on the distant edge of the water, plus a pair of Greater Sandhill Cranes and Canada Geese. Nice to see the whoopers. At the Visitors Center we added Barn Swallows and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.

Song Sparrow

Believe this is the 'Greater' subspecies of Sandhill Crane, based only on geography.

Still need to catch-up with some swans and was directed up to he Goose Pool area. Before spotting the Trumpeter Swan family we had a beautiful Common Loon diving close to the road. The swans were across the water with the pair of adults and their cygnets. Other waterfowl seen here included Hooded Mergansers and Wood Ducks.  Other birds seen in the area included Killdeer, Veery, Turkey Vultures, Eastern Kingbirds, Robins, Black-capped Chickadee, Cedar Waxwing and Song Sparrow.  

Common Loon

Distant look at the Trumpeter Swan family

Some of the Wildflowers at Necedah

Orange Hawkweed

False Sunflower

Tuberous Grasspink

Great Mullins

Swamp Milkweed

Common Milkweed

Purple Vervain

Roche-A-Cri State Park

 Sunday July 11th

The last weekend in June we traveled north for a family function in Illinois. Made a point to do some birding and do some nature photography. Before arriving at our destination we spent a couple of days in Wisconsin. I had always enjoyed spending time in Wisconsin in my younger days. Had grown up outside Chicago and Wisconsin was were we'd recreate. My friends living further south from me would travel to Indiana or Michigan. But we'd head to Wisconsin. There was the summer camp near Wild Rose, which I hear is has been bought and converted for timber harvesting. Later in life I'd join with friends for weekends at their place near Big Flats. My Mom's family came from Stanley, but some of her ancestry had originally arrived before the Civil War from Scotland and headed by ox cart to the sandy regions of Juneau County. On my Dad's side his uncle left Oak Park, outside Chicago, around 1958, to take over a medical practice in Adams-Friendship, Wisconsin. I believe there is still family in Adams County.

Ship Rock at Roche-A-Cri,
graffiti mars much of the base of this rock 

Petroglyphs are seen at the base of the Roche-A-Cri Mound

Just north of Friendship, is a small state park, called Roche-A-Cri. The park is dominated by a 300 foot rocky outcrop. Personally I'm not in good enough condition the climb the 300 steps to reach the summit, but my daughter did it.  A personal accomplishment for her. 

Black-capped Chickadee

Did some birding and had a lifer with spotting a Brown Creeper at the park office.  The sightings included Black-capped Chickadees, White Breasted Nuthatch, lots of Robins, Wild Turkeys, Red-eyed Vireos plus Chipping and Field Sparrows. 

One species that uses these piney woods in Adam County is a small population of Kirtland's Warblers. This species had been on a serious decline, with a population surviving among the Jack Pines in central Michigan. But conservation efforts has seen the species expanding their range into central Wisconsin.

Later in the day we added Hooded Mergansers, Mallards, Greater Sandhill Cranes, Eastern Kingbirds and  Red-tailed Hawks.

Young Hooded Mergansers

Poke Milkweed