This is the hundredth post on my blog. Wow. I wasn't sure at points whether I was going to continue with this website. It's not always easy for me to have these posts out, and certainly not in time. Often, there are days, like the one described below, where I just scrap an entire blogpost because the pictures don't work out or there just wasn't much to write about. My last blogpost, however, I posted to an email group of birdwatchers, and it got me several kind emails in reply, full of advice and ideas. If you're one of those people, thanks for reading this blog and emailing me!
Friday, September 9, 3:45 to 5:00 PM
Temperature: 80 degrees Fahrenheit
Weather: Mostly cloudy, with intermittent brief rain, winds negligible.
I'll be honest, getting to Carpenter Park was terrible. As I drove down there on the highway, a septic treatment truck, with a loaded septic tank on back, switched lanes so that it was in front of me. It then began to leak, at sixty-five miles an hour. There were some words said as the contents of the tank intermittently splattered against the windshield, hood, and front grille of my car. Thankfully, it turned off a few miles later, though not before leaving a few semi-permanent stains in the front of my car. Running late, I raced to meet up with the main field trip. I caught up to them, finally, with my tale of woe, and a car desperately in need of a wash. The trip was nominally taken in search of snakes, but none were to be found. We missed out on seeing any warblers here as well. We could hear a Pileated Woodpecker calling, but it remained out of view, sadly.
Initially, however, all we could seem to find were Eastern Wood-Pewees (Contopus virens). We did spot a Swainson's Thrush or two, and we could hear Blue Jays and a Black-capped Chickadee calling. However, these are, with the exception of the Swainson's, all among the most common Illinois birds. No other vertebrates could be seen at this place, which was usually teeming with life. Only one form of life was widespread and everywhere; that was the mosquito.
Out in the prairie section, the Gray Catbirds mocked us from the edge, while American Goldfinches (Spinus tristus), about eight of them, bounced around the weeds on the path ahead of us.
With the general lack of vertebrates, I was soon distracted by plants, and this colorful False Foxglove (Agalinis spp.) was a good distraction. These prairie flowers, while not state-listed, aren't exactly a common find for me. Partially parasitic, False Foxgloves steal water and nutrients from the roots of other plants, which makes these botanical semi-vampires quite bizarre and fascinating to me.
Also, this time of year, the butterflies are on the move, and we found this tiny yellow one, resting on the leaves of a Cassia plant. It was around the size of my thumbnail.
Back in the woods, we found several more Eastern Wood-pewees and a Red-bellied Woodpecker. Far more exciting than these common birds was the Gray Treefrog (Hyla spp.) we also found. My computer, for no explicable reason, wants to have this picture vertically oriented:
I also spotted an unusual fungus or two, something quite easy to do at Carpenter Park:
Finally, we made it out to the banks of the river, where Boneset and Hibiscus grew. Still, there wasn't even a heron visible! We contented ourselves with an American Robin and a Chimney Swift or two flying overhead, and dipped back into the forest.
On the way, our professor stopped for a photo inside this tree. The mosquitoes and mud made this section a bit unbearable, so we moved on quickly, heading for the bluff.
With the lower water levels, the rocks at the base of the bluff were exposed:
The birds were also more visible. We spotted several more Chimney Swifts catching bugs above the treetops, as well as a pair of Mourning Doves and a Downy Woodpecker. Of course, this paled in comparison to what we found when we got atop the bluff. An adult Bald Eagle flew right past us as we climbed up the bluff, going east along the river, so suddenly that we failed to get pictures. After a few minutes, we spotted a second, juvenile Bald Eagle flying near a group of eight Turkey Vultures to our southeast. This was the highlight of the day.
We made our way back to the parking lot during a brief rainshower. I waited around with a couple of our party, trying to see what birds were in the trees around the parking lot. We turned up several more Eastern Wood-pewees and a couple of White-breasted Nuthatches (Sitta carolinensis), including one hiding in the photo below. It's a short list, but at least we had a Bald Eagle and a Gray Treefrog. I would not recommend returning to Carpenter Park anytime soon, however, unless you are especially resistant to mosquitoes. I'll certainly be back... after frost.
Ebird Checklist:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31503123
Hi, Jared. The butterfly is a Little Yellow, aka Little Sulphur, a fairly common southern species that expands its population northward during the summer months. Cassia is the hostplant for Little Yellow caterpillars. In your photo, the butterfly has its abdomen lowered to the leaf and is probably in the process of depositing an egg.
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