Emiquon, Again? Why Not? (So Many Stilts!)

If you can't tell, I enjoy Emiquon so much that I can spend three weekends in the same spot.  The appeal does not extend to non-birders quite so much, however.  Therefore I did them a favor and separated out that content, mostly rare plants, to this blogpost here.

I decided to take my mom to Emiquon one evening, to show her around the place where I've spent so much time.  We were greeted by two Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in one tree!

American Coots (Fulica americana) fed on land here, like chickens.

There was a Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) on a nest, with a turtle army in the background.  I suspect the nest is a muskrat lodge with a nest on top.

Last of the migrant ducks, the Northern Shovelers (Anas clypeata) and Blue-winged Teals (Anas discors) rested at Emiquon before going north to the Prairie Potholes, a series of glacially-carved wetlands centered in the Dakotas where most of our dabbling ducks breed.

Red-tailed Hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) flew overhead, as I watched.  They spooked many of the other birds including:

So many shorebirds!  These Black-necked Stilts (Himantopus mexicanus) fed in a flooded cornfield, the only shorebirds tall enough to forage in the waters.  Other creatures also lived in the waters...

A couple of Common Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina) foraged in the floodwaters alongside the stilts, moving to deeper water in pursuit of food.

We moved over to the next field, where a proliferation of shorebirds were the result:

By the way, I have no idea what species are present, nor would I be able to identify them from this vague photo.  Some were clearer in the field, but most were too far away for genuine identification.  We did see at least forty-odd Black-necked Stilts together in the flooded fields:

We then went off and had Pizza Hut, a fine end to the day in my opinion! I then came back a week later, on my own, to be greeted by this immature Bald Eagle:

The marshes were full of life, including my first Illinois Marbled Godwit, but it was too far off for a photo worth putting out here.  Instead, I spotted almost as many Black-necked Stilts and other shorebirds here as I had seen the previous week:

Down the road, an Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) flew up after fish:

Over on the loop at the Visitor's Center, more shorebirds proliferated.

This Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca) decided to show its nictating membrane, a protective second eyelid that makes the bird look like it came out of a horror movie.

Lingering Snow Geese (Chen caerulescens) remained, remnants of the million-strong flock that passed through here back in February.



On my way out, an angry Stilt chased the Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) out of the pool a few times.  According to research, this is probably a parent chasing an intruding bird away from a nest.

This turned out to be an injured Yellowlegs, and it had a broken leg.  I'm wondering how...

Meanwhile, satisfied that it had done its duty, the Black-necked Stilt meditated the mirroring property of water with its reflection on long legs.

The last bird of the day was an unusually light Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus), and yes, it was as light as the photo shows it to be.

A fine sunset capped the days, and my time at Emiquon had ended, helping to get me more shorebirds than warblers for the year, so far.  It's been a bit odd as far as birding goes, but  as of 5/14/17 I'm up to 184 species of birds for the year so far, which is quite a lot!  Summer looks like I'll be mostly busy, so don't expect too many posts this year.  I think I'll be cutting back to an irregular schedule and about 4 posts a month from now on.

Ebird Checklists-  Too many to list!  Just go to Emiquon!