The Eagles are Coming! (Pike County Eagle-watching) Vertebrate Zoology Journal #Bonus#

On Saturday, December 3, I ventured into Pike County, Illinois as part of the final field trip for Vertebrate Zoology, looking for Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus).  Of course, that began with me running late out of my house to meet up with my classmates.  On my way to meet them, I spotted a Great Horned Owl, which turned out to be one of the best birds of the day. thought sadly not in a photographable location.

We  met up with a couple of other people and ventured on to Pike County (above).  Pike County is one of Illinois' oldest counties, famous for its deer hunting (supposedly, but more on that later).  In 1821, Pike County covered all of the counties north and west of the Illinois and Kankakee Rivers, including the Chicago area and what is now Calhoun County.  Bits of land were whittled away until only modern-day Pike County was left.

 This is easily one of the most attractive counties I've ever visited in Illinois, with a diverse mix of  rolling hills, rocky streams and robust woodlands.  Our first stop  in Pike County itself was the quarry/floodplain near the bridge at Florence. (We had seen some eagles and hawks just across the river in Scott County, in the floodplains west of Winchester.)

Here, a small, muddy lake and some brush around the edge provided us with a few birds, including these Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia):

We also found several hundred circular rosettes of this plant growing in the mud.  Any ideas?

From there, we drove along the river.  This section of Illinois was badly affected by the flood of '93, and every house along the river built since that time is up on stilts.  I didn't get photos of that, since we had a lot of ground to cover.  The scenery was picturesque, too, at least for Illinois. I'd imagine even better earlier in the fall, when the leaves are still mostly on the trees.

Yes, we do brake for woodpeckers.  This Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) is eating small pieces of gravel, which end up in its gizzard and help with digestion.  All birds, to my knowledge, do this, although it's uncommon to see them do it.

We saw several Belted Kingfishers (Megaceryle alcyon) on our journey, and I believe all were males:

Eventually, we pulled off to look at a Bald Eagle nest, which I realized was occupied after looking at my photos.  There are two on the nest in the photo below, which is heavily cropped:

While stopped, I took a brief hike up to look at the bluff behind us:

While doing so, I found some Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum), and their associated berries:

We then drove on further down the river, encountering several mores species along the creeks, including American Tree Sparrows (Spizelloides arborea):

One of the local creeks was being used as a birdbath by all kinds of sparrows, as well as jays and cardinals.  We lingered for a bit here, before moving on.

Several miles down the road, we came to a spring.  I've never drank water straight out of the ground before, but it was quite fine water, for as much as a "city boy" like myself would know about it.

While there, I was sitting in the car eating chips, when deep in the woods across the road, I spotted a Pileated Woodpecker.  As my mouth was full of chips, I could only mumble incoherantly.  "El Presidente", who was sitting next to me, told me that he couldn't understand me.  With my non-greasy hand, I flipped through my field guide, which is quite difficult to do with one hand, looking for the woodpecker section.  In the meantime, the bird flew away.  I eventually showed everyone the guide's picture of the Pileated,  and explained. too late for them to see it.  The moral of the story is don't eat too many chips at once!  Just after this, we also found a turkey pelvis, and that was all. I have no idea how it ended up there, as intact and clean as it was.  Here, the man who found it has it in hand:

We then went along and stopped at another spring, this one a bit further back in the woods:

Here, we found some amphipods.   The amphipods (and an isopod) are hidden on this leaf, towards the back.  We were dared to eat them, as a sort of challenge.  Since they lived in a spring that people regularly drink from, we did.  They have no flavor and very little texture whatsoever.

Having massacred the amphipods, we then posed for a photo above the spring:

After this, we went back on the road, going inland at Bee Creek and upland into the farmfields.

One of the fifty-odd Red-tailed Hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) we saw:

While driving around, we saw one Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), but it got away before I could take a picture, to my chagrin.  Imagine my surprise when a second pheasant appeared, in better view!  This is the best photo I've ever taken of a Pheasant:

Further on yet, we spotted two American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) and a Red-tailed Hawk in a showdown.  The hawk eventually left, leaving the crows behind as victors.

We saw more eagles, including three in one small creek valley.  The majority of our wildlife seen was not photographed, and is thus listed in the Ebird checklists attached at bottom.  I had a Woodpecker Suite (all seven typical woodpecker species in Illinois), and we saw far more eagles than photographed.  Most of the day's photographs, due to the lighting, are actively terrible:

Some of our group (possibly including myself) were dying to get out and stretch our legs.  So we did. likely on someone's private property.  Still, they forgot to post No Trespassing signs, unlike everyone else. Pike County is (supposedly) big deer country, and thus No Trespassing signs are everywhere. We spotted what appeared to be a bomb shelter, which turned out to be an old root cellar instead, and investigated an old barn in the distance, in the most badly timed photo I've done all year:

One of our party found a dead raccoon skeleton in the barn.  Several others climbed up into the barn's upper layer.  I would like to say that I did not do so for moral reasons, but I did not do so because I did not trust the flooring of the barn not to give way, and by the time I did, it was time to leave:

Several exciting, and mostly unphotographed miles later, we ended up in Pittsfield, where we had an excellent lunch at McDonalds.  I would like to go out of my way to praise the Pittsfield McDonalds.  It is rare that I get my order correct at any McDonalds, especially if I order a hamburger (notably, not a cheeseburger.)  The Pittsfield McDonalds correctly made my order of hamburgers and fries, and thus sets an example for all the ones in Sangamon County that never have.  I understand if some of my readers don't care for McDonalds, but in many small towns it's the only option.  (In Pittsfield, this is not the case, but it was one of the few options, and we all didn't mind it, so we went there.)

Anyway, this is not a restaurant review service, but a nature blog, and that means back to Bald Eagles.  After lunch (at around 2:30 PM) we went to Lake Pittsfield.  Here, we saw five Bald Eagles:

All but one were immatures, patterned in shades of brown, black, and white, instead of the familiar white head and tail on black body.  The size, shape, and bill of these birds is unmistakable, however:

They sat out on an old oak tree at the edge of a cliff above the lake:

Fifth Orchid of the day was, if anything, a Meadowlark in  an airport field.  All in all, we saw around 30 Bald Eagles in one day.  We also saw 467 cows, give or take a cow, a new personal record.  Pike County, however, is known for deer and deer hunting.  I saw three wild deer and three dead, skinned ones in someone's front yard.  I believe the authorities have confused cows for deer, or perhaps the hunters have killed most of the deer. Either way, Pike County 's deer population seems a bit overrated.  I shall have to come back and see Pike County again, to decide this.

Ebird Checklists:

Area before lunch:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S32845943

Lake Pittsfield:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S32845741

A Dozen Passenger Pigeons? - Illinois State Museum Research and Collections Center- Vertebrate Zoology Journal #Bonus#

Since this is the week of Thanksgiving, I figured I'd show off some stuffing and an obligatory photo of a turkey- or three:

There's quite a reliable spot for Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo)  along Chatham Wildlife Sanctuary.  I saw about nine there last week, though they should be hiding soon if they're at all wise to the time of year.  Then again, it's only gotten cold in the last couple of days.

In the meantime I visited the (closed to the public) Illinois State Museum's Research and Collections Center, as part of a field trip for Vertebrate Zoology class.

Above is the backbone of a Northern Right Whale. This skeleton was previously owned by the University of Illinois in the 1800s before its donation to this museum.  We were actually allowed to hold one of the vertebrae.

Out in the hallway, I found this Platypus as part of a display.  I thought it was impressive, until we were let into one of the main storage areas:

That's a lot of animals.

There was even a Walrus, and this is a HUGE head, by the way.  I did not realize how big a Walrus is.

In addition to all the stuffed animals (taxidermically speaking), they also had jar after jar of specimens, including the Ornate Box Turtles above.

Notably, I finally found my Kirtland's Snakes.  Hopefully I'll see them alive at some point!  (However, with the current snake epidemic going around this part of the world, that grows less likely every day. For more information, google Snake Face Disease)

This strange fanged animal is a species of Chevrotain or Mouse-deer, possibly the Water Chevrotain of West Africa.  I had no idea these existed.  They apparently are among the smallest hoofed mammals in the world, and considering that's a possum next to it, I'm not surprised at this fact.

Where else are you going to find a drawer full of moles?

This drawer contains more bats than I've seen in the last two years!

We were then allowed into the bird collection, where stuffed birds of every feather lined the shelves and filled the cabinets and drawers.  I hope this isn't the only glimpse of a Snowy Owl that I get this year (although, based on the current predictions, it probably is.)

Whoever posed this Great Horned Owl did an admirable job.

In this drawer, the dozen birds all lined up in a row are all extinct.  They are Passenger Pigeons, and I can honestly say I'll probably never see so many Passenger Pigeons ever again!  This is a sight very few people will ever seen, as this collection is private.

Thankfully, the birds shown here are not extinct, although they came pretty close.  Whooping Cranes are surprisingly tall when seen this close up.  Hopefully I see more Whooping Cranes at once than the half-dozen stuffed ones here!

I'm 99.99% sure I'll never get this close to a Whooping Crane ever again!

Adding to the amazement was this Rail you can see in the bottom right... oh, and the Condor in the back, which I believe is the California Condor.  None of this is anything you ever see normally!

After the amazing wonders of the bird collection, we ventured into the insect department. A local beetle identifier  told us about his work, and I examined his Tiger Beetle collections, above.

We  moved on into the Geology section. Above is a section of the largest meteorite to ever strike in Illinois in recorded history, the Tilden Meteorite, which struck near Tilden, Illinois in 1927.

They also had a moon rock, seen here inside a plastic sphere.  All states were given moon rocks back in the day, but Illinois, unlike several other states, has held on to its moon rocks.

Several fossils were present, including this impressive Ichthyosaur fossil.

The back wall also had petrified logs like this one.  Overall, it was quite an experience, and while this collection is not open to the public, it still amazes me to see all of this under one roof!

Also, on the way out, we heard some sort of noise coming from behind a door.  It turns out that one of the botany researchers practices traditional Chinese songs in his spare time.  It was such an unexpected noise that I couldn't keep from laughing purely from the novelty of the thing.  To the best of my knowledge, it was excellent singing for what it was, but as I know nothing about traditional Chinese songs, I have no idea.  That singing was the second-to-last surprise of a surprising day.

Also, as a slight Fifth Orchid, the last caterpillar of the year (an unknown species) was crawling on the wall as we came out.   Thanks to Tony Rothering for setting this visit up and thanks to our guide, whose name I have forgotten, for showing us around!