Grassland Visit

Halloween Pennant 7-7-18-6477

Halloween Pennant

This time of year I normally visit Goose Lake Prairie in Grundy County, but I wasn’t going to go that far or walk that much this year, so I followed through with my Fourth-of-July unfulfilled plan and went to Orland Grassland Saturday morning. Orland, which is reclaimed farmland, is surrounded by development, but it’s large enough to afford considerable habitat and much has been restored. Next time I’ll use the ebird app and do a checklist. This time I just wanted to get a feel for the place and see how much walking I could manage before the sun reached an intolerable height in the sky.

DICK 7-7-18-6485

Dickcissel

Dickcissels were abundant, but in general I heard more birds than I saw, or the birds I did see were pretty far away like the Eastern Meadowlark below.

There were a lot of Eastern Kingbirds and Tree Swallows hunting insects.

EAKI 7-7-18-6335

Eastern Kingbird

I caught glimpses of a Great Blue Heron and a Great Egret. Later two Great Blues flew overhead.

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GREG 7-7-18-6343

GBHE 7-7-18-6537An assortment of beautiful dragonflies made themselves available for photographs.

Blue Dasher 7-7-18-6315

Blue Dasher

Widow Skimmer (Female) 7-7-18-6370

Widow Skimmer (Female)

Eastern Pondhawk 7-7-18-6419

Eastern Pondhawk

I really couldn’t get enough of the Halloween Pennant. What a dazzling creature.

Halloween Pennant 7-7-18-6471All I can say is I’ll have to go back to Orland soon. But this weekend I am off to Michigan to meet friends and find more birds and plants and insects… I will be back, I hope, with much to report.

GBHE 7-7-18-6531

6 thoughts on “Grassland Visit

  1. Very nice photos Lisa! You’re brave to be outdoors in open fields where there’re no shade trees. Yesterday I went shopping in the afternoon, it was 94º F. I was wearing shorts and tee-shirt and I felt so hot to just walk from my car to the store. Thanks for the post! 🙂

    • Thanks, HJ! Saturday wasn’t too bad early in the morning but by 10:00 a.m. it was starting to get too warm. We are having the same heat as you now, with no immediate rain or cooling in the forecast. Sad when you want to be outdoors but it’s not safe. Hang in there. 🙂

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