Goose Lake Prairie: Happy Fourth

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Field Sparrow

The forecast was for rain not starting until maybe 11:30 or so this morning, so it seemed like a good day to restart my lapsed tradition of visiting Goose Lake Prairie on the Fourth of July. It turned out to be a beautiful morning and the threat of rain never occurred. Even though I arrived later than I had planned, for quite a while I was the only human, which suited me just fine.

Song Sparrow, the first of many
  • Field Sparrow
  • Juvenile Song and Field Sparrows
  • Song Sparrow

Dragonflies were everywhere. I guess the one I’ll be seeing a lot of this year is the Blue Dasher. Last year it was the Halloween Pennant. Nice to see all of these this morning.

Blue Dasher (female)
Blue Dasher
Widow Skimmer Female
Common Whitetail (female)
Halloween Pennant
  • Killdeer
  • (juvenile)
Dickcissel
Dickcissel

So I’m trying to write this blog post tonight with the explosions going off all around the neighborhood, frequently sounding like a bomb exploding next to my house. I hate this holiday. I don’t understand why I have to be miserable and endure this every year. Maybe it’s why I decided not to be born until after midnight 71 years ago – it was too scary to start living with all this going on.

Luckily it never seems to bother my birds, they just endure it, likely chalking it up to more stupid human noise. We have pretty music playing on the radio. What’s one or two or fifty explosions?

But I can’t imagine the outdoor birds are too fond of this. Oh well. Back to the blog post. This morning I got to see some nice birds. There are a lot of pictures in this post. Let’s just leave it at that.

  • Field Sparrow
Eastern Kingbird

There was one Brown Thrasher who barely showed its face and then hid from me as I tried to see the rest of it.

I hoped for a Henslow’s Sparrow and one complied. Their return to Illinois grasslands is one of the few success stories over recent years. If you provide habitat, they will come.

Henslow’s Sparrow
  • Song Sparrow

The Red-Winged Blackbirds weren’t bothering to sing, so the guys looked a little bored with their guard duty.

There were a lot of Common Yellowthroats and as secretive as they sometimes are, I managed to see a few.

I’m still on the verge of tears from the explosions. I guess tomorrow morning I can go around and see how many fireworks shells are in the yard. Something to look forward to. My indoor birds are ready to fall asleep. I keep praying for rain.

12 thoughts on “Goose Lake Prairie: Happy Fourth”

    • Thanks, Anne! It occurred to me this morning that my mother always called me a “late firecracker.” I never thought it was a curse! 🙂

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  2. This other location gives you more opportunities to get better pictures because it’s closer to eye level, It is less difficult if you are using a long zoom lens.
    We are dealing with hot and humid weather in Georgia at the moment and we too are praying for rain! 🙂

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    • Thanks for your encouraging words, H.J. We are hot and humid too now and although rain is always in the distant forecast I think we’ve entered a new phase with you, which is miserable. I hope we all cool off soon!

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    • Thanks! It’s been a nice, quiet day, if too hot. WordPress just reminded me it’s my blog anniversary too. So I guess I can’t escape getting older no matter what I do. 🙂

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    • Thanks, Jason! The dragonflies always make summer explorations more interesting and I guess it’s a good sign there are so many, maybe we haven’t run out of insects yet.

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