Saturday morning was absolutely beautiful. In anticipation of its cooler weather, I got up a bit earlier so I could drive to Goose Lake Prairie State Natural Area for my annual July visit. If I can believe my eBird checklists, I have been visiting every July since 2012. This place has rarely seemed to be anyone else’s destination for the 4th of July weekend, so I was not too surprised when I drove into the empty parking lot. The visitor’s center is not open on holiday weekends. But I go there for the trails, so it doesn’t matter.

I took a photo of the trail map so I would have a better idea what direction I was headed in. Starting out, the “Interpretive Trail” shown with numbers on the map is easy enough to follow, but I wanted to walk back to the water, or the Goose Lake, if you will, without getting lost because even if you can see the Visitor Center in the distance, it can get a little difficult to gauge distance and direction.

Right off the bat I saw a rabbit on the trail, and then followed a Barn Swallow to its perch behind the Visitor Center.

I then encountered a pair of Brown Thrashers. I was delighted to see them as I don’t seem to see this species all that often.

There were many more Tree Swallows than I could photograph.

I found a Willow Flycatcher close to the trail.

On the way to Cragg’s Cabin, I saw an Eastern Comma Butterfly.

I did not walk behind the cabin to see the windmill as I have in previous years. I did sit down on the bench that looks over a pond next to the cabin where I have seen birds before, but there was nothing to report. So I continued on the Interpretive Trail and encountered a Song Sparrow.

By this time on previous occasions I would have heard and seen fairly well at least a couple Dickcissels, but this time I was surprised by the lack of them. I did manage to barely capture one far away on his thorny perch.

Two Eastern Meadowlarks appeared briefly. Unfortunately they were distant and backlit.

There seemed to be more Common Yellowthroats everywhere, though not quite as easy to capture as they had been in Hebron. I could let most of them go.

But then, I was quite surprised to see a Bell’s Vireo. This is a bird that’s often very difficult to see. Although this one was at some distance, it did me the favor of staying pretty much in the same place long enough for me to capture its image. It seemed that almost every time I had passed by a bush I heard a Bell’s Vireo’s scratchy-sounding little song, never for the bird to appear, but now I was actually seeing one.

I then reached the water, where I found only Tree Swallows and an Eastern Kingbird flying around after my approach flushed a Great Blue Heron.

I encountered a closer Bell’s Vireo.

Then a Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly caught my attention. Bergamot is very attractive to butterflies.

The vegetation in this location is notable. It is the largest remaining stand of Tall Grass Prairie in Illinois. I made note of some old favorites and others I don’t recall seeing before.

I found an American Goldfinch with nesting material. The bird flying away in the last photo appears to be a different individual, however.

Then I encountered a first-year male Orchard Oriole.

And caught a brief glimpse of a Baltimore Oriole.

Red-winged Blackbirds were everywhere but not posing. I did manage to capture what looks like a female on the left and a juvenile on the right.

A young Gray Catbird popped out to see what was happening.

And I got a closer look at an Eastern Kingbird.

I finally caught a glimpse of some of the Field Sparrows I had been hearing, only these appeared to be juveniles.

And then the most exciting part of the visit occurred when I saw a flash of a goldfinch-sized yellow bird with an insect in its beak. Since goldfinches don’t eat bugs, I wondered … could it possibly be a Yellow-breasted Chat, a Nemesis Bird if there ever was one, the most annoyingly elusive grassland species one hears 99.9% of the time but nearly never sees?

Much to my delight and for whatever reason, the Chat decided to come out from behind its cover and show off its catch.

I can’t help myself. This is the best birthday gift I’ve had in a long time.

Young Field Sparrows flew in and I checked them out while the Yellow-breasted Chat was still there.

After that, I was done for the day. Thanks for making it through this long-on-photos post. Here’s one more of an Orchard Oriole.