It’s Spring, It’s Spring At Last

Killdeer are of a hardy breed that arrive here early in the spring (Photo by John Cassady)

I finally broke my winter birding drought by going out on Tuesday with friend Tim Wallace to begin my surveys at the Des Plaines River Wetlands Demonstration project at Wadsworth, Illinois (Lake County). I usually begin the spring water bird surveys in early March but so long as all the water is frozen there is not much of a point. Well it turns out most of the water was frozen and for the first few hours there was heavy fog. The internal roads, which I usually drive, were not passable by vehicle and barely by foot. They were covered by thick ice, which if had been colder would have too slick for a biped to negotiate. As it was, the ice was spongy so that your foot sunk enough to provide some friction. (Muscles tight from months of dormancy ached before and after the hike was over.)

One of the first ponds we came to had a tiny patch of open water in one corner. Fog-shrouded though it was, I could make out two ducks floating. Through Tim’s scope, I could see that they were a pair of wood ducks. Vision being as limited as it was, I am glad they were species as well-marked as wood ducks. It might have been difficult nailing the identification of, say. a hen gadwall: a gray bird made even more non-descript by the dense ether.

Even as the sun was being thwarted, the birds knew that it was still time to vocalize. Most conspicuous were the songs of the red-winged blackbird and cardinal. Goldfinch, robins, song sparrows, and downy woodpeckers chimed in on occasion. A few flocks of Canada geese announced their arrival, their forms barely discernable as they cruised low overhead. Not anything remotely exciting from a birders perspective, although the first “konk-ka- rees” of spring always convey pleasure, but given that these sounds seemingly emanated from the void, their effect was felt. I was also reminded of a lovely line from what is my favorite of the standard ornithology texts, Joel Carl Welty’s Life of the Birds. In his discussion of why birds sing he includes this reason: “To perfect song through practice—and the possibility that some birds sing for the joy of it should not be arbitrarily ruled out!” 

Over the course of our birding, the sun began to burn off the fog and the temperatures rose. The icy roads became slushy, which made it a little easier to walk. Once the shroud lifted, it actually seemed more like winter. The smooth white surface of a pond was broken only by several muskrat houses. Once the cattails sprout, the houses would become invisible. We saw a red-hawk perched low in a tree and a female goldeneye zoomed by, probably flying between open spots in the river.

Tim and I headed back to the parking lot where his car was. He packed his stuff and left, at which point the birding really picked up. As I lingered to take care of one last little task, I heard a killdeer. It was circling the pond near the cars and then aimed south. The parking lot leads to Wadsworth Road, a very short ride to the west  hits US 41, and then its south towards home. Just as I turned onto 41, I saw a large bird cross the road and fly south over the wetlands. As it banked I could see it was a young bald eagle. Fortunately, there was not much traffic, so I easily pulled onto the shoulder to watch the eagle move off into the distance. But then I caught sight of two more large birds- surely not a flock of eagles. They were a pair of sandhill cranes, perhaps one of the two pair that spends the summer. Spring is definitely here.

          

Tags: bird song, birdzilla, joel greenberg's blog, killdeer, spring