Day 3 - A Day of Promise

Day 3 began with the good news that temperatures were headed up and out of the single digits. Not only did that mean that we would be more comfortable, it also meant that the rodents and birds that Snowy Owls feed on would be more active - meaning the Owls might be more active too.

I'll break the news right up front - we did not see a Snowy Owl today. But, we had a great day birding - spotting Bald Eagles, Hawks, and an abundance of waterfowl. We also saw coyote, deer, some beautiful countryside, and historic communities.

We started the day with a return visit to Lake Springfield. Extremely cold temperatures, 9 degrees at sunrise, meant more of Lake Springfield was frozen. There was still a large contention of Herring and Bonaparte's Gulls but much fewer waterfowl. There was a large raft of Gulls about 100 yards from the dam and another large raft of ducks and geese in open water about a 1/2 mile from the dam.

The same cold wind blowing across the lake that caused waterfowl to seek a warmer, better protected spot caused us to move on as well. Springfield is an interesting town and I'd lovee to spend more time exploring - but this trip is all about birds, specifically the Snowy Owl, and we needed to log some hours in an area with mores promise.

We headed West of Springfield to the Meredosia National Wildlife Refuge along the Illinois River. Meredosia NWR is a beautiful place with lots of promise for birders. We followed our GPS to a spot on the western edge of the Refuge where a Snowy Owl had been reported on eBird just a few days prior.

Flooded roads limited our access to the Refuge, but not to the birds. Right away we spotted an immature Bald Eagle gliding above a flooded field, hunting for ducks. When I got out of the car for a closer look I heard the familiar sounds of ducks and geese echoing up from the other sidde of a leveee about 1 1/2 miles from our location. As the young Bald Eagle hunted ducks in the flooded field next to us, ducks and geese filled the air over the main part of the Refuge and the flooded farm fields just outside of the Refuge.

I set up the spotting scope to get a better look at the Bald Eagle and waterfowl and was excited to see that the young Bald Eagle was not alone. The youngster glided into a tree along the levee and there I saw 2 mature Bald Eagles. Their size indicated that 1 was male, the other a female. It was obvious to me that this was a family group and that they were working as a family to put food on the table - or, more accurately, on the branch.

Meredosia proved to be a great place for viewing waterfowl. It reminded me of the years I spent hunting ducks, guiding hunters, and managing Hunting Clubs in Eastern Arkansas. We saw, and heard, Mallards, Pintails, American Wegeons, Gadwalls,  Canada Geese, and Snow Geese, We also identified an American Kestrel, Mourning Doves, a Red-tailed Hawk, and European Starlings. But no Snowy Owl. After alomt 2 hours searching the fields that were accessible, we decided it was time to head north, up the Illinois River to an area outside of Peoria, IL where a Snowy Owl had been spotted in early January.

Our route to Peoria took us up Hwy 68 then Hwy 78 through historic Illinois communities like Beardstown, Little Indian, Bath, Chandlerville, Havana, and Green Valley. Along the way we saw another Bald Eagle on the Sangamon River. We also saw the occasional fat and happy, corn fed deer that looked more like ponies.

Passing through Havana, IL we came face to face with the decaying heart of America and the cause of that decay - greed. Havana is an historic town situated on the Illinois River and home to a massive grain storage facility and shipping terminal owed by Archer Daniels Midland. While the grain terminal was state of the art the town of Havana was aging and, in many places, crumbling. Look for another post from me offering my take on the problems communities like Havana face and my opinion as to the source of those problems.

We searched some promising spots west of Peoria but still no Snowy Owl. We did get to see a Wind Farm and witnessed a beautiful sunset before heading farther North to Dekalb and the most promising locations for seeing a Snowy Owl.

Even though we didn't see a Snowy Owl, I count this day a success. We saw beautiful Bald Eagles and thousands of waterfowl, beautiful countryside and historic communities. Tomorrow is another day and, quite honestly, offers our best chance of seeing the beautifully illusive Snowy Owl.