Good Morning GreatBirdPics members! Yesterday morning Karen and I headed off to Whalon Lake Forest Preserve. This area has a variety of habitats: a large lake, a marshy shallow lake, and a river flowing into the lake. We spent most of our time at the marshy shallow lake looking for migrating birds. Off in the corner is a small platform that overlooks a swampy area with cattails, reeds, and a wet ground. We have seen Sora in this area before but we found five of them all foraging on the ground there! Check out the long toes on this one – they help keep it from sinking into the swamp.
A little farther out on the lake was a Greater Yellowlegs. Usually these birds are in very shallow water foraging for food but this one seemed happy in deeper water where you could hardly see its bright yellow legs.
Clinging to the reeds nearby was a Swamp Sparrow. We hadn’t seen one in months so we presumed it was migrating through. We enjoyed watching it fly down to the wet ground to look for food, then fly off to the right and perch on some reeds, then make its way back to the reeds on our left. A colorful sparrow with lots of rufous on its back.
A good day at Whalon for us. Hope you had a good weekend, too. Happy Birding!
Mike