Blue Goose ~ Day 4

June 4, 2014 ~ Peoria, Illinois to LaSalle, Illinois

The rain had stopped and I moseyed around the edges of the open land just west of Walmart for nearly two hours. There was a public library two block away, surrounded by fields, both cultivated and wild, and I wanted to brush my teeth but found out it didn't open until 10 o'clock. So I watched half a dozen Goldfinches in the wild flowers and many noisy Killdeer, found a Robin's nest, watched Barn Swallows, and first heard and then easily found Dickcissels singing for long periods of time, perched on small shrubs just barely in binocular range. They look like little meadowlarks and throw back their heads while singing a buzzy 4-note song, preceded by a chip or two. 

There is the problem of cleaning up. Walmart bathrooms are clean enough but too public to brush my teeth or change clothes. I'll have to figure this out. This morning, I used a Starbucks bathroom but am getting more and more grubby. Like all day today I never had a bra on and walked around half the day with underwear in my pocket. 

After briefly getting directionally challenged in Peoria, I got on the west river road and found a beautiful protected wetlands: The Dixon Waterfowl Refuge at Hennepin and Hopper Lakes:

WETLANDS INITIATIVE WEBSITE

For most of the 20th century, Hennepin and Hopper Lakes in Putnam County, Illinois, were drained to make way for corn and soybean fields. But these backwater lakes in the floodplain of the Illinois River 40 miles north of Peoria roared back to life in 2001 when the Wetlands Initiative turned off the drainage pumps and began restoration.

Again, I was the only visitor except for a white cat lounging at the entrance. I did my Hour Sit here almost under a Purple Martin house and watched the sky slowly clear over the marsh.  Being in the car is like being in a photo blind and birds are not spooked as easily. A Great Blue Heron fished minnows in the shallows very near; martins and swallows flew continuously; a Common Yellowthroat popped up just once; Cedar Waxwings, Robins, Red-winged Blackbirds, Canada Geese, Coots and Killdeer on a sand spit.

There was a trail through the native prairie habitat with many  blooming wildflowers.

By the time I left the wetlands, the sky was clearing and by the time I got to LaSalle, it was sunny. Again, I parked under a tree in a Walmart parking lot…