Blue Goose ~ Day 3

June 3, 2014 ~ Morris, Illinois to Peoria, Illinois

I woke up at 5:20 a.m. The sun was just coming up, and it was a lovely summer morning. I had slept quite well although woke up with acid reflux, a result of eating too late and too much. But I found a Tums and drank milk from my cooler, propped pillows behind my head and read more of Hiroshima. 

There was a a physically fit African American woman also freshening up in the travel stop restroom and several men getting coffee and breakfast. The big trucks were pulling out.

I headed west on I80 to LaSalle where I turned south and then west to the Illinois River. Siri's directions to a Starbucks ended fruitlessly near the river out in the country where Starbucks never are so I just kept going, finding one in Pekin, where I used the Internet for a couple of hours before heading to Chatauqua NWR.

The route along the river was quiet, with either dense hardwood forests or open agricultural fields. Homes with backyards rising into the woods and the small towns had almost an Appalachian feel, but much much more prosperous…the towns most likely originated as centers of river commerce…Chillicothe, Lacon, Henry, Hennepin, Peoria. The river and extensive bottomlands with marshes and oxbows and creeks and lakes provide numerous resting  and replenishing places for migrating birds, especially waterfowl and shorebirds. 

“It’s for the birds,” said one of the guys at Chatuaqua NWR, meaning how and why all of the refuge is managed in the numerous protected areas along the river, over 100 miles, collectively designated the Illinois River National Wildlife and Fish Refuges.

WIKIPEDIA

The refuge consists of 4,388 acres (17.8 km²) of Illinois River bottomland, nearly all of it wetland. The parcel is the former Chautauqua Drainage and Levee District, a failed riverine polder. In the 1920s, workers with steam shovels surrounded the levee district with a large dike in an attempt to create a large new parcel of agricultural farmland. The levee district proved to be financially unable to maintain the dike, however, and the Illinois River reclaimed the polder. The complex alluvial topography that had existed before this intervention was replaced by the broad shallow pool of Chautauqua Lake. 

The main habitats found on Chautauqua Refuge are two backwater lakes of the Illinois River, the 2,000-acre Wasenza Pool and the 1,100-acre Kikunessa Pool [Chatauqua Lake]. The Wasenza Pool is a shallow water/seasonal wetland managed to provide critical habitat for resident, migratory, and breeding birds. The Kikunessa Pool is managed to provide a stable water level suitable for fish, resident wildlife, and migratory bird species.

I pulled into a deserted parking lot at high noon and decided this would be a good place for my daily Hour Sit. There was a short trail overlooking Lake Chatauqua which is actually two polders or impoundments that are extensively managed for optimizing food sources for migrating birds. But, after two minutes, the mosquitos won, hitting my face and neck in spite of the bug spray I had liberally applied. I thought how bad can this be? considering the millions of people globally who live and work in jungles and woods. I put an Off-soaked napkin on my head and, when that was totally ineffective, retreated to my car and sat there for an hour. Being by nature a person overly concerned with her personal physical comfort, I am not intrepid about enduring insect. 

I put the Skeeter Beaters on the window, parked in the shade, opened windows a couple of inches, and it was OK. For some reason the mosquitos never found access through the open windows, and if I sat perfectly still, I didn’t sweat much. It was 90 degrees with only a weak intermittent breeze. I saw beautiful birds like a Red-headed Woodpecker, Baltimore Orioles and a Rose-breasted Grosbeak but little else. An Eastern Wood-Pewee showed up briefly and a few Robins, Cedar Waxwings and House Sparrows. 

It was early afternoon and the sun was hot but nudged by my mantra to "just do it," I then walked the levee that divides Chatauqua Lake, seeing Eastern Kingbirds nesting, a few leftover Coots and a lone Lesser Scaup, two Mute Swans, some swallows, Killdeer, a Great Blue Heron, Red-winged Blackbirds. 

The headquarters was just down the road. It was locked until I walked around back and someone realized I was there and opened it up. Two handsome, middle-aged men in khaki and green Fish and Wildlife uniforms seemed willing to tell me about Chatuaqua while I drank the cold bottle of water they offered. I was obviously bedraggled, dripping sweat mixed with mosquito spray and sun screen. But I am careful not to get dehydrated and felt fine after a few minutes in the air-conditioned offices. 

What they do here at Chatauqua is manage water, the idea being to “draw down “ the impoundments on either side of the levee in late spring or early summer so that new vegetation grows which then is available for the fall migration; the process also exposes mudflats which attract shorebirds. It’s complicated and dependent on the level of the Illinois river, which in turn is managed by the Army Corps of Engineers, mostly for barge traffic but also for flood control, rain being capricious and while predictable, is not controllable; only the effects of too much or too little.   

WIKIPEDIA

At the simplest level, in pre-settlement times, Illinois had two watersheds: the Mississippi River and Lake Michigan, with almost the entire State draining to the Mississippi, except for a small area within a few miles of the Lake. This has been complicated by modifications around Lake Michigan, making the Lake itself to some extent a part of the Mississippi watershed.Although it would now be correct to describe Illinois as part of the Mississippi watershed, such classification would not be particularly useful for locating bodies of water within the State.

Since the watershed of the Illinois today now includes Chicago, and as the guys told me, “Chicago is concrete” meaning after heavy rainfall in the city, the river can rise rapidly. When that happens, they cannot draw down. It’s all about hydrology and water having its way. I learned of the dreaded Asian carp (millions died in a recent impoundment draw down), about having to be cautious so botulism from dead fish / maggots doesn’t infect the birds; they told me how the east side of the river has seeps and natural springs continually adding fresh water to this vast system, of how they work with the Army Corps who use wicket gates which are opened or closed to regulate river flow, and of the outflow process and how fast the green vegetation grows once the water is gone. Last fall was great for shorebirds with rarities like the Curlew Sandpiper. The waterfowl need the water and green plants; the shorebirds need mudflats, and every year is different. I thought of young kids playing at the beach with sand and water. Really, what is cool about water is how powerful and precious it is. 

I came to realize these extensive bottomlands and the Illinois River is a big system. I wondered if, because it is close to the Mississippi, my knowledge of this important river was non-existent (which actually is true for most of our country's rivers after the Mississippi, Hudson, Rio Grande, Colorado, Columbia or Missouri) and I certainly never gave it any thought or could have pointed it out on a map. Maybe it has something to do with locale or length of these 100s of rivers. Anyway, the Illinois River is important and "for the birds." 

I made a brief stop at the Dickson Mounds Museum across the river and adjacent to Emiquon NWR, one of the four non-contiguous components of Chatauqua NWR, the others being Merodosia NWR downriver and the Cameron/Billsbach Unit upriver. In the early part of the 20th century, a Dr. Dickson started excavating Indian mounds on his property but was careful only to remove dirt and leave any artifacts. The site was acquired by the state and the museum was built. It is three stories of mainly Native American historical information and exhibits, including 100s of tools and arrowheads (including a Clovis point), pottery, pipes, cooking and sewing utensils, ornamentation and agricultural implements. An impressive canoe made from one black walnut log and only discovered after a 1994 flood (although not made by Indians) was very impressive.

One of the volunteers at the front desk told me of a woman in her 80s who was traveling alone down and then up the Mississippi River and whose kids "were so mad" at her for doing this by herself, and she figured it would be her last grand adventure. People are almost always genuinely interested in a woman traveling by herself and almost all are a bit envious, or so it seems to me. 

It was a pleasant, understated scenic drive north along the west side of the river. I passed Banner Marsh DHC, and almost turned around and went in, but realized the birding in June is not birding in May. But I now will be able to visualize this place and I remembered your stories. 

I found a Walmart on the north edge of town with fields behind it to the west and stayed there overnight, grabbing a Subway sandwich for dinner. The sunshine disappeared and the sky was overcast but not yet stormy. However, I awoke to rain and then a thunderstorm in the middle of the night and finally closed the pop-out back windows. The van moved a bit in the wind but it was kind of cozy almost being in a tent but more protected. I was surprised at how quiet and peaceful it was.