Two Weekends, Four Forest Preserves, Lots of Memories

Over the past two weekends, I visited four more Forest Preserves, added several birds to my life list and lots of new to me wildflowers.  I list the preserves in the order that I visited them, starting with Springbrook Prairie Forest Preserve on May 24th.  Springbrook has a split personality, with two thirds of it being prairie, intersected by Spring Brook and containing several water features, including a marsh and a slough.  Spring Brook also runs through the remaining third of the Preserve, but this section contains prairie areas broken up by riparian areas along the banks of the brook.  Both areas have their own flora and fauna and that makes them equally worth visiting.  The highlights of this trip were watching model airplane enthusiasts flying remote controlled planes, a Monarch butterfly, Boblinks, which were very abundant, a Common Yellowthroat, finally getting a decent photo of a Song Sparrow and a bale of turtles (now there's a term you don't hear every day).

Danaus plexippus, Monarch Butterfly, battered but still carrying on.

Dolichonyx oryzivorus, Bobolink, male

Dolichonyx oryzivorus, Bobolink, female

Geothlypis trichas, Common Yellowthroat

Melospiza melodia, Song Sparrow

A bale of turtles, most likely Chrysemys picta, Painted Turtles

There were also several new wildflowers in the section of the Preserve that was mixed prairie and wooded groves, including Balsam Ragwort, Philadelphia Fleabane and Common Elderberry.

Senecio pauperculus, Balsam Ragwort

Erigeron philadelphicus, Philadelphia Fleabane

Sambucus canadensis, Common Elderberry

On the 25th, I revisited McDowell Grove Forest Preserve and spent an hour or so birdwatching, then spent the remainder of my time there fly fishing, first in the West Branch of the DuPage River, then at Mud Lake.  While I didn't spend a lot of time birding, I did see my first Ruby-throated Hummingbird and a raccoon wading along the bank of a small creek, then crossing over the creek on a fallen tree.  I also came across a small glen with a couple of dozen spiderwebs glowing in the early morning light, and several large fields of Dames Rocket putting on an impressive display.

Archilochus colubris, Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Procyon lotor, Raccoon

Spider web in the morning sun

A field of Dames Rocket on the banks of the West Branch of The DuPage.

I had the 26th off, it being Memorial Day, so I headed out to St. James Farm Forest Preserve, which is the former home of the McCormick family, of International Harvester fame.  The Preserve includes several original barns, immaculately maintained grounds and 3.5 miles of paths through the woods.  It also includes a small pond where I spent a few enjoyable hours fly fishing for blue gill and bass after I completed my trek along the trails.  Birding was difficult, as the trees provided lots of cover for the many birds that were heard but not seen, including a wild turkey, but I did manage to get a picture of a Baltimore Oriole, even though it's not the best one ever taken.  I also shot a picture of a dragonfly and a bullfrog.

Icterus galbula, Baltimore Oriole

Plathemis lydia, Common Whitetail, female

Lithobates catesbeiana, Bullfrog

On the flora side, I found Wild Columbine, Ohio Buckeye, Virgina Waterleaf, Virginia Bluebells, Yellow Wood Sorrel and Yellow Iris.

Aquilegia canadensis, Wild Columbine

Aesculus glabra, Ohio Buckeye

Hydrophyllum virginianum, Virginia Waterleaf

Mertensia virginica, Virginia Bluebells

Oxalis fontana, Yellow Wood Sorrel

Iris pseudacorus, Yellow Iris

This past Saturday, June 1st, I visited Blackwell Forest Preserve and it is a mix of wooded areas and open prairie srrounding McKee Marsh.  There is also a more developed area surrounding Silver Lake that I didn't take in on this trip since the portion I did involved a trek of about 7 miles.  I saw quite a diversity of wildlife, with the most notable being several Wood Thrushes and a Yellow Warbler, both additions to my life list.

Butorides virescens, Green Heron, one of several I saw.

Setophaga petechia, Yellow Warbler

Hylocichla mustelina, Wood Thrush

Apolone mutica, Smooth Softshell

Beaver Den and dam

Calopteryx maculata, Ebony Jewelwing

Caterpillar

Tachycineta bicolor, Tree Swallow, nesting in a Bluebird box.

Wildflowers were in abundance, but I haven't identified them all yet, so I'll only post those I've identified.

Iris virginica shrevei, Blue Flag Iris

Nuphar advena, Spatterdock

Wild grape flowers

I'll try to identify more of the wildflowers so I can include them in my next post.

The Balcony Garden

Since relocating to Lisle, IL, I've had to downsize my garden considerably, going from a suburban lot of approximately 6500 square feet to a balcony of around 40 square feet or so. As noted previously, I bought a small four shelf greenhouse in the hope of getting a jump start on the gardening season and to maximize the available space. Since the weather has finally decided to become Spring-like, I took the cover off this weekend and had to reseed several things, as I've found out that even with a greenhouse, when you're seven stories up, late March/early April is still too early to sow seeds when you're having an unusually cold Spring. I've wound up buying plants I would normally start from seed at Dove Manor because it's the only way to be sure I'll actually be able to harvest things or enjoy the flowers.  Another casualty was the Marchesa Bocella rose and I replaced with a Climbing Queen Elizabeth, another pink rose. I'll have to buy a trellis for it to grow up once it starts to fill out. I went to a yard sale Saturday and bought a hosta, some oregano, Black-eyed Susans and a wooden grape crate, then the seller gave me a basil of unknown variety, a broccoli plant and a cutting of trailing jade; the total cost was $13, less than the hosta would cost at a nursery.  I went home, put my treasures on the balcony and returned to the sale with two rooted stapeliad cuttings, Stapelia gigantea and Orbea lutea ssp, vaca, to thank him for the free plants.

The hosta, just $6.

Oregano, $2

Black-eyed Susans, $3

Wooden grape crate, $2

Unknown variety of basil, free

Broccoli, free

I bought some pots, spending another $8 for the five, and 48 pounds of potting soil for $8, so my total for the weekend was only $29.  I then set about repotting the new plants and resowing existing pots, rearranging things as I went.  After I surveyed my handiwork, I decided it was time to move some of the stapeliads out to the balcony for the summer and I rigged up some shelves, then loaded them up.  I noticed some encouraging sights, the first tomato on my 'Better Bush' and a flower bud on the 'Ichiban' eggplant, as well as a couple of Takanotsume pepper sprouts.

The "long" end of the balcony

Lemon grass, Black-eyed Susans, basil and oregano

Strawberries and petunias

Stapeliads, a haworthia and an euphorbia

Another euphorbia, more stapelaids and the hosta

The top shelf of the greenhouse, with tomatoes, eggplant, Korean hot peppers and trailing jade

As things begin to sprout, I'll post updates, but for now, that's all I have to report.

Expanding the Balcony Garden and Visiting More Forest Preserves

We had lows in the 30's most nights this week, so the greenhouse cover has had to stay on, but it looks like it can come off sometime this week.  In the meantime, I had to make some modifications to the feeder, as it was at the same height as the balcony top rail and birds apparently couldn't see it.  I bought a metal plant stand, ziptied to the feeder base to the stand and put a planter onto the base by cutting a hole in the bottom of the planter, then slipping it down the feeder pole.  I filled it with soil and sowed Forget-Me-Nots for a nice punch of color.  I also bought some Korean Hot Pepper seedlings at the local Korean market, sowed some lettuce and spinach and planted the orange tree seedlings I sprouted from seeds; the orange came from my in-law's tree in Yuma.  This weekend I found four planters, bought four strawberry plants and two bags of potting soil, paying $1 for each item, so for $10 I was able to plant two pots of strawberries and sow one of the others with Takanotsume Pepper seeds I brought from my home in Arizona.  The other one needs a little more soil, which I'll pick up tomorrow on the way home from work, then I'll sow sage in it.  To add a punch of color, I bought a pot full of petunias, which are one of my favorite flowers.  The lemon grass I've been rooting also got potted and put on the balcony.

Petunias, rose, bird feeder.

Korean Hot Peppers

Orange seedlings

Strawberries and a planter of Takanotsume (I hope)

Lemon Grass

I spent this weekend enjoying the first decent weather in some time and spent some time visiting two more of the DuPage County Forest Preserves, Danada and McDowell Grove.  Saturday was spent at Danada and it was well worth the trip.  Not only did I add some birds to my life list, I found a Great Blue Heron rookery and spent at least half an hour observing the herons coming and going, with the parents taking turns hunting and sitting on the nest or feeding the chicks.  The additions to my life list from Danada were a Bobolink, a Spotted Sandpiper, a Gray Catbird, a Bank Swallow, a Chipping Sparrow and an Indigo Bunting.

Great Blue Heron rookery

A close up of a few heron nests.

A heron getting ready to feed its chick.

Mixed among the herons was a nesting Double-crested Cormorant.

Dolichonyx oryzivorus, Bobolink, breeding male

Actitis macularius, Spotted Sandpiper

Dumetella carolinensis, Gray Catbird

Riparia riparia, Bank Swallow

Spizella passerina, Chipping Sparrow

Passerina cyanea, Indigo Bunting

Danada also has an equestrian center and the horses were out to pasture, so I had to take a picture of the bucolic setting.

There was plenty of flora to be seen at Danada, including wildflowers and fungi.

Mayapple blossom.

Toadstools

Wild grapes getting ready to bloom

Dodecatheon meadia, Shooting Star

Polemonium reptans, Jacob's Ladder

Prunus serotina, Wild Black Cherry

Smilacina racemosa, False Solomon's Seal

McDowell Grove Forest Preserve wasn't quite as productive in terms of additions to my life list, but there were a few notable ones.

Hirundo rustica, Barn Swallow, pair

And here's their nest underneath a freeway bridge.

Piranga olivacea, Scarlet Tanager, male

Piranga olivacea, Scarlet Tanager, female

I also saw numerous Nighthawks, but they fly so fast and so high, I couldn't get a good photo.