On Thursday.....before the snow on Friday, we had one sunny day! We decided to hop in the car and head over to southern Illinois and try to get to either Lake of Egypt or Crab Orchard Lake and see what we could find of interest. We got a rather late start, and the day that started out beautiful was beginning to cloud over by the time we finally got to the lakes....a 2 hour drive.
Right after we crossed over into Illinois, we were passing a field that was filled with blackbirds, and 1000's more were streaming in! They ended up covering two entire fields and kept swarming back and forth. This was the largest swarm that I have ever seen. I have a video at the end of this post that shows one group crossing over to join the other group and then all lifting into the air, making it almost black! Creepy and cool all at the same time! They seemed to be Red-Wing Blackbirds and Grackles. There may have been Starlings, too, but who could tell in that huge mass of birds!
With a great deal of trouble we found Lake of Egypt by a back road that we later realized was not the best way to get there. We ended up at a boat launch area with not much to see. The lake is very large and there were nice homes along the side opposite us. I'm sure in the summer it is a popular recreational area.
Another view with the nice rocky edge showing.
I liked this rock and the stuff growing on it.
The lichen on top.
Not much to see, and we wanted to head to Crab Orchard which has a refuge area and would probably have more to see. So we headed back through the small towns in the area.
While passing through one, we saw this small lake that was fenced in and marked as "polluted..keep out". There were some interesting looking ducks on the water so I got out to take a photo.....and of course they immediately decided to head to the other end of the pond! I'm not sure what they are. My best guess from the white patches on the wings and a white patch I can see on a face would be Goldeneye? Feel free to correct me if you know what they are!
We stopped at the very nice visitor's center at Crab Orchard and got a map that will be handy for future trips and a one-day pass to drive around in the lake area. We found a spot with a viewing hide right away and could see there were geese there, just waiting for us :-)
I love the way their heads stick up over the grass at the edge of this pond.
Of course they all flew to the water as we arrived. I'm very good at scaring birds into flight when they see my camera coming :-) All Canada Geese plus some Mallard Ducks.
The light was starting to get cloudy, but it made the water look neat.
They landed out on the water....a rather large group of them. There were a few more in a field beside the pond that didn't fly away.
One goose all alone. I don't know why it wasn't with any of the others. I liked how it looked in these grasses.
Right after we crossed over into Illinois, we were passing a field that was filled with blackbirds, and 1000's more were streaming in! They ended up covering two entire fields and kept swarming back and forth. This was the largest swarm that I have ever seen. I have a video at the end of this post that shows one group crossing over to join the other group and then all lifting into the air, making it almost black! Creepy and cool all at the same time! They seemed to be Red-Wing Blackbirds and Grackles. There may have been Starlings, too, but who could tell in that huge mass of birds!
With a great deal of trouble we found Lake of Egypt by a back road that we later realized was not the best way to get there. We ended up at a boat launch area with not much to see. The lake is very large and there were nice homes along the side opposite us. I'm sure in the summer it is a popular recreational area.
Another view with the nice rocky edge showing.
I liked this rock and the stuff growing on it.
The lichen on top.Not much to see, and we wanted to head to Crab Orchard which has a refuge area and would probably have more to see. So we headed back through the small towns in the area.
While passing through one, we saw this small lake that was fenced in and marked as "polluted..keep out". There were some interesting looking ducks on the water so I got out to take a photo.....and of course they immediately decided to head to the other end of the pond! I'm not sure what they are. My best guess from the white patches on the wings and a white patch I can see on a face would be Goldeneye? Feel free to correct me if you know what they are!
We stopped at the very nice visitor's center at Crab Orchard and got a map that will be handy for future trips and a one-day pass to drive around in the lake area. We found a spot with a viewing hide right away and could see there were geese there, just waiting for us :-)
I love the way their heads stick up over the grass at the edge of this pond.
Of course they all flew to the water as we arrived. I'm very good at scaring birds into flight when they see my camera coming :-) All Canada Geese plus some Mallard Ducks.
The light was starting to get cloudy, but it made the water look neat.
They landed out on the water....a rather large group of them. There were a few more in a field beside the pond that didn't fly away.
One goose all alone. I don't know why it wasn't with any of the others. I liked how it looked in these grasses.Below is the blackbird swarm.
I found it impossible to do either video or still photos that showed how really big this swarm was! I couldn't fit enough of them into the photo frame at any one time.
I'll post some more from this trip tomorrow.
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12 comments:
What a great trip Mary. Great photos! I think you are right with the Goldeneye! They look like Common Goldeneye to me. Love the photos of the rocks too, I'm glad you posted them.
Your video reminds me of that movie, 'The Birds'. That is a huge swarm of birds! I enjoyed all of your pictures and I'm glad you took us along on your trip.
The huge flock of Blackbirds is amazing.It must have been awesome to see.Thanks for sharing this event.
Blessings,Ruth
The great swarm of blackbirds is amazing. We have starlings doing a similar dusk routine near here. The lake area looks beautiful in winter, imagine in summer it is spectacular. A x
Bird, birds, and more birds! I've never seen so many! The video is great!
Hi Mary, glad you got away on your tripette at last. Those Blackbirds and Grackles must've been making quite a noise while swarming around. I too love lichens on rocks (as you know). John from West Country Birding on my blogroll has a great post on them right now if you get the chance to take a look.
Eve: Thanks for confirming the duck ID. I really didn't know and with them in half flight it was hard to tell.
George: They were creepy, just like in "The Birds"! There were so many. I've seen huge swarms before, but this one covered 2 fields.
Ruth: Thanks...they were amazing to watch.
Anne: This was the biggest swarm I had ever seen. I think they knew that snow storm was coming the next day.
Dorothy: Thanks...there were certainly a lot of them.
Jenny: This wasn't exactly the trip that we had invisioned and we got a late start, but it was the only sunny day we have had in weekds! Will have to go again when the weather is a bit better and we can see more. I checked out that blog and he did have some great shots of lichen! Your post today was great, too.
Another great trip Mary. Gee all those black birds. Amazing how they don't collide! Reminded me of that video you sent me.
The views of that lake are wanting me there.LOL
B.
Wow---I'm glad you shot the video, Mary. I have NEVER seen that many birds at one time. Totally amazing....
Looks like you all had a wonderful trip. There are so many great bird areas near you, aren't there?????
Hugs,
Betsy
wow must have been amazing watching all those birds in flight.great post Mary.
That video is really something...don't think I have ever seen that many blackbirds, especially that close.
Thanks everyone! I really couldn't get over how big this swarm was and couldn't figure out how to get them all in the photos or video. The line kept streaming from some nearby trees into these fields. Two fields full were twice what I normally see.
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