words by Vinod Babu

Ten intrepid participants joined me on Saturday, February 7 for a birding and hiking adventure in LaSalle county. It was a beautiful, cold, sunny day, with temperatures starting in the low teens and rising to the 20s, perfect for the kind of walk we were on.

We met in the parking lot of Ottawa Canyon trail and hiked up Ottawa and Kaskasia Canyons, checking out interesting formations like the Council overhang and marveling at signs of last summer, in particular the dead flowerheads of Wild Hydrangea. That plant and a few others, such as Eastern White Pine, Eastern Hemlock, and Northern White-cedar, are specialties here, thriving in the cool shade and remoteness of these north-facing canyons. We hiked along the frozen stream to the end of the canyons but we didn't find the frozen waterfalls we had hoped to see. Perhaps the previous fall had been too dry. On our way back, we climbed up to a bluff alongside the Illinois river, enjoying looks at the the frozen river and all-too distant waterbirds and Bald Eagles.

We then made it to the next canyon, Illinois Canyon. The deep cold provided a nice frozen path for us to step across or walk along the stream, but again, no frozen waterfall. We saw more birds here though. Red-bellied Woodpeckers worked busily near us, and we found ourselves in the midst of a bustling flock of Brown Creepers, giving great looks as they trilled to each other and even sang briefly. We talked about the communal roosting habits of these tiny, hardy birds and speculated if the flock we saw might roost together when night fell. We also got great looks at a bird species that favor these deep canyons—Carolina Wrens! A Tufted Titmouse was seen only briefly but its “peter-peter-peter” calls reverberated across the canyon walls. In many places we saw large rectangular cavities on tree trunks, the work of Pileated Woodpeckers, which we sadly did not get to see.

We then made our way to Lone Point Shelter on the Illinois River, usually a good place to look for eagles and waterfowl. The river was completely frozen, however, and the patch of open water we could see was very distant. With this, we concluded this section of the walk. Then, the participants caravanned in their cars across LaSalle County, making our way to LaSalle Lake FWA, where we hoped to see more waterfowl. We took the back-roads through large cutover fields to get here, with the hope of seeing wintering raptors or flocks of longspurs, Horned Larks, or blackbirds, but all this drive yielded were Red-tailed Hawks and American Kestrels. Nice to see, but we had hoped for more. At LaSalle FWA, we did see more waterfowl but again, somewhat distant. Overall, a great day to be out birding even though it was somewhat sparser than we had hoped!

Field Trip Recap: Starved Rock Scramble