Fall Migration on the Illinois River
I was lucky to get to visit the Emiquon Preserve on the Illinois River on an overcast day. The complex layers of clouds and filtered…
I was lucky to get to visit the Emiquon Preserve on the Illinois River on an overcast day. The complex layers of clouds and filtered sunlight provided a beautiful backdrop for watching waterfowl migration. The first thing I noticed as I walked up to the edge of the water was a single Sandhill Crane standing in the grass looking out across the water. He had one inch of dark soil covering the tip of his bill. I followed his gaze and looked out across the open water, which was partially covered in a thin sheet of ice. This concentrated the birds out in the middle of the wetland. I took a deep breath and started to tune into my surroundings. There was a faint complex chorus of calls coming from the southwest and occasional calls of Greater White-fronted Geese radiated out of the clouds from all directions.
I scanned with my binoculars and saw the source of the chorus to the southwest. The entire horizon was full of flocks of geese and swans and they were coming my way. It was a bit overwhelming. I started to get my gear ready and I could hear them getting closer. I wanted to find a place to set up my blind before they arrived, but there was no place nearby where I could get down near the open water. I decided to walk along a levee to find a spot to sit. I made it partway to my destination when the volume and intensity of the calls from the great flock increased and I stood still and watched as thousands of birds circled the wetland and started to land out in the open water. I forgot about taking pictures as I observed this ancient migration in action. The notes of the chorus were more clear now and I could hear the wild calls of the Trumpeter Swans mixed in with all of the geese. As the flocks settled into the water the birds that were already there started calling and the sound became all-encompassing.
This rectangular wetland surrounded by levees was now full of wildness. The presence of the birds overwhelmed the sounds of traffic and I felt like I was part of something elemental. I decided to drop down near the water and set up my blind. When I got covered up and started to watch the birds I began to see patterns in the flocks and in their calls. I slowly got drawn into their world. There were about 100 yards of thin ice out in front of me, but I noticed that the waves were rolling in under the ice causing it to undulate. Then I started to hear the tinkling sound of crushed ice coupled with louder cracking sounds. There was a zone of slush between the water and sheet of ice and as the wind picked up over the course of the morning the water broke up the ice and eventually reached the shore in front of me.
I did not get to admire the ice for long. Bald Eagles were flying over the wetland and I noticed a young eagle perched on a small ridge in the water pulling feathers off of a duck carcass. After a few minutes of feeding, he stepped away from the carcass and looked off to the south. About 30 seconds later an adult eagle circled over the carcass and landed between the carcass and the young eagle. They came together and started jumping into the air with their talons exposed and wings flapping. They jumped up and clashed a few times and the young eagle eventually moved away and the adult walked over to the carcass. I watched a variation of this play out over the next few hours as three different eagles came in to feed on the same carcass.
After about fifteen minutes of sitting still the bird-free zone in front of me started to shrink. The dabbling ducks wanted to get up to the shore to forage in the shallow water and they sat out at the edge of the ice waiting for it to break up. As the ice receded the ducks moved in and they came right up to the shore about ten yards away from me. When they get this close, watching them becomes more interesting. You can read their body language and see how they communicate and interact with each other. They are highly attuned to each other and their surroundings. I have to wait and pick my moment to start taking pictures. The subtle movement of my camera lens and the clicking of the shutter causes them to lift their heads and look at me. They cannot tell that a person is sitting there, but they know something is different and they slowly start to float away and I end up with a 50-yard duck-free zone in front of me. Now the ducks that are coming down the shoreline see this behavior and they veer off course and follow some invisible line that takes them out around me before they come back to the shore. I got a few nice images of a male Northern Pintail before this dynamic took hold. The flocks of geese that fly over exhibit a similar tendency in the air. There is a subtle flaring that happens when they see the strange shape of the blind below them and they avoid flying right over me.
A rush of wings and rising calls caught my attention. The eagles were hunting and flushing large flocks of geese. They come in low right over the water and slowly fly into the flock. As the birds rise up the eagle moves in under them and assesses the situation. I watched them throw out their legs a couple of times as ducks passed by, but they were not successful this time. The four eagles kept the waterfowl moving and that was part of the reason I had so many birds fly over me. The highlight of the trip was when the Trumpeter Swans flew in. They kept circling and flying right over my head about 15 yards above me. I got so much practice photographing them in flight that I managed to dial in the zoom as they flew over so I would not clip the ends of their wings in the image. This is challenging to do when you are tracking the bird, focusing, and thinking about composition. I felt like my kids playing video games doing six things at once. I tried to explain this to them when I got home, but they were not impressed.
I love the images of the swans. They are such beautiful and wild birds. Watching their graceful flight against the mottled gray sky accompanied by their wild calls was mesmerizing. I thought about this wild scene on the drive home and I found myself thinking about my next visit.