On Saturday I had the wonderful opportunity to bird with Dan Williams. Our destination was Afton Forest Preserve, a nicely restored farmland in DeKalb County, Illinois. This avian oasis has been the location of numerous rarities including Vermillion Flycatcher, a bird I saw a few years back while attending college at N.I.U.
Our target bird was an American Avocet that had been sighted two days earlier. Unfortunately, we did not relocated the Avocet but I was happy to learn lots of info about identifying shorebirds. Especially in our county, Winnebago, there is a great lacking of shorebird habitat, so opportunities to study shorebirds are limited.
We did find a nice mixture of shorebirds, including both Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs and Short-billed Dowitchers among others.
Lesser Yellowlegs
There were plenty of other birds flying about including Green Herons, Sedge Wrens, and a LOT of Great Egrets.
– Birdfreak
Gosh, I don’t think I’ve seen that many great egrets in one place. I usually see only one at a time and they are usually in the water. I’ve never seen them perched. That’s a great picture, Birdfreak.
@ Mary – Thanks!! The first time I ever saw a Great Blue Heron (not to mention Great Egret) in a tree I was shocked. Then I discovered that all herons and egrets hang out in trees. They look so graceful flying, stealthy stalking prey in the water, but up in trees they just look awkward yet cool.