As any birder can attest to, birding can be done nearly anywhere at any time. This past Friday I was visiting the Todd Library at Waubonsee Community College where Stacia works. The weather was finally starting to feel like Spring, so after visiting some co-workers we walked around the nature-friendly campus.
We had just gotten done talking about how the Sandhill Cranes had seemed to have disappeared (from previous years, not just seasonally) when not 100 feet from the library building we spotted one! I hadn’t thought to bring my camera so the best I could muster is one with the iPhone.
You can barely make him out in the middle there.
This beautiful bird began calling and then took flight. As we walked around the campus, dodging Canada Geese poo, we heard two or more other cranes calling. A pair even flew gracefully by, sparking comments from other people walking by.
We also heard our first Red-winged Blackbird of the year, another sign that Spring is getting closer every day!
Libraries are not only places to pick up that field guide to Birds of Kenya, or Florida, but to check out the local birdlife as well. Here in Oak Park, IL the Oak Park Public Library is next to a large park where I can watch a variety of migrants in season. Golden-crowned Kinglets love the pines, as do the Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, and there is usually one day in spring when the large sloping hill in the park is covered with Killdeer for some reason.
Patrons at the library where I work have expressed an interest in some kind of birding program. I’m almost tempted to take it up with my manager, to run something like that, but I’m just so swamped these days (& I’m not happy in “leader” positions.)