Listing Through Life

rallus (rail) limicola (mud dweller)

Saturday, May 8, 1982 — 9:10 am

Waukegan, Illinois — Waukegan Public Beach

I finished looking at my lifer Warbling Vireo just moments before. I walked about twenty feet further along the edge of the tiny marsh on the dunes about 50 yards back from Lake Michigan. I saw a flash of rufous tail disappear under a clump of reeds. I stood still until a Virginia Rail came out and began foraging. Much of the time it was out of sight behind reeds. I would get a brief glimpse of a head, a tail or a belly. The entire bird was in sight only twice for a few seconds each time. I was approximately eight feet away.

vireo (bird) gilvus (pale yellow)

Saturday, May 8, 1982 — 9:00 am

Waukegan, Illinois — Waukegan Public Beach

The Warbling Vireo was foraging at eye-level in a strip of bushes and small trees on the dunes along a small marsh near Lake Michigan.  It moved slowly through the branches, allowing me good looks from within 15 feet.  It was singing part of the time.

cygnus (swan) columbianus (the Columbia River where Lewis and Clark discovered this bird)

Saturday, April 10, 1982 — 7:45 am

Racine County, Wisconsin — Nicholson Wildlife Center

Four swans (an adult and three immatures) were swimming in the open area. We saw them when we were still far away. One tipped its head and neck entirely under the surface. Two of them reared up and flapped their wings. They seemed to swim low in the water. They held their necks straight up while swimming, and I was amazed at how much they towered over the ducks.

After a few minutes, they took off, running across the surface for a surprisingly short time. They headed south, then veered off to the southwest, flying in a line with their necks straight out.

procyon lotor

April 9, 1982 — 10:30 am

Barrington, Illinois — Crabtree Nature Center

I spotted the Raccoon climbing headfirst from a branch and down the trunk of a large tree on the island in Sulky Pond. It then wandered off out of sight through the brush.

odocoileus virginianus

March 29, 1982 — 5:15 pm

Barrington, Illinois — Crabtree Nature Center

I was walking along the path by Sulky Pond when I scared up these two deer. They crashed off through the brush in the woods with their tails flashing.