We've recently taken to evening walks along the Fox River, going up on the west side, crossing over at Fabyan and going south on the east side.  The only negative is that, when we return to Batavia, we walk through an old industrial area.  On Friday night, we noticed two guys walking into an alleyway between two buildings.   The second guy, as he was walking in, was looking around as if to see if anyone was watching.  He must have noticed us, walking along with our binoculars.  He may have decided we looked way too dorky to be of any concern.  I'm guessing these guys weren't planning to exchange cookbook recipes.  You get to see interesting stuff when you're birding.

In terms of actual birds, we had a Swainson's Thrush, Black-crowned Night-herons, a Green Heron, lots of Ruby-crowned Kinglets and billions and billions of Yellow-rumped Warblers.

On Saturday, we found (or at least heard) a Winter Wren at the Grotto Walk and then chased Bob Fisher's Yellow-headed Blackbird report at Pratt's Wayne.  No joy.

On Sunday, I took a walk around the Batavia River Walk and found, to my delight, that they have martin houses up and several of them seem to be occupied by Purple Martins!  Here's hoping they stay.  This location would be a nice spot to point folks who want to get their lifer Purple Martin.

A walk at the DuPage Airport Prairie Path netted a Spotted Sandpiper and several Western Meadowlarks that were singing louder than the Eastern's.  One perched on the fence there and belted out his song, giving me the opportunity to see if I could tell the plumage difference between him and an Eastern.  I convinced myself that I could.  There were also many Savannah Sparrows, all of whom looked like they could pose for field guides - nice, buffy eyebrows. 

I really enjoy this area and this morning I discovered why.  There are three reasons.  For one thing, it's very open - absolutely no feeling of being closed in here.  Secondly, there was a LOT of bird song.  It seemed like every bird (and there were lots of birds) was singing his little heart out.  On Sunday mornings, the airport is probably a little quieter, so you can hear nature a little better.  And finally, as I've said before, the birds tee up nicely on the fence giving you excellent views.

Jim
4/25/1999