Category Archives: Wildlife

Fox and Turkeys

By jimblock | Published March 3, 2011

I still remember my astonishment the first time I saw a huge wild turkey lift seemingly effortlessly into flight. It glided away as gracefully as any bird, well almost any. Recently eight turkeys have been regulars in our yard along with a flock of common redpolls that numbers between 100 and 200 at various times.

The redpolls have been around since Christmas.  They arrive at daybreak and proceed to consume sunflower seeds, tossing several on the ground for their pals below for every one they eat. Today a red fox joined the party. The fox ate the sunflower seeds the redpolls scattered and totally ignored the turkeys. They returned the snub from sometimes as close as 10 yards.

Here are some photos from today.

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Red-tailed Hawk

By jimblock | Published December 27, 2010

A pre-Christmas hike at Volo Bog in northern Illinois produced some interesting bird sightings, and the scattered feathers from a bird that met its demise. With my trusty LX5 in my pocket, I was much better equipped to photograph the feathers than the Northern Harrier we saw nearby. So here are the feathers. Please let me know if you can identify the species. My best guess is an American Goldfinch, not because I am knowledgeable about feathers but because there were a number of them at the area headquarter’s feeding station nearby.

Heading back after a long hike around the bog in snow, I spotted a hawk in a tree near the road. My daughter, Jennifer, made a U-turn and, with a large truck bearing down on us, cruised slowly in the right-hand lane while I took some photos out the window. The bird was a beautiful specimen of a red-tailed hawk. Here are three photos.

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