In Search of the Cormorant

I’ve seen pretty much all of the major species of Illinois water birds in the park near our home.  This lake you see above is a man-made lake designed to control flooding.  It does a great job of that, thank goodness having just been through one of the worst floods around here, but it also provides a breeding ground and sanctuary for all sorts of wildlife.

One bird that has hung around is the Cormorant (four are in flight in the photo above).  I actually thought these were loons until I looked them up.  They are hard to get a picture of because as soon as you see them they dive under the water.  Someday I’ll probably just sit out near the lake and try and get a good picture but for now, the morning dog walks will have to do for my snap shot time.

You can see three in the photo above…elusive, those cormorants!

And to update you all on the woodpecker hunt, a red bellied woodpecker showed up briefly yesterday.  I was too slow on the camera but I’m excited to know one was in the vicinity…

Stay tuned…more birds yet to come!

~Cathy