Mississippi and Lock & Dam No 14

North view of the Mississippi from LeClair, Iowa

North view of the Mississippi from LeClair, Iowa facing Illinois

Painted turtle

Mallard family

Trumpeter swan

 

American white pelicans.  Wonder why they like being so close to the locks.

 Mr. & Mrs. Mallard

Sandpiper

Emerald ash borers are everywhere

Took a ride north on I-84 the Illinois scenic byway to Albany, IL.  Did a short walk on the path to Albany Mounds, but wasn't dressed right to go hiking on the actual mounds trail (worried about ticks).  So just stayed on the paved path for a couple of miles to stretch my legs.  Interesting mushroom on the path.

Fall colors are starting

More interesting mushrooms

The path back  to the small parking area from the mounds

 



Mississippi Lone Star Steamer

Kitchen

Pilot house

 

Inside of pilot house

Crew cabin

Up the stairs to the pilot house & the 4 crew cabins

 

Buffalo Bill Museum LeClaire, IA

Went to find a bald eagle reserve on the Illinois side of the Mississippi that is closed to the public October thru April, but I never actually found it.  So over the river to LeClair to the Buffalo Bill Cody museum.

 

Buffalo Bill museum on the left.  The right side building houses the Lone Star steam ship.

 

They also had items important to the history of LeClair, these are women's apparel from the 1800's.

Sign said this was the first fire truck in LeClair and  is a fully functional.

 

Many of the homes on main street are Victorian in design.

Pelicans at Starved Rock Lock & Dam

American white pelicans by the lock at Starved Rock.  Only see them this time of year when they are migrating.

Starved Rock from the lock & dam side of the Illinois River

Pelicans, cormorants and Canada geese on Plum Island

Great blue heron on Plum Island

Near the visitor center they have a fenced area with feeders to make it easy (for me) to spot birds.

Hairy woodpecker

 House finch

Lake Renwick & Testing The New Toy

Although I've been happy with my Sony point & shoot camera, I bought a new Panasonic Lumix FZ70 for the better zoom when hiking (or should I say longer walks?) through state parks or wherever the Moving And Roaming Everywhere (MarE) vehicle takes me.  Did a quick 2 miles at Lake Renwick Heron reserve yesterday to test it out.

Sooooo many things to play with on this camera, but the zoom works good enough, but either I'm getting wobbly or the anti-shake needs some work.  I do like the panorama option too.

This section of the rookery in the reserve is closed April through August for breeding season.  Lake Renwick and the heron reserve are part of the Will County Forest Preserve District.

 Heron nests

 

Test of macro zoom



 

  

Zoom tests

 

 

 

 

Panorama tests - like!

 

Was so busy looking in the trees for birds (mostly robins and cardinals), did not see this guy watching me.  He stood there so long, I almost thought he was a statue. More zoom tests - still didn't zoom all the way in.  He was approximately 60 yards away.

Thought this was a female cardinal, but may be a cedar waxwing.