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.

Emiquon Wildlife Refuge & Dickson Mounds

Labor Day weekend 2014.  The end of summer.  Still trying to plan an autumn vacation, and so far the idea is to drive south down the Mississippi and zigzag a bit to some sites in west central and southern Illinois. 

Birds will be migrating south at that time, so took a ride with Mom to try to find Chautauqua and Emiquon National Wildlife Refuges and to see if they would be worth another look for bird watching in October. Drove past Chautauqua with the idea of circling back on the way home, but the best laid plans...

While driving around Emiquon to find the different access points, stumbled upon Dickson Mounds Museum.  This article explains that the mounds are over 10,000 years old when roaming Indian tribes settled in the Illinois River Valley in large villages.  Mastodons, bison, and elk were found as well as many artifacts of pottery, arrow heads, etc.

The museum is located on the largest mound, which was probably used by high ranking tribal leaders, including a chiefs home.  No pictures from the outside of the mound itself.  Dickson Mounds is located approximately 1/2 way thru the Emiquon Wildlife Refuge from the Route 78 on the west side.

  

 

From the observation deck on the third floor, all of the view on the horizons were part of the Indian city.  Some mounds were visible, and other were obstructed by trees.

 



Back to Route 78 to check out Emiquon. Definitely want to try to get back in October when it should be full of water fowl migrating south.  Just a few of American white pelicans and some gulls for now.

 

The museum is located on the largest mound, which was probably used by high ranking tribal leaders, including a chiefs home.  No pictures from the outside of the mound itself.  Dickson Mounds is located approximately 1/2 way thru the Emiquon Wildlife Refuge from the Route 78 on the west side.

 

 

From the observation deck on the third floor, all of the view on the horizons were part of the Indian city.  Some mounds were visible, and other were obstructed by trees. 

 

 

 

One of three old Plank Road toll booths moved to the Dickson Mounds site.

Back to Route 78 to check out Emiquon. Definitely want to try to get back in October when it should be full of water fowl migrating south.  Just a few of American white pelicans and some gulls for now.