Sedge Meadow Forest Preserve (Wadsworth Wetlands), Lake, Illinois, US

[Jeff Bilsky]

I needed a good first-day-of-spring hike so I decided to try the Des Plaines river trail from Wadsworth in Lake county. I hiked south to 41 and then back - about a 9 mile trek with a couple side trail explorations. A bit more than I had anticipated and by the time I got back to my car I really needed the water that was waiting for me as I had only brought coffee (whoops). Regardless, a great area to explore, teeming with early spring wildlife. Lots of waterways to explore although not a ton of variety of ducks at this point (lots of RING-NECKED DUCKS). Best birds for me were my first of year TREE SWALLOWS over one of the lakes, several groups of RUSTY BLACKBIRDS (mostly further south, closer to 41), singing WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS, and singing BROWN CREEPERS. Mammal highlights included 3 MINK and 1 BEAVER. Also had a couple of mourning cloak butterflies, croaking frogs and a few turtles. 

Full list below - or click the link:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S83750498

Good birding. 

Sedge Meadow Forest Preserve (Wadsworth Wetlands), Lake, Illinois, US
20-Mar-2021 09:54 - 14:48
Protocol: Traveling
8.91 mile(s)
41 species

Canada Goose  24
Wood Duck  2
Northern Shoveler  6
Mallard  35
American Black Duck  6
Ring-necked Duck  19
Bufflehead  7
Hooded Merganser  2
Common Merganser  10
Sandhill Crane  5
Killdeer  3
Ring-billed Gull  25
Herring Gull  7
Double-crested Cormorant  1
Great Blue Heron  7
Turkey Vulture  2
Bald Eagle  2
Red-tailed Hawk  6
Red-bellied Woodpecker  4
Downy Woodpecker  2
Hairy Woodpecker  6
American Crow  6
Black-capped Chickadee  3
Tree Swallow  2
White-breasted Nuthatch  7
Brown Creeper  6
European Starling  1
Eastern Bluebird  1
American Robin  10
House Sparrow  8
House Finch  2
American Goldfinch  2
American Tree Sparrow  15
Dark-eyed Junco  7
White-throated Sparrow  5
Song Sparrow  12
Swamp Sparrow  1
Red-winged Blackbird  50
Rusty Blackbird  20
Common Grackle  25
Northern Cardinal  3

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S83750498

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)

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Jeff Bilsky
jbi...@gmail.com