“My mind ain’t nothing but a total blank…”— Merle Haggard
Arriving at the Quiver Lake cabin on an early May afternoon, the first sounds I heard were the clear song notes of a Baltimore oriole. That was a good start, but having missed most of the bird migration this spring, I was nearly desperate to see as many species as possible during this all too brief cabin visit.
My preference would have been to be at the cabin during sunrise just after a strong storm system had passed in the night, bringing the migrating birds down into the trees; but time and circumstances offered only a windy afternoon. Even so, I enthusiastically exited my vehicle, grabbed my binoculars, and began to stalk slowly around our wooded 1.75-acre property.
There certainly were more birds around than a month before, but the wind made it difficult to hear faint call notes or songs of whatever migrants, especially warblers, might be high in the tree canopies. And with most trees leafed out, finding tiny songbirds by sight in the chaotically blowing tree branches became an exercise in futility. Glancing outward over the Illinois River valley, I saw that water levels had risen quite a bit since my last visit, flooding out mud flats along Quiver Lake that may have attracted herons, egrets, or migrating shorebirds. My afternoon dedicated to birding was by every turn becoming a bust.
So I gave up on the upland woods and headed to the lakeshore. Midway down the steep river valley bluff, I recalled that a bald eagle nest was visible, maybe a half mile away, just barely protruding above the floodplain forest canopy between Quiver Lake and the Illinois River: higher up the bluff, nearby tree branches blocked the view; only a few feet further down the bluff, the nest was hidden by surrounding forests. Only at one unique elevation was the nest in clear view.
With my spotting scope set on full power, I clearly saw an adult eagle on its nest, white head and yellow beak shining in the sunlight; and it was attending to at least one nestling. I had been loosely monitoring this nest for the last four years, and it looked as if at least one eagle had fledged each year. I also knew there were three other bald eagle nests along the river within a few miles. So the Quiver Lake nest is not just an isolated case; there is a small local population here between Havana and the National Wildlife Refuges (Chautauqua and Emiquon). During winter, there are even more eagles around, most having migrated from the north; seeing twenty or more within a few hours of birding along the river valley is not unusual. Whatever else may seem tenuous or unpredictable these days, a bald eagle sighting in this area is a near certainty at any time of the year. And that fact alone is enough to bolster my mood; because by the early 1970s, eagle populations had declined so much nationwide that there were no eagles nesting in Illinois.
Bald eagle nest at Sangamon Bay along the Illinois River
(near Browning), 1996. Many trees died in this area due to
extended flooding in 1993. See The Eagle Quest link below.
Bald eagle nest at Meredosia National Wildlife Refuge along
the Illinois River, 1999. Many trees died in this area due to
extended flooding in 1993.
In the late 1980s, I remember feeling extremely excited seeing a bald eagle, but also troubled because I was not sure how long they would be able to survive against increasing loss or disturbance of natural areas and the continued, widespread use of a variety of toxic chemicals that can enter food chains ending with the eagle. In my mind, the bald eagle had become a sad symbol of our nation’s carelessness toward the environment. But now, almost fifty years after the pesticide DDT had been banned in the United States (DDT had been linked to the decline of several bird species, including the bald eagle) and following years of targeted efforts by wildlife agencies to increase bald eagle populations, the species has been deemed officially “recovered.”
* * *
I spent more time than usual watching the nesting eagles before continuing down the bluff side to the lakeshore. Good things are happening these days, I kept reminding myself, even as my mind was filled with thoughts of the COVID pandemic and the recent foreign cyberattacks on our nation’s petroleum pipelines that instantaneously resulted in panic buying and gasoline shortages on the East Coast. One lesson of these modern times, it seems, is not to take anything for granted. I say “anything” because who would have ever expected that at the first mention of a possible pandemic in early 2020, the first thought in the minds of many across the country would be to run to the local supermarket and buy up all of the toilet paper in sight? Not the number two thought, but number one!
When I eventually emerged from the dense tree cover bordering Quiver Lake, my view expanded to the open skies. I panned for soaring raptors, searching especially for broad-winged hawks or ospreys, another species severely impacted by DDT and still recovering. Then I saw a soaring adult bald eagle, which very likely was the mate from the Quiver Lake nest. And still panning, I immediately saw an immature bald eagle, probably two or three years old, with little doubt, part of the local population. Feeling the same excitement as my first bald eagle sighting four decades ago in the wilds of northeastern Minnesota, I knew that I would never take an eagle sighting for granted.
As I began climbing back up the bluff to the cabin, I heard a singing black-throated green warbler. Following the repeating song, I found the bird in a small red cedar tree, alternating between singing and energetically foraging for insects. I simply stood there watching this bird, who was unconcerned about my presence a mere fifteen feet away, minute after minute; the best sighting ever. I could have easily begun thinking about declining warbler populations and multiple threats these Neotropical migrants face, such as loss of overwintering forests in Central America or crashing into glass-walled buildings, but I didn’t; I just watched, mesmerized, I guess, my mind a total blank.
References
Campbell, M.F., editor. 2002. Finding bald eagles in Illinois. Illinois Audubon Society, Danville, Illinois.
del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., and Christie, D.A., eds. 2010. Handbook of the birds of the world, vol. 15. Weavers to New World warblers. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
Links to Bald Eagle-related Posts on this Blog:
Bald Eagle Swims with Fish in Talons
Bald Eagle Takes Down a Canada Goose in Flight
Timeless Scenes Along the Illinois River
Bald Eagles on a Morning Commute