The River Landing

Great Lakes Birding Trip: A Reading from Side Channels

In 2002 I took a birding trip around Lake Michigan.  Illinois Audubon magazine then published an article that I wrote about the trip called “From a Great Lakes Journal:  Of Sand, Glaciers, and Birds.”  I included a slightly revised version of the article as Chapter 27 in my book Side Channels:  A Collection of Nature Writing and Memoir, which was published in 2011.

Follow this link to hear a reading of a portion of Chapter 27 from Side Channels:  

Download Side Channels Reading CH27

 

 

Side Channels is available for purchase from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble Bookstore, and a variety of other online sites.

Artwork by Patti Malmborg Reilly

The late Patti Malmborg Reilly (1956 – 2013) originally produced these sketches for a special edition (Number 286) of Illinois Audubon magazine in 2003.  The goal was to design the best, most artistic issue of the magazine ever in celebration of the 100^th anniversary of the National Wildlife Refuge System, with a special focus on Illinois.  My contribution to this issue of the magazine was an article called Pursuing the Blue Goose Across Illinois, which describes a trip I took across the state to visit every National Wildlife Refuge. 

The article was illustrated with several excellent photographs by Jim Miller of Dunlap, Illinois, and these three sketches by Patti.  Although Jim’s photographs turned out very well in the black-and-white format of the magazine, Patti’s sketches were somewhat faded, and mostly placed in the background beneath the article’s text.  Because of this design, the sketches could easily be overlooked.  I have always felt bad about that. 

When I was putting together ideas for Side Channels, I decided to include a revised version of Pursuing the Blue Goose Across Illinois as Chapter 22.  The Illinois Audubon Society and Patti then gave permission for me to include her three sketches from the original article. 

Bend in the River appears on page ix, just after Debbie Scott Newman’s Foreword.  Cattail Marsh appears on page 90, facing Chapter 18, Nature Along the Margins at Cooper Park Wetlands.  And Backwaters, Wetlands, and Bur Oaks appears on page 133, following Chapter 23, Eulogy for an Oak. 

I hope that readers can now fully enjoy these fine sketches.  I know that Patti was pleased.     

Sand Hill Savanna: Side Channels Illustration, Page 184

I included the illustration of this photograph, drawn by Patti Malmborg Reilly, in Side Channels following the Epilogue.  It shows a fall view of my prairie-savanna restoration and a hickory tree that is the tallest tree on the property, and, as far as I can tell, the tallest tree for miles around.

I first noticed this tree in 1999, while I was looking to purchase a house with some acreage.  The realtor who showed the property to me was pointing out certain features of the house, but I kept looking at this tree.  She said something about aluminum siding and the age of the roof, and I replied, “Look at the size of that hickory tree!  It’s got to be well over one hundred years old.”  In the final analysis, I think this tree sealed the deal for me.  Soon after moving in, though, I was battling a leaking roof.  But a couple of years ago, my wife, Julie, saw a bald eagle perching on the big hickory.          

One of the themes running through Side Channels is my fascination with and search for wilderness and what might be termed a “wilderness experience.”  I hope that the Epilogue helps explain what I have found in my many years of travels.

For information on purchasing a copy of Side Channels, please see the lefthand column of this blog or visit my Amazon author's page.

Trempealeau Mountain: Side Channels Illustration, Page 113

I took this photograph at the top of Brady’s Bluff at Perrot State Park, Wisconsin, in 2005.  The view shows Trempealeau Mountain in the middle of the upper Mississippi River floodplain.  Part of the Mississippi River can be seen to the left of the mountain, just below the Minnesota bluffs, and to the right is the Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge.

Patti Malmborg Reilly drew the illustration of this photograph which I used on the title page of Part Two of my book Side Channels.  Part one is entitled River Life, and the setting is Illinois, mostly locations along the Illinois, Mississippi, and Spoon rivers.   Part Two is entitled Travel because the chapters include settings in Illinois as well as other states, from Washington to New York.

More information about Side Channels can be found elsewhere on this weblog as well as on my Amazon Author Page.

 

Merwin Savanna: Side Channels Illustration, Page 84

Mackinaw River at Merwin Savanna Nature Preserve, Illinois

A small hill prairie and savanna restoration is located at the Merwin Savanna Nature Preserve, which is within the ParkLands Foundation's Merwin Nature Preserve in McLean County, along the bluffs overlooking the Mackinaw River.  The preserve has a nice trail system which can be accessed from the north- and west-side parking areas.   

Eagle Bluff: Side Channels Illustration, Page 30

 

 

This photograph was taken several years ago at the Eagle Bluff Access area at Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge, Mason County, Illinois.  Patti Malmborg Reilly did the illustration for the book Side Channels using this photograph as a template.

The view, framed by a bur oak tree branch, is from the observation deck.  Out on the lake, a large bed of American lotus is visible.  This bed was growing slighly larger every year until refuge managers replaced periodic drawdowns of the lake with sustained high water, a decision designed to control the growing black willow stands, which were taking over too much of the lake.  Eventually, the willows were controlled, but the lotus bed disappeared in the process.  A few years after this photo was taken, the bur oak lost its branch in a wind storm.

For more information on Side Channels, please visit my Amazon author page.    

Focus on Illinois' Hill Prairies

Lately there has been a great interest in restoring and protecting Illinois’ remaining hill prairies.  Chapter 24 of my book, Side Channels, includes some of my thoughts concerning hill prairies, which I have made available as a download (Drawn to Antiquity-Chapter 24-Side Channels).  Interested readers may also wish to link to the post “An Illinois River Hill Prairie Fire” on this weblog as well as view the Hill Prairie Photo Gallery.

For more information about Side Channels, please visit my Amazon author page.

Upper Mississippi River Snags: Side Channels Illustration, Page 66

This photograph was taken at the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, near McGregor, Iowa.  Throughout the refuge, which stretches for 260 miles along the upper Mississippi River, there are numerous small channels that are perfect for canoeing:  weak currents, calm waters, and gentle shorelines that are good for beaching a canoe.

This photo was taken in the late 1990s.  Effects from the Great Flood of 1993 can be seen in the numerous stands of dead timber.  In 1993, large areas of the river's floodplain were inundated for long periods of time during the summer growing season.  Even flood-tolerant trees such as silver maple suffered mortality from have their bases under water for so long.  Oaks and hickories faired even worse.

At the time that I took this photograph, I was gathering information for an article on red-headed woodpeckers, which use standing dead trees, also called "snags," for nesting and for storing caches of acorns over the winter.  The scene shows how a disaster for one group of species (trees) may benefit another (woodpeckers), at least for a time.

Watching the River Flow: Side Channels Illustration, Page 109

 

On July 23, 2007, Julie and I were on our way to Hannibal, Missouri, for our first wedding anniversary, to stay in a rennovated 1800s-era mansion near the riverfront.  On the way, we stopped at Bear Creek Campground, just north of Quincy, Illinois, to sit near the Mississippi River for a few hours.

It was bright, sunny, and hot over the water, but cool in the light breezes and under the shade of a big silver maple tree.  We watched the river, read our books, and drank a beer; and I played a few songs on the guitar.

I thought, when I retire, this will be my life. 

The illustration of this photograph, drawn by Patti Malmborg Reilly, was placed just before Chapter 21, "In Praise of Sitting and Staring," in Side Channels.  

 

Download Bend in the River

 

Mouth of the Spoon River: Side Channels Illustration

This photograph was used by Patti Malmborg Reilly to create the illustration on the title page of Part 1, River Life in Side Channels:  A Collection of Nature Writing and Memoir.  I took this shot from my canoe in April 2008 on the Spoon River, just before the trees leafed out. 

The far tree line, across the Illinois River, is a small peninsula called "Bellrose Island."  The Havana Park District maintains this as a natural area.  The riverbank on the left side of the photograph is part of the Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge.

Illinois River Towboat-barge: Side Channels Illustration, Page 6

I took this photograph during the winter of 1991-92 on the Illinois River, a few miles upstream from Havana, Illinois.  At the time, I lived in a small cottage on the river bluffs, and it was easy to slide my canoe into the river if the weather was anything at all resembling mild.  I canoed in the winter quite a bit in those days.

When a towboat-barge, which is a towboat pushing one or several barges, passes in the middle of the river, the swells generated are usually surprisingly easy to handle, as long as you are in the deeper waters.  In the shallows, the waves can build up and crash down with great force, which could easily upset a canoe. 

This photograph was used to illustrate my first publication with Illinois Audubon magazine (Number 247 Winter 1994), in an article called Seasonal Flow.  Patti Reilly Malmborg used it to create the illustration on page 6 of the book Side Channels: A Collection of Nature Writing and Memoir.

For more information on Side Channels, see my Amazon author page.

Bald Cypress at Horseshoe Lake: Side Channels Cover Photo

Bald cypress trees, like the one shown in this photograph, are common in low-lying, swampy areas of the flat Mississippi Delta land that extends from far southern Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico. This tree was photographed at Horseshoe Lake State Park in Alexander County, Illinois. Horseshoe Lake is a former channel of the Mississippi River, called an oxbow, which had long ago been cut off from the shifting river channel.

This photograph is one of three on the cover of the book Side Channels: A Collection of Nature Writing and Memoir. For more information on Side Channels, please click on the Amazon author page.

[Photograph by Thomas V. Lerczak.]

 

Chautauqua NWR Spillway: Side Channels Cover Photo

This photograph, one of three used on the cover of Side Channels: A Collection of Nature Writing and Memoir, shows water from the Illinois River, in the summer of 2007, flowing over a spillway into the south pool of Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge.  In the unaltered river system, summer floods would have been rare; low summer water levels, then, would have allowed marsh vegetation to grow on the floodplains.  The present system, though, was designed to allow larger floods to connect the south pool and its bottomlands with the river. Such floods during the summer, however, are detrimental to the wetland communities in the refuge because plants may be completely drowned or seed production may be hampered. If this happens, migratory birds later in the year will find less food. If mudflats are flooded over when the shorebirds are migrating, they will fly elsewhere.  The spillway also allows non-native Asian carp and common carp to enter the refuge, both of which are undesirable.

Chapters 9, 15, and 18 in Side Channels discuss the Illinois River's hydrological cycle in more detail.

 

 

For more information on Side Channels, see my Amazon author page.

 

[Photograph by Thomas V. Lerczak.]

Mississippi River at Trail of Tears: Side Channels Illustration, Page 150

The circumstances surrounding this photograph are described in Chapter 25 of Side Channels, "A Western Birding Excursion:  Of Wind, Rain, Rocks, and Renewal" on page 148.  This photograph is one of three used on the book's cover.  Upon closer examination of the photograph, you can see wing dams jutting out from the riverbanks.  These dams are used to concentrate the river's flow toward the middle of the channel in order to self-scour a deeper navigation channel for large boats, such as the towboat-barge seen in the photograph.  Click on the photo to enlarge. 

 

For more information on Side Channels, please see my Amazon author page.

 

[Photograph by Thomas V. Lerczak.  Illustration by Patti Malmborg Reilly.]

 

Upper Mississippi River 1978: Side Channels Illustration, Page 48

 

This is the actual photograph taken on the motorcycle trip described in Side Channels, Chapter 11, First Glimpse of the Upper Mississippi River Valley.   The photograph was taken from one of the cliff overlooks at Mississippi Palisades State Park, Illinois.  Only nineteen years old at the time, this was the first long solo trip, about four days, that I had ever taken, which added to the excitement.  I only packed a few overnight items and maybe one change of clothes, whatever I could strap to the backseat.  I made it as far west as Maquoketa Caves State Park, Iowa, before heading back home (described in Chapter 14, From the Misery Index to Havana).

 

 

For more information on Side Channels, please see my Amazon author page.

[Photograph by Thomas V. Lerczak.  Illustration in Side Channels by Patti Malmborg Reilly]

Hopewell Hill Prairies Nature Preserve: Side Channels Illustration Page 138

An illustration of this photograph showing Hopewell Hill Prairies Nature Preserve, in Hopewell, Illinois, is on page 138 of Side Channels.

Hill prairies, comprised of a mixture of wildflowers, grasses, and shrubs, occur on steep, southwestern-facing bluff systems, mainly along major river valleys. Growing conditions for plants are tougher here than elsewhere due to the typical intense afternoon sunlight, rapid drainage, and drying southwesterly winds, which prevail during the midwestern summers. Periodic fires are necessary to maintain the hill prairies; without fires, trees and shrubs take over from the prairie vegetation, despite the harsh growing conditions.

Hopewell Hill Prairies Nature Preserve, which is privately owned, occurs within a thriving subdivision on the Illinois River bluffs in Marshall County. Because most of the homes occur on flatter ground, the remnant hill prairies within the Village of Hopewell have been mostly spared from development. The prairie shown in this photograph is one of the best in the state, in terms of how the vegetation resembles what hill prairies were thought to be like before European-Americans moved into Illinois.

For more information on Side Channels, please see my Amazon author page.

[Photograph by Thomas V. Lerczak. Illustration in Side Channels by Patti Malmborg Reilly]