Tag Archives: going for a walk

Please Don’t put up Pictures of Fog

But I like fog.

I like the way it visually cuts me off from my surroundings. This one wasn’t horribly dense, but you could see nothing beyond the trees on the opposite shore of the river barely 100 yards away. Even those were indistinct shades of gray.

In the tree on the left are a couple of bald eagles, no, really.

Fishing in fog like this is one of my favorite things to do. It makes you concentrate and focus on what is readily apparent rather than letting your mind wander on what is down stream and around the next bend. You can’t see the next bend.

This morning I had already been out on my porch listening to the bald eagles talk down on the river. The geese were being unusually noisy this morning too. Maybe because of the eagles. With the air temperatures just above 40 degrees, it was time to go for a walk. We’ve had a long stretch of below freezing temps and this year my bones are paying the price. Today they didn’t feel so bad.

I could tell by the sound that there were a lot of geese along the river. They were thick on the ice and in the shallow water below the dam when I got there. Some were already getting nervous about me walking along the shore and took off.

The geese that hang out around here all year don’t get so nervous. I can always tell how wild the geese are by how close they let you get. The more domestic ones will let you walk right up to them, they get used to people tossing them food. The wilder ones will start honking and moving around, getting agitated.

I decided to make matters worse by walking out on a spit of land that got me even closer to the geese. The honking kept getting louder.

It wasn’t long before they started leaving in small groups.

This kept up for a few minutes.

Till they were all pretty much airborne.

I quickly realized there were now a few hundred pissed off flying crapping machines over my head.

I flipped the hood onto my head and stood on the end of the spit of land to watch what I started. The honking was deafening and there were so many geese low over my head that I could feel the vibrations from displaced air coming off their wings and onto my eardrums. It took them a few minutes to realize I wasn’t leaving and they headed off down stream.

The other benefit of fog is that it deadens the noise of human activity, but I noticed that it had practically no affect on the sound of the birds on the river. I noticed how clearly I could hear the eagles this morning though they were two blocks away. As I walked home in the same direction the geese flew, I could hear them still pissed off and honking, but I couldn’t see them.

I think I’ve always noticed this, but not so distinctly as today. There must be something about the sound waves from their noises that cuts through the fog. I would assume so they can continue to know where each other are even if they couldn’t see each other.

The geese were heading down stream making a ruckus. I could hear them flying around and remembered that there were few places for them to land. The river further down was already filled with birds and I’m sure no further company was wanted. A half hour later I went in the house. The birds were still squawking loudly.

My mother-in-law was sitting in the living room and commented on the sounds of the geese as I walked into the house. She could hear the noise building out on the river two blocks away even in a closed up house.

Yeah, that was me. I decided to have a little fun with the geese.

“They didn’t sound like they were having fun.”

Bald Eagles on the Fox River Update

Bald Eagles on the Fox River

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Apparently I wrote about bald eagles on the Fox River in Yorkville back in January of 2012. Then I did it again at the end of December 2012. But when you see over 20 of them in one day, it’s hard not to bring it up again.

The small lakes and ponds in the surrounding area are all frozen over. Much of the Fox River is ice too, something hard to believe for water that flows. You wouldn’t think that’s possible. The ducks and geese that rely on open water have fewer places to go. The Yorkville dam is about a half mile away from me and the churning water over the dam keeps the river relatively free of ice for a good mile.

Everything that flies seems to congregate in these open areas. Thousands of waterfowl are gathered on the river below my house and many more arrive every day around sunset. The constant honking of the geese can be heard blocks away and it goes on well into the night. Blue herons are flying all over the place looking for spots between the geese to land.

For the last few days the reports of bald eagles on the Fox River have been appearing in earnest. The eagles too are looking for open water. Being primarily fish eaters, they have fewer places to go and I’m sure if all else fails, they’ll pick off a bird or two when hungry enough.

Friend and avid bird watcher, Larry Granat along with his wife Debbie, reported seeing 9 of them on Tuesday in Yorkville. For the birders, Larry runs a Facebook page called The Kendall County Bird Page and it’s worth a visit.

The photo at the top of this post is one of the photo’s Larry took that day as well as the following two. I really need to get me one of those cameras. I have film cameras that have this capability, but what’s film?

As far as I can tell, that’s a gizzard shad that it plucked out of the river for lunch.

On Thursday I went down to the river to see the eagles for myself. At the bottom of the hill and on the other side of the river is the mouth of a creek. Just outside the creek mouth is a small island. In the still water around the island were a few hundred geese and perched in the tree of the island were six eagles. By the time I got in position to take a picture, two of the eagles had flown off.

I know, they’re hard to see, but once you get used to what you’re looking for you can’t miss them.

Then I wandered over to the dam and got to see six more. Around 10 or 11 years ago I had seen my first eagle on the river and continued to see one now and then in the coming years. But the last few years have been bringing many more to the Fox River. I couldn’t believe I had just seen 12.

On Friday I went for a drive along the river from Yorkville to Montgomery, about 10 miles. Before even leaving Yorkville I had already seen nine eagles. I stopped at a number of places along the river only to find the river pretty locked up with ice. The few places that had small patches of open water were acting like magnets for the geese.

When I got to Orchard Road I noticed it was the dividing line between open water up stream and a river made up of almost solid ice. I didn’t expect this. I thought it would be all ice even further up. The mile and a half stretch from Orchard Road to Oswego has practically no access points for a car. You can hike that length, but it can be a challenge.

As I drove north along the river out of Oswego the eagles seemed to be every few hundred yards. Sometimes by themselves and other times three or four in a tree. I gave up counting them when I got to 20 and decided to just enjoy the ride and spotting eagles. I wound up seeing many more than 20 by the end of my ride.

With all this open water along this stretch, the waterfowl have congregated by the thousands. I couldn’t get in a good position to take a picture, so this shot from the same stretch a few years ago will have to do. Picture many more birds, but you get the idea.

On the way home, on the road along the river and below my house, I came across one eagle sitting in a tree about 50 feet away. I knew if I got out of the car it would take off, so with window rolled down and the zoom on my point and shoot camera all the way out, I kept taking pictures till it turned it’s head just enough to give me a profile.

I really do need to get a better camera.

Friends have been telling me that they are spotting eagles even further north. From Elgin to St. Charles and Batavia, but not in the numbers we’re seeing further south. So far anyway.

So get out your map and get to Montgomery right on the Fox River. You want to drive south on Route 25 starting at the dam. At one point you’ll want to take a side street that keeps you along the river and into Oswego. No, I’ve only been driving down that street for over a dozen years and I don’t know the name of it. That’s what maps are for, you’ll find it.

If you make it down to Yorkville, start at the dam. Right at the dam is a great little coffee house called River City Roasters . If you’re lucky you can get a window seat and leisurely gawk at the eagles. At least you’ll have a place where you can go in and warm up.

A lot of people in Illinois travel good distances to view bald eagles. Out to the Mississippi River, the Rock River and one of the most popular spots, Starved Rock State Park on the Illinois River. I will grant that those areas may offer a better scenic view, but I saw well over 20 eagles in a short distance and it’s barely 50 miles from downtown Chicago.

You can’t beat that.

The 10 day weather forecast shows virtually no change in this weather pattern, so the conditions needed to keep the eagles around for at least two more weeks are pretty good.

Bring some binoculars and don’t forget your camera.

Hopefully you have a better one than I do.

Blackberry Creek Dam Removal Update, So That’s What all the Noise Was

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To play catch up, you can read the past progress reports here.
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If there’s a benefit to sitting around waiting to be called back to work, it’s being around the neighborhood to see what’s happening on a daily basis.

From my front porch I can see through the trees, across the Fox River and to the ridge on the opposite side. All week I could see heavy construction equipment moving around by the Blackberry Creek Dam Removal project. It also involves replacing the deteriorating bridge, but that’s not anywhere near as exciting to me.

I fight the urge to go look at the project more frequently. I don’t want to see baby steps being accomplished, so on the weekends I go wander around the construction site. Last week, every day, I could hear a lot of banging around going on.

They’ve started to put in the rock along the shores that will keep the shores from eroding.

This same rock was put in along the shores of Waubonsie Creek in Oswego. Bitch to walk on, but not impossible. I’ll always find a way down to fish a creek. I know the ways here already. Explored them all years ago.

The way they’re layering everything is interesting.

The edges look extremely man made at the moment, but over the next few years the edges should get softened a bit as running water does what it wants with it.

I had sent off my observations to date to a few people I know that are managing the project. I questioned the necessity of building the midstream riffles right away and whether they can wait.

The response let me know that the project has a March deadline and so far it looks like they’re going to make it. As for the riffles, he reiterated the stream bank erosion issues that come into play. I still question that. The creek was here for a few thousand years before man decided to put a dam across it. Stream bank erosion is always an issue. Walk around any creek or river to see that. It’s part of the natural process. I would prefer to see what mother nature does, but I seem to be alone in that viewpoint.

They are moving along with one set of the riffles.

Looks like it’s going to create a pool about three feet deep. I’ve seen this creek at flood stage and I’m sure it won’t take too many years for this to get knocked down a bit. The way it’s being built though pretty much eliminates wading down the middle of the creek. The rock they’re putting in is brutal to walk on and even if the water does knock the height down a bit, I can’t recommend walking on it.

Which is fine. It’s only about a quarter mile stretch of the creek. I have some vague notes that Blackberry Creek is 26 miles long. As long as the fish are migrating around all these rocks and heading upstream, I’ll be happy. Years ago I marked spots on a map all along this creek. I knew eventually that dam would be coming out.

Somebody has to go do the research to see how far upstream the fish are migrating.

Even a Deer Enjoys a Good Cuban Now and Then

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For well over a dozen years while out cruising the internet, I’ve been using the same picture of a cute smiling me when I was four years old as an avatar everywhere I go. Keeps people guessing. How can someone so cute be such an ass at times.

I grew up, the picture didn’t.

That’s me on the left. The monkey sitting next to me is my brother and, yes, he eventually grew into those ears quite handsomely.

The other day I decided to change the picture on my Facebook profile to something more recent. I don’t allow many pictures of me to be taken any more, but this one was taken by my daughter and I kind of like it.

It started up the usual smartass comments from so called friends, but then Nicholas Kriho said, “Needless to say, you didn’t do any successful deer hunting for at least a month after that photo was taken.”

I replied, “Deer are drawn to the cigar smell. The things walk up on me all the time. Or, I smell like a deer.”

I actually think about this fairly often when I’m out and about. We all know how we’re supposed to cleanse ourselves of any kind of odor when heading out deer hunting. We’re even supposed to douse ourselves with all kinds of foul smelling stuff to attract deer.

This flies in the face of what I’ve learned.

The first and only time I’ve hunted deer was out in Virginia. My back won’t allow me to go climbing around in trees, so I built myself a ground blind and then sat there, for hours. It was grueling. Of course I had to smoke a couple of cigars while sitting around doing nothing. I justified this by convincing myself the deer were all upwind of me.

Sure enough, a deer came out of nowhere, stood there giving me a clean shot, so I took it. I always thought that was odd and I know I’ve mentioned it to others when the topic of deer hunting has come up.

Over the years I’ve walked up on, and have had deer walk up on me, hundreds of times while out fishing rivers and just wandering around in the woods. I’m always smoking a cigar, can’t help myself. Recently, these four hung out waiting for me to walk by before they made a dash across the river.

Another recent venture through the woods had me eyeball to eyeball with the biggest deer I had ever seen. Had been smoking a cigar the whole time and it seemed to not care one way or the other.

This happens all the time. On islands, off wandering around in the woods, out squirrel hunting and always with me smoking a cigar. You would think the deer could smell me coming and would keep their distance or hunker down and turn invisible like deer seem to be able to do.

It was this train of thought today after the comment that Nicholas made that finally made the little bells go off in my head.

Deer are used to smelling smoke.

At least around here. They have to be, I smell smoke all the time. All the houses around me have fireplaces and all their yards have fire pits. There’s always someone burning something. I can smell smoke coming from the homes on the other side of the ravine, a good half mile away. There are always deer hanging out around the ravine.

Not far away, the farm fields start. At times I can see and smell the smoke a mile away, coming from the brush piles being burned off by some farmer some where. I see deer all the time, cruising these fields and walking along the tree lines. This time of year it’s not unusual to see and smell a smoky haze traveling down the Fox River below my house. And there are the deer wandering along the river.

I enjoy these smells of smoke, I find them comforting somehow. The deer have to think something of these smells too.

So that has to be it. The deer are used to the smoke smells. When I go wandering around in the river and through the woods smoking away on one of my cigars, they must think nothing of it. They smell it all the time.

Now I have to get the deer trained. When they smell me coming, puffing away on one of my cigars, they show up with a little keg of cognac hanging from their necks.

And I’ll promise not to shoot them.