Some Cool New Places I Have Visited!
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It still amazes me how many cool places there are around here that I never knew existed! I’m not talking about a long drive either. More like a 15 minute drive. Ok, there are some nice walks involved after the drive but they are pretty cool walks!
Saturday was a pretty lazy day. I just opened the windows and hung around the house but did take a ride over to check on some Owls down the road a bit. It was sort of breezy out but I made a couple of decent pictures. Mom was in the nest and the younguns were sitting pretty low. I could only see one. Those nests are a little deceiving. Much deeper than they look! Later on in the day, I made a few pictures of Simba, a neighbors dog, while we sat outside enjoying the weather. Later on, my neighbor came over to let me know a skunk just walked right by her! Couldn’t pass that up. I grabbed my camera and an sb600 and made a few pictures before he/she disappeared. I still have no idea where it went. Pretty crafty animal I’m thinking.
I had been thinking of going a little farther from home Sunday and see if the Pelicans were still around but decided to hang out with Wanneta for awhile. She was going for a walk on a trail that was supposed to be pretty cool and asked if I wanted to check it out. Sounded good to me and it was pretty close. I met Wanneta and her friend over there and was amazed that this place was right under my nose all these years. I used to go mountain biking near there but never went that far west. Now that the county has paved so many trails around here I didn’t know that and single tracks that long existed anymore. Boy, was I wrong.
This was a great trail! A little bit of uphill, a little bit of downhill and some great views! Not a lot of wildlife but I did see an Owl nest right on the trail and the dogs spotted a few deer just out of sight. The dogs had a blast. I had met Tyler once before for a few minutes but had never seen him in action. His legs are 3 times longer than Logans and man, can he move! They were both really cruising around, checking everything out. I can’t wait to do some portraits of these guys. It was a fun walk with a great view. I will be going back there for sure. Too close not too!
Wanneta had talked about the Heron rookery a couple of times and asked if I wanted to check it out. It was early still and the Hawks didn’t play until 2 so we headed out for the rookery. Once again, a very cool place right under my nose! We walked up a trail for awhile and came to a clearing. Logan spooked a pretty big herd of deer that were hanging out there. Boy, did those guys fly! It was then I discovered the outhouse burial ground! I guess the forest preserve used to have something back there and they dumped some old outhouses back there. Back in the day, they had the old wooden ones and there were 4 or 5 of them laying around there. The things you see!
A little more walking and we came up on a wooded pond. I saw a Heron flying around. And then another, and another and, well, you get the idea. They were all over the place! This wasn’t all that big of a place either. It is however, completely hidden and protected from the elements. I broke out the tripod and was trying to get a clear view to no avail. We moved around to the south side and as we came through the brush I saw a view I will never forget. There were 23 nests in an area less than 1/2 a block and a Heron in every nest. There were a few that hadn’t built nests yet either! I have never seen anything like that. Ever!
On our way out, I saw a few tree buds and stopped to make a few macros. I guess I took longer than I thought and Wanneta and Logan were gone. As I started walking the trail, Logan came running back to look for me. Did I ever tell you he is a very cool dog? He sure is. Just before we got out of the woods, we heard a tremendous snap and as I turned my head towards the sound, I saw a huge tree falling! I can now say that if a tree falls in the middle of the forest it does indeed make a noise!
I made it home about a half hour before the Hawks game and just chilled for the rest of the day. I did some serious walking this weekend. I’m glad I did.