South Peoria Loop: Spring Lake, Chautauqua, and Emiquon

My friend Ed and I drove down to Emiquon on Saturday. We went down on the east side of the river, stopping by Spring Lake Bottoms to check out the waterfowl and Eurasian Tree Sparrows, then drove down to Chautauqua in hopes of seeing the Cattle Egret, which was not present. We had lunch at the Chuck Wagon Restaurant in Havana, crossed the Illinois River and then stopped at Path 2 at Emiquon, the path that leads to the pumphouse. We photographed the dead Carp (The Nature Conservancy recently drained the newly forming lakes to kill off Eurasion Carp), but the Pelicans I found last week were gone.

 

 

 

The Nature Conservancy drained the lakes that were forming to kill off the Asian Carp, which they don't want in the Emiquon waters. Dead Carp were all over the place when we visited Saturday, April 21.

 

 

 

Panorama form the Ridge overlooking the Emiquon valley. These photos were taken and stitched together by my friend who accompanied me on a visit to Emiquon.