On Sunday March 7th, I will be at the Maple Avenue Pub in Lisle attending the Willowbrook Wildlife Center Fundraiser and Auction.  I have donated 3 matted and framed pictures for the center to auction off to help raise money for new digital radiology equipment.  Willowbrook is a rehabilitation and education facility in Dupage County.  This will be my third year donating to their cause and I hope to see you there to support this wonderful facility.

On our trip to Mississippi Palisades State Park we found a few Purple Trillium plants amongst thousands of Large-flowered Trillium.  The dark maroon colored flower really stuck out.  This flower is mainly found in the eastern US, but there are a few small spots it can be found in northern Illinois.

Today, we saw that there are now two bluebird males scoping out the nest boxes.  It will be interesting to see if we will get a third or if the two will fight over the extra box that is out there.

With the extreme cold we have had for the past couple of weeks, the Illinois river is completely frozen over.  The exception is the spillway for the dam by Starved Rock State Park.  This open water forces the bald eagles in the area to congregate at this one location, giving you images like this.  This is just one tree on plum island with eagles in it, there were many more trees with birds in them as well.  I counted almost fifty eagles along the river in this area.  Most of the birds were perched, but some were flying around hoping to find a stunned fish coming through the dam.

I got an email from Marcie about the post on tomato hornworms I made.  Turns out they are actually “White-lined Sphinx Moth caterpillars”.  The stunning moths are huge and beautifully patterned.  I will try and set up a white sheet with a spotlight on it one night to try and attract the moths.  Hopefully, I can then take a picture of one and make another post.