Downy grasspecker

A Christmas tree search today took us to DeKalb County, about 60 miles west of Chicago. This is a land of rolling farms, fencerows and long views of corn stubble. It was a snowy day, and the snow really started coming down hard about the time we went to the Applebee's in DeKalb for an early-bird special dinner.

We stopped at Prairie Kame Forest Preserve and Lone Grove Forest Preserve on the way to Camelot Tree Farm. A kame is a hill-like glacial formation caused by meltwater 14,000 years ago. We nearly drove past Prairie Kame before realizing that the small hill was the destination. This is a scenic area of the un-McMansioned portion of Kane County.

We also made a detour to Shabbona Lake State Recreation Area. From what we could see through the snowflakes, this looks like a promising place for future visits in the proper season. The bird sightings of the day were two groups of horned larks, but what really was memorable was the odd downy woodpecker working on a low bush next to a creek. There are pictures of the downy and more at the driftless area flickr site.