Sunday, July 19, 2009

Good walk

Few development projects can top golf courses for environmental disruption. Bulldozers, turf grass, fertilizer and lawn mowers don't do much for Mother Earth. Still, they harbor a surprising variety of wildlife. I've seen everything from foxes to kingbirds to muskrats on golf courses.

Yesterday, River Oaks Golf Course harbored a handful of great blue herons. Also, killdeer, indigo bunting and lots of barn swallows--maybe THE golf course bird of the Midwest. Today, gnatcatchers and catbirds at Robert Black on the Far North Side (the same place wher I once saw a squirrel eating a dead flicker). Golf courses are altered states for sure, but it's great fun to wildlife watch while hitting the links.

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