Safe Sabula

I don't really have much to add on the Midwestern floods or even the horrifying tornado that plowed through a Scout camp in the Loess Hills of western Iowa. I was in Cedar Rapids last spring; it seemed like a decent community with a quaint downtown--all underwater now and there may be more water coming. Closer to home, Lake County, Ill., has been declared a disaster area. In Davenport, Iowa, the problem was less the Mississippi than small creeks. I checked in on Sabula, Iowa, a tiny community wedged onto an island in the Mississippi near Illinois. No word of flooding in town, but officials were considering closing the Sabula-Savanna bridge that also was closed during the floods of 1993.

Yard count

This week, I added a species to my list of "yard birds," which includes any bird seen from our property. A great blue heron flew over, heading northwest from the direction of the lake. The list since we moved here in 2006 has reached 23 species (our previous list was in the upper 30s). We don't get quite as many passerine migrants here. My theories are that we have a much smaller front yard with less cover and that perhaps our east-west orientation doesn't attract as many north-south migrants along the lakefront (no science to this, just a theory). The list is funny: I have peregrine falcon and american woodcock but no common grackle or red-winged blackbird.

Artificial waters

I'm not sure where to begin with the news that Lake Delton, near the Wisconsin Dells, disappeared during the past few days. This is a land of natural wonders that sadly now is marked by artifice in the form of indoor waterslides. It ultimately was the natural world that removed one of the area tourist attractions. A cruel irony to be sure.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Lake Delton is not the place where amphibious vehicles show visitors around (?).

I've never been a fan of large reservoirs. Other than providing a lot of Depression-era jobs, they lack the character of natural bodies of waters. Give me a slough or a bog any day over a massive lake in a place like Kentucky that shouldn't have lakes.

Seiche alert

The wacky weather continues (though isn't it always wacky to some extent?). A tornado cut a long swath through Will County and southern Cook County yesterday, overturning cars on I-57 and leaving damage in a few neighborhoods along the way. The Tribune indicates this was one really long-lived tornado, from Odell, Ill., to Lansing, Ill., in Cook County, though much of yesterday afternoon multiple tornadoes were being referenced during the tumult.

Right now there is a seiche warning in effect for the lakefront in Chicago: Statement as of 3:52 PM CDT on June 08, 2008
... Lakeshore Flood Warning in effect until 9 PM CDT thisevening... The National Weather Service in Chicago has issued a Lakeshore Flood Warning... also known as a seiche warning... which is in effect until 9 PM CDT this evening. A 2 foot drop in lake water near Chicago this afternoon indicatesthat a seiche is in progress across Southern Lake Michigan. This is a very dangerous situation for waders along the Chicago Lakeshore. Water levels may fluctuate rapidly... takingunsuspecting waders out to more open waters. A Lakeshore Flood Warning means that flooding is occurring orimminent along the lake. Residents on or near the shore in thewarned area should be alert for rising water... and take appropriate action to protect life and property. Evacuate docks... piers... and breakwalls now.

A seiche (pronounced saysh) is sort of a non-tidal wave...and a type of cuttlefish.

Puffin's song

An editorial in The Guardian praises the puffin, which is facing a decline in Britain. The piece mentions the puffin's chainsaw call, which I think sounds more like a cow mooing.

Puffins, at just 12 inches, about the size of a blue jay, fall into the category of birds "that you'd think would be bigger." Bird guides have a way of distorting size and so when you see birds in the wild they often are much smaller than what you have imagined for years and years. Some examples include all sandpipers (many are the size of sparrows), most owls, empidonax flycatchers and rails.

Puffins, by the way, are a member of the Auk Family (Alcidae), which includes some really interesting seabirds like razorbills and murres. It also includes the dovekie, which is only 7.5-9 inches and breeds on seacliffs in Greenland. Peterson describes the dovekie as "chubby and seemingly neckless."

Foggy shores

Lakeshore weather was in evidence yesterday. When I departed work on the Southwest Side, it was sunny and warm, about 75 degrees according to the records I can find. The high in that part of town was 82. Approaching downtown, rafts of fog were blowing in from the lake and the temperature plummeted. A bit of research shows it was 59 at 6:30 p.m. yesterday along the lakefront. From a foggy locale like McCormick Place, at the juncture of I-55 and Lake Shore Drive, the distance to the relative warmth and summery weather was just 6.5 miles. Two seasons in a few minutes and the dramatic lake microclimate continues. Those of us living near the lake, especially on an east-west street like ours, may not have to turn on our air conditioning yet when an expected heat wave hits in coming days. I'm hoping we can rely on what's left of the spring chill that is lingering in our house.

Wandering ungulate

There was a post on Illinois Birders Exchanging Thoughts this week about a deer at Montrose Point. Definitely an unusual sighting for the lakefront, but really not all that surprising. One cougar already was in town this year, beavers reside at the nearby golf course pond, coyotes arae known to reside in the park, a fox lives near the point and of course many birds do, too. But it's still hard to picture the deer getting to the lakefront from the nearest deer havens, which are well inland.

Today, a deer was seen in a small garden in the Northwest Side community of Logan Square (video above). Is it the same deer that was at Montrose?

(Note to Tribune Web staff: your embed code is near as long as the Bible.)