Special Edition: Take Flight

At first light, a wetland at Rollins Savanna Forest Preserve in Grayslake stirs to life.

Red-winged blackbirds trumpet conk-la-REE-look-at-ME songs from swaying cattails. Wood ducks tip forward to eat plants below the water’s surface, rear ends bobbing in the air.

A great blue heron stands motionless onshore, amber-yellow eyes searching the shallows for tasty fish. The fresh smells of spring drift on a casual breeze as the landscape comes alive.

Birdwatching gives you front-row seats to these compelling scenes, especially in Lake County.

Forest Preserves Mentioned:

• Des Plaines River Trail
• Fort Sheridan (Lake Forest)
• Fox River Marina (Port Barrington)
• General Offices (Libertyville)
• Greenbelt Cultural Center (North Chicago)
• Independence Grove (Libertyville)
• Visitors Center
• Rollins Savanna (Grayslake)
• Ryerson Conservation Area (Riverwoods)
• Ryerson Welcome Center
• Van Patten Woods (Wadsworth)

Selected Links and Sources:

• “2022 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation,” U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
• Barred owl, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
• Birdwatching Checklist
• Birdwatching Guide
• Birdwatching resources
• Blue jay, Cornell
• Dark-eyed junco, Cornell
• Ebird
• Every Acre Strong
• Forest Preserves calendar
• Global Big Day, Cornell
• Great blue heron, Cornell
• Great egret, Cornell
• Great horned owl, Cornell
• Green-winged teal, Cornell
• Horizons subscriptions
• iNaturalist
• Macaulay Library, Cornell
• Mexican violetear, Cornell
• Mississippi Flyway, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
• Northern cardinal, Cornell
• Purple martin, Cornell
• Red-winged blackbird, Cornell
• Rose-breasted grosbeak, Cornell
• Short-eared owl, Cornell
• Spring 2026 Horizons
• Tree swallow, Cornell
• Virginia rail, Cornell
• Wood duck, Cornell
• Yellow warbler, Cornell

If you like what the forest preserves do for you, please consider donating to the Preservation Foundation’s Every Acre Strong campaign for the Forest Preserves. Your gift will help create a $20 million endowment to protect the forest preserves you love, ensuring every acre of habitat we restore remains ecologically healthy. Forever. Learn more and give at LCFPD.org/endowment.

Subscribe to Horizons at LCFPD.org/horizons.

Have questions or comments? Send them to WordsOfTheWoods@LCFPD.org.

This episode of Words of the Woods was written, hosted and produced by Brett Peto, environmental communications specialist at the Lake County Forest Preserves. Featuring research and expertise from Jen Berlinghof, Nan Buckardt, Eileen Davis, Samantha Gallagher, Gary Glowacki, Mark Hurley, Matt Ueltzen and Pati Vitt.

We used the following recordings from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Macaulay Library with permission:

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Other sound effects and music from Storyblocks. Audio editing and mixing by Brett Peto. Cover art illustration © Samantha Gallagher.

Words of the Woods is a production of the Lake CountyForest Preserves in Libertyville, Illinois.