As I had mentioned previously, I was going to try to visit some nearby nature preserves to quell my need to travel. One of the first I visited was Nachusa Grasslands which is about an hour and a half from Chicago. My goal was to get there as the sun was rising but that would have meant leaving my place by 4 am. That didn’t happen. As is, I did get there a bit after seven in the morning and had the place to myself and a few dozen wild bison that were reintroduced to the area. It was also my first attempt at birding. I didn’t have a good zoom camera with me but I did get a Killdeer that was hopping around, probably fretting about me being to close to a nest somewhere. Also, a couple wild turkeys scurried away like it was the day before Thanksgiving.

I discovered that Castle Rock State Park and Lowden State Park were nearby so went to explore. The first was closed still but Lowden was open so I moseyed along a river path for a bit before climbing 213 stairs back up towards the statue of Chief Black Hawk overlooking the Rock river where some American White Pelicans were hanging out.