Colbert Park in Savoy first came to my attention when one of my fellow birders brought in a picture of some ducks he had seen there while fishing. He was asking some of the more experienced members of the Audubon Society for help identifying them. Both of the ducks belonged to the genus Aythya, a group of diving ducks. One was a Redhead (Aythya americana) and the other was a Greater Scaup (Aythya marila). Neither was a species I would ever have expected to find in a Savoy subdivision.
It took me until earlier this fall to actually go out to this mystical duck pond to see what I could find; the results were rather disappointing. The only birds I found were a couple of Kildeer. I blamed the emptiness on the weather, since it was cloudy and nearly raining. I did notice, however, that from a birding perspective the park is really rather unimpressive. There is literally no habitat at Colbert Park--there's a few scrawny saplings, but otherwise the only vegetation is short grass. The weedy, undeveloped field to the west of the park looked like a much better place to look for birds. The only thing Colbert Park has going for it is the big, deep lake.
Two Saturdays ago, I headed out on my bike to go down to Curpros Pond and see what I could find. When I got there, I was dismayed to find that the field next to it was being plowed, and I figured the dust and noise would keep most birds away. I instead ventured into the nearby subdivision to check out another pond that had been recommended to me by fellow birder Rob Kanter. There, I found the usual mass of Canada Geese and Mallards, but there were three pleasant surprises: a Double-Crested Cormorant made a brief flyover, and mixed in with the Mallards were a couple of American Widgeons and an American Black Duck.
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| Photo by the author. View full size so you can see labels. |
When I rode down to the water, I happily noticed that there were a lot more birds on the lake than there had been the previous time. True, they were all Canada Geese, but there were at least two hundred of them. I made my way slowly along the shore towards the fishing pier, every once in a while stopping to check the water for anything other than Branta canadensis. I found a small flotilla of diving ducks out in the middle of the water, but they were too backlit to be identified from where I was standing.
I finally made it to the fishing pier, from where I could survey the lake with the sun conveniently behind me. I got a much better look at my duck friends, which turned out to be a half-dozen or so Ring-Necked Ducks and a lone Bufflehead. I also found an American Coot and what I'm fairly certain was a Pied-Billed Grebe near the far shore. A flock of thirty or so Kildeer flew by. Less than twenty feet away from where I was standing were nine or ten Cackling Geese mixed in with the Canadas--easily the best look I've ever gotten at that species. And they're so CUTE!!! To top everything off, around four-and-twenty Brewer's Blackbirds came down to the far shore to drink before moving back into the weedy field.
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| Photo by the author. Notice how small the Cackling Geese are compared to their ubiquitous look-alikes. |
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| Photo by the author. Nine Cackling, five Canada. |
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| Photo by the author. Six Canada Geese and four Ring-Necked Ducks. Can you also find all eight Kildeer? (You'll have to zoom in a lot) |
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| Photo by the author. Canada Geese in the water and Brewer's Blackbirds on the shore. Also one Ring-Necked Duck and one Kildeer. |
At this point, I was sure that Colbert Park was a great place to go birding. After all, I had just seen three species (Ring-Necked Duck, Bufflehead, and Brewer's Blackbird) that I'd never found in Champaign County before, plus a close-up of a bunch of Cackling Geese. I was sure I had finally found the great waterfowl-watching wonderland I had always wanted to have somewhere nearby.
Unfortunately, Colbert Park is about as reliable as a Yugo. I've gone there two times since then, and in both instances I have seen no birds there. As in, NO BIRDS OF ANY SPECIES WHATSOEVER. Not even Rock Doves, House Sparrows, or European Starlings. It seems that no matter what the weather is, the utter lack of anything but water at Colbert Park means that nothing is going to hang around there for very long (not to mention the fact that it's a popular place for people to walk their dogs). Birding there is all about being in the right place at the right time; if you don't get lucky and show up when a migratory flock just happens to have stopped by, you won't see diddly-squat.
In any case I'll have to say that I don't recommend going to Colbert Park for birding unless you live nearby or bring your fishing equipment so you have something to do when it turns out there's nothing to see. It has the potential to be a great birding spot; you just have to win the lottery when it comes to when that potential is being used. If you want a good, solid waterfowl viewing area, it would seem that Mahomet's Riverbend Forest Preserve is the best option.
(Note: Riverbend also has a matter of timing involved, but at least it's reliable on a daily basis. In winter, the best time to be there is in the 3:30-5:30PM range.)
(Unless the whole thing is frozen over, in which case don't bother.)
Happy Birding!
I've been to Colbert Park a couple of times and remember how desolate it felt. I'm impressed that you saw as many birds there as you did. Ducks and their kin have always been my favorite kinds of birds. Once when I was little, a grebe found its way to our yard despite our distance from any body of water. It wouldn't fly away, so we brought it to a lake. At Walnut Point State Park when I'm in a boat, I see these birds dive in the water. They stay under for minutes at a time. Later on I discovered that they were called coots. It's always fun to guess where they'll surface.
ReplyDeleteI definitely learned something from your post! I originally thought Cackling geese were just small Canadian geese that were young and still growing, not a whole another specie! It's interesting that a park could be so fickle with the coming and going of animals. I also enjoyed your pictures!
ReplyDeleteI've been to Colbert Park twice and I have only seen the Canadian Geese, the same type that frequent my residential pond. I wish I lived near an area that had a larger variety of birds.
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