Ryerson Woods, Lake County, Illinois, April 28, 2005

Today my parents are visiting Illinois from Iowa. We were in the mood to do a walk in the woods, so we went over to Ryerson Woods in Lincolnshire, Illinois.

Ryerson Woods is a unit of the Lake County Forest Preserves, and one of the premier birding spots in the Chicago area. It is prominently featured in both Sheryl DeVore’s excellent travel guide, Birding Illinois, and in Carpenter and Greenwood’s equally fine book, A Birder’s Guide to the Chicago Region.

It was a beautiful spring day and the woods were lovely in the new spring green leaves. The forest floor was covered in wildflowers. Trilliums, large white flowers with three point flowers, were prominent, and violets were everywhere. There were several others which I didn’t know the names of. (Birds I know, but wildflowers are another matter.)

Ryerson Woods is a place were you hear many more birds than you see, and although we didn’t see many birds the air was full of music. Most of the singers were goldfinches, on the edge between the woods and a prairie area in the middle of the preserve, but there were also blue jays, cowbirds, cardinals, flickers, and red-bellied woodpeckers. The Des Plaines River runs through the center of the preserve, and we could hear the rattle of a kingfisher out of sight just down the river. There was one persistant song which I could not quite recognize, but later determined to be a Wilson's warbler.

The sight of a single tree swallow, and the chilly temperatures, prompted the observation that one swallow does not make a summer. The prairie area had several bluebird houses set up, and there was at least one potential tenant among them.

I had never stopped by the visitor’s center, and we saw it was open, so we stopped. The staff was smart, friendly, and eager to please. The building is a beauty, resembling an old plantation house. There was a small natural history library and bird exhibit. We were told that they often have art exhibits there, but they did not have one up at that time.

Ryerson Woods is a joy to visit and highly recommended to any nature lovers visiting the North suburbs of Chicago.