This document printed from the University of Illinois Extension Christian County at http://www.extension.uiuc.edu/christian/
Friend of Gardening--Wings
You know you've found your calling in life if what you've done for a living is something you're still involved with in retirement. Talk with Lyle and Judy Adams for just a little bit and their enthusiasm for the natural world sparkles, especially when the subject matter turns to the feathered creatures who share our planet. Lyle spent nine years in the Air Force, pursuing an aerial career himself, and then set his sights on an education and profession which led him to turn his flight skills into a tool for studying nature.
"Judy and myself and our four kids were all in school together when I came out of the Air Force in 1963 and started on my bachelor's degree at SIU in Carbondale," Lyle recalls. "Judy was going to John A. Logan Junior College in Carterville, the kids were in school, and we were living in married student housing near Crab Orchard Lake. I was in class learning that Canada geese were nearly extinct and then I'd go home to the sound of 20,000 geese chattering in front of our home." He managed the housing units there for the university, explaining that those units had been adapted from World War II-era military buildings when the area was known as Ordnance Illinois—Ordil. At war's end, the area was converted to a conservation area and married student housing for SIU.
Upon finishing his master's degree, Lyle recalls, "I went to the Conservation Department and threw my credentials down on the director's desk and asked for a job. Imagine that—I was hired." He spent many years flying to collect data for water fowl surveys and conducting studies of the MVP (Mississippi Valley Population) of migratory birds such as Canada geese. "The populations we were studying were breeding in northern Ontario on the James Bay and Hudson Bay. Many of the geese that now populate local lakes like Lake Taylorville and Sangchris are a sub-species called Giant Canada Geese. These geese do not migrate any further south than necessary to find open water. That's why they never seem to be gone from the area."
Retirement from the Department of Natural Resources brought an end to Lyle's formal contributions to wildlife biology, but nothing will ever dim his interest in the natural world or detract from his ability or his desire to continue to study that world. Judy echoes what many nature-lovers everywhere know, "It's amazing what you'll see if you just sit quietly and watch the animals and plants around you." Lyle and Judy have 55 years of marriage under their belt, but they can't remember a time when they didn't know each other. "We started first grade at the old West School together," Judy says, "and we were married when we were 18." They instilled their love of bird-watching in children Scott Adams, Lindsey Schaefer, Lori Sassatelli, and Brad Adams. "Time was," recalls Lyle, "when the kids could identify a picture of any duck species you put in front of them."
Lindsey and husband John spent time at their home near Lake Taylorville watching over a white pelican with a broken wing, recently. "When you say pelicans, most people think Florida," says Lyle, "but they are really migratory birds, unlike their brown cousins. They breed in North and South Dakota and can be found regularly on Lake Taylorville." He goes on to describe white pelican dining habits. "They gather in a group and herd minnows into the shallows.
Lyle watches birds in and around Lake Taylorville, including the bike trail, having even spotted a couple of wild turkeys there. "Lyle's on the bike trail every nice day, riding 10 or 15 miles," Judy says. His newest bicycle is less than a year old, and has 2,500 miles on it. Common birds found near their home include cardinals, cedar waxwings, chickadees, mocking birds, blue birds, Baltimore orioles, mourning doves, several varieties of woodpeckers, bluejays, and rose-breasted grosbeaks, just to name a few. They have also observed much less well-known visitors such as wood ducks, American bitterns, painted buntings, yellow-billed cuckoos (commonly called rain crows), and two introduced doves, the Eurasian collared dove and the ringed turtle dove. "These doves have a different call than our common doves and were thought to be found only in more southerly regions," Lyle says. I asked him about hearing doves with an unusual call and he replied, "I would say they were probably the Eurasian dove."
Lyle and Judy began married life in the Air Force and they still travel on a regular basis, visiting Alaska and spending some time living in Moore Haven, Florida, near Lake Okeechobee. These trips have provided bird-watching experiences worth sharing. Lyle remembers being west of Lake Okeechobee and noticing a mass of flying creatures over the water. "The birds were flying in a huge downward spiral over the water. They turned out to be tree swallows going down to the surface for a drink of water on the wing and then going back up. What an amazing sight!" One of Judy's favorite recollections involves a great blue heron and a white ibis taking a daily trip together along the shore near the campground in Moore Haven. The heron went along first each morning, stirring up the sand on the hunt for food, with the ibis following along. The pair were regular visitors that season, having arrived at a symbiotic relationship in their adventures along the shore. She also mentions watching vultures floating in the Florida evening skies—"it's like they're dancing for us."
A trip to Haines, Alaska, gave them the chance to observe an estimated 5,000 bald eagles along the waterway, "standing shoulder to shoulder" in the midst of their October migration. It was a memorable sight. And one of Lyle's favorite memories came while he was flying during time spent in Belize, Central America, on a Wings of Hope mission in 1984. A large white bird was in the air near his plane. "We flew around checking each other out. I wasn't sure what I was seeing until I did some research. It turned out to be a king vulture, a fairly unusual species native to Central America, with a five-foot wingspan."
When asked about advice for those of us who also enjoy observing the nature to be found in our own back yards, Lyle stresses the importance of habitat, most of all. "Plant for the birds—using things like dogwood, hollies, tulip poplars, and seed-bearing perennials. And be sure to look around you very closely." Judy mentions a cardinal that usually nests in the large mock orange just outside their home. "Cardinals are very secretive. It's hard to find their nest. This one can have a baby nearly raised before I notice that she's even on a nest." She recalls Baltimore orioles "filling a tree just like Christmas ornaments" and Lyle explains that a choice food source for them is the seed pods of the tulip poplar.
He's glad to share some advice about the tools necessary to attract and observe birds near your home. The Golden Field Guide Birds of North America is his particular favorite. He also recommends a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service publication Ducks at a Distance and he and Judy both find helpful information in the magazine Birds and Blooms. A Time-Life title Landscaping contains some tips on landscaping for wildlife and they still rely on The Natural Resources of Illinois, a special publication of the IDNR.
Lyle recommends having a couple of pairs of binoculars with different strengths. The smaller set, which Judy prefers, are 9 x 25. For closer observation of fine detail, a birdwatcher may want 10 x 36 lenses. Lyle's set is heavier, but the usefulness of this pair is obvious when verifying just which warbler may be at your feeder.
Top food choices for Illinois birds are black oil sunflowers, available locally in 25lb. bags, nyger thistle seeds, and sugar water for hummingbirds. I found a Humane Society of the United States website that recommended white proso millet and suet in addition to these suggestions. Many birdseed mixes are too high in low-quality fillers, so it's better to buy a single-ingredient product. Squirrels are always going to be a challenge, being the persistent, voracious, and downright athletic creatures that they are. Lyle has arrived at a solution that seems to work for him by using a baffle from another birdfeeder, mounted above the "squirrel-proof" feeder in his tree, but these furry thieves have been seen leaping, diving, and even free-falling in their attempts to join the avian feast.
Finally, birdwatchers may want to record some of the activity observed at the feeders they tend, and a good digital camera may be helpful. Bill Furry with the Illinois State Historical Society mentioned a Christmas visit from a downy woodpecker at him home and was kind enough to share the photo with me. It's included with this article as an encouragement for gardeners and outdoor-lovers to enjoy our bird friends throughout the winter months. I would also like to recommend the following websites for additional information on feeding and enjoying backyard birds.
