Birding in the Shawnee National Forest
Covering 289,000 acres and spanning 10 southern Illinois counties from the Mississippi River to the Ohio River, the Shawnee National Forest provides us with a wonderful playground for birding and countless other outdoor activities.
Unlike the flat prairie lands to our north, here we have hills blanketed in towering oaks, hickories and countless other trees. In fact, there are more tree varieties in southern Illinois than all of Europe. The first portions of the forest were established in the early 1930s to provide tree crops and help restore badly degraded lands. The depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps played a key role, planting trees, building roads and trails, constructing and manning lookout towers, and helping to reforest 60,000 acres. And the Shawnee National Forest is not just trees, but also includes lakes, wetlands and grasslands, providing a diverse habitat for breeding birds, migrant birds and wintering visitors.
The Shawnee National Forest is foremost a sanctuary for our many tree-dwelling bird species. Throughout the forest you’ll find up to seven kinds of woodpeckers, including the crow-sized Pileated Woodpecker. One good place to look for these birds is at Oakwood Bottoms, north of Grand Tower. In the bottomland forests you can hear the whistling of Wood Ducks, a duck that actually nests in tree cavities. Look and listen for them at LaRue Swamp, south of Grand Tower. We are lucky to have 15 species of wood warblers breeding in southern Illinois, ranging from the intensely yellow Prothonotary Warbler to the vibrant black and orange American Redstart. Some of the warblers have specialized niches — look for Louisiana Waterthrushes along rocky streambeds, Pine Warblers in mixed piney woods, and Prothonotary Warblers in bottomland swamps. Others are more cosmopolitan, and can be found throughout the forest. Nuthatches, titmice, chickadees, wrens, tanagers, thrushes and a host of other birds can be found at many of the established recreation areas.
My two favorite birding sites in the forest are the LaRue Pine-Hills Ecological Area and the Bell Smith Springs Natural Area. Bell Smith Springs is perhaps the most scenic and best birding area for breeding warblers in southern Illinois. Among the meandering forested crystal-clear streams and towering sandstone bluffs are 8 miles of trails where you can look for Pine, Kentucky, Hooded, Chestnut-sided, Black-and-White and Worm-eating Warblers, as well as Louisiana Waterthrush, Ovenbird and Northern Parula. Other birds to look for are Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Great-crested Flycatcher, Red-eyed and Yellow-throated Vireos, and the melodic Wood Thrush. As for the LaRue Pine-Hills area, I’ll write next month’s column on it. There are multiple hunting seasons in the Shawnee National Forest for deer, game birds, and waterfowl, so exercise caution when birding during these times, especially if going off-trail.
Current regional sightings
August is perhaps the hottest month to go birding, but the birds are there if you look! Lots of odd-looking juvenile birds will challenge your identification skills. The first migrants, especially shorebirds, begin their journey south during this month. Waders (ibis, egrets, and herons) tend to wander north, and we see vagrants such as Anhinga and White Ibis congregating in the bottomlands. From July 19-22 a Black-head Grosbeak visited a feeding station in Du Quoin.
If you’re looking for additional ideas about where to go birding in southern Illinois, consider my book, "Finding Birds in Southern Illinois." It's available in print and PDF versions at southwestbirders.com.
• Henry Detwiler spent an exciting 16 years as a bird guide and has penned bird-finding books for several Arizona, California and Illinois counties. You can reach him at henry_detwiler@yahoo.com.