Last Danville post, I promise.
On the northern end of Lake Vermilion, the Vermilion County Conservation folks established Heron Park, a man-made wetlands intended to be a sanctuary for aquatic birds. Especially herons. Obviously. A nearly thousand foot floating boardwalk loops through the wetland, beginning and ending at a thirty foot observation tower. They also planted around thirty bald cypress trees and raised the level of the lake five feet. Living in this little watery domain are hawks, herons, and eagles. Also, egrets, kingfishers, ducks, geese, beavers and muskrats.
At least, that's official story. We sort of have a drought (3-4 on the Palmer Drought Index which means Severe Drought). One source says there hasn't been a drought this severe in this area since the 1950s.
So, we didn't see any water. The thousand foot boardwalk sat in the mud. We saw one heron, two goldfinches, and a handful of buzzing arthropods. Pretty depressing.
Here's the raw video footage from the thirty foot observation tower:
And we have some pictures Ainers took from the boardwalk and the tower:
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| Giant Airborne Water Lilies |
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| A Former Clam |
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| A View from the Top |
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