My Corner Online

Illini State Park

Illini State Park is located at 2660 E 2350th Rd, Marseilles, LaSalle County, Illinois. Starved Rock State Park and Matthiessen State Park and Illini State Park and Buffalo Rock State Park are all very near each other in Illinois, between St. Louis and Chicago along I-55, and we visited all four on the weekend of May 12 through 14, 2023. I found much of the park to be old and in disrepair and there was not much of interest there for me. The one campground was not scenic but just okay and the other campground along the river had foliage growing up in the way of the view of the Illinois River and was too crowded for my liking. As can bee seen at the end of the above video, the BEST part of the whole visit was when two redwing blackbirds were playing very near me. I stood between two trees and they swooped from one to the other playing with such swooping grace and delight and then would land in the grass reeds right in front of me. On the grass they would hop up and down, sing, spread their wings, and do other antics. I wanted to get a chair and sit there for a while, but we had so much to do in our day that I could not.

Also here as seen in the video were geese that frequent the river. There were two families of geese with their babies all lined up in a row.

I wanted this park to be something more I suppose because it is named after the Illini Native Americans, also known as the Illinois Confederacy, or the Illiniwek. I have three Illinois (or more) Native Americans in my ancestry so it is special to me.

The best park of our whole trip to me was this time standing between two redwing blackbirds paying. These photos were taken with my good camera, but I did not have my distance lens with me, so they are not at their best, but I like them because this, and the end of the above video where I filmed them playing, bring a happy feeling to me. On the next vacation I took I saw redwing blackbirds at least four more times and watched them play and I am beginning to think they are now my favorite bird just because of how happy they are, how energetic they are, and how they delight in the space where they are living.

Of course, the two families of geese and their babies brought me lots of happy thoughts too.

I remember this one piece of grass well because the blackbird would sit down on it and the grass would gently bend down for the bird to have a comfortable sit. When the bird flew off, the grass would stand tall again.