From the Field

  • Counting ducks from 500 feet above

    Dec 21, 2021 8:15 am by Tricia Barkerbirds

    Images

    • Blue and green-winted teal and northern pintail seen on the Illinois River during an aerial waterfowl inventory over Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge in Havana.

    Josh Osborn has a unique job. The Navy veteran turned ecologist leads the waterfowl aerial inventories from the Illinois Natural History Survey's Forbes Biological Station in Havana. Taking to the skies every autumn and spring during migration seasons, Osborn makes regular educated estimates of the number and types of birds flocking along 212 miles of the Illinois River and 214 miles of the Mississippi River.