By Mike Miller
For a country about a third the size of Illinois, they sure managed to pack a lot into Costa Rica. Active volcanoes, mountains, cloud forests, Pacific and Caribbean mangrove, and several flavors of rainforest are home to over 500,000 species of living things . . . about 4% of the world’s known species. In June, I had the privilege of being with a group of adults escorting 11 high school students on a whirlwind trip to Costa Rica. It was an incredible journey that impacted each participant.
Something happened when I was in Costa Rica that put things in perspective. While sitting in a tree-top café, I was able to talk with local guides. There is a whole industry of guiding folks through the attractions of Costa Rica. Most are native Ticos who have built an impressive knowledge of local birding, botany and biology. One guide asked me where I was from. When I told him I was from Central Illinois, he said something that caught me by surprise… “Ah, you have Emiquon there. I would love to see that one day.”
“You know of Emiquon? I ask. “Why of course!” he said. “It is an incredible place and is recognized as a wetland of international importance by the RAMSAR convention. We have 13 such sites in Costa Rica, you have 4 such sites in Illinois. Many of your birds from these sites visit us in the winter months.”
My curiosity piqued, I asked what he knew about Illinois and our ecosystem. I was amazed to hear his depth of knowledge about Emiquon. He knew of the Nature Conservancy’s investment in creating the site, the partnership with US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the importance of these sites to all of the waterfowl and shorebird species that migrate through. He then began to ask me questions… “How many tour buses come through Emiquon? Is there a vibrant local guide business?” He was disappointed to know that very few tour buses go to Emiquon, and the guide business is more focused on fishing and hunting services instead of ecotours. He laughed and said, “Don’t worry, one day people will learn to appreciate the paradise in their own back yards. Then I will come to Emiquon and lead tours.”
As it turns out, just a few weeks after returning from Costa Rica, I was leading an ecotour sponsored by the Peoria Park District’s Forest Park Nature Center and Peoria Audubon Society. We stopped at Spring Lake, Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge and Emiquon. We caught glimpses of thousands of pelicans, hundreds of shorebirds, several species of wading birds, terns, and gulls. All together, folks saw 75 species of birds that August day. As we stood on a deck at Chautauqua several hundred pelicans flew silently over the mudflats to land in a pool of shallow water. As the white pelicans with their 8-foot wingspans glided past, someone in the group said, “Wow! It’s like being in a Nature documentary on PBS!”
It is easy to fall into a trap that to experience true natural wonders, one must travel halfway around the globe. But a visit to Emiquon and Chautauqua is only a short drive down-river. These are world-class wetlands full of life and are vital to species of animals that travel the globe. On our trip, we saw Red-necked Phalarope at Chautauqua. These small shorebirds nest in the Arctic in the summer. They migrate through Illinois in mid August where they fuel their 6,000 mile journey by stopping at our local wetlands. It is possible that these very birds we spotted will soon be along the Pacific coast in Costa Rica, where they winter. These very birds might be spotted by the guide I shared stories with in a tree-top café just a few weeks ago. It’s a small world indeed.
Mike Miller is supervisor of environmental & interpretive services at Peoria Park District & president of Peoria Audubon Society