Historical Perspective: The town of Kaskaskia, at one time located on a peninsula with the Mississippi River curving round its western side, was the capital of the Illinois Territory from 1809 until statehood in 1818 at which time it became the state capital. In 1819 the capital was moved to Vandalia because of the threat of periodic flooding.
Going further into history, Kaskaskia began as an American Indian village on the banks of the Mississippi, and was later occupied by French colonialists. British forces during the French and Indian War captured Kaskaskia in 1763. The town remained under British rule until the American Revolution during which a band of 200 men under the command of George Rogers Clark traveled by boat from Louisville, Kentucky to what would become the eastern border of Illinois, then marched overland to Kaskaskia. They arrived in the middle of the night, and captured the town on 4 July 1778 without firing a shot.
The population of Kaskaskia peaked at 7000 inhabitants during the period it served as the state capital, but has fallen steadily ever since. The 2010 census counted only 12 residents, and fewer may reside there today making it the second smallest incorporated town in Illinois.
In the late 1800s the Mississippi River changed its course, resulting in the peninsula becoming an island ringed by a bayou and suddenly located on the west side of the river. The approximate dimensions of the island are 4 x 5 miles.
25 February 2016: A friend, Ken Pierson, and I drove through southern Illinois to Kaskaskia Island to see if we could find the four Whooping Cranes reported there. I had a GPS waypoint marking the location of a sighing two days before, and we drove directly to that spot.
A quick scan over the low-lying farm fields revealed no birds, but then Ken spotted four large white birds with black wingtips taking off from a point farther to our northeast. We both brought binoculars to our eyes, and Bingo! Four Whooping Cranes!
We followed them and watched as they fed in a farm field near a body of water, then followed again as they flew to another area to feed. We watched them for about an hour-and-a-half.
In 1941 only 15 Whooping Cranes existed, but through the diligent work of biologists they slowly recovered sufficiently for some of them to be released back into the wild. According to the US Fish & Wildlife Service, the current population is 603 with 161 of them captive birds--for species preservation. About two decades ago a winter population of the cranes was established in Florida in the event that a storm wiped out the residual Texas population. Today 95 of the endangered birds winter in Florida and spend the breeding season in Wisconsin.
I presume that the four birds we saw are from the Florida population. For whatever reason they have spent the past six weeks or so at Kaskaskia. It is excellent habitat for them albeit possibly a bit cold in January and February. It will be interesting to see if they return to the island next year. Perhaps it will become a regular stop on their way to or from Wisconsin or Canada.
