Goose Lake Conservation Area (Sunday 7:00 – 11:00 a.m.)

Goose Lake Conservation Area is one of the premier wetlands in McHenry County. It hosts a great variety of wetland birds including rails, bitterns, terns, waterfowl, shorebirds, cranes and one of the largest remaining breeding populations of yellow-headed blackbirds in Illinois. The grasslands surrounding the marsh also support birds like vesper sparrow, bobolink and American kestrel. Hike is approximately 2 miles on the Hebron Trail (flat, crushed gravel path) into the marsh from the parking lot.