New Lake Co. preserve named for bird of prey

Lake County's newest forest preserve is named for a small falcon that prefers rodents for dinner.

Kestrel Ridge was approved Tuesday by the Lake County Forest Preserve District as the official name of the 101-acre preserve west of Fairfield Road and north of Route 120 near Round Lake.

"A kestrel is a small bird of prey and they are there," said Commissioner Ann Maine, who chairs the forest board's land acquisition committee. "We try to make sure our names are accurate."

When property is to be dedicated as a forest preserve, staff members walk the area, taking notes and pictures.

The thought is that the name should represent a plant, animal or geologic feature, for example, that is representative of the property and can be educational for visitors.

"You try to pick something that has some identification to that preserve, something that has some meaning," said Mike Fenelon, the district's director of planning, conservation and development. But it isn't always a slam dunk, he added.

Bluebird Meadow or Heron Creek are pretty straightforward examples. Tanager Kames is not quite as obvious.

"That was a hard name," agreed Allison Frederick, environmental communications specialist.

For the record, wooded knolls that form three hills on the site near Fox Lake are known as kames, ridges of sand and gravel also left by melting glaciers.

The district likes to have names chosen quickly so as not to incur costs to change signs, maps and other publications or documents.

This newest preserve came together with the purchase last October of the 42-acre Light property in Avon Township, followed in January by the acquisition of the adjacent 59-acre Duenser property.

The ridge was an obvious physical feature, and the presence of the American kestrel completed the picture.

"It's the most common of any falcon you'd find in this area," said Gary Glowacki, a wildlife biologist with the district.

Kestrels often are referred to as the sparrow hawk because of their small size. Their diet consists mainly of rodents but "they'll take a snake here and there," Glowacki said.