Headed back to the lakefront this morning in hopes of finding a Black Scoter, Harlequin Duck, or Peregrine Falcon. Unfortunately I whiffed on all 3 of those but found just about everything else you would look for in the way of waterfowl. Highlights:
Waukegan:
WHITE-WINGED SCOTER-25 (4 in the water right off the end of North Pier and 21 fairly close flybys)
RED-THROATED LOON- 2 (both flybys that landed in the water fairly far away. ID'd by 2 tone body coloration, longer, slower wingbeats, and longer neck than Mergs. Lighter colored and slimmer than Common Loons)
DARK-WINGED SCOTERS-8 (I'm pretty sure these were Black based on very round heads and smaller bodies, but the back-lighting was so bad and they weren't very close, so I can't tell for sure)
North Unit/Sand Pond:
Iceland Gull-1
NPM:
This place was rocking'. I stood watching birds fly over the lake for 90 minutes. That's an eternity for me. There was constant action, though.
WHITE-WINGED SCOTER - 33 (all flybys)
SURF SCOTER- 4 (flybys that landed and I could see a flash of white on at least one of their heads)
DARK-WINGED SCOTER- 58 (distant but the heads looked larger compared to body size than the birds I saw at Waukegan. Many of them landed in the water at the horizon. You couldn't see them after that.)
RED-THROATED LOON- 2
LOON SP.- 3 (distant and really couldn't tell if they were Pacific or Red-throated. Too trim for Common)
LONG-TAILED DUCK- around 300 ( probably 10 were close enough to see tails and whitish heads, but even the distant ones you can ID because of their twisting turning flight with dark wings that look too big for their bodies and the fact that they don't fly in formation. They fly in swarms and often dump into the water. They also are the smallest ducks flying in the distance.
Also stopped at Volo Bog before heading home. Not much here except the usuals, but I wanted to check for owls, which I, of course, did not find. Highlights:
SANDHILL CRANES- 3
EASTERN BLUEBIRD-1
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER-2
Definitely a great day to be out!
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