The Hawkwatch

The hawkwatch is located at the North Unit of Illinois Beach State Park on 17th St. and Sheridan Rd. in Zion. It can be a pretty magical place in the fall as thousands of raptors migrate along the boundary of Lake Michigan. When conditions are good, typically NW winds on the backside of a cold front, you can see literally hundreds of raptors migrate past and overhead in one day. It's a very cool spectacle to behold.
  This morning I went to the hawk watch to hopefully find the Mississippi Kite that has been hanging around for 2 weeks now. I've attempted to find that bird at least 3 times with no luck. Today marks 4 since the bird was a no show for the 2 hours that I watched for raptors.
  The good news of the morning, though, was that I saw bird #249 for the year. A RED-SHOULDERED HAWK passed close by but slightly west of the hill. It was fairly high up but good looks could be had with my 10x bins. The coloration and striping and I couldn't see that well but the diagnostic pale windows at the terminal ends of the wing create diagnostic crescents that are only seen in Red-Shouldereds.

                                    internet photo
The pale crescents along with the black-tipped primaries distinguishes this bird as a Red-shouldered. The coloration and stripes seals the deal, but you can still ID this bird from the crescents. A gorgeous bird!
  Today's NW winds produced a good number of raptors for my time there. I saw 5 other species besides the Red-shouldered:  OSPREY, SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, COOPER'S HAWK, RED-TAILED HAWK, and TURKEY VULTURE. I'm sure that more would seen through the course of the day, including the kite.