Techny Basin & Techny North Wednesday 4-15-26

[Al Stokie]

Hello Bird People,

I was up most of the night watching the water flow in through the
window wells so I could be ready to shut off the sump pump when it
could not pump when the street flooded & it started to pump to the
upstairs bathtub & toilet which is just what it eventually did so it
was a good thing I was ready.
Finally the street unflooded & & the danger was over but the water
kept coming in although it just flowed to the drain & out. At least
this time none of the windows broke, thank goodness.
All in a night's work!

So in the morning I was in no mood to go birding as water was still
coming in & I had to keep watch. Went for groceries & the water
finally stopped coming in. By afternoon I tried Techny Basin where the
water was pouring over the spillway & into the lower basin where the
water area was four times bigger than normal. But the ducks are still
there & loving all the extra water.

Techny Basin (2:15-3:15 pm)

P.B. Grebe (3)
Canada Goose (4)
Mallard (26)
Blue Winged (14) & Green Winged (5) Teal
Shoveler (31)
Gadwall (1)
Wigeon (2)
Lesser Scaup (2-PR)
Ring Necked Duck (22)
Bufflehead (1-F)
Ruddy Duck (1-M)
SORA RAIL (2) (FOY)
Coots (2)
Killdeer (2)
Spotted Sandpiper (1)
Mourning Dove (2)
Flicker (2)
Tree (~20), Barn (3) & Rough Winged (1) Swallows
Robin (6) & Starling (4)
Song Sparrow (3)
Red Wings (14)
Goldfinch (2) & House Finch (1)

Techny North (3:25-4 pm)

Totally flooded here with no mudflats to be seen. With more rain
supposed to happen tonight it's going to be a while before the
shorebirds return.

P.B. Grebe (1)
Great Blue Heron (1)
Great Egret (1)
Canada Goose (1)
Mallard (16)
Herring Gull (1, flying by)
Tree Swallow (10)
Crow (1), Robin (6), Starling (8), Red Wings (10) & Grackle (2)
House Finch (1)

So 32 species at the two Techny's plus roadside Pigeons for a total of
33 for the day.
Bird-Of-The-Day to the 2 Sora's & Runner-Up to the returning Great Egret.

Al Stokie
Local in Cook County awaiting another round of rain tonight while on
sump pump duty