Montrose Harbor & Lake Michigan Tuesday 2-3-26

[Al Stokie]

Hello Bird People,

Didn't have time to do a report yesterday (no loss there as I didn't
see much) but I can do one today. Went to Montrose today as they had 6
Long Tailed Ducks yesterday so I figured finding them would be a
"gimmie" but there are no "gimmies" while birding. Looked at the
harbor mouth where 2 were seen yesterday & then walked the rock walls
over to the pier & back with no luck. This all took over 2 hours with
only a few duck species & lots of Red Breasted Mergansers. But on the
way back to the car I ran into Mark who found a MERLIN & was able to
show it to me. He also told me that the Black Duck was now at the
harbor mouth so I went back there to look. Good thing I did as while I
was looking at the Black Duck with the flock of 17 Mallards in flew
one female LONG TAILED DUCK which was what I had been looking for all
morning. Here's what I saw:

Montrose Harbor (10-11 am)

Canada Goose (4 in the harbor & 8 more flying by)
Mallard (12)
Black Duck (1, came back to the harbor)
Redhead (2-M)
Greater Scaup (3-M & 1-F)
Goldeneye (9)
Red Breasted Merganser (4)
COOT (1, been here since early January so it has become a Winter Coot)

In Lake Michigan (11 am-1 pm)

Mallard (17)
Black Duck (1, both Mallards & Black Duck alternated between the lake
& the harbor)
LONG TAILED DUCK (1-F, just east of the harbor mouth where Joe L had
2 yesterday)
Goldeneye (10-12)
Common Merganser (2-M & 1-F)
Red Breasted Merganser (~50-55)
Ring Billed (35) & Herring (7) Gulls
MERLIN (1, in the trees by the lake)

Only saw a few land birds as I never went to the Hedge Area but I did see
Pigeons (6), Crows (2), Starlings (8) & House Sparrows ((8). I also
heard but did not see
one Cardinal.

So 18 species for the day at Montrose with no roadside additions.
Bird-Of-The-Day to the finally seen Long Tailed Duck & Runners-Up to
the Merlin, the Black Duck & the Winter Coot. The Cardinal I heard
singing today was my 2nd singer of that species for the Winter & they
are starting to sing right on schedule.

Also had many top license plates on the way to & from Montrose
including Montana, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico & New Hampshire. A trip to
Montrose almost always gets good plates.

Al Stokie
In Cook County starting slowly but finishing strong