Palos Area-Saganashkee & McGinnis Sloughs & More Sunday 12-5-21
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Al Stokie
Dec 5, 2021, 5:21:27 PM12/5/21
to IBET - Illinois Birders Exchanging Thoughts
Hello Bird People,
First an announcement.
Tomorrow I go in for cataract surgery on my right eye. I only mention
this as I may not be doing any reports for a while & whenever I fail
to do reports I get emails asking if I am o.k. Hopefully this goes
well & I will be able to see better at Hawk Watches & Lake Watches in
the future.
Palos Area
It was supposed to start raining at 10 a.m. but in the real world it
started at about 8:15 a.m. so I had on & off rain for the whole time I
was out. Had to sit it out in the car a few times but I was able to
get most places in even with a delay. I did skip Centennial Park in
Orland Park though as the rain was really coming down when I left
McGinnis.
Centennial Trail had nothing, not one duck!
Maple Lake had a grand total of 1 adult Herring Gull with heavy rain.
Crawdad Slough & Joe's Pond had nothing.
Papoose Lake only had 16 Canada Geese.
Little Red School House & Long John Slough from the School House
In the slough were Trumpeter Swan (4) at least I think they were
Trumpeters, Canada Goose (125) & 2 Hooded Merganser. Also a total of
8-10 Ring Billed & Herring Gulls.
At the School House feeders were Red Bellied (2) & Downy (4)
Woodpeckers, Blue Jay (2),
Chickadees (4), W.B. Nuthatches (5-6), Goldfinch (9-10) & House Sparrows (~10).
But all feeder activity ended when a Cooper's Hawk dive bombed the area.
Saganashkee Slough (in the rain)
Had to wait out the rain but I finally saw some stuff at Saganashkee
Slough but only from the eastern parking lot. Here I saw Canada Goose
(56), Goldeneye (3-4) plus the Merganser Slam
of Hooded (4), Red Breasted (6) & Common (22). Also lots of Ring
Billed & Herring Gulls.
McGinnis Slough
Raining hard when I arrived but after 15 min it slowed down enough to
make the walk to the picnic table viewing area. On the way but in the
closer shallower water were 16 Mallards.
Once at the picnic table spot all I could see was a group of distant
ducks (20) that were too far to I.D. on such a cloudy day. But there
were also 6 Swans which I could work with. A pair of adults with one
gray young one seemed to be Trumpeters but the other 3 I had to work
on & they weren't close enough so my I.D. work is tentative.
The 3 individual Swans seemed to be one Trumpeter & one with yellow
lores which would make it a Tundra. The 3rd seemed to be kind of small
like the Tundra so my guess is even though I could not see the yellow
lores (too far) it was probably a 2nd Tundra. But that's all guesswork
so if you check them out let us know what you think?
I found it interesting that the 3 for sure Trumpeters had a friend, a
male Mallard stayed with them & their every more perhaps looking for
food which the Swans would pull up from the deeper water which the
Mallard could not reach by itself. Eventually the Mallard gave up &
flew off.
Bird-Of-The-Day to the yellow lored Tundra Swan & Runner-Up to the
Trumpeter Swans at both Long John & McGinnis Sloughs.
Al Stokie
In S.W. Cook County today
First an announcement.
Tomorrow I go in for cataract surgery on my right eye. I only mention
this as I may not be doing any reports for a while & whenever I fail
to do reports I get emails asking if I am o.k. Hopefully this goes
well & I will be able to see better at Hawk Watches & Lake Watches in
the future.
Palos Area
It was supposed to start raining at 10 a.m. but in the real world it
started at about 8:15 a.m. so I had on & off rain for the whole time I
was out. Had to sit it out in the car a few times but I was able to
get most places in even with a delay. I did skip Centennial Park in
Orland Park though as the rain was really coming down when I left
McGinnis.
Centennial Trail had nothing, not one duck!
Maple Lake had a grand total of 1 adult Herring Gull with heavy rain.
Crawdad Slough & Joe's Pond had nothing.
Papoose Lake only had 16 Canada Geese.
Little Red School House & Long John Slough from the School House
In the slough were Trumpeter Swan (4) at least I think they were
Trumpeters, Canada Goose (125) & 2 Hooded Merganser. Also a total of
8-10 Ring Billed & Herring Gulls.
At the School House feeders were Red Bellied (2) & Downy (4)
Woodpeckers, Blue Jay (2),
Chickadees (4), W.B. Nuthatches (5-6), Goldfinch (9-10) & House Sparrows (~10).
But all feeder activity ended when a Cooper's Hawk dive bombed the area.
Saganashkee Slough (in the rain)
Had to wait out the rain but I finally saw some stuff at Saganashkee
Slough but only from the eastern parking lot. Here I saw Canada Goose
(56), Goldeneye (3-4) plus the Merganser Slam
of Hooded (4), Red Breasted (6) & Common (22). Also lots of Ring
Billed & Herring Gulls.
McGinnis Slough
Raining hard when I arrived but after 15 min it slowed down enough to
make the walk to the picnic table viewing area. On the way but in the
closer shallower water were 16 Mallards.
Once at the picnic table spot all I could see was a group of distant
ducks (20) that were too far to I.D. on such a cloudy day. But there
were also 6 Swans which I could work with. A pair of adults with one
gray young one seemed to be Trumpeters but the other 3 I had to work
on & they weren't close enough so my I.D. work is tentative.
The 3 individual Swans seemed to be one Trumpeter & one with yellow
lores which would make it a Tundra. The 3rd seemed to be kind of small
like the Tundra so my guess is even though I could not see the yellow
lores (too far) it was probably a 2nd Tundra. But that's all guesswork
so if you check them out let us know what you think?
I found it interesting that the 3 for sure Trumpeters had a friend, a
male Mallard stayed with them & their every more perhaps looking for
food which the Swans would pull up from the deeper water which the
Mallard could not reach by itself. Eventually the Mallard gave up &
flew off.
Bird-Of-The-Day to the yellow lored Tundra Swan & Runner-Up to the
Trumpeter Swans at both Long John & McGinnis Sloughs.
Al Stokie
In S.W. Cook County today
Linda
Dec 6, 2021, 8:30:02 PM12/6/21
to IBET - Illinois Birders Exchanging Thoughts, Al Stokie
Al,
On Saturday I saw the six swans at McGininis Slough. I thought for sure three Trumpeter together with the Mallard. (2 adults and 1 grey one). But of the other three, two for sure looked smaller. I couldn't see any yellow because too far away. So I agree with Al that likely two Tundra there. Glad you saw them a little closer than I did.
There were not many ducks there that day. Mostly mallards.
Good luck with your surgery.
Linda Radtke
Cook County
On Saturday I saw the six swans at McGininis Slough. I thought for sure three Trumpeter together with the Mallard. (2 adults and 1 grey one). But of the other three, two for sure looked smaller. I couldn't see any yellow because too far away. So I agree with Al that likely two Tundra there. Glad you saw them a little closer than I did.
There were not many ducks there that day. Mostly mallards.
Good luck with your surgery.
Linda Radtke
Cook County
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Connie Smith
Dec 7, 2021, 7:47:04 AM12/7/21
to Linda, IBET - Illinois Birders Exchanging Thoughts, Al Stokie
From: 'Linda' via IBET - Illinois Birders Exchanging Thoughts <ilb...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, December 6, 2021 2:47:09 PM
To: IBET - Illinois Birders Exchanging Thoughts <ilb...@googlegroups.com>; Al Stokie <alsto...@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [IBET] Palos Area-Saganashkee & McGinnis Sloughs & More Sunday 12-5-21
Sent: Monday, December 6, 2021 2:47:09 PM
To: IBET - Illinois Birders Exchanging Thoughts <ilb...@googlegroups.com>; Al Stokie <alsto...@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [IBET] Palos Area-Saganashkee & McGinnis Sloughs & More Sunday 12-5-21
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