Waukegan Beach, Illinois Beach South Unit (Beach Only). State Line Beach & Techny North Sat 9-18-21

[Al Stokie]

Hello Bird People,

Old Business

Yesterday I went to visit my former neighbor Danny H & we covered
Elsen's Hill in DuPage County where we saw few birds & what we saw
were only common ones. Lucky for us we ran into Joe Suchecki who found
more of the day's birds than Danny & I did. Only 20 species for the
day of which 6 species were common warblers. Highlights were a fly-by
Sharp Shinned Hawk & an Eastern Phoebe.

New Business

Waukegan Beach (6:15-7:45 a.m.)

Walked the beach with Bob Erickson & briefly saw Bill & Annette M. The
only shorebirds were 22 Sanderlings & a "heard only" Killdeer. Also
saw an adult Bald Eagle fly by, a Cooper's Hawk in a tree & the usual
Ring Billed & Herring Gulls & 1 Great Blue Heron.

Illinois Beach South Unit (8:15-10 a.m.)

Here Bob E & I were joined by Eric J & I only covered the beach up &
back while the others also went inland for land birds. Only saw
Mallards (3 fly-bys), a Merlin (found by Eric), Killdeer (3),
Sanderlings (3) & small numbers of Ring Billed & Herring Gulls.

State Line Beach (by myself) (10:20-10:35 a.m.)

D.C. Cormorant (4)
Killdeer (2 fly-bys)
Sanderling (3)
FORSTER'S TERN (1, made a brief visit & flew away)
Ring Billed & Herring Gulls (no counts)

Techny North (12:10-1 p.m.)

Last night's rain filled this place with water so that very little mud
flats remain. And it looked like I was in for a "shorebird shutout" as
I could find no Killdeer but at the last minute 2 Snipe flew in.

D.C. Cormorant (2)
Great Blue Heron (1)
Great Egret (4)
Black Crowned Night Heron (2-IM)
Wood Duck (2-M)
Mallard (59)
Green Winged Teal (5)
Blue Winged Teal (4)
Kestrel (1)
Wilson's Snipe (2)
Ring Billed Gull (1 fly-by)
Kingfisher (H-1)

Bird-Of-The-Day to the quick visiting Forster's Tern & Runners-Up to
the fly-by Bald Eagle &
the tree top Merlin. And a special thanks to the 2 Snipe who kept me
from my 1st shorebird shutout of the year.

License Plate Of The Day to one from Arkansas seen in Waukegan which I
needed for Run #2.
I now have 48 plates for my Run #2 & only need Delaware, Vermont &
Hawaii to finish.
Fat chance of getting the Hawaii plate.

Al Stokie
Mostly in Lake County today with a short visit in Cook County




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