North Point Marina, Trumpet Rd Marsh, Illinois Beach South & Independence Grove Sat 12-2-23

[Al Stokie]

Hello Bird People,

Started at North Point Marina with Bob Erickson & Andy Stewart & later
we were joined by Beau S & Dan M. Lots of Loons, both Common & RED
THROATED, & many, many Red Breasted Mergansers going by & mostly going
north. Also had one Common Merganser (female) & Bufflehead & Goldeneye
in the harbor. About 300 Herring Gulls along with 1 Ring Billed & an
adult LESSER BLACK BACKED GULL which I've had here before. Andy & Bob
also saw 2 WHITE WINGED SCOTERS but I got there too late to see them
go by.

Then by myself to Trumpet Road Marsh which had fewer ducks than it had
last time. Only had 15 Mallards, 5 Bufflehead & 1 female Goldeneye
plus one Red Tailed Hawk down the road.

Learned that Jeff B had Long Tailed Ducks (2) at Waukegan & then got a
text from Andy Stewart saying he had 5 or 6 Long Tailed Ducks at the
office deck at Illinois Beach South. That was closer than Waukegan so
I headed to the office deck. Andy was still there & so were 3 of the
Long Tailed Ducks including 2 fine looking males with their very long
tails. On the way out I saw an adult BALD EAGLE resting at the top of
a tree.

On the way home I stopped at Independence Grove where I saw 108 Canada
Geese, 6 Mallards, 6-8 Goldeneye, 14 Hooded Mergansers & last, but not
least, one P.B. Grebe.

Finally a quick visit to look at Nan's feeders at Ryerson. There I did
well with woodpeckers seeing 1 Red Headed, 3 Red Bellied & 1 each
Downy & Hairy Woodpeckers. Also saw 2 Blue Jays, 2 Chickadees & 1 W.B.
Nuthatch.

So a pretty good day with 30 species. Bird-Of-The-Day to the Long
Tailed Ducks & the 2 males also win Fancy Pants Bird Of The Day.
Runners-Up to all those Red Throated Loons & the adult Lesser Black
Backed Gull.

Al Stokie
In Lake County today