Techny North, Techny Basin, Lake Opeka & Axehead Lake (Open again) Wed 4-7-21

[Al Stokie]

Hello Bird People,

Noticed that shorebird numbers seem to vary a lot at Techny North with
times visited so today instead of going mid-day I went 1st thing in
the a.m. Found more shorebirds than usual although it may just have
been getting farther into the shorebird season.? I'll continue to vary
visiting times & see what happens. Next I looked for the Louisiana
Waterthrush seen yesterday by Jeff B along the Navy Ditch Trail at
Techny Basin but did not find it. On arriving I saw John L who hadn't
found the Waterthrush either but had found 2 RUSTY BLACKBIRDS. But I
didn't see them either to complete my lack of finding targets. Finally
some comments on the use of the word Fluddle.
Here are my bird lists:

Techny North (8-9 a.m.)

Although I saw a fair number of shorebirds the group changed
constantly & birds flew in & out all the time. For example 1st there
were only1 Lesser Yellowlegs, then 4 & finally 2. Yesterday's one
Greater Yellowlegs arrived late & called a few times.

Canada Goose (3)
Wood Duck (11)
Mallard (21)
Black Duck (1, hanging out as always with a male Mallard)
Shoveler (8)
Blue Winged Teal (12)
Green Winged Teal (3)
Red Breasted Merganser (4)
Killdeer (4)
Greater (1) & Lesser (4) Yellowlegs
Pectoral Sandpiper (8)
Wilson's Snipe (6)
Ring Billed Gull (1)
Mourning Dove (6)
Rock Pigeon (2)
Kingfisher (1-F)
Tree Swallow (1)
Blue Jay (H-1)
Robins (4)
Eastern Meadowlark (3 singing & I finally saw 1 of them)
Red Wings (6) & Grackles (3)
House Finch (H-1)

Techny Basin/Navy Ditch Trail Only (9:05-10:40 a.m.)

Canada Goose (2 fly-bys) & Mallards (2 fly-bys)
Mourning Dove (4)
Red Bellied (H-2) & Downy (1) Woodpeckers & Flicker (3)
Crows (H-2)
Chickadee (H-1)
Creeper (1)
G.C. Kinglet (1)
Robins (25)
Y.R. Myrtle Warbler (1)
Cardinal (2-3)
Song (3) & Swamp (2) Sparrows
Junco (2)
Red Wings (~10), Grackles (2) & Cowbirds (2)
Goldfinch (2)

Lake Opeka (11:35-11:50 a.m.)

Canada Goose (31)
Mallard (5), Blue Winged Teal (1-PR) & Bufflehead (3)
Ring Billed (18) & Herring (3) Gulls
Robins, Cardinal & House Finch

Axehead Lake (12-12::15 p.m.)

Open again after fish stocking. Wall to wall fishermen which usually
continues a week or so,

COMMON LOONS (2)
D.C. Cormorant (1)
Canada Goose (1)
Mallard (2) & Red Breasted Merganser (13)
Herring Gull (2)

Back when folks started using the word fluddle I thought they were
saying fuddle so I used fuddle not fluddle. I liked fuddle as it
reminded me of one of my hero's, Elmer Fudd.
But fluddle is clearly used by most but I will still use fuddle once
in a while to honor Mr Fudd
& to irritate everyone else.

Nothing special seen today so Bird-Of-The-Day will be the 2 fine
looking Common Loons
at Axehead lake. Runner-Up to the 5 species of shorebirds at Techny North.

Al Stokie
Close to home in Cook County today