North Point Marina & Independence Grove Thursday 3-19-26

[Al Stokie]

Hello Bird People,

After failing to find a Loon for my Wood Dale Reservoir site list for
2 days in a row in spite of others seeing one later in the day I
decided to look for gulls at North Point Marina. The target was the
California Gull which had been seen for the last 2 days in a row. But
my bad luck continued & in spite of having lots of good birders there
looking we could not find the California Gull. However, we saw almost
every species of gull that you would normally see in the Winter so I
can't complain too much. Also saw Cranes & a few rare ducks.

North Point Marina (7:10-noon)

Common Loon (1 & 1 fly-by)
Horned Grebe (3)
Canada Goose (~15)
Mallard (~10)
Redhead (12)
Ring Necked Duck (8)
Greater (12) & Lesser (3) Scaup
LONG TAILED DUCK (1-M & 1-F)
WHITE WINGED SCOTER (1)
Goldeneye (5)
Bufflehead (8)
Hooded (8) & Red Breasted (25) Mergansers
Coots (2)
Kestrel (1)
Sandhill Crane (2-PR)
Killdeer (4)
Ring Billed (~30) & Herring (~800) Gulls
ICELAND GULL (3-IM)
(Thayer's Gull-1 AD & 1-IM)
GLAUCOUS GULL (1-AD & 1-IM)
Lesser Black Backed Gull (4-AD)
GREAT BLACK BACKED GULL (1-AD)
Mourning Dove (2)
Flicker (H-1)
Robin (10) & Starling (4)
Cardinal (H-2)
Tree (2) & Song (2) Sparrows
Junco (2)
Red Wings (~10) & Grackle (6)
House Finch (8-10 with most singing)
House Sparrow (6)

Independence Grove (1:30-2 pm)

Common Loon (2)
Horned Grebe (4)
Pied Billed Grebe (1)
Canada Goose (4)
Ring Necked Duck (5)
Redhead (47)
Lesser Scaup (58)
Bufflehead (5)
Goldeneye (1-M)
Hooded (2-PR) & Red Breasted (19) Mergansers
Flicker, Robins & Song Sparrows

So 36 species at North Point, added one more at Independence Grove &
added 5 more roadside additions for a day's total of 42.
Bird-Of-The-Day will be the adult Great Black Backed Gull & Fancy
Pants Bird Of The Day will be the male Long Tailed Duck. Runners-Up to
the Glaucous & Iceland Gulls & the White Winged Scoter. A pretty good
day even without the California Gull.

Al Stokie
In northern Lake County today