Independence Grove & St Mary's Seminary Wednesday 12-3-25

[Al Stokie]

Hello Bird People,

Looked like today would be the warmest day for a while with really
cold weather on tap.
So I wanted to make the most of it with viewing a lake & getting a
walk in as well.
The lake I picked for viewing was at Independence Grove but most of
the main water was frozen although the far north & east part of the
water was open. Ran into ace photographer Mark Waller & we used my
scope as the water birds were far to the east & north.
The place I picked to walk in was St Mary's Seminary mainly as it was
close to Independence Grove plus some interesting stuff has been
reported there lately. It was cold there but the wind which was very
noticeable by the lake was mainly blocked by all the trees & so not so
bad.

Independence Grove (8:35-9:20 am)

TUNDRA SWAN (a flock of 20 far to the east)
Canada Goose (28 on the lake ice & 60 more in the river)
Mallard (4, in the river)
NORTHERN SHOVELER (1-M, in the river)
Goldeneye (16)
Hooded (56), Common (3) & Red Breasted (13) Mergansers
Coot (1, all by itself)
Ring Billed (32) & Herring (6) Gulls

St Mary's Seminary (9:45 am-12:15 pm)

Great Blue Heron (only 1 left today)
Canada Goose (~450)
Hooded Merganser (14)
Cooper's Hawk (1-AD)
BALD EAGLE (1-AD & 1-IM flying together over the lake)
Herring Gull (2)
Red Bellied (4), Downy (1) & Hairy (1) Woodpeckers
FLICKER (1)
Blue Jay (4-6)
Chickadee (1)
White Breasted Nuthatch (5)
Red Breasted Nuthatch (2)
EASTERN BLUEBIRD (6 in one tree & 2 more elsewhere)
Robin (30-35)
Starling (~15)
(All the Robins & Starling were at the red berry trees)
Cardinal (2, just to be different these were at a blue berry tree)
White Throated Sparrow (1)
Junco (9-10)
Goldfinch (4)

(No Crossbills, Siskins nor Redpolls were seen by me today & I was looking.)

So 29 species at my two locations plus 4 roadside additions for a
day's total of 33.
Bird-Of-The-Day will be all those Tundra Swans & Runners-Up will be
the two Bald
Eagles, the Shoveler, the Flicker & the many Eastern Bluebirds.

If you think you will be going birding tomorrow, wear all the clothes
you own as you
will surely need it.

Al Stokie
In Lake County today