Raptors, Gulls, Waterfowl, Etc. in McLean, Livingston, and Woodford Counties

This month, I have been looking carefully for Rough-legged Hawks during my drive back and forth to work. I would like to find this bird as a McLean County bird, but so far I have not seen one this Winter. My lifer was near Flanagan, IL last December just a few days before Christmas. Last Monday, after briefly locating Todd Bugg's Western Red-tailed Hawk near Towanda and searching for a Rough-legged to no avail, I pulled into Gridley Wastewater Treatment Ponds and saw this Bonaparte's Gull in the middle pond swimming with shovelers and a Gadwall. I was delighted to be able to get these shots of this bird. Although the light was poor, these are my best looks and shots of a Bonaparte's Gull. I also found three Bonaparte's Gulls at El Paso Sewage Treatment Center later that day, but they were much further away than the one at Gridley shown below.









On Tuesday, I stopped for a little birding with a client on the way back from an appointment. We saw this American Kestrel making a late lunch of this mouse.





Then on Thursday, I when I stopped by El Paso Sewage Treatment Center, I saw my first two Common Goldeneyes of the season. The same day, one of the wastewater ponds in Gridley held a male Northern Pintail.



Saturday morning Les Allen and I birded the Moon Tract of the Parklands Foundation near Lake Bloomington. This thickly wooded area required some serious bush-wacking. We hoped to find owls, redpolls, or crossbills, but of these we only saw an owl we could not positively identify flying at a distance. Other birds we saw included Bald Eagle, White-throated Sparrow, and this Red-tailed Hawk.



Les and I saw several other Red-tailed Hawks and American Kestrels near Lake Bloomington and Evergreen Lake that day, including a pair of kestrels sitting on a power line side by side. We searched White Pines Cove on the West side of Evergreen Lake, but our best birds there were two Golden-crowned Kinglets and a Great Blue Heron.

Sunday afternoon after church, I decided to check White Oak Park in Bloomington, IL. While I was scoping the Richardson's Cackling Geese, this Belted Kingfisher flew in pretty close and allowed one decent shot before seeing me and making a mad getaway.



I could not resist photographing these Mallards standing on ice in great light.



I also took some photos of the Richardson's Cackling Geese next to Canadas and Mallards. There were about fifty Richardson's Geese with hundreds of Mallards and Canada Geese.







Also present were three Buffleheads swimming away from the other waterfowl and a female Ring-necked Duck swimming with what appeared to be a male Lesser Scaup. I'm not sure if the Buffleheads on the left and the right in this shot are young males, or if the one in the middle is a young female, but the one in the middle has much less white on its head than the other two.



On the way home, I could not help but notice a small raptor flying down the sidewalk at eye level in downtown Bloomington. I parked my car and walked back in the direction that the bird had flown. I found this Cooper's Hawk, also shown at the beginning of this post, sitting atop a building across the street.



Today, I did a little more raptor searching on my way back from a doctor's appointment since I would be working late into the evening and had seen five Red-tailed Hawks along I-55 on the way to my doctor's appointment. I went driving North of Lake Bloomington. The first raptor I found was an Eastern Red-tailed Hawk.



Next I saw this Northern Harrier, which was either a female or a juvenile male.



From Lake Bloomington, I drove by the Parklands Sweeney Tract, and turned right on 2700/Kappa Rd. Then as I turned left into a gravel road, which was just East of 1750 Rd. to check out a raptor I saw perched in a tree, I stumbled upon this beautiful juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker. If you look closely you can see some red feathers starting to come in on the neck of the bird.







This was my first juvenile (gray-headed) Red-headed Woodpecker. It flew from the trees to the field and back several times before it disappeared.

Then I drove a little further down the gravel road and found this beautiful raptor . . .







a Western Red-tailed Hawk.









This bird looked amazingly similar to the bird that Todd Bugg found near Towanda just over a week ago. When I spoke to Matt Fraker, he suggested the possibility that this might be the same bird. The hawk remained in the trees in the field between 1750 Rd. and the gravel road just East of it though it would not stay still very long as long as my car remained anywhere in sight.

If you go to see this bird, check also for Eastern Bluebirds on the powerlines along 2700/Kappa Rd.