Brewer's Duck (Gadwall X Mallard Hybrid) at Schroeder Wildlife Sanctuary in McLean County

On Thursday morning, I went to Schroeder hoping to find something new in the prairie, but once I arrived, I was drawn by the loud calls of Mallards. I hiked the trail to the blind and found over 1,000 ducks in the largest pond. It was also nice to see that the ragged, worn blinds along the end of the trail, which had been placed to prevent waterfowl from seeing people approach the main blind, had been replaced with new blinds.

On my way to the blind, I heard and then saw a pair of Golden-crowned Kinglets. Once I made it to the blind and started scanning with my scope, I found that there were nine different species of waterfowl present, and a Gadwall x Mallard hybrid.

Here is the hybrid duck with Mallards and Gadwalls . . .







The following are the nine waterfowl species I observed there, including numbers . . .

Canada Goose 40
Gadwall 35
American Wigeon 1
American Black Duck 1
Mallard 1,000 (estimated)
Northern Shoveler 2
Northern Pintail 4
Green-winged Teal 2
Redhead 3

Here are several photos of the Gadwalls . . .















Here are a couple of the American Wigeon . . .





And here is my favorite of the day other than the hybrid, an American Black Duck drake . . .





I love ducks!