Lesser Black-backed and Thayer's Gulls at Peoria Lake

Wayne Hochstetler and I went birding today, while Carrie had a ladies brunch for our church at the house. It was either birding or being stuck upstairs for hours, and I had been wanting to go birding with Wayne. Wayne and I started off at Clinton Lake in DeWitt County, IL looking for Northern Saw-whet Owls. Apparently, they have already moved on because we could not find them in their usual roosting spots. We did see Greater White-fronted Geese, Cackling Geese, Common Mergansers, Hooded Mergansers, Common Goldeneyes, Lesser Scaups, and a Canvasback, amongst the more common Canada Geese and Mallards on the lake. However, we did not stick around at Clinton Lake long because we wanted to go to Peoria Lake to look for gulls.

After lunch at Culver's in East Peoria, we chummed at the Riverplex in Peoria, and managed to see a couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a few Thayer's Gulls. The first Lesser Black-backed Gull we had was an adult type, somewhere in between 3rd cycle and adult with a fading ringed bill and a barely noticeable red gonydeal spot.







The second Lesser Black-backed Gull we had was a 2nd cycle bird.



We also had two adult Thayer's Gulls, a 2nd cycle, and a couple of probable 1st cycle birds. Here is one of the adult birds.





And here is one of the probable 1st cycle birds.



This photo shows the adult type Lesser Black-backed Gull and the 2nd cycle Thayer's Gull.



There were also five or six Bald Eagles on the ice, six Canvasbacks, and quite a few Common Goldeneyes. We had a couple of Gadwalls in a pond by the road in East Peoria.