Sandhill Cranes and American Woodcock in McLean County

This morning, Carrie and I took both of our cars to Sam's Club to get the tires rotated. One of the employees said we were lucky to get them in this morning because usually they are slammed on Saturday. After our cars were ready, we went to Ewing Park to look for an American Woodcock. Carrie had never seen one. We flushed one at Sugar Grove Nature Center when we went looking for them last year, but Carrie did not get a good enough look to identify the bird. It was warm at Ewing, but a little windy There were very few birds there, but we had some nice ones. The Eastern Screech-owl box by the little bridge that crosses the stream in Hedge Apple Woods was occupied.



As we continued along the trail past the screech-owl box, an American Woodcock that was ahead of us on the trail flushed, but landed where we could see it. Carrie had a hard time seeing it when it landed because it blended in so well, but then she saw the big dark eye, and I took the photograph shown at the top of this post. Then we saw the woodcock doing it's funny walk before it flew into one of the yards behind the trail. We did not find anymore woodcocks today so we were thankful to see the one we saw at Ewing, which was a lifer for Carrie. We also found a very loud Tufted Titmouse singing next to a nest and a pair of Brown Creepers at Ewing.



After lunch, we went to Sugar Grove Nature Center in Funks Grove. The sun was out, the clouds were gone, and it was turning into a beautiful day. We saw the American Tree Sparrow and Eurasian Tree Sparrows shown below at the feeders.







Just before we left Sugar Grove, I heard a Carolina Wren singing by the feeders. As we were leaving, I asked Carrie if she wanted to check out the waterfowl at Evergreen Lake, but she suggested we check the Kenneth L. Schroeder Wildlife Sanctuary instead. Schroeder sounded like a good idea to me so that was where we went. While we were hiking the path to the wetlands, we noticed a small kettle of raptors above, including two Red-tails getting mobbed by crows and three Turkey Vultures.

As we passed the wetlands on our right, I noticed that there did not seem to be any ducks. Then I looked toward the new wetland and saw a Sandhill Crane through the trees. I could not believe my eyes. We could tell there were several Sandhill Cranes on the new wetland, but we could not get a good count because the trees were blocking the view. I was able to manage a few photos at a great distance.









Then the birds must have seen us through the trees as well, though we were still on the trail and pretty far back from the trees, because they suddenly took off and flew Southeast. There is no blind to keep the birds on the new wetland from seeing you coming, and the trees were still bare of leaves. When the cranes took off, we finally could see that there were five of them.

There was a pair of Green-winged Teals and a pair of Killdeer still on the wetland when we reached the end of the trail, and a Pied-billed Grebe in wetland (lake) with the blind. After Schroeder it was time to return home to do our taxes. We did not have a huge variety of birds today, but we sure had some great ones, and it was beautiful day to be outside!

Redheads and Canvasbacks and Scaups at Lake Bloomington in McLean County

After work on March 10, I stopped by Lake Bloomington to see what waterfowl or gulls were in the open water by Davis Lodge.
The light was perfect for photography, and the trees provided cover for me so that I could get fairly close without spooking the ducks. I drove around to the edge of the lake on the little road that runs into a boat launch. The first birds I noticed when I arrived were Redheads and Lesser Scaup. I focused first on the Redheads.







One of the Redheads was chasing one of the Lesser Scaups, which had a fish. Notice also the female Ring-necked Duck in the left corner of the next photo and the female Lesser Scaup following the Redhead in the second photo. The male Lesser Scaup seemed to be having a hard time swallowing the fish.







The Redhead managed to steal the fish from him, and then it was the Lesser Scaup chasing the Redhead.







Meanwhile, a female scaup tailed another male scaup with a fish.







Suddenly, I noticed this beautiful male Canvasback swimming close to the shore.







And I noticed this female Canvasback and saw her catch a fish.







This female Redhead also caught a fish.



Here are a few more shots of Redheads and Lesser Scaups.









There were about 10 Greater White-fronted Geese standing on the edge of the ice behind all of these ducks that were swimming around. I photographed a few of them.



I drove back toward a larger area of open water to the South, adjoining the section of the lake I was viewing. There were many more ducks in this area though they were further away from the shore; however, I still managed to photograph a male Greater Scaup and a pair of Hooded Mergansers.





I came back a few nights later after work on March 13, but the light was bad. I did, however, get a decent photo of a pair of Ring-necked Ducks.

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.

Trumpeter Swans and Bald Eagles in McLean County

After work on Friday, February 28, I stopped by Evergreen Lake to see a pair of Trumpeter Swans that Jeanna Powell had reported seeing there. Not only were the swans by the water pump house. There were also several Redheads, Common Mergansers, Common Goldeneyes, and a Ring-necked Duck.



I also checked the open water at Lake Bloomington by Davis Lodge. There was a second pair of Trumpeter Swans there as well as more Redheads, goldeneyes, and a Herring Gull.

A pair of Bald Eagles also flew in and landed on the ice.





Written and published on March 15, 2015