NCIOS - North Central Illinois Ornithological Society

Barbara and I went back to Rock Cut this morning to check on waterfowl. Just from the variety of reports yesterday, it is clear that a lot of birds are moving in and out of Pierce Lake. This morning at 10:00 we had 6 Common Mergansers (none yesterday at 12;45, but Mary had some at 11:00), Common Goldeneye, 3 Lesser Scaup (I had 4 Greaters yesterday); no gulls with black backs, no White-fronted Geese (Larry had 10 yesterday at 3:30) no Hooded Mergansers (2 yesterday at 11:45), no Ring-necked Ducks. There were a lot of Herring Gulls flying around. A large flight of Canada Geese came in from the SE, but most continued moving north and didn’t sit down on the water.

At the airport quarry pond, we had 18 Common Mergansers (almost all males), 6 Common Goldeneyes, 4 White-fronted Geese, and some Cackling Geese. These were the first Cackling I have seen this year. There were 20-30 Herring Gulls there, too, but no other species.

Yesterday, Eddie and I decided to do some “drive-by photo shootings” and gallivant around Winnebago County. (He wanted to test out his new camera lens!)

We started out with a drive down Gleason Road (just in case). We next headed for Sugar River Forest Preserve. We walked around the main area after checking the (empty!) feeders and heard a Pileated Woodpecker, plenty of Brown Creepers, both Red and White-breasted Nuthatches, some Tufted Titmice, and Red-bellied Woodpeckers. The river was really high and fast and there was quite a bit of unmelted snow on the trails.

Our next stop - Rock Cut State Park. We got there around nine and missed the Lesser Black-backed Gull and the Greater White-fronted Geese, but we did see many Canada Geese and Ring-billed and Herring Gulls. At last, we finally got some photos! Eddie also captured a Northern Shrike, which is new for our photo life list!.

We left Rock Cut and headed for the Rockford Airport, counting Red-tailed Hawks and American Kestrels along the way. We found a few Common Goldeneyes and two Bald Eagles near the quarry, plus a few Ring-billed Gulls. We drove around the dump, then headed over to Perryville Road. Eddie captured an American Kestrel (also new for the photo life list). We wound up at the intersection of Edson Road and Fairdale, where Winnebago, Boone, DeKalb, and Ogle Counties meet.

It was an interesting day, even with no snow birds or strange gulls, (darn it!) and Eddie got to really try out his new lens.

I went out at about 3:30 to check on black-backed gull(s?) but didn’t find any. I found only Herring Gulls. However, at the east end of the lake, among the ~2900 Canada Geese were 10 Greater White-fronted Geese.

Around 12:45 p.m. today (1/12) I was at Pierce Lake and saw a winter adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. It was out on the ice with Herring Gulls. It was slightly smaller than the Herring Gulls, and had yellow legs. I wonder if this is the same bird that Mary may have seen at 11:00, or maybe I need to go back out there and make sure of my identification! A Great Black-backed Gull would be the first record of that species in Winnebago County.

Other ducks seen by me that were not there at 11:00 were 2 Hooded Mergansers(a pair), and at least 4 Greater Scaup.

Pierce Lake[Rock Cut State Park] at 11:00 a.m. today I spotted a Greater Black Backed Gull among the many Ring-Billed Gulls, also Herring Gulls, Common Golden Eye, Coots, 1 Common Merganser, Black Ducks,& many Mallards.

On Saturday I went to Rock Cut with my dad and we had a nice mix of birds. Pierce Lake was still mostly frozen (with lots of ice-fishing) but the open water by the dam had a ton of Mallards, a few American Coots, at least one American Black Duck, and a pair of Ring-necked Ducks.

Best bird was a male Pileated Woodpecker that flew down the bike path directly overhead.

We also found 3 American Robins and a group of 40+ Cedar Waxwings and 1 Northern Shrike near the prairie before the road that heads towards the campground road.

After the fog lifted this morning, I took a drive to a few spots around Winnebago County to see what birds might be doing after the big thaw. There were 15 American Black Ducks and 1 drake Green-winged Teal in the oxbow on the east side of Meridian Road just N of IL 75. Someone has Mallard decoys at the spot.

Pecatonica Forest Preserve was the most enjoyable stop. The bottoms were quite warm and quiet-no wind. Birds were starting to call as if it were late February, not early January. Highlights were: male Pileated Woodpecker being very territorial, Red-headed Woodpecker, and a Sharp-shinned Hawk.

Feeders at Severson Dells were very quiet at 1:30 p.m. Thistle seed was down so far that the birds couldn’t get food through the openings. Squirrels were dominating the front feeders.

Barbara and I drove down to Utica, in Lasalle County, to look for gulls at the lock and dam. On the way, we saw 3 Northern Shrikes along I-39. One was just N of the intersection of I-39 and IL 38 in Ogle County, 2 more were at the intersection of I-39 and US 30 (1 just north, the other in the SW portion of the interchange) and then we found a 4th at Matthiessen State Park. We also counted 24 Red-tailed Hawks along I-39 between US 20 and I-80, 10 kestrels, and 1 light morph Rough-legged Hawk.

At the lock and dam, we saw several adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls, a couple of adult Thayer’s, but no white-winged gulls. The ice was broken up and gulls were scattered for a great distance upstream from the lock. Bald Eagles were everywhere in big numbers.

Happy New Year birders! What was your first bird of the year? The majority of our family had American Crow as their first. Some had a House Finch, Dark-eyed Junco, and one young family member had a House Sparrow.

Happy New Year and good birding wishes to all!