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.