Lake Springfield- Beavers, Opossums, and... Avocets? Falcons? Scoters?

For some reason, Lake Springfield has been great birdwatching lately... for many other people.  I'll provide snippets of IBET posts and Ebird checklists:

"I found a 1st winter LITTLE GULL, from the Dividing Dam, looking towards the Beach... 

Also 3-5 RED-THROATED LOONS have been north/east of the beach house or out from Villa Maria Retreat center (just north of Lincoln Gardens)  (all on Saturday, November 4)"

"Common Ground Dove on Sunday, Oct. 23 on private property..."

"1 Eared Grebe (at Villa Maria Retreat)"

"1 Cave Swallow  (Also at Villa Maria Retreat)  Seen for a few minutes... at around 11:05."

"1 Cackling Goose" (Yet again, at Villa Maria Retreat, which is a Catholic camp, but open to all, I think.  I should probably visit it, after seeing all of these.)

"2 Red-throated Loons distant from Marina Point on November 14 (an hour after I was there!)"

And, the coup de grace: "1 Red-breasted Nuthatch (at UIS)"

At this point, I haven't seen any of these, especially the Red-breasted Nuthatches, which are personal favorites of mine.  Most of these are rare birds, and others are nemesis birds, and some are both. I could go on, but I've made my point that I'm severely jealous of other birders... no, that's not my point.  My point is that Lake Springfield has been great lately, and I'm happy to live near it... even if I do feel like I'm missing half the birds seen on it!

By the way, November is:

(That is, for birders around here.  Actual duck hunting season isn't something I know.)

Nevertheless, since mid-October, I've been out and about,seeing lots of birds (like the Bald Eagle at top), and a few interesting non-birds too!  Let's get the non-birds out of the way:

I have no idea where to insert this, but my dad and I found an Opossum (Didelphis virginiana) under our woodpile while moving firewood.  This is only the third or fourth one I've ever seen in my backyard.  We let it be, and it moved on, hopefully none the worse for having its hideout disturbed.

This is a beaver (Castor canadensis), off Marina Point.  It's always quite exciting to see one of these, being only my second time ever seeing one.  I had no idea they were out this far!

Marina Point is quite lovely this time of year, as the Pokemon Go rush has finally subsided.  Once the fishermen depart, the lake will be left to its winter isolation.

Now, it's bird time!  The first of several interesting birds I HAVE seen is this pale goose of unknown antecedents (above and below).  I've been told it is a leucistic (pale but not albino) form of a Canada Goose (Branta canadensis).  I don't know for certain what it is, but it does linger around Center Park.

While I was lingering around the Beachhouse one evening, I found three American Avocets (Recurvirostra americana), a new lifer shorebird (and probably my last shorebird of the year, save for Killdeer).  These are among Illinois' largest and most colorful shorebirds.  (Shorebirds aren't particularly colorful, for the unaware. Generally, they're shades of brown, grey, white, and tan.)

Ruddy Ducks (Oxyura jamaicensis) have begun to appear, though not in large numbers.

The best appearance of any bird at the Beachhouse, however, has to be another lifer, the Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus).  If you look up atop one of the electrical towers adjacent to the bridge, you have a good chance of seeing a Peregrine Falcon perched atop it.

When I say lifer, I mean for certain.  I believe that one of these once flew threw my backyard when I was young.  When several grackles attacked that raptor, it dropped a dead grackle (the reason for the attacks) at the top of our slide   The grackle's body rolled down the slide as the raptor flew away, and my traumatized brother and I, who had witnessed the whole incident, gave the dead grackle a burial under the pines in our backyard.  However, I don't know for certain that the bird of this tail was in fact a Peregrine Falcon, so I have never been able to officially count it as a lifer until now.

The Ruddy Ducks had better watch out.  Though the Peregrine Falcon is said to prefer pigeons, it will take ducks and songbirds. (An old name for this falcon is Duck Hawk).  As a matter of fact, Peregrine Falcons, in their worldwide range, are said to hunt between 1,500 and 2,000 different species of bird!

However, in the tranquil sunset light, these American White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) have little to fear from a bird around the same size as their bills.

I love the ripples in the water that these American Coots (Fulica americana) produce as they swim along.  American Coots, with their little heads bobbing as they swim, are quite

To the north, I stopped at Lincoln Greens Golf Course, which is a public-access golf course that non-golfers can visit, if only to fish or look for birds, or if you want to look at the power plant.

I first came out here and didn't think I'd seen anything... until I checked my photos later:

With the prominent dark cap, lack of white wing bars, lighter brown color on the sides of both the head and the body,  and one brighter and one somewhat duller white spot on the sides of each head, these are almost certainly Surf Scoters (Melanitta perspicillata), a new lifer!  These are only rarely found here in the Midwest, so finding these two is a great discovery.

I have several more shots of each of the two scoters, but I think we can agree that they are most likely Surf Scoters.  The only other possibility would be White-winged Scoters, but I don't think that's what these are, considering the head patterns and lighter coloration.  I have C.D. (his initials) to thank for correctly identifying this species, based off these truly terrible photos.  Unfortunately, subsequent visits could not relocate the scoters.  They have likely moved on to more typical haunts.

Moving from the uncommon to the commonplace, we have the Bonaparte's Gull (Chroicocephalus philadelphia), the background "white streaks" in so many photos (including this one!):

Less commonly, we also have the juvenile Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) .  Little Gulls and Lesser Black-backed Gulls were also seen around here by others, but I don't think that I saw either.

I did get a better image of this juvenile Herring Gull, here:

Returning to Center Park at a later date, I found this Common Loon (Gavia immer) way out:

It  was not a Red-throated Loon, however, the rarer, usually coastal loon species seen recently on Lake Springfield, by everyone else. (Groans and grumblings commence here.)  I'm not 100% certain that I haven't seen it, but I know that I haven't seen it for certain, and that annoys me.

Meanwhile, these two large Pochards (Aythya sp.) preened themselves nearby.  I don't know what species they are, either. If anyone knows, please inform me.  I'm guessing female Greater Scaups based on size, head shape, and darker back.  While a Greater Scaup or two would be a great duck for this area  this is highly unlikely, and I look forward to being told that these are Lesser Scaup.

I don't suppose this is the last Chicory (Cichorium intybus) flower of the year, but plant season is winding down fast.   Sometimes I think I wasted most of the year on birds when I could have been looking for plants.  However, I know that I found more wild orchids and rarer plants this year than ever before.  It may have been a mostly bird-filled year, but plants still factored in quite a bit.

Well, the plants are going away, and it's now duck season.  I had a couple far-off Buffleheads today, harbingers of the future, and I'm looking forward to the future, when the ice hits and thousands of Snow Geese arrive.  In the meantime, I'm hoping that Red-throated Loon is still out there...