by Carl Strang
This spring I have been impressed by the variety of migrant ducks stopping at Mayslake Forest Preserve. They haven’t come in large numbers, and haven’t stayed long, but the diversity has been interesting. So far I have seen (in addition to local mallards) shovelers, wood ducks, pintails, lesser scaup, hooded mergansers, and this bufflehead pair.
In addition, last fall a ring-necked duck spent a day. The brief stays and low numbers suggest that the habitat quality may be limited in some way. On the other hand, two pied-billed grebes have stayed on one of the lakes for several days, now, so there is food at least for carnivorous divers. The migration has just begun, and I look forward to discovering which species give Mayslake a try as their daytime stopover site.
