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Winter Brings in Rare Birds 
By AMY BALDWIN 
WINTER, SUMMER, SPRING AND FALL — each has its compensations in all 
nature and so we take advantage of good days and bad alike. Many times 
we find very good rewards for our efforts even though it rains, is foggy, 
or windy. 
This year started out with our usual trip to Waukegan on Jan. 2. It 
was a very poor day. Most of the trip up was blanketed in fog and driving 
was bad, though not icy. A northern shrike was seen on the road into 
Waukegan and we had a good study of it before it flew out of sight. It is 
rather rare around this vicinity and some years we do not see one. We also 
saw a snowy owl. 
It is unwise to plan on what one is going to see from one year to the 
next in the same place, though we have a tendency to do so. Weather, wind, 
and land changes have to be taken into consideration. For the last several 
years we have gone to Waukegan at this season and seen at least 10 or 12 
different kinds of ducks. This year there had been much dredging east of 
the Northern Illinois Public Service company plant so, what with fog and 
this unexpected change in terrain, scarcely anything was seen there. 
Then at the pier last year, we had the rare ivory gull, the glaucous, and 
many other gulls, but this year few were seen. It might have been the 
weather. This winter was especially good at Randolph st., Chicago, at the 
naval armory and the breakwater surrounding the yacht harbor there. We 
saw two Iceland gulls together, which was unusual, and a mature Kum- 
len’s gull put in an appearance. 
A week or so later a new rare record for us was the western gull, in 
association with the numerous herring gulls. Dark wings and a broad band 
of black on the tail and about an inch of white at the tip of tail made quite 
a striking study in comparison to the herring, glaucous, Kumlien’s and 
Iceland gulls. We also had a few ring-billed and Bonaparte’s gulls. Thou- 
sands of gulls wintered in Chicago, going to the dumps west and south of 
the city for food to supplement the good supply of small fish that swarm 
the harbor waters when not frozen. 
Jan. 7 was a nice, clear day, so Miss Leona Draheim and I met at Ran- 
dolph st. and the harbor to work our way south to the Chicago Natural 
History museum for the Aubudon Screen Tour lecture. At the end of the 
breakwater just below the Shedd acquarium we spied an unusual duck and 
knew we were to add a new life list bird. It was in the company of a flock 
of mallards, black ducks, one pintail and a female scaup. It was a rare 
new duck to this region — the harlequin! The duck was not in full spring 
plumage, but was a male. The next thing was to tell everyone we could 
about it, hoping many would see it before it left us. 
Then on Feb. 15, another poor day of fog, rain and wind, I felt I must 
go over to the Jackson park yacht harbor to see what I could there. To 
my surprise I found a pair of harlequin ducks, this time with a small flock 
of scaup ducks. These birds seemed to be a little more advanced in spring 
