Gadwall

At last!  I've been trying to get close enough for a gadwall picture for months.  The park district mowed the high weeds on the east side of Lake Bartlett, making it easier to approach the eastern shore.  Although the gadwall swam away when they spotted me, a park district worker came to check a drainage weir on the lake's north end sending the ducks swimming back toward me.

Gadwall don't sport flashy colors, and what some might call drab I call refined. They mainly eat aquatic vegetation, but also eat invertebrates especially during breeding season.  Northern Illinois is on the border line between their summer and winter homes.