While checking out the pine siskins at the starved rock feeders, I had a gentleman next to me telling his kids that the pine siskins were goldfinches.  Of course I couldn’t just stand there and not try to educate him and his family.  The pine siskin is the bird on the top left, while the goldfinches are on the bottom right.  The easiest difference to spot are the barring on the siskins sides and chest.  These are lacking on the goldfinches.  The goldfinches also have a yellowish hue over their body during this time of year, while the siskins do not. 

After viewing many bald eagles at the park today, we strolled over to the visitor center to warm up for a bit.  Just outside the entrance are a couple of bird feeders, which were loaded with birds today.  The highlight were several pine siskins feeding like crazy.  The birds were so accustomed to people that I literally reached out and touched this bird!  Other birds seen at the feeders included; goldfinches, purple finches, white-crowned sparrows, white-throated sparrows, fox sparrow, juncos, cowbirds, grackles, red-winged blackbirds, white-bellied nuthatch, and a red-bellied woodpecker.

With the extreme cold we have had for the past couple of weeks, the Illinois river is completely frozen over.  The exception is the spillway for the dam by Starved Rock State Park.  This open water forces the bald eagles in the area to congregate at this one location, giving you images like this.  This is just one tree on plum island with eagles in it, there were many more trees with birds in them as well.  I counted almost fifty eagles along the river in this area.  Most of the birds were perched, but some were flying around hoping to find a stunned fish coming through the dam.