Montrose — Day 3!
Chicago, IL
Wednesday 19 August 2020
80 °F
Once again, a rare bird alert prompted me on an unplanned drive to Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary, today in search of a rare shorebird called a Whimbrel. Only one or two of these tend to show up in Chicago every year, so considering this was the second this season, and it stayed all morning, I gave it a shot.
After parking along Marine Drive (the entrance into Chicago lakefront parks is still barricaded to cars, thanks Lori Lightfoot ????), I hiked in and immediately headed to the protected beach area where the WHIMBREL was standing!!! An amazing, easy year bird, and I believe the first I have seen since 2013 in Panama(!!!!!). This species is actually a type of small curlew — you can see its resemblance to the Long-billed Curlew which I got as a lifer in South Dakota this summer.
A gull briefly flushed the bird.
But it circled back around to the protected beach. It obviously needed a break from its Arctic - Central American migration.
Yesterday’s star bird, the RED KNOT, was still present — here it is with the out-of-focus Whimbrel in the foreground.
SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS once again roamed the protected beach.
And SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS:
CASPIAN TERN:
At one point, a BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON juvenile hunted in Lake Montrose — here it is with more Semi Sands.
And the last star bird for the day was another nice WILLET. Great to get so many quality shorebirds, a type of bird which I would describe as my “Achilles’ heal” of birding — good to get practice identifying these guys, especially the smaller peeps (Least, Semipalmated, etc).
Bird-of-the-day to the Whimbrel with runner-up to the Red Knot. Very quality shorebirds to choose from, especially in a county with so little shorebird habitat. Love shorebird migration!
Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 1119 Species
