July 2: Shorebird Season Begins

July is pretty much a month of decreasing activity on the songbird front. Though they're still pretty active with feeding fledglings, they don't sing much, so it's tough to find them. It's also the month for "post breeding dispersal" where juveniles and non-breeding adults spread out and occupy new areas. I'm hoping this will give me a better chance to find a Black-billed Cuckoo this month.
  Mostly, though, July signifies the beginning of shorebird season when shorebirds start heading south toward wintering grounds. Shorebird migration will last from July to the end of October. I love shorebirds. I mean I love ALL birds, but looking for shorebirds is especially fun for me probably because they are so difficult to find and challenging to ID at times.
  So today, my lovely wife, Michelle, and I headed out to our favorite shorebird spot in Lake County, the Geotube in Grass Lake. This place is the closest thing to Emiquon in Northern Ill. Absolutely awesome mudflats unless we've had a ton of rain and the flats are flooded. Obviously not the case these days, so the habitat was excellent. It's still a little early, so I wasn't really expecting much but, once again, the Tube failed to disappoint.
We saw 7 shorebird sp. as well as a few other nice birds.
  The trip began with a nice sighting of a 1st yr. FORSTER'S TERN.

Then we headed toward the island where you are immediately met by screaming RING-BILLED GULLS.

After adjusting to the gulls, we checked out the mudflats and saw LEAST SANDPIPERS

Killdeer, SPOTTED SANDPIPERS

GREATER YELLOWLEGS

 Lesser Yellowlegs, SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER

and STILT SANDPIPER (#241)

Also had some nice looks at CASPIAN TERNS

and an AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN!

A truly great place :)