Author Archives: rhughes

About rhughes

Robert D. Hughes lives and works in Chicago, Illinois. His professional background is in Web site management and front-end Web development. He also writes about Web development issues and works with Joomla! CMS. When he isn't sitting in front of a computer he's out in the field looking for and photographing birds and other critters.

Shorebirds, September 1, 2016

Ruddy Turnstone

Ruddy Turnstone (click to see the larger version)

Decent numbers of shorebirds have been at Montrose Beach the last few days, including Semipalmated Plovers, Sanderlings, Semipalmated and Least Sandpipers, and Ruddy Turnstones. Most of these birds have been using the fluddle at the west end of the beach, but small numbers have also been at the east end of the beach next to the fishing pier, including the juvenile Ruddy Turnstone pictured here. Also, the overwhelming majority of shorebirds are now juveniles, as would be expected at this time of the year.

Red Knot and Stilt Sandpiper, August 25, 2016

Red Knot and Stilt Sandpiper

Red Knot and Stilt Sandpiper (click to see the larger version)

A nice group of shorebirds were working the fluddle at the far west end of Montrose Beach late this afternoon, August 25, including a juvenile Red Knot and a juvenile Stilt Sandpiper. Also present were Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers and Semipalmated Plovers. Red Knot and Stilt Sandpiper are rare but regular migrants at Montrose.

Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, August 17, 2016

Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks

Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks (click to see the larger version)

Three Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks were at the east end of Montrose Harbor late this afternoon, August 17. The birds swam around and perched on the boat docks before being flushed and flying off. This is a new site record for Montrose, number 341. Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks have expanded their range to the north dramatically in the last 10 years so this wasn’t unexpected.

Montrose List
http://theorniphile.info/wordpress/the-montrose-list/

Juvenile American Goldfinch, August 17, 2016

American Goldfinch

American Goldfinch (click to see the larger version)

I saw my first juvenile American Goldfinch of the year at Montrose Point in Chicago this morning, August 17. Juvenile American Goldfinches are similar to the adult females except for their brown body color and wide buffy wingbars (adult females are green and have a narrow white wingbar). I’ve been seeing adult AMGOs at Montrose on almost all of my visits this summer so I’m fairly sure they nested there.

Because American Goldfinches are such late nesters they don’t start producing young until mid or late summer, well after most other species. In fact, many of the local nesting songbirds at Montrose, like Baltimore Orioles, Tree and Northern Rough-winged Swallows, and Red-winged Blackbirds have already migrated south.

Cattle Egret and Baird’s Sandpiper, August 14, 2016

Bairds Sandpiper

Baird’s Sandpiper (click to see the larger version)

A juvenile Baird’s Sandpiper was at Montrose Beach this morning, August 14. This is my first Baird’s of the season. My best bird however was a Cattle Egret mixed in with a group of 17 Great Egrets that flew over. Cattle Egrets are rare at Montrose.

eBird Checklist
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31095437