Sun 3 Aug 2008
Most of the flooded farm fields have now dried up. One spot that still is flooded and attracting shorebirds is the pasture at the intersection of Roscoe and Gleasman Roads west of Roscoe. There has not been a lot of variety yet this fall, but yesterday there were large numbers of Pectoral Sandpipers, plus both species of yellowlegs, a couple of Least and Solitary Sandpipers, plus one Semipalmated Sandpiper and a lot of Killdeer.
This is the pasture that had the Marbled Godwit and up to 6 Wilson's Phalaropes in May.
The flooded field at the corner of Moody & Blodgett Roads is almost dried up. There were 26 gulls there yesterday, including 2 Herring Gulls (1 immature) and 14 immature Ring-billed Gulls. These are probably post-breeding wanderers from Waukegan (Lake Co.) area. The Common Tern that was at the east end of Moody Road last weekend was likely from the Great Lakes Naval Training Center colony.
Another place that will likely be good for shorebirds in fall migration is Afton Forest Preserve in DeKalb County.
