Anna’s Hummingbird at Private Residence in Milwaukee

Jeremy4 Comments

A hummingbird was spotted at a private residence late yesterday evening. Usually, a hummingbird this late is a rare vagrant and this one happened to be an Anna’s Hummingbird! I was invited over by the resident, to view and photograph the hummingbird. I was there for almost two hours, and it showed three times. The first appearance was brief, and it was very curious of me. I moved away from the flowers and further into the backyard. The second appearance was a little longer and it went down to feed on the Cuphea flower. It stayed on the backside of the flower and did not provide any viewing for us. After 30 seconds or so, it flew up into the evergreen and then flew away. About a half hour later, I noticed it fly up into the apple tree to the north and then it disappeared behind the arborvitaes. It popped out right next to us, only maybe 7′ feet away! It hovered near us for a few seconds and then went back to the Cuphea. It feed on the flower for quite some time and provided excellent looks, in perfect sunlight! A very chilly afternoon, especially since I just spent the last two weeks in Hawaii. Hopefully this little guy can stay warm enough to continue his journey south. A big thank you for the invitation to come over and try for this bird! Photos below are from Monday afternoon, 10/30/23. Enjoy!

Here is a link the see the last Anna’s Hummingbird to pass through Milwaukee County (2016) in Wauwatosa.

Anna’s Hummingbird

’23 Fall Warbler Migration

Jeremy6 Comments

Since I’m spending the last two weeks of October in Hawaii, the fall warbler migration is over for me. It turned out to be a very good one, with it starting earlier than normal for me. I had huge numbers of birds beginning very early in August (8/10) through the end of the month. My guess is it had something to do with the wildfires in Canada. I was pretty busy in August, so I had limited chances to get out. Because of this, I missed out on some fall birds, including my favorite, the Canada Warbler. I spent all of my time at Warnimont, Grant, Sheridan and Bender Parks this fall. I ended up with 25 species of warblers this fall. September started off very good for warblers, but then we got some terrible weather patterns for the next few weeks and had one major migration day after that, which I wasn’t available for. I was able get the two late passerines, Pine and Orange-crowned Warblers, just before I left. I would have been upset if I didn’t see either of those. It will be a long, cold winter waiting for the colorful little birds to return. Hopefully the owls cooperate in the cold months! The photos below are from early August through the middle of October, when I left. Fall warblers have so many variations of plumages. I try to capture as many as possible to show what you might see when out. The individual photos are labeled male, female or hatch year, if you click on them. Enjoy!

American Redstart

Bay-breasted Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Cape May Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Connecticut Warbler

Golden-winged Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Mourning Warbler

Nashville Warbler

Northern Parula

Northern Waterthrush

Orange-crowned Warbler

Orange-crowned Warbler (gray-headed sub-species)

Palm Warbler (western)

Pine Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

Wilson’s Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Super Harvest Moon 9/29/23

Jeremy2 Comments

On Friday 9/29, it was the second full Moon of the month. This full Moon was a Supermoon because the Moon was at the nearest point in its orbit of Earth during the full Moon. Harvest Moon refers to the first full Moon in the fall equinox, which was on 9/23/23. It’s called the Harvest Moon because the light of the moon would aid in the gathering of the harvest. In addition to the moon, Jupiter and Saturn were able to be seen. Jupiter was just under 386 million miles away, with all 4 Moons aligned perfectly for a picture. Saturn was just over 829 million miles away. The air was cool and appeared to be rather clean of pollutants, which helps with the details on the Moon. Photos below are from Friday night. Enjoy!