Anna’s Hummingbird at Private Residence in Milwaukee

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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

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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

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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!

American Flamingos… in WISCONSIN!!! 1st State Record!!!

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On Friday, around 11:20am I received a message in the Milwaukee RBA chat that there were 5 American Flamingos in Port Washington. Obviously, everyone went nuts on the group chat trying to figure out if this was real or not. Meanwhile, I was at work, so I immediately started cleaning up my tools and locked everything up for the day. I figured worst case; I would just turn around if it wasn’t real. About 40 messages later, several texts to friends, and 20 or so minutes, I was able to confirm it! 5 American Flamingos at South Beach in Port Washington, WOW!!! I was already halfway through Milwaukee when I received confirmation, so I’m glad I left right away. When I arrived, around 12:20pm, the parking lot was already full and there were at least 50 people on the beach, half of which were just local residents, who were in awe as well. Everyone there couldn’t believe what they were seeing! There was 3 adults (pink) and 2 hatch year (gray) birds. They were only about 40′ offshore which was even more crazy! They were so close and did not mind all the people. While I was there, they were mostly resting. They would occasionally lift their heads and walk around but that was about it. I had heard that they were eating some kind of food, but I’m not sure what it was though. They also took baths and preened. Then at 5:12pm, they took flight and have not been seen since. These birds were blown into the US from hurricane Idalia and made their way up to us through the south winds this past week. What an epic day in the bird world of Wisconsin! The photos below were taken on Friday 9/22. Enjoy!

Red Crossbills at Warnimont Golf Course 7/22

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I heard my phone vibrating several times Saturday morning. I figured I’d better check it, since it is usually bird related that early. Sure enough, 17 Red Crossbills at Warnimont Golf Course parking lot! I grabbed my camera and quickly headed down there. By the time I arrived, they had already been feeding in the pine trees for almost an hour. I was able to watch them for about 15 minutes and then something scared all of the birds. I think a hawk was in the area, but I never saw it fly over. There is a Cooper’s Hawk nest about 50′ into the woods, north of the parking lot, so it could have been one of them. 3 flocks of crossbills left the trees very noisily and joined to form one flock, which I counted as 21. They flew NW out over the golf course and did not return. I tried using Merlin app to record their calls, but of course the one time I wanted it to work it doesn’t! It would only pick up Cedar Waxwings. It would have been nice to know what kind they were. It appears that crossbills are showing quite well in Wisconsin this summer, more than the usual breeding ones. My guess, the wildfires in Canada are the reason. Interesting to see how the winter finches show this year. Photos below are from the morning of 7/22. Enjoy!

Butterflies at the Old Rainbow Airfield in Franklin 7/9

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I had not been to this site to look for butterflies before, but I heard there were Baltimore Checkerspots here. I spent several hours there on Sunday morning, walking around the entire area. It was hot and sunny, perfect for butterflies. While I did not find any Baltimore Checkerspots, I did however have an amazing day! I found 25 butterfly species, including a county first sighting of Acadian Hairstreak, which I found 3 of. I also saw a very rare stray Zebra Swallowtail. It zipped by about 50′ from me. I got a great look at it and took off running after it. I was hoping it would stop, but it never did, continuing north. That is a very cool butterfly, one I have seen many times in Florida and once last year in Dane County at the Olbrich Gardens. I had good numbers of many other butterflies, but I did not have very many grass skippers. I think that is because it was rather windy. They are so tiny and dart around like little fighter jets, making them hard to follow in the moving grasses and flowers. I was able to manage decent photos of about half of the butterflies seen. Most of them were very uncooperative. If you would like to see my entire checklist for the morning, you can click on the link below. Wisconsin Butterflies is a wonderful website, with great information about the species that can be seen in the state. The photos below are from the morning of 7/9. Enjoy!

Sighting for July 9 — wisconsinbutterflies.org

Acadian Hairstreak (first county sighting)

Appalachian Brown

Bronze Copper

Clouded Sulphur

Common Buckeye

Common Wood-Nymph

Delaware Skipper

Eastern Tailed-Blue

Eyed Brown

Smoky Eyed Brown (subspecies)

Least Skipper

Monarch

Pearl Crescent

Red Admiral

’23 Spring Warbler Migration

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Despite having terrible weather conditions in May, to produce huge numbers of warblers, I still ended up with 36 warbler species. I just didn’t have very many big days, like I’m used to. We were stuck with E, NE or N winds for the majority of the warbler migration, thanks to our “great” Lake Michigan! Of the 36 warblers, 35 of them were in Milwaukee County. The lone one outside of Milwaukee County, was a Painted Redstart that showed up in Sauk County. I missed one, a Black-throated Gray Warbler that made an appearance at Wind Point Lighthouse in Racine, and only because I was busy that day. Most of the county parks were just average at best. Warnimont Park was producing rather solid numbers most days, like usual and is still my favorite spring warbler park. One little gem, that was basically the county hotspot, was Shorewood Nature Preserve. This tiny little park, nestled between a couple mansions in Shorewood, hosted some great birds including, Worm-eating Warbler, Cerulean Warbler, multiple Yellow-throated Warblers, Prairie Warbler, multiple Hooded Warblers, and a Louisiana Waterthrush. All of those warblers are great for the county. Lake Park hosted a couple of Connecticut Warblers, like it usually does. Warnimont Park also a had several, however viewing is better a Lake Park for them. This is a very large gallery of photos, but warblers are my favorite and I spend a lot of time with them in the spring. As always, I try for male and female, along with first spring birds, to show the varying plumages between them. It’s tough to get them all though. All of the photos below are from Milwaukee County, with the exception being the Painted Redstart. Enjoy!

American Redstart

Bay-breasted Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler

Blue-winged Warbler

Canada Warbler

Cape May Warbler

Cerulean Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Connecticut Warbler

Golden-winged Warbler

Hooded Warbler

Kentucky Warbler

Louisiana Waterthrush

Magnolia Warbler

Mourning Warbler

Nashville Warbler

Northern Parula

Northern Waterthrush

Orange-crowned Warbler

Ovenbird

Painted Redstart

Palm Warbler

Pine Warbler

Prairie Warbler

Prothonotary Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

Wilson’s Warbler

Worm-eating Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-throated Warbler

Sorry, no photos of these this spring, but I did see and hear them twice.

Red Knot at McKinley Beach 5/23/23

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A Red Knot was found this morning on McKinley Beach. This bird was just starting to get its reddish orange coloring in. It was very cool looking. If we get one in Milwaukee, its usually just the plain scaly gray with a slight buff coloring. As soon as I got the message about it, I left work to try for it. The beaches in Milwaukee County have been overtaken by joggers, dog walkers and metal detecting walkers! If we get shorebirds, it is at sunrise and then they don’t stay very long before being chased off by one of those 3 people/dogs. The good thing about McKinley Beach, it’s fenced off, so people don’t swim in the small cove, due to the constant riptides. Because of that, I figured there was a good chance it would stick around a few hours. I arrived just before 8am. I made my way to the fence and saw it was on the south end. I walked out to the middle of the beach and sat down by the water. Within 5 minutes it was walking towards me. It got as close as 25′ before turning around and working back the other direction. Heat distortion was already quite bad at that time, which is unusual for that early. I took over 600 photos and less than 20 turned out halfway decent. I knew it was an issue, which is why I took so many. I could hear the autofocus on my lens constantly searching, to lock on. I watched it feed up and down the shoreline a few times and that was good enough for me. I thought I might try in the afternoon when the lighting would be better, however I never made it back down there. Photos below are from the early morning. Enjoy!

Snowy Egret at Lincoln Park

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I received a “needs alert” email from eBird just past 12:30pm, that a Snowy Egret was seen at Lincoln Park, in Milwaukee. I cleaned up at work and made my way over there. I parked in the lot off Hampton Ave and walked to the river. I found it, about 300 yards north of the Hampton Ave bridge, where the river 3-ways around to the golf course. It was quite far away when I first saw it, so I thought I would try to get closer by going to the other shoreline, from the golf course side. There was no clear way to the river edge, so I ended up trucking through some thick wooded area before finding a deer runway that led to the river. When I popped out close to the shore, I was only about 100′ from the Egret. I’m not sure how I managed to get to the exact spot I needed, walking through what I did! I used the new Willow tree growth on the shoreline as a blind. I watched the bird for about 15 minutes, until it took flight East, around the tributary towards the golf course. When I first saw it from afar, it was actively feeding and moving around. Once I got closer, it wasn’t doing much, just preening and standing around. By the end of the afternoon, I heard it had moved Southeast down the river to Estabrook Park, near where the old damn used to be. Photos below are from early afternoon on 5/22. Enjoy!

Ruddy Turnstones and Sanderlings at McKinley Beach

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On 5/18, I started my day just past sunrise, walking around the golf course at Warnimont Park. I was searching for warblers, which I found 24 species in a few hours. While I was doing that, I had heard that there were Sanderlings, a Semipalmated Sandpiper and a Semipalmated Plover at McKinley Beach. I was not in a hurry to see those but figured that was a nice group to add for the year. After I walked the golf course, I decided that was enough and thought I would head downtown. I arrived at McKinley Beach, just after 10. I just grabbed my binoculars and left my camera in the car. I figured I would see what it was like before lugging everything out there. I walked out to the fence, started scanning the beach and found the Sanderlings. All of a sudden, a group of birds flew in. I got my binoculars on them, and it was 2 Marbled Godwit and 7 Ruddy Turnstones! Holy S***! I ran back to the car and got my camera setup. I quickly walked out there and tried to relocate everything. I found them all on the south side of the beach, except the Marbled Godwit. They were nowhere to be found. I guess it was just a very brief pit stop and away they went. They only stopped for a minute or two! I walked to the south end of the beach, so the sun was at my back, and sat in the sand, close to the water. The birds made their way to me and got so close, I had to take off my extender. As is usually the case with shorebirds, if you just sit close to the water and don’t move, they won’t pay attention to you. They continued closer, within the minimum focus distance of my lens. So, I just sat and watched them without taking pictures for a while. I think the Ruddy Turnstone, in full breeding plumage, is one of the most beautiful shorebirds! 3 of 7 were just that, so beautifully colored. I was so excited that they came flying in. The group of 7 only stuck around for 5 minutes or so. They fed, bathed and took off. When they took off, so did everything else, except the 4 Sanderling. The 4 Sanderling were very cool as well, since each one was in a different plumage. After everything took off, I stayed and photographed the Sanderling for a while before something spooked them. When they returned, they landed in the middle of the beach, and I didn’t feel like waiting for them again, so I took off. I just happened to arrive at the perfect time to get to see everything. Photos below are from the late morning of 5/18. Enjoy!

Ruddy Turnstone

Sanderling