The ’23-’24 winter has been excellent to me for owls! I finally got to photograph the very tiny and adorable Northern Saw-whet Owl. When I saw this owl, it had a Deer Mouse in its talons, most likely a catch from the night before. It appeared to be half eaten, from the head. It was in a rather open spot, although still hidden very well, but excellent for photos. I watched it for about 20 minutes. I was able to see it cough up a pellet as well. Of course, my camera lost focus on that event, which was very irritating. I did capture the weird faces/poses it made before and after though. Photos below are from the late morning, that day. Enjoy!
This past week I was working in Port Washington. There was a very beautiful sunrise on Monday, so I brought my ultra-wide lenses to work the rest of the week. The next few days did not disappoint! I took a few pictures from Hwy 32 into town and then some more from Coal Dock Park. On Tuesday, there was a heavy frost and it made for beautiful colors as the sun came up. I was right downtown on the marina and went back over to the park a few hours after sunrise for a couple more photos. I have not done many landscape photos, but it is something that I love looking at when out and about, especially since I’m usually out at sunrise and sunset for wildlife. Let me know what you think of these photos, I’m curious. You can comment below, thank you. Enjoy!
The same day that I saw the Black Scoter in the previous post, I was able to watch a male Hooded Merganser catch a Crawfish (crayfish) and eat it. This was quite an action sequence, as he needed to keep moving it around to avoid getting a claw to the bill. He ended up taking it down, facing away from me, so I never really saw if he swallowed it whole or just bit pieces off. All of this was a little farther out than I would prefer, but I think enough detail comes through in the photos, especially with bad lighting for the day. Photos were taken on Saturday 1/27. Enjoy!
Behind the Milwaukee Art Museum a few weeks ago, there were 1500+ ducks! There was an excellent variety of them as well, with the water still being open. There were 11 duck species including a very cool hybrid, Common Goldeneye x Hooded Merganser. One of the species was a beautiful male Black Scoter in full breeding plumage. I had never seen one like that before, only in basic plumage. When I saw him, he was closer to the north side of Veteran’s Park. He was hanging with a smaller group of ducks diving and feeding. At one point, he was even calling and appeared to be courting a female Greater Scaup. He must have had a long Friday night! The other duck species present were, Mallard, Canvasback, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Greater & Lesser Scaup, White-winged Scoter, Common Goldeneye, Hooded Merganser and Red-breasted Merganser. The photos below are from Saturday 1/27. Enjoy!
A few weeks ago, I was watching this dark morph Rough-legged Hawk hunting on the corner of Oakwood Rd and Pennsylvania Ave. It was sitting in perfect light, eye level and just putting on a show! This stunning bird provided the best experience I ever had with a Rough-legged Hawk. It went down to the ground three times trying for mice or voles. It caught one and missed two. I missed the photos of it catching one, because the grass was in the way. There wasn’t much to it though, as it flew down grabbed it and swallowed it. It happened really fast, and it flew back up to a small Oak tree. On the two misses, it flew down and then hopped around in the snow trying to get its prey as it moved around, under the snow. I’m guessing either a field mouse or a vole. After each miss, it would return to the top of a small Oak tree, which there were several of in the field. This all happened about 50′-150′ away from the road. I watched this particular hawk for about 30 minutes. Photos below are from Saturday 1/20. Enjoy!
I spent the week at Sax-Zim Bog, the first week of February. It was awesome! If you have never been there, it is a Black Spruce-Tamarack bog that attracts wintering owls. It has gotten quite popular in the recent years though. When I was there in ’18, I might have seen 5 people throughout the entire day. This year, there were at least 50, even during the mid-week! The weather was quite mild this year with temperatures in the mid 30’s most days. One day, it was 47 and sunny, t-shirt weather! That is a 70-degree swing from what I’m used to up there, in previous years. In 2018, it was -36 degrees and in 2020 it was -30 degrees, so I was pretty happy about the warmer temps. There was still snow on the ground when I first arrived, but it was all melted by the end of the week. I didn’t know what to expect with the warmer weather, but it worked out really well. I saw everything you would want to see, except the Sharp-tailed Grouse, which are getting rather uncommon in the area now. For the week, I took just over 13,500 photos! In those 7 days, I saw 4 Great Gray Owls, and I was able to photograph three of them. Those owls are absolutely stunning in person, and it makes your day just being able to watch them for a few minutes. I also saw a Northern Hawk Owl, which was in the same spot, posing beautifully almost every day. The Northern Hawk Owl was hanging around Byrn’s Greenhouse and you could easily spend hours watching it hunt from there. I saw it catch 5 voles, eat three of them, while caching the other two. All of this activity was less than 100′ from the highway most of the time. It was just incredible watching it! I got really lucky with an American Goshawk that week as well. I had just turned west onto Overton Ave from Owl Ave and about 3/4 of a mile down the road, I saw a hawk flying through the Birch trees. I hit the brakes and jumped out, grabbed my camera out of the back seat and the hawk circled around and flew right across the road, directly in front of me. I fired off a burst and got several very nice, in focus shots. It was perfect sunlight with bright blue skies. When I’m driving around, I always have my camera set to shoot flying birds into a bright sky. That way I’m not scrambling to adjust my settings. In previous years, the feeders throughout the bog had been very productive for the winter finches, but this year, only Common Redpolls were high in numbers. There were a few Hoary Redpolls mixed in and I found my first ever male. Unfortunately, I did not get any photos of them. The Pine Grosbeaks and Evening Grosbeaks were seen sporadically on various roads and occasionally came to the feeders, but not many. That was a little disappointing, since watching those in big numbers at close range is a special treat. There were several Bohemian Waxwings flying around and seen the week prior to me arriving. I didn’t see any and there was only one report of two flying over Bryn’s Greenhouse one afternoon. Several Boreal Chickadees had been seen on Admiral Rd, McDavitt Rd and Arkola Rd feeders. I was able to watch at least one, on two separate occasions at the south Admiral Rd feeders. Each time, it just appeared and then within 30 seconds it was gone. Canada Jays were quite frequent to all the feeders, throughout the day. Black-billed Magpies seemed to be more active this year, as I found quite a few of them. They are always extremely tough to photograph though. I was originally only staying for 5 days but extended it by 2 more after I didn’t see any Black-backed Woodpeckers. Haha, well that’s not the only reason I stayed longer, but that was a good one. The last two times I was here, I saw one once, fly across McDavitt and out of sight. That was my only experience with them. The best places to find them are at Winterberry Bog and Warren Nelson Memorial Bog. I stopped by each just about every day, sometimes twice a day, walk the boardwalk and no luck. So, Saturday morning, it was my mission to find them. After walking the Winterberry Bog, I drove down the street a little and decided to go into the Indian Pipe Bog. I walked in, all the way to the loop in the back and found a female. Finally! I watched it pound on a few trees for about 30 minutes or so and then it flew deeper into the bog. By the time I got back to the truck and was heading back towards highway 7 it was almost noon already. Time sure flies up there! I knew that an American Three-toed Woodpecker had been seen about an hour north of the Sax-Zim Bog, so I pulled over and debated about going up there and looking. It had not been reported in a few days, but figured it still had to be around, so I decided to go. I arrived on Plum Creek Rd/Buboltz Rd just after 1pm, where it was reported and saw another person looking. I stopped and chatted, and they hadn’t seen it. I made my way a little further west and parked. I started walking down the road and heard some tapping on a tree. After a few minutes, I finally found a Hairy Woodpecker. That was not what I wanted! Fast forward an hour and half, no luck, so I decided to head back to the bog. I got into the truck, turned around and started heading back towards the highway. I was driving slowly and looking into the trees and saw a tree with at least 4 holes in it. I backed up and while I was doing that, I saw something fly. I got out and tried to relocate it. Within a minute, I found it, an American Three-toed Woodpecker!!! It gave me extended, wonderful looks making this life bird an exciting road trip. On my last day there, I started on Lake Nichols Rd in search of the owls, no luck. I made my way over to Arkola Rd and I saw several people with cameras on the side of the road, which is usually a good sign. I pulled up and was looking in their direction to see what they were looking at and saw a woodpecker. I pulled all the way over and got out. It was a beautiful male Black-backed Woodpecker! Finally! It moved a few trees and then flew across the street to the stump of a Black Spruce. It stayed there, pounding and stripping the bark of it for a good 5 minutes, before moving in the bog a little deeper. I walked down to the feeders and chatted with a few people for 20 minutes or so. I looked over and saw two guys aiming into the trees again and saw that the woodpecker made its way back out. It sat at eye level pounding on a Black Spruce for over 10 minutes! I couldn’t believe it. After not seeing these birds in all my time there, the 2 extra days I stayed and was rewarded with excellent views. Sometimes that’s just how it works. I found numerous Ruffed Grouse most days. Several on the sides of the roads, which I was able to photograph. Most evenings, just before sunset, they come into the birch trees and eat the seeds. That is tough lighting and lots of branches/sticks in the way though. One evening, I found 2 of them on the south end of Owl Ave. I stopped and looked at them through my binoculars and thought to myself they had a little more yellowish and barring on the sides and belly. It was rather dark, and I didn’t take any photos, although I could have made it work. When I got back to the hotel, I was looking at Sharp-tailed Grouse, Ruffed Grouse and Spruce Grouse on the Audubon App. It was then I realized I had seen 2 female Spruce Grouse! Oh no, a lifer and I didn’t take photos!!! I was pretty upset with myself that evening. I’m normally very good with identifying subtle differences and I just kind of wrote it off, even after making those small mental notes to myself. Oh well, next time, I guess. Lastly, the animals of the bog were showing quite nicely the week I was there. At least 3 American (pine) Marten were being seen at the Admiral Rd feeders. They would come out and eat the beef fat that was put out or they really liked the peanut butter that people would spread out. Short-tailed Weasels (Ermine) were being seen at the Welcome Center and Arkola Rd feeders. I saw one, for about 2 minutes at the Welcome Center and never got any photos. That was my only bummer on the trip. I’ve seen them plenty of times around Whitnall Park, but I really wanted to watch them in their all-white winter coat. I saw hundreds of deer, but only doe. I had a Red Fox but was driving on highway 7 and didn’t see it soon enough, to stop. While watching the Northern Hawk Owl, an American Mink popped out of the ice in the ditch. It stayed out for a minute or so and the 8 of us watching the owl got decent looks at it. Red squirrels are everywhere throughout the bog and are very common at the feeders. They chase each other around and are very noisy. Some of them are very red and really pretty. While driving around the western side of the bog, I found 2 Porcupines sleeping in trees. I had seen them up there in past years, but they were always on the south side of the road. This year, they were both on the north side of the road in perfect light. I’m still waiting to see a Timber Wolf or a Moose up there. So, that’s my story of this year’s bog trip. All in all, it was an excellent vacation and I’m glad I spent a week there. I ended up with 33 species, including 2 lifers! This is a very long photo gallery, hopefully you will enjoy as much as I did editing it. If you see a name underlined, you can click it, to be taken to its homepage gallery for more photos. Enjoy!
Here is a link to the Friends of Sax-Zim Bog, which should provide you with all the information you need.
Last week Saturday (1/20) was an excellent and sad day for Long-eared Owls (LEOW) in Milwaukee County. I found one early in the morning while out. About an hour later, I received a text about one being found at Grant Park, near the feeders. Unfortunately, that one was found dead in the road, presumably from being hit by a car. Shortly after that text, I received a call that two had been seen down by the Milwaukee River Mouth, behind the amphitheater. In the meantime, I was watching a dark morph Rough-legged Hawk (RLHA) in Oak Creek. I got word that one of the LEOW was still being seen down by the amphitheater, so I went to try that. I had heard it was right on the side of the road 6′ off the ground. When I got down there, sure enough, sitting in the sun right on the side of the road. If you didn’t know it was there, you would have drove, walked or ran right past it, as most people did. It is unbelievable how well they blend right to their surroundings! I looked for the second one briefly, without luck. I had heard later in the afternoon, that one of the LEOW was attacked and carried away by a Rough-legged Hawk. That was shocking to me, since I had no idea that a RLHA would even make an attempt at an owl. With temperatures below zero for the week, I’m sure they eat whatever they can get their feet on. I would have preferred one of the 2000 scaup that were out in the water, but that is nature. Photos below are from Saturday, 1/20/24. Enjoy!
I stopped by Bender Park last week and saw a few ducks in the boat launch area. I drove down close to the water and shut off my truck. I counted 3 Red-breasted Merganser, 3 Common Goldeneye, 1 Common Merganser all swimming, along with 2 Mallard sleeping on the sand bar. I have stopped here dozens of times before and I know that if you park close to the water, shut off you truck and be quiet, the ducks will come back, close to shore. On this particular day, the Common Merganser swam in, slightly off the newly formed sand bar, and started diving. After the first dive, she popped up with a something and I got my camera on her. I thought it was a fish, and I started snapping photos in a burst, so that I wouldn’t miss anything. After the sequence was done and I looked at some photos, I realized it was actually a frog she caught. I was quite surprised by this. After a few more dives, I saw her pop up with another frog! This time though, a male Red-breasted Merganser started chasing her. After about 100′ feet of scooting through the water, he got really close, and she dropped the frog. He grabbed it and enjoyed her catch. The photos below show these events happening and I tried to capture the entire sequences. However, not all photos are in focus during the event, so I picked the ones that were. The photos below were taken on 1/11 in the late afternoon. Enjoy!
An Ancient Murrelet was found on 11/21/23 in Sturgeon Bay, at George K. Pinney County Park. I had a chance to go the next day, so I went. A couple of friends came along as well, which made for a nice road trip. It was being seen in the morning, so we knew it would still be there when we arrived. About an hour into the ride, I realized I had left my 1.4x extender at home. I was so mad at myself; I could not believe it! Just a few days earlier, while deer hunting, I had a Barred Owl very close to me and had to take it off and use just the bare lens. I was going to put it on for the ride home from deer hunting, but it was fogged up and I decided to wait until I got home. Well, I forgot! While this bird was reported being very close to shore, the extra 240mm would have made a great difference. So, I was stuck shooting at 600mm, just like everybody else, ha-ha. We arrived just after noon, and the bird was not very far offshore, maybe 35′ out and 70′ down shore. Lighting was the almost the worst it could be! so bad, I didn’t really think most photos would even be useable, but they turned out alright. I think we spent just over 2 hours up there, hoping the lighting would get better as the sun got further to the west. But by the time that was starting to happen the bird was about 150-200′ further down shore and it didn’t seem like it was going to work its way back towards us, so we called it a day. I think this one was the 8th state record, with the 7th coming just one day earlier in Ashland. Photos below are from the afternoon of 11/22. Enjoy!
A Rufous Hummingbird was found at Govenor Nelson State Park in Dane County on 10/16. That was the first day I was gone for my Hawaii vacation, and I did not get back home until the end of the month. The first day I had a chance to try for it was on Saturday, 11/11. That morning, it was cold, and temps were in the 20’s. On the ride out there, I kept thinking there was no way it would stick around in this weather, which would typically be my luck. I got there just before sunrise, and I waited by the entrance building. Within 15 minutes or so, it flew into a tree on the east side of the building and then down to one of the feeders. I spent almost 3 hours out there and saw it 7 more times. I can’t believe I was able to see this bird! I’m really glad it stuck around for over a month. Subsequently, I missed the Clark’s Nutcracker that was seen in Dane County just a few days after this bird was found. I knew that one would not stay very long. Photos below are from Saturday, November 11th. If you would like to see additional photos than the ones below, click the link to the gallery page. Enjoy!
