On May 9th, a friend alerted me to a Prothonotary Warbler (PROW) along the Menomonee River, near Hoyt Park. Of course this was the one rainy day. I waited out the rain and thought I might as well give it a shot, since there are no guarantees, it would stick around. I got there just after 4pm and started walking the river from the east side of the Oak Leaf Trail. The location I had for it was pretty quiet, so I continued west. About halfway to Hoyt Park, there is a small inlet to the river, maybe 5′ wide or so, that goes south towards the train tracks about 75′. This is where I saw a bright yellow bird fly into, from the river’s edge. I snuck over to the water and there it was, feeding along the bank. I was able to watch it for about 20 seconds, when a couple of people came walking down from the other way. The bird flushed and I did not see which way. I thought it went out and left or upriver. I continued that way and walked all the way up to where it opens up and the habitat is not very good for PROW. I knew it didn’t come this far up, so I turned around and headed back down river. When I got close to the inlet, I found the PROW on the opposite side of the river. I lifted my camera, and he flew right towards me and back on my side! A friend joined me, and for the next 40 minutes or so, it hung around that area and provided us with really good looks, feeding on the bank, logs and in the trees. I love seeing the males every spring, because they are so bright yellow, and it contrasts so nicely with its bluish wings. Photos below are from the rain-soaked evening of May 9th. Enjoy!
I was walking around the flowering trees at Whitnall Park, in the area leading up to the botanical gardens. For the most part, it was rather quiet. I found a few birds moving around in a pink flowering tree. I setup my camera and waited for them to get to my side. It was a Northern Cardinal, 2 Black-capped Chickadees, and a beautiful male Pine Warbler (PIWA). The Pine Warbler is easily in my top 3 for warblers! I have always loved seeing them and this year, it was my first male. I’ve only seen several females thus far. In previous years, this has been a good area for PIWA. They usually come through earlier in the spring and well before the trees are in full bloom. However, with the early spring, the apple trees are couple weeks early, which made for spectacular views! He was feeding constantly, and I watched him catch and eat several caterpillars and spiders. Just before exiting the tree, he started singing and then flew up into the pine stand and continued to sing for the next 30 minutes or so. I could hear him singing until I was out of range to hear it. Being this late in the spring for PIWA, I would think it is on territory in those trees. I will be keeping an eye out in the coming weeks to see if he is still around singing. Photos below are from the afternoon of 5/7. Enjoy!
A friend found a Harris’s Sparrow at Warnimont Park today. It was first seen along the asphalt trail, about halfway down the 1st fairway, eating seeds from Dandelions. I was just leaving the Warnimont Kelly Senior Center, so it was perfect timing. I arrived and walked that way, there wasn’t a sparrow in sight! I checked the grassy area, walked south into the first part of shrubs and onto the 1st fairway, then all the way back to the Dandelion field, nothing. I couldn’t believe it, I must’ve walked around for 30 minutes without seeing any sparrows, except 3 Chipping Sparrows. I decided to check the evergreens by the parking lot, since they like to have cover to come in and out of. I walked up the hill and there it was feeding off the cart path, right near the evergreens. I got some good views and then it flew into the closet pine and then down underneath it to the edge of the branches. It was not coming back out, so I walked around to the other side of it. Of course, by that time, it had come back out and was feeding in almost the same spot. I should have just stayed put, oh well. I snuck into the pines and was kneeling down, looking at it through the branches. It fed in front of me for a good 5 minutes, before getting close to the clubhouse. There were also a Lincoln’s Sparrow and a few White-crowned Sparrows, which I was watching as well. When I looked back for the Harris’s, I didn’t see it. I never saw it fly either, so I’m not sure where it went off too. I heard later in the afternoon, it was relocated about halfway in between the original location and where I had it. It’s not too often we get to see these in breeding plumage. The black on their face and head is really bold and striking! Always a treat to see one. Photos below are from this morning, 5/7. Enjoy!
I saw the White-eyed Vireo (WEVI) at Lake Park on 4/30, but I was unable to get photos of it, as it moved so fast through the thick cover of the ravine, and then out of sight. I never relocated it that day, but there were 2 other rare birds as well that I spent time photographing. On Wednesday 5/1, another WEVI was found singing at Warnimont Park. I finally had a chance to try for it this morning (5/5). It was a little north of the original location, in the grassy shrub area, on the northside of the path. It has been seen or heard every day since 5/1 and seems to be on territory now. I watched it move about the trees in a 150′ radius or so, constantly singing. I hope he sticks around all summer. Even better, he finds a mate! Lately, I have been seeing these birds almost every spring, which is great, because they are so unique, with that striking white eye! Photos below are from early this morning (5/5). Enjoy!
On Monday 4/28, I was only at work for just over an hour, when Brad found a Swainson’s Hawk hunting a field in Oak Creek. Obviously, I had to go, but with the morning traffic, I was a little over 45 minutes away. By the time I got there, it had flown into the tree line and out of sight. Sigh… I spent the next hour searching the area for it, without any luck. I made a semi loop around the area and almost went the other way to head back to work but decided to drive back to the original spot for a last look. I’m glad I did, because I found it! I was looking into the field, and I saw it fly down. It didn’t stay very long but flew up into a dead tree instead of hiding. It sat here for quite some time and was still there when I left. This was a life bird for me! It was a great way to start off the week. Photos below are from 4/28. Enjoy!
I had just parked and started walking onto the Warnimont Park Golf Course, when I received a notification for a Varied Bunting at Lion’s Den. I had to reread it and still said to myself, “what the hell is that???” I googled it and saw its range was Mexico. I immediately turned around and started walking back to the truck! I thought to myself, this is a repeat of last year with the Flame-colored Tanager. I drove up and I was pulling into the parking lot, and it was relocated. Now I was really excited. I parked and walked as fast as I could, carrying my gear. When I arrived at the location, there were 10 or so people there, who just had it. Within 20 seconds it was spotted again. It was bouncing around an apple tree, eating and moving fast. It was sunny and the light was somewhat at our backs. WOW, what a beautiful bird!!! It moved around the entire tree and then went down out of sight. I moved around the area and saw it another 10 times or so, helping dozens of people find it. It seemed like it would stay in roughly a 100-yard radius and circle around with a mixed flock of warblers. Every time I saw it, it was in an apple tree. It was still being seen when I left, but it was rather foggy and slightly misting. I felt I had decent enough photos from the early morning, that I didn’t need to stick around any longer in that weather. A mega find by Alex and Braden! Thank you for getting the word right away! This has been an incredible week so far, with something awesome being found almost every day in Milwaukee or Ozaukee. This is a 1st state record and life bird for me. Photos below are from the morning. Enjoy!
As of this writing, 3:20pm the bird is still being seen. For updates, you can follow the Wisconsin Birds server on Discord at the link below. This app is an excellent way to follow the state or certain counties for bird alerts. It’s highly customizable to suit your wants and needs. For example, if you live in Milwaukee and only want notifications for Milwaukee, you can set it to that. I definitely recommend at least trying it out. If the link doesn’t work or expires, feel free to contact me for help. Good luck!
With all the rare birds seen on Tuesday, I was hoping for a few more on Wednesday. Tuesday night was WSW and SW winds, so I knew it would be very good in the morning. Wow was it ever! I started at Warnimont Park just after sunrise and spent just over 5.5 hours there. When I opened the truck door, the air was filled with warbler songs. I knew right away how it would be. I had huge numbers of warblers including, 14 Golden-winged, 8 Blue-winged, 14 Orange-crowned, 33 Nashville, 14 Northern Parula, and 19 Black-throated Green! I also found 3 rare ones, Yellow-throated, Prairie and Cerulean Warblers. Most things were up rather high and photo opportunities were not that great. For the morning, I ended up with 103 species and 25 warbler species! Those kinds of numbers are a week early, but it’s what you get with the right weather. Around 10:30ish it started to get rather windy, and I would say by 11:00 it was pretty quiet. The walk back to the truck produced almost no birds, so I decided to grab lunch and call it a day. I got home, and I see a report of a Worm-eating Warbler (WEWA) at Lake Park. So, I figured I would go down there and try for it. It just so happens that it was also found in the north lighthouse ravine. Add another rare bird to that ravine for the year! I got down there just after 2:30pm. I ran into a friend, and he hadn’t seen it or knew of anyone that had. I kind of thought that may be the case too. These birds are tough to find, and the ground vegetation in the ravines is already green and 6″ tall. I walked in from the west side, so that the light was at my back. I walked extremely slow through the ravine, watching for any movement on the ground. I found 13 Ovenbirds in the first half of the ravine! Every time I saw one, I got excited, thinking it was the WEWA. About halfway down the ravine, I was watching an Ovenbird eat a moth, when something moved and caught the corner of my eye. I turned slightly and there it was, only 25′ in front of me working a fallen tree. I quick shot off a few doc photos. At that moment, a couple of girls were walking up from the bottom. I tried waving to them to stop, but they weren’t paying attention and by the time they did, they had gotten a little too close. The bird was sandwiched in by us and it flew around them and up the ravine. When they were passing, they asked what was going on, so I explained it to them. I didn’t think I would get to see it again, but someone was walking along the top of the ravine, approximately where it flew to, and they flushed it back down. I walked further down, about 35′ and waited for about 10 minutes. I didn’t see anything resembling a WEWA. I moved about 15′ further down from there and saw a few birds move. Two were Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and the other was the WEWA! It popped up into a small shrub only 10′ or so away from. It started singing very faintly and was even singing some type of song I’ve never heard from them. Normally they have a dry insect-like trill, but he was singing a bunch of different warbles before and after shorter than usual trill. If I had not seen him doing it, I would have never guessed that it was a WEWA. The bird kept working, slowly down the ravine, away from me. A friend came walking up from behind and asked if I had anything and I said I had the WEWA! He stood next to me, and I got him on it. We watched it for about 5 minutes, and it popped out into the open with a potato bug in its bill. It sat there for a good 20 seconds. Maybe it could hear our shutters and froze, which happens to me a lot, even though I had mine on silent (still makes some noise). It then flew across the ravine bottom to the south side and gave me an excellent view on a bare branch! After that we lost it. My friend moved on, and I stayed down there. I didn’t think I would see it anymore. A few other people walked through and didn’t see it as well. I made my way back down the ravine and I was standing by the water for a few minutes. I had noticed that several of the other warblers that were in the area the entire time, were now taking a bath. All of a sudden, in flies the WEWA, right into the water. Woah!!! He’s literally only 15′ away from me taking a bath! Unbelievable!!! I spent a little over 2 hours in that ravine and saw the bird 3 times. I was certainly rewarded for being patient and quiet. I took a walk around the top side of the ravine looking for the White-eyed Vireo again but didn’t see it, so I called it a day. Another awesome day with icing on the cake! Photos below are from the afternoon of 5/1. Enjoy!
This morning a Blue Grosbeak was found singing along the path at Warnimont Park. I had just gotten to the golf course and figured might as well just head over there instead. In the meantime, someone had also seen a female. Wow, a pair in suitable habitat! That would be very exciting if they stayed there to breed. When I got there, I was walking around the prairie area and not hearing or seeing either of them. I made it to the northern side of the prairie and saw a warm brown bird fly into the evergreen. I thought that could be it, but there were so many Brown-headed Cowbirds in the area. I got my binoculars on it and sure enough, a female Blue Grosbeak! She sat in the open for a few minutes and then went down in the shrubs. I walked back to the bluff edge and circled around to the south, walking back out to the asphalt path. As I approached the path, I looked to my left and saw a darker bird in a medium height tree. It shifted slightly and I saw a hint of blue. I knew right away what it was, so I circled back around so that the sun was at my back. It popped up higher into the next tree and started singing. I watched sing for about 5 minutes and some cowbirds were kind of harassing it. Eventually, it flew to the NW. I walked over there, and it moved about singing at the treetops. It almost seemed like he was searching for the female. He went down the side of the bluff, chased a few House Sparrows and flew back up, into the prairie and continued to sing. At that point, he provided me some excellent views, best I’ve ever had of this species. He then disappeared for a short time, but eventually was back in the larger tree near the path. Another spring day and another rarity. This week has been incredible for me so far. Hopefully it continues. Photos below are from this morning, 5/3. Enjoy!
The first major push of songbirds happened Monday night in the Milwaukee area, and Tuesday did not disappoint. Early in the morning, a White-eyed Vireo was found at Lake Park, in the north lighthouse ravine. I was at Warnimont Park when I heard and figured I would make my way down there at some point, during the day. I walked the archery range and the back nine of the golf course and it was ok. Definitely new birds, but nothing crazy. I left and headed to Lake Park. I got there around 10:30 and headed for the lighthouse ravine, in hopes of finding the White-eyed Vireo (WEVI). I walked the northern side from the statue to the stairs and then went down. I walked all the way down the ravine to the bridge and then back up to the stairs. No WEVI heard or seen. I walked around the south side of the ravine and was watching some warblers, when a towhee popped up and started singing. I got my binoculars on it and it was a Spotted Towhee (SPTO) not an Eastern Towhee. Holy s***!!! I certainly did not expect to see that bird. What a bonus! I was with a friend, and she didn’t see it. So, we walked towards the bridge, to go down into the ravine to try and relocate it. About halfway down the steep ravine, next to the bridge, I heard the WEVI (Pik-chicka-weew). I turned and said, I heard the vireo! Now I just needed to track it down by the song. I finally got eyes on it. We watched it move quickly, singing and feeding through the shrubs, all the way to the end of the ravine near Lincoln Memorial Dr. There we lost it, searched for about 10 more minutes and gave up. We headed back up the ravine to look for the SPTO. As we got underneath the bridge, I noticed several birds taking baths, so we snuck up closer to the water and watched. All of a sudden, the SPTO came out of nowhere and started scratching in the leaves above the water. I said, “there it is!” It was blocked by a bunch of branches but working its way down to the water. It popped out right in front of us and gave pretty good views, though we still had sticks in the way. A couple other friends were coming down from the other end and didn’t know we were there. Birds don’t really like when there are people on both sides of them, and it flew up the ravine. After that, we tried for the vireo again, without success. We made our way back up to the north side of the ravine and while we were walking along the top, I saw the towhee again. It was foraging with a male Eastern Towhee, near the pump shed. We got some really good views this time for several minutes before something scared all the birds and they went back down the ravine. We went our separate ways, and I ran into another friend, gave him the details of the two birds, where we saw them, and I left to get a late lunch. About 15 minutes after I left, He found a male Summer Tanager (SUTA) in the ravine. So of course I headed back down there after my lunch. I was walking around the north lighthouse ravine looking for it when another friend text me and said he just got there as well. I told him no luck so far. 5 minutes later, he texts me that he has it over by the waterfall ravine. I quickly made my way over there and this bird was putting on an absolute show! It worked between the waterfall ravine and north lighthouse ravine, on the east side of the bluff catching and eating bee after bee. This was by far the best views I’ve ever had of a SUTA. I bet we watched it for an hour. Its bee catching ability is quite incredible! Since he found the tanager for me, I figured I’d help him find the SPTO. We walked from the waterfall ravine to the north side of the lighthouse ravine and found it immediately near the large brush pile behind the pump shed. We laughed about hoe easy that was and decided to split up and try to find the WEVI. I ran to the truck to swap batteries out and he text and said he may have another SUTA or if it was the same one, it was on the south side, by the lighthouse. I went over there, and we watched it for a while again. We compared photos and it was the same bird, just moved a little farther south. It was getting pretty late in the evening, and I received word that there was a Western Tanager (WETA) about 5 minutes north at Shorewood Nature Preserve. There was about an hour of light left so we hauled a** to the vehicles. We got to the nature preserve and Alex, who found it, was looking up at it on the northern end of the park. It was actively feeding in the tree tops the entire time we were there. This was tough conditions for pictures, shooting up into a bright gray sky with barely any light left, but it was completely worth it! Icing on the cake for the day! This last Tuesday of April turned out to be a pretty epic day. Three rare birds in the same area, in the same park and then a fourth only 5 minutes away. The only bummer for the day, no pictures of the vireo. Sometimes, that’s just how it works. Pictures below are from 4/30 throughout the day. Enjoy!
Usually, I see these ducks in Florida, but the last few years they have been seen more frequently in Wisconsin. I have seen them 3 of the last 5 years in Milwaukee County. Today while I was out watching shorebirds, I heard there were 4 seen in Oak Creek. Surprisingly enough, they showed up at the same residence as one did, back in 2021! What are the odds of that??? The homeowner gave me permission to go into his backyard and photograph them. I walked around to the backyard and didn’t see them at first. I was walking very slowly and being cautious as to not scare them. Finally, I found them down by the pond, staring at me. Here, they were watching me the whole time! They were near a couple of geese with some fledglings. A Wild Turkey was up near the feeders and when it ran towards the water it scared the birds and ducks. They flew out about 50′ in the water, so I sat down on the grass and waited. About 5 minutes later they slowly swam back to the shoreline. By now it was raining, and conditions were pretty bad for photography. I waited another few minutes and they were right on the edge of the shoreline feeding in the shallow water. However, there was a bench blocking my view, as well as the goose family. They seemed like they were content in that spot and if I moved, they probably would have swum out. Also, I figured the rain wasn’t going to stop, so I left. Photos below are from the late morning, 4/28/24. A big thank you to the homeowner Eric M.! Enjoy!
