Paradise Island, Bahamas Vacation 2024

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I had my first vacation to The Bahamas at the end of October. This was not by any means a “bird” vacation, however. I actually won the trip, and it was 4 days and 3 nights, but I extended it to 7 days and 6 nights. I stayed at the Atlantis Paradise Island, which was absolutely gorgeous. I took the last two days to look for some birds and butterflies. I can’t go to a new place and NOT look for birds, right?! The resort was huge and there were plenty of places to walk and attempt to find birds and butterflies around it, which is exactly what I did on the first of the two days. On the second day, I walked from the resort all the way to the other side of the island and walked the entire Paradise Island / Ocean Club Golf Course looking for birds and butterflies. That turned out to be rather decent and provided a few good water birds, as well. On my way back to the resort, I stopped at a little sanctuary called Turtle Point. It was basically a pair of small stairs down to a deck, overlooking a small pond, that was loaded with turtles. The deck was only about 8′ x 12′. This little area was amazing though! After standing there, watching birds fly around the pond, out comes a Least Grebe family, with the parents teaching the little one how to eat fish. I stood there for almost 45 minutes watching them. For the two days I went out and looked for birds, I ended up with 54 species and 10 lifers! I was pretty happy with that, considering what it was. I was also able to get photos of 9 of the 10 lifers, with the Bahama Mockingbird as the only one that eluded me. I have the life birds listed first and then a few of the common birds after. Enjoy!

Lifers

Bahama Woodstar

Black-faced Grassquit
Gray Kingbird
Least Grebe
Loggerhead Kingbird
Neotropic Cormorant
Red-legged Thrush
Smooth-billed Ani
White-crowned Pigeon

The Others…

Warblers
Royal Tern
Black-necked Stilt
Common Ground Dove
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Green Heron
Tricolored Heron
Northern Mockingbird
Osprey

Barred Owls in Wautoma, WI

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I had an awesome experience with a pair of Barred Owls a couple of weekends ago, in Wautoma. It was near 6pm while walking my brother’s property in Wautoma, when I heard a Barred Owl call, closely to the east. I grabbed my camera out of the truck and waited in the drive, hoping it would come into the yard. Thankfully I had my smaller zoom lens attached from photographing butterflies earlier in the day, because it flew right over my head and landed in the tree overhanging the house. Then out of nowhere, a second one flies in and lands next to it! They started calling back and forth. Several American Crows were close by and heard them calling. They came flying in and were really loud. How they can find the owls so fast is just amazing! One of the owls then flew towards the back of the property and the other flew to the other side of it. The crows surprisingly left them alone in a short time and they met back up in the same tree, above the house. They sat up there for at least 30 minutes or so, before flying off to the Southwest. It was still light enough out, that I was able to manage a few flight shots of them going back and forth. I have never seen that before and it was incredible! Photos below are from 7/19/24. Enjoy!

Piping Plover in Milwaukee

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A Piping Plover showed up at McKinley Beach on Tuesday. It stuck around into the next day, but moved on by midday, presumably south. I was down there very late in the evening, with little light. For the most part it hung out in the corner, feeding and walking around. It called a few times, but I think that was because the gulls were getting too close. With about 30 minutes of light left, it moved a little further down the beach and about 20′ from the water’s edge to lay down for the night. It blends right into the sand and even when looking for it, it was nearly impossible to see. A friend sent the band info to the site www.greatlakespipingplover.org for data recording. This is the info he got back, “Thanks for sharing this sighting and photo! This is a 2-year-old female that hatched at Sleeping Bear Dunes. We call her PoNY for her pink, brown and yellow band combo. She had a nest on North Manitou Island at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore this year. Unfortunately, she lost her mate to a Merlin, when her 3 chicks were still very young. The chicks survived for a week and a half but then disappeared. Hopefully she will have better luck next year! It appears she is head south for a rest and vacation for the non-breeding season.” That explains the mid-summer sighting in Milwaukee. While it’s always nice to see these birds in county, it’s too bad this sighting had to be at that expense. Photos below are from 7/2. Enjoy!

Indigo Buntings at Waste Management Franklin Landfill

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While looking for Dickcissels on Friday May 31st, I also found 2 singing Indigo Buntings. These little songbirds are absolutely beautiful! When the sun hits them, their blue color is a stunning! These colorful songbirds can be found in any open field with small shrubs for nesting. The 2 that I saw were on County Line Rd, singing along the fence line. At one point, one of the Dickcissels was chasing one of the buntings around. It must’ve been too close to his territory, although the Indigo Bunting would have been there first. I also had one fly down to the roadside and pick through the gravel. I’m not sure if it was finding seedings, insects, or just gritting. While they are common, they are a sight to see every time. Photos below are Friday afternoon. Enjoy!

Dickcissels at the Waste Management Franklin Landfill

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Dickcissels are late arriving spring migrants, typically showing up the last few days of May. One of my favorite places to find them is at the Franklin Landfill. On Friday May 31st, I saw at least 12 of them along the South side and Southeast corner of the hill. I went after work, in the late afternoon. They sing along the fence line and move around a bit, feeding in between. I had one pop out of the grasses near the edge of the road, eating a cricket. Luckily, I was able to capture that moment! These birds usually sing from the top of a perch and lean back to belt out their loud song, a buzzy “dick-dick-see-see-see.” I only saw males, so I’m not sure if the females are even back yet. They are down in the grasses most of the time, and hard to see anyway. Photos below are from Friday afternoon. Enjoy!

Black-tailed Gull at Waukegan Municipal Beach, IL (Mega Rarity)

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A Black-tailed Gull was found Wednesday at Waukegan Municipal Beach, but not IDed until very early Thursday morning. Thankfully, it was relocated in the morning and stuck around the entire day, providing some excellent views to those who came. It was hanging out with a large group of Ring-billed and Herring Gulls. I was able to get down there in the late afternoon, after work. Just as I was driving down the beach road, I saw a Discord message come through saying it had just flown south. So, I parked, got my gear together and made my way out to a group of people on the beach. After a few minutes, I saw a gull land and thought I saw black on the tail. I said to everyone, “I think it just flew in behind us.” Sure enough, that was it! The next hour or so, it sat on the beach, sleeping, preening and moving around slightly. At one point, a parent let their child run through the flock of gulls, but they only moved a short distance and did not take flight, thankfully. Heat distortion was atrocious! I took just over 1600 photos in that short time, because I knew most would not turn out. I wanted to stay until sunset, but I had to get back home to take care of the puppy. I figured the cool air coming off the lake would ease the heat distortion later, plus the lighting would have been perfect. When I started looking at the photos later, I threw away the first 850 of them, which is exactly what I thought would happen. I did manage to get several decent ones and even a few in flight, that show the beautiful black band on the tail. I don’t usually get too excited for gulls, but as soon as I saw photos on the original eBird checklist of it, I thought the bill was so cool and knew I wanted to see it! Photos below are from Thursday afternoon. Enjoy!

Cerulean Warbler at Mangan Woods

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A Cerulean Warbler was singing his little heart out on the morning of May 12th. He was in the treetops, NE of the parking lot. He was moving constantly and chasing other warblers out of the tree he was in. This bird was quite crazy and covering about a 100-yard radius. Cerulean Warblers have nested in this area before and he was acting like he might stick around. However, I stopped by a couple of days later and he was gone. No singing and no sign of him. At any rate, the day he was singing, I had several nice looks even though he was quite high up. Photos below are from the early morning 5/12. Enjoy!

Nelson’s Sparrow at Lake Park/Linnwood Water Treatment Plant

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A Nelson’s Sparrow was found along the lakefront on May 17th. It was seen in the tall grasses near a fallen tree, along the rocks. When I arrived, there were a couple of people looking at one and as I walked up, I flushed another. After that, I think I flushed another one! There were at least 2 of them and quite possibly 3. The grassy area was already so tall, and those birds move extremely fast through it, it’s tough to find them. The one bird kept circling back to the fallen tree and I just waited around for it to show itself a few times. I never got an unobstructed view, as is usually the case with these birds, but plenty of decent looks. Photos below are from 5/17 in the late afternoon. Enjoy!

Unfortunately, for those of you who look forward to my spring migration photos each year, this is one of my last posts. My new puppy yanked my laptop off the table and smashed my external hard drive. The 40,000 photos I took the during my 3-week vacation are all gone! I did manage to get out a few days this week for some lingering birds, but nothing close to what I had. Hopefully the fall migration will make up for it.

LeConte’s Sparrow at Lake Park/Linnwood Water Treatment

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On Monday, May 13th a LeConte’s Sparrow was found along the lakefront by Lake Park/Linnwood Water Treatment plant. It was about halfway between both ends of the soccer fields. This small, skulky sparrow is usually very hard to get good looks at. However, on this day, I literally walked right out to the location I was provided and it was sitting on the rocks underneath a tree, all fluffed up. It couldn’t have been any easier to find this bird! There were numerous other birds near it, mostly Common Yellowthroats. I watched it for a few minutes and then it went down into the ticket vegetation and out of sight. People tried before and after me with and without luck. I guess I was lucky! This might have been my best views ever of this beautiful little sparrow. Photos are from the late afternoon, May 13th. Enjoy!

Prothonotary Warbler at Menomonee River Parkway

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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!