The spring migration was incredible for warblers in Milwaukee! We had some very good rarities and several amazing days. On 4/23, there was a Worm-eating Warbler and a Louisiana Warbler at Whitnall Park. That was a perfect way to kickoff the spring warblers! Then on the 27th, there was a Yellow-throated Warbler at the Wind Point Lighthouse. On Friday night 5/1, into Saturday 5/2, the winds were out of the south and the damn broke loose!!! I went to Warnimont Park in the morning, and spent over 13 hours there! I had 100 total species and 21 warblers, including a Brewster’s Warbler (Blue-winged x Golden-winged), 2 Hooded Warblers and big numbers of all the others. On Sunday 5/3, I ended up with 18 warbler species. The next two days were rather slow, but a few nice single birds were being seen. I had a Hooded Warbler in the same area for 5 days. I thought he might be on territory, but there was no sign of him later on in spring. On 5/5, around 9 a.m. an email came through saying a Black-throated Gray Warbler has been seen along the Menomonee River Parkway. I quickly left Whitnall Park and shot over there. Within 30 minutes, there were at least 15 of us searching the area. After another 30 minutes or so, Mark yelled, “got it!”. Everyone hurried over and there he was, working along the ground on the opposite side of the river. Life bird for me! The next 4 days were just so-so. We kind of got stuck in a bad weather pattern and nothing new came in. However, on 5/8, I was at Whitnall Park and it was snowing!!! It was definitely strange to be watching warblers in a snow storm! It didn’t last very long, but fun while it did. On 5/10, the weather changed! I had 19 warblers at Whitnall Park that day and the next. 5/12 provided some excitement, I had excellent looks at a Cerulean Warbler, along with a total of 18 warblers for the day. The next week 5/13-5/18, along the creek at the Wehr Nature Center (Whitnall Park) was just insane! There were warblers everywhere!!! I had posted several reports about how good it was previous days and apparently people took my advice. I would say at any given time there were at least 20-30 people walking up and down the creek watching these beautiful songbirds. The bonus of Wehr Nature Center at Whitnall Park, you can get within a few feet of most birds. They fly around you, almost like an aviary! When it’s as good as it was this past spring, they will fly within inches of you! One particular day, it was so amazing at the logjam, there were at least 30 warblers catching mayflies out of the air or grabbing them from the water and ground. A male Bay-breasted Warbler was so tame, he would hop around between your feet searching for the mayflies and other insects. I told a woman (Amanda) there to put a couple of the mayflies in her hand and hold them out. The Bay-breasted landed on her hand and grabbed them! Pretty awesome experience. I was in the 20’s every day for warbler species during that time and on 5/16, I had 27 warbler species. That day was incredible! I had 1 Connecticut, 2 Prothonotary, 4 Mourning, 6 Black-throated Blue and 8 Blackburnian Warblers. I also totaled 107 species for the day, in a little over 9 hours. I spent so much time at Whitnall Park this spring because it was so awesome, I didn’t get too much time at my other local spring hotspots. However, on the 19th at Grant Park, I had another Yellow-throated Warbler, and a total of 24 warbler species. It continued great through the 24th with 20+ warblers seen each day. In early June, I went up to Adams County and saw 2 Prairie Warblers and 7 Kirtland’s Warblers. Both of those were killer birds to finish up the spring with! The sheer numbers of birds this past spring was amazing. I had several birders tell me this was how it used to be years ago. One can only hope we get to enjoy more spring migrations like this. I ended up with 36 warbler species for the spring. I took over 50,000 photos in May, which is why I’m just getting this report posted. I wish I would have had more time to do it in the summer. All of the photos in this post are from the spring this year. I always try for male and female, along with first spring birds and behavior shots. They are labeled as such too. If there are not any photos under a name, it’s because I missed out. However, if you click on the smaller name, it will take you to its page so you can at least see prior photos of them. Enjoy!!!
Fall Warbler Migration 2020
The fall warbler migration in Milwaukee, was what I would consider average. There were definitely some very cool birds, but the overall numbers were just okay and the weather wasn’t very good. Highlights of the fall were a beautiful male Kentucky Warbler (no photos) at Lake Park, 6 different Connecticut Warblers at multiple local parks, and several Mourning Warblers scattered around the local parks as well. 9/5 was my first big day with 17 warbler species. Two days later was my best day of the fall, with 24 warbler species, including my first of six Connecticut Warblers. I also had several Black-throated Blue, Golden-winged and Blue-winged Warblers. I couldn’t get out again until 9/13, if my memory serves me right, the weather was not very good that week. On the 13th, I had 18 warbler species, at Warnimont Park during the morning hours. That was also the day I saw the Kentucky Warbler at Lake Park. I didn’t get there until after 4pm, but I still had 21 warbler species there! The rest of the days were below average for me, with right around 10 warbler species. On 10/22 at Grant Park, I saw a late male Nashville Warbler and a week later at Grant Park, was a late beautiful male Pine Warbler. I ended the fall migration with 28 warbler species. Photos in the post are by specie and are from this year’s fall migration. I try to include males, females and hatch year birds and each photo is labelled. Enjoy!
American Redstart
Bay-breasted Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blue-winged 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
Ovenbird
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Wilson’s Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Spotted Towhee in Ozaukee County 11/27/20
This bird has been seen for at least a week at Forest Beach Migratory Preserve. I finally had a chance to try for it today. I started out walking the path east from the building towards the gravel road… nothing. Then I walked down the gravel road to the bend and back up and found some bird activity. There were sparrows, juncos, cardinals and chickadees, but no towhees. So I continued back towards the building and went south on the trail, near the pond, which wrapped back around into the gravel road, still nothing. Since the only place that had birds was the gravel road, on the north side of the bluff, I decided to focus on that area. I walked along the top of the bluff and about 100′ from Lake Bluff Dr (private road), I saw something larger pop up into some thicket. I could see some movement, so threw up my binocs and tried to maneuver through all the branches. That was it, life bird!!! Very poor view but could clearly tell what it was. The white spots are very obvious and stand out. He flew to north and into a thick shrub. I got positioned better and waited. I was rewarded with a solid minute of him sitting in the open on a branch, before he went down to the ground and started foraging, typical towhee style. I tried getting a better view, but he must’ve heard me and flew back into the shrub. I walked backwards, and around until I realized I was really close to the private drive, so walked out to that and waited. That’s when I saw a female Eastern Towhee. They were foraging together under the bush and I had never seen her until now. I kept waiting, hoping they would come out for better views, but they never did. She flew right across the drive into a pine tree and he followed closely behind. They both went down to the ground, right on the side of the road, underneath the tree near a fence. I was only 20′ from them! I continued watching them as they moved about, and they moved into the next yard over. They would forage for awhile and then he would chase her. She always stayed hidden and he would be in the open. They again flew back across road to the area where I originally found. His actions seemed like courtship to me, but its fall, not spring. I never did get a photo of her. In the meantime, the resident there walked out and down the private drive to the mail box, on the main road. On his way back he asked if I found anything interesting? So I explained it all to him and he thought it was very cool! He told me I could walk around his yard if I wanted and his neighbors aren’t currently there, so I could go into their yard as well! I thought wow how nice, thanked him and continued on. I walked down Country Club Rd, all the way down, because earlier a guy told me he saw a mockingbird near a specific address. I didn’t see it though, probably because I spent over an hour watching the towhees. Overall an excellent day to be out hiking, with sun shining and temps in the 40’s! Photos below are from today. Enjoy!
Evening Grosbeaks at Grant Park, Thanksgiving Day 2020
A pair of Evening Grosbeaks have been coming to the Grant Park feeders since Sunday morning. They seem to be very specific though. They arrive between 7:30-8:00 a.m., and then take awhile to decide whether or not to come down. They eat for several minutes, fly off, and do not coming back for the rest of the day. I skipped out of work for about an hour on Monday morning, but never saw them. I again tried for an hour or so on Tuesday afternoon and didn’t see them either. So, I figured I would head out and try again today, before throwing the turkey on the smoker. I got there about 7:10 a.m. and waited around… and around… and around… They finally showed about 7:55 a.m.! It took about 10 minutes for them to fly down to the feeder. I almost left too, because I didn’t think they were coming and knew I needed to get the turkey on. Today was different than the previous four days, because around 11:30 a.m. they showed up again, but this time there was 4! All of them were females. They do call when flying and sitting in the trees, so hopefully they can attract a male or two! Photos below are from today. I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving… I DID!!!
Red Crossbills in Kewaunee County on 11/4/20
I went to try for the Ash-throated Flycatcher that was seen on 11/3. I really wanted to go that day, but couldn’t. I knew I’d probably miss out, but had to try, since I was off anyway. It was being seen at private residence and when I arrived, Brian (homeowner) came out to talk to us (another person looking). He was very nice and allowed us to walk about his property, in search of the bird. Right off the bat, there were 8 Red Crossbills at the top of his spruce trees. They flew right across the street into two spruce trees that were a little shorter in height. I figured since there was no sign of the flycatcher, might as well photograph these “bonus” birds! I don’t usually get to see them anyway, so it was nice. I also had one flyover White-winged Crossbill and several Pine Siskins. The day that Brian found the flycatcher, he also had some Evening Grosbeaks quickly stop by for a snack. Apparently his yard was a hotspot this week! The flycatcher however, was never seen again. Oh well, next I guess. Images below are from the morning. Enjoy!
White-winged Crossbills in Ozaukee County 10/30/20
I stopped by Forest Beach Migratory Preserve on 10/27 and was able to see the crossbills in the afternoon. I only saw them for a short time and got just a few doc shots. They were a life bird for me that day, so I was still excited. I think I had 30 or so. I was off on Friday 10/30 and thought I would try for them again, and hopefully get some decent photos. I walked the path back and found them almost right away. I setup and started taking pictures. They flew almost immediately. This time though, there were at least 45 of them. I watched them land and headed over to the next group of trees. Again I setup and started taking pictures, and again they flew almost right away. Now, I always wear camo and don’t have anything really flashy with me, trying to always blend in. I was thinking these birds sure are skittish! I watched them fly away and land in a few trees over, so I packed up and went over there. I setup and and took one photo and off they flew again! I couldn’t believe it, not sure why they were so jumpy. This time they looped around me and went to the southwest, so I had to walk all the way around them to get the sun back on my backside. This time I decided to turn my camera shutter on silent (6fps), instead of the normal (10fps), and see if my shutter noise was spooking them, although I can’t imagine it was. It worked though! Either coincidence or my shutter was really too loud for them. From then on, I followed them around tree to tree and back to previous trees, eating seeds and throwing pine cones around, without spooking them. They would eat in a tree anywhere from five to fifteen minutes. Then move on to the next. They flew all over the preserve and even went all the way south, to the line of trees along County Hwy P. From there, they went to the marsh area, just south of the parking lot and all went down for water. They sure move around quite a bit! I spent several hours there and took over 1500 photos, trying to get some nice behavior shots. All photos are from Friday 10/30. Enjoy!
Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow at Juneau Lagoon 9/23/20
We got very lucky this year with Nelson’s Sparrows in Milwaukee. We might get one or two somewhere along the lake, during migration, but this year we had 4 on 9/23 and 13 on 9/28! They were continuing for over a week. The Juneau lagoon is extremely high with water this year. On the east side, the flooded area, created a nice swampy, muddy area, that attracted numerous birds, including these rare sparrows. The best part about it was the sparrows, which are normally very sulky, came right out on the mud flats and gave great unobstructed views! They were eating little red worms, among other insects. These are very beautiful birds and it was extremely pleasant to get to observe them like this. You can also click on the name below, to go directly to the Nelson’s Sparrow page for more photos. Images below are from 9/23. Enjoy!
Pine Siskins in My Yard 10/7/20
I’ve had Pine Siskins at my house since 9/23. The number seems to grow a little each day. I’m guessing there are over 60 right now! I counted 42 on the ground at one time and could still hear and see them flying around my trees. I figured I would photograph them today, since they were so active at my feeding areas. Usually a few come down, but the majority stay up in the maples or arborvitaes. Not today though, as most were eating thistle seed. After eating they fly to drink water and then back to the tree tops. Some of them are extremely yellow, more than I’ve ever seen on siskins. Having that many around, you really get the variation in color between each one. Some show very little yellow, others a decent amount and still others show more whitish than brown. I have quite a few images, but they show the variation I was talking about. All images are from today. Enjoy!
Fall Shorebird Migration 2020
For the most part, I do the majority of my picture taking in the Milwaukee area. The last few years have not been very good here for shorebirds though, this year included. We did get several Buff-breasted Sandpipers at Lakeshore State Park, which were awesome! There was also a Stilt Sandpiper in a flooded field off County Line Rd. We got two there in spring as well. The hotspot around me this migration season was the Wind Lake Sod Farms. There was an Upland Sandpiper, 10+ Buff-breasted Sandpipers, over 30 American Golden Plovers, several Black-bellied Plovers, a few Semipalmated Plovers, hundreds of Killdeer, 10+ Baird’s Sandpipers, 1 Sanderling and several Least, Pectoral and Semipalmated Sandpipers. Most of the birds provided great looks, with a little patience. I think they had certain areas closer to the roads, that were turned over, creating good close spots for the birds this year. All the photos below were taken in August and September. Enjoy!
American Golden Plovers at Wind Lake Sod Farm 8/30/20
My friend gave me a heads up, that he had 5 American Golden Plovers, at the sod farms on Saturday night. I figured they would still be around on Sunday, with it being south winds all day. I waited for the evening, when the sun was in the west and lighting would be perfect. I stopped near the northernmost field first and saw about 50 or so Brewer’s Blackbirds. They were very close to the road, but with a large flock of starlings constantly flying around, they spooked as well, and moved farther back. I continued south to the field with the “Wind Lake Sod Farm” sign in it. There I found the jackpot of shorebirds! 12 American Golden Plovers, 2 Black-bellied Plovers, 1 Semipalmated Plover, 1 Buff-breasted Sandpiper, 6 Baird’s Sandpipers, 2 Least Sandpipers, 1 Pectoral Sandpiper and 1 Semipalmated Sandpiper. There was also a Killdeer convention in service, in which I counted 52, but it’s nearly impossible to count them, moving around so much. I’m guessing there were more than 75. Most of the golden plovers were fairly close to the road and gave excellent views. The images below are from the day. Enjoy!
