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!
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!
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 ’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!
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.
