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!
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!
