’23 Fall Warbler Migration

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Since I’m spending the last two weeks of October in Hawaii, the fall warbler migration is over for me. It turned out to be a very good one, with it starting earlier than normal for me. I had huge numbers of birds beginning very early in August (8/10) through the end of the month. My guess is it had something to do with the wildfires in Canada. I was pretty busy in August, so I had limited chances to get out. Because of this, I missed out on some fall birds, including my favorite, the Canada Warbler. I spent all of my time at Warnimont, Grant, Sheridan and Bender Parks this fall. I ended up with 25 species of warblers this fall. September started off very good for warblers, but then we got some terrible weather patterns for the next few weeks and had one major migration day after that, which I wasn’t available for. I was able get the two late passerines, Pine and Orange-crowned Warblers, just before I left. I would have been upset if I didn’t see either of those. It will be a long, cold winter waiting for the colorful little birds to return. Hopefully the owls cooperate in the cold months! The photos below are from early August through the middle of October, when I left. Fall warblers have so many variations of plumages. I try to capture as many as possible to show what you might see when out. The individual photos are labeled male, female or hatch year, if you click on them. Enjoy!

American Redstart

Bay-breasted Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Black-throated Green 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

Orange-crowned Warbler (gray-headed sub-species)

Palm Warbler (western)

Pine Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

Wilson’s Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

American Flamingos… in WISCONSIN!!! 1st State Record!!!

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On Friday, around 11:20am I received a message in the Milwaukee RBA chat that there were 5 American Flamingos in Port Washington. Obviously, everyone went nuts on the group chat trying to figure out if this was real or not. Meanwhile, I was at work, so I immediately started cleaning up my tools and locked everything up for the day. I figured worst case; I would just turn around if it wasn’t real. About 40 messages later, several texts to friends, and 20 or so minutes, I was able to confirm it! 5 American Flamingos at South Beach in Port Washington, WOW!!! I was already halfway through Milwaukee when I received confirmation, so I’m glad I left right away. When I arrived, around 12:20pm, the parking lot was already full and there were at least 50 people on the beach, half of which were just local residents, who were in awe as well. Everyone there couldn’t believe what they were seeing! There was 3 adults (pink) and 2 hatch year (gray) birds. They were only about 40′ offshore which was even more crazy! They were so close and did not mind all the people. While I was there, they were mostly resting. They would occasionally lift their heads and walk around but that was about it. I had heard that they were eating some kind of food, but I’m not sure what it was though. They also took baths and preened. Then at 5:12pm, they took flight and have not been seen since. These birds were blown into the US from hurricane Idalia and made their way up to us through the south winds this past week. What an epic day in the bird world of Wisconsin! The photos below were taken on Friday 9/22. Enjoy!

Nelson’s Sparrow at Lake Park 10/5/22

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Several Nelson’s Sparrows were seen at Lake Park between 9/29-10/09. They were along the east side of the soccer field and magic hedge, near the Linnwood Water Treatment Plant. I tried a couple times to find them but couldn’t. I walked the entire area several times, but when birds would flush, they would not stay up long enough to ID. On 10/5, I finally found one! I saw it on the rocks, in the corner area of the magic hedge and water treatment plant. I only saw it for a few moments though. It was pretty skulky, as you can see in the photos below. I only got one real good shot of it, before it flew into the heavy brush. I tried to relocate it, without luck. I didn’t spend too much time though, since it was getting dark out. Photos below are from evening of 10/5. Enjoy!

Harris’s Sparrow at Warnimont Park 10/4/21

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I stopped by the Kelly Senior Center, on the south end of Warnimont Park this afternoon. I was hoping to find something cool and I did, my third Harris’s Sparrow in less than a week! Funny that I find another too, because I almost went back to Whitnall today instead. I didn’t get very good photos of the two at Wehr Nature Center, so I contemplated going there again. Like the Wehr birds, it was with several White-crowned and a couple White-throated Sparrows. They would come out of the trees and feed in the grass, for extended times. When the wind would kick up and blow the leaves around, they would all fly back into the trees and then come back out. They moved around quite frequently, along the tree lines. The majority of the time, they were all in the grass area with the bird feeders. I also had 11 warbler species, however most were very uncooperative and didn’t want their picture taken today. I’m guessing the bird will stick around a few days this week, considering its in good habitat, with good food sources. Good luck if you try! Enjoy!

Shocking Find along Sheridan Drive, on 9/12/21

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I was out at sunrise this morning, along Sheridan Drive, in Cudahy this morning. I’ve been here almost every day this week, and is my favorite fall migration spot. I was already having an excellent warbler morning, when I stumbled across a stunning Azure Tit (yellow-breasted)! I was watching a very nice pocket of warblers and vireos, when I kept hearing a “weird” bird call. It was just a single note, but I could not figure it out for the life of me. After a few minutes, out pops this colorful bird! I knew it was a type of tit just by looking at it, and I thought Blue Tit, but wasn’t sure. I just started snapping pictures following it from branch to branch, hoping to get some good photos for documentation. The sun had just went behind the low lake clouds and it was rather dark, so not great conditions for photos. I ended up with just over 100 pictures of it, in that short of time. It passed by with a group of three Black-capped Chickadees and several Bay-breasted Warblers. It seemed fully alert and wild, and was not tame by any means. It came and went in less than 30 seconds and I didn’t see or hear it anymore. What an exciting sighting! I ended the morning with 54 species and 20 warblers, best warbler day of the week. I had huge numbers of Blackpoll Warblers and Swainson’s Thrushes. Hopefully the weather cooperates this week and I can get out after work for some more action. The Azure Tit is a beautiful bird and sure made a great morning into an amazing morning! Enjoy!

Red Knot at Bradford Beach 9/3/21

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I started my day a McKinley Beach, just passed sunrise. I was hoping to see a Baird’s Sandpiper, as a few had been seen the previous days. However, there were only Sanderlings, Semipalmated Sandpipers and Semipalmated Plovers, to be found. My next stop was Bradford Beach. I parked in the lot on the south end, looked through my binoculars and didn’t see anything. I sent out a text about nothing on the beach and received one back that there were a few Sanderlings on the far northern end, along with a slightly larger one, that was buffy toned. I had a feeling of what it was, so I drove to the other side and parked. I just took my binoculars with me, instead of lugging my camera to confirm and sure enough it was a Red Knot! I quickly went back to the car and grabbed my camera (should’ve just brought it right away). I walked out to water and sat on a rock. It was kind of working its way to the south, so I just waited. There were plenty of joggers, walkers and dog, that I knew it would be moving around quite a bit. After 20 minutes or so, there were several of us watching now, it flew right in to us with some Sanderlings. It was probably only 30′ away, and coming towards us. There were also 36 Sanderlings running around too, with some of them coming closer then ten feet. Eventually, the Red Knot came that close as well, so close that it was below my minimum focus distance (14.75′)! Always fun when the shorebirds walk right up to everyone. The beach was very busy this morning and I don’t think the bird was seen past 840ish. It was nice to have a day off and see a rare bird! Pictures below are from this morning. Enjoy!

Red Knot in Milwaukee 9/3/19

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A juvenile Red Knot took a southern migration break at Lakeshore State Park on 9/2/19. I didn’t hear about it until the next day, when a friend asked me for an ID on a shorebird. I took a look at the photos and to my surprise, it was a Red Knot! I immediately text my group of bird friends, and said it might be worth checking the beach in case it hung around. Usually they don’t and are only one day birds, or even only around several hours. One of them said they could be there within the hour and check it out. A little while later, received a text saying, “it was still there!”. Now I had a choice to make, leave work, race down there and go back to work or work faster, get done sooner and leave early… I stayed and left early. I got down the park about 1:30pm and it was still around. I walked over to the beach area and laid on ground and waited for it to walk over to me. After about 10 minutes or so, it was right in front of me, feeding on the water’s edge. It was a very tame bird, considering it has probably never seen people before. It actually even took a brief, one minute nap, only 15′ from me! At one point, it was only about 5′ from me. It was so close, I slowly slid out my cell phone and recorded video of it. It’s always nice to be able to see a rarity so close! The pictures below are from the day.