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!
Last week Saturday (1/20) was an excellent and sad day for Long-eared Owls (LEOW) in Milwaukee County. I found one early in the morning while out. About an hour later, I received a text about one being found at Grant Park, near the feeders. Unfortunately, that one was found dead in the road, presumably from being hit by a car. Shortly after that text, I received a call that two had been seen down by the Milwaukee River Mouth, behind the amphitheater. In the meantime, I was watching a dark morph Rough-legged Hawk (RLHA) in Oak Creek. I got word that one of the LEOW was still being seen down by the amphitheater, so I went to try that. I had heard it was right on the side of the road 6′ off the ground. When I got down there, sure enough, sitting in the sun right on the side of the road. If you didn’t know it was there, you would have drove, walked or ran right past it, as most people did. It is unbelievable how well they blend right to their surroundings! I looked for the second one briefly, without luck. I had heard later in the afternoon, that one of the LEOW was attacked and carried away by a Rough-legged Hawk. That was shocking to me, since I had no idea that a RLHA would even make an attempt at an owl. With temperatures below zero for the week, I’m sure they eat whatever they can get their feet on. I would have preferred one of the 2000 scaup that were out in the water, but that is nature. Photos below are from Saturday, 1/20/24. Enjoy!
I stopped by Bender Park last week and saw a few ducks in the boat launch area. I drove down close to the water and shut off my truck. I counted 3 Red-breasted Merganser, 3 Common Goldeneye, 1 Common Merganser all swimming, along with 2 Mallard sleeping on the sand bar. I have stopped here dozens of times before and I know that if you park close to the water, shut off you truck and be quiet, the ducks will come back, close to shore. On this particular day, the Common Merganser swam in, slightly off the newly formed sand bar, and started diving. After the first dive, she popped up with a something and I got my camera on her. I thought it was a fish, and I started snapping photos in a burst, so that I wouldn’t miss anything. After the sequence was done and I looked at some photos, I realized it was actually a frog she caught. I was quite surprised by this. After a few more dives, I saw her pop up with another frog! This time though, a male Red-breasted Merganser started chasing her. After about 100′ feet of scooting through the water, he got really close, and she dropped the frog. He grabbed it and enjoyed her catch. The photos below show these events happening and I tried to capture the entire sequences. However, not all photos are in focus during the event, so I picked the ones that were. The photos below were taken on 1/11 in the late afternoon. Enjoy!
Finally, a Snowy Owl graces us with its beauty! Normally this would be a common sighting, but Milwaukee County has not had one since the beginning of 2022. We are usually spoiled with anywhere between one to five of them during the winter months. It’s nice to end the snowy drought though. This owl was found sitting atop a chimney vent, in a residential neighborhood, in Bayview. By the time we figured out where it was exactly, it was almost 3:35pm. I didn’t even get there until right around 4pm. Soon, there were at least 20 or so from the bird community, and then another 15-25 neighbors and passersby. People were in awe of this exquisite owl, so close to everyone. Cars were slowing down and looking as well. It turned out to be quite an awesome event. It’s always nice to be able to chat with friends, while photographing birds. I stayed until it flew away, which was close to 4:45pm. It flew off to the southeast. By then, it was pretty dark out already. Photos below are from the late afternoon, 12/20. Enjoy!
A couple of these photos were featured on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel website today, in a very nice article written by Paul Smith. I think they might be in the sports section tomorrow as well. If you would like to read the article, click on the link below.
Grant Park is my second favorite park along the lake. It can be excellent at times, and November happened to be one of those times. There are a couple feeders, right in the middle of the park, next to a parking lot. These feeders host the “common” feeder birds all year long. However, during migration (spring/fall) or times with inclement weather, it gets overloaded with birds. In early November, there were a couple of rare birds seen at/near the feeders. 2 Spotted Towhee (male and female) and several flocks of Red Crossbills (75+ total). The towhees were around for a few days but took off. I thought they might stay all winter, since they were in a perfect spot, with plenty of food. The Red Crossbills can probably still be seen almost daily. There is a tall group of pines on the east side of the parking lot and also about 100′ west of the parking lot, that they visit, while flying around. In addition to the rare birds, there were also a few uncommon ones, 2 Tufted Titmouse (first I’ve ever seen there), 3 Purple Finches, and 12 Pine Siskins. And of course, the numerous common feeder birds. One day it snowed, and I went down there because I thought it could be good. It was awesome! There was a solo Red Crossbill that day, that came down to the feeder four times. I had never seen them eat out of a feeder before. That day the Pine Siskins, a male Purple Finch, and both Tufted Titmouse visited numerous times as well, along with all the common ones. All of these birds make this park an extremely fun place to spend hours at a time, with a camera. Outside of the feeder parking lot, I had a beautiful male Green-winged Teal, mixed in with 75+ Mallards on Mill Pond. He was very close to the road and provided excellent views. On the 7th, I was looking for deer and stopped on the side of the road, by the 17th tee box. I was looking out into the golf course and 40 or so Snow Bunting took flight from the sand trap, near the green. They circled over the golf course and headed south. This is a large gallery post with all photos taken during the month of November, at Grant Park. Enjoy!
The last month has been very good for me, for owls in the state. I found a Barred Owl while out deer hunting on opening day, in Lincoln County. It was near sunset as we were driving out of the woods. It was sitting about 20′ up, but from our vantage point on the road, it was eye level. I always carry my camera with me, and it paid off that day. The Screech Owls were found at parks in Milwaukee County. I’ve always seen the gray and brown morph’s before, but this was my first red morph. The Short-eared Owls were at Killsnake Wildlife Area, in Chilton. There were at least 12 flying around at one time. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were 20+ of them. The Saturday I went, it was cloudy with low clouds, making it appear darker. That is usually my luck when I have a chance to go there. The first one I saw, flew out just after 3pm and landed about 70 yards behind my truck, on the side of the road. From then on, they just kept coming and flying over the fields, at times coming rather close to the roads. They were very vocal and chasing each other around as well. It was fun to watch! Photos below are from the last month in Wisconsin. Enjoy!
The deer rut in the Milwaukee County was fairly good again this year. It seemed like it might have been shorter than normal, though. It’s possible that with the warmer weather here, into November, that it was a little bit shorter. That is just my opinion based on my observations. Last year, I saw more than 20 different bucks, while this year the number was down to 14. I was able to get photos of 10, so you can see my numbers were down. I also didn’t find some of the bigger ones from last year. I’m not sure if they didn’t make it through the mild winter, or if they were a causality of a traffic accident, or even worse being poached. Hopefully, I just missed them, and they are still around. I did find some nice young ones that have potential to be big in the future. That will be a couple years away though. When these deer are in rut, they sure do not pay attention to you! I find a lot of them standing by the tree line, with their nose in the air smelling. When they catch that scent though, they are off very quickly on the trail. Sometimes they are just moseying around and then catch a scent trail. They will run right in front of your car, so you always have to be on the lookout. I watched one just moving slowly, eating the ends of twigs, smelling things and whatnot, then all of a sudden take off running. It ran about 50 yards and took a hard right, slowed and smelled a tree, then darted straight across the road! Thankfully, no cars were coming. I still find it amazing seeing these big bucks, sometimes standing only 50′ from you! They truly are something special at that close range. Photos below are from the first two weeks in November. Enjoy!
