Snowy Owl in Milwaukee County

Jeremy8 Comments

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.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/outdoors/2023/12/21/snowy-owl-seen-in-bay-view-but-outlook-for-wisconsin-sightings-is-dim/72001183007/

Grant Park Birds in November

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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!

Spotted Towhee

Red Crossbill

Tufted Titmouse

Pine Siskin

Purple Finch

House Finch

Black-capped Chickadee

Brown Creeper

White-breasted Nuthatch

Blue Jay

Northern Cardinal

Downy Woodpecker

Dark-eyed Junco

American Goldfinch

American Crow

Green-winged Teal

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Red-bellied Woodpecker

House Sparrow

Yellow-rumped Warbler

White-throated Sparrow

Fall Owls in Wisconsin

Jeremy10 Comments

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!

Barred Owl

Eastern Screech Owl

Short-eared Owl

’23 Deer Rut in Milwaukee County

Jeremy4 Comments

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!

Anna’s Hummingbird at Private Residence in Milwaukee

Jeremy4 Comments

A hummingbird was spotted at a private residence late yesterday evening. Usually, a hummingbird this late is a rare vagrant and this one happened to be an Anna’s Hummingbird! I was invited over by the resident, to view and photograph the hummingbird. I was there for almost two hours, and it showed three times. The first appearance was brief, and it was very curious of me. I moved away from the flowers and further into the backyard. The second appearance was a little longer and it went down to feed on the Cuphea flower. It stayed on the backside of the flower and did not provide any viewing for us. After 30 seconds or so, it flew up into the evergreen and then flew away. About a half hour later, I noticed it fly up into the apple tree to the north and then it disappeared behind the arborvitaes. It popped out right next to us, only maybe 7′ feet away! It hovered near us for a few seconds and then went back to the Cuphea. It feed on the flower for quite some time and provided excellent looks, in perfect sunlight! A very chilly afternoon, especially since I just spent the last two weeks in Hawaii. Hopefully this little guy can stay warm enough to continue his journey south. A big thank you for the invitation to come over and try for this bird! Photos below are from Monday afternoon, 10/30/23. Enjoy!

Here is a link the see the last Anna’s Hummingbird to pass through Milwaukee County (2016) in Wauwatosa.

Anna’s Hummingbird

’23 Fall Warbler Migration

Jeremy6 Comments

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

Super Harvest Moon 9/29/23

Jeremy2 Comments

On Friday 9/29, it was the second full Moon of the month. This full Moon was a Supermoon because the Moon was at the nearest point in its orbit of Earth during the full Moon. Harvest Moon refers to the first full Moon in the fall equinox, which was on 9/23/23. It’s called the Harvest Moon because the light of the moon would aid in the gathering of the harvest. In addition to the moon, Jupiter and Saturn were able to be seen. Jupiter was just under 386 million miles away, with all 4 Moons aligned perfectly for a picture. Saturn was just over 829 million miles away. The air was cool and appeared to be rather clean of pollutants, which helps with the details on the Moon. Photos below are from Friday night. Enjoy!

Red Crossbills at Warnimont Golf Course 7/22

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I heard my phone vibrating several times Saturday morning. I figured I’d better check it, since it is usually bird related that early. Sure enough, 17 Red Crossbills at Warnimont Golf Course parking lot! I grabbed my camera and quickly headed down there. By the time I arrived, they had already been feeding in the pine trees for almost an hour. I was able to watch them for about 15 minutes and then something scared all of the birds. I think a hawk was in the area, but I never saw it fly over. There is a Cooper’s Hawk nest about 50′ into the woods, north of the parking lot, so it could have been one of them. 3 flocks of crossbills left the trees very noisily and joined to form one flock, which I counted as 21. They flew NW out over the golf course and did not return. I tried using Merlin app to record their calls, but of course the one time I wanted it to work it doesn’t! It would only pick up Cedar Waxwings. It would have been nice to know what kind they were. It appears that crossbills are showing quite well in Wisconsin this summer, more than the usual breeding ones. My guess, the wildfires in Canada are the reason. Interesting to see how the winter finches show this year. Photos below are from the morning of 7/22. Enjoy!

’23 Spring Warbler Migration

Jeremy16 Comments

Despite having terrible weather conditions in May, to produce huge numbers of warblers, I still ended up with 36 warbler species. I just didn’t have very many big days, like I’m used to. We were stuck with E, NE or N winds for the majority of the warbler migration, thanks to our “great” Lake Michigan! Of the 36 warblers, 35 of them were in Milwaukee County. The lone one outside of Milwaukee County, was a Painted Redstart that showed up in Sauk County. I missed one, a Black-throated Gray Warbler that made an appearance at Wind Point Lighthouse in Racine, and only because I was busy that day. Most of the county parks were just average at best. Warnimont Park was producing rather solid numbers most days, like usual and is still my favorite spring warbler park. One little gem, that was basically the county hotspot, was Shorewood Nature Preserve. This tiny little park, nestled between a couple mansions in Shorewood, hosted some great birds including, Worm-eating Warbler, Cerulean Warbler, multiple Yellow-throated Warblers, Prairie Warbler, multiple Hooded Warblers, and a Louisiana Waterthrush. All of those warblers are great for the county. Lake Park hosted a couple of Connecticut Warblers, like it usually does. Warnimont Park also a had several, however viewing is better a Lake Park for them. This is a very large gallery of photos, but warblers are my favorite and I spend a lot of time with them in the spring. As always, I try for male and female, along with first spring birds, to show the varying plumages between them. It’s tough to get them all though. All of the photos below are from Milwaukee County, with the exception being the Painted Redstart. Enjoy!

American Redstart

Bay-breasted Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler

Blue-winged Warbler

Canada Warbler

Cape May Warbler

Cerulean Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Connecticut Warbler

Golden-winged Warbler

Hooded Warbler

Kentucky Warbler

Louisiana Waterthrush

Magnolia Warbler

Mourning Warbler

Nashville Warbler

Northern Parula

Northern Waterthrush

Orange-crowned Warbler

Ovenbird

Painted Redstart

Palm Warbler

Pine Warbler

Prairie Warbler

Prothonotary Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

Wilson’s Warbler

Worm-eating Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-throated Warbler

Sorry, no photos of these this spring, but I did see and hear them twice.

Red Knot at McKinley Beach 5/23/23

Jeremy4 Comments

A Red Knot was found this morning on McKinley Beach. This bird was just starting to get its reddish orange coloring in. It was very cool looking. If we get one in Milwaukee, its usually just the plain scaly gray with a slight buff coloring. As soon as I got the message about it, I left work to try for it. The beaches in Milwaukee County have been overtaken by joggers, dog walkers and metal detecting walkers! If we get shorebirds, it is at sunrise and then they don’t stay very long before being chased off by one of those 3 people/dogs. The good thing about McKinley Beach, it’s fenced off, so people don’t swim in the small cove, due to the constant riptides. Because of that, I figured there was a good chance it would stick around a few hours. I arrived just before 8am. I made my way to the fence and saw it was on the south end. I walked out to the middle of the beach and sat down by the water. Within 5 minutes it was walking towards me. It got as close as 25′ before turning around and working back the other direction. Heat distortion was already quite bad at that time, which is unusual for that early. I took over 600 photos and less than 20 turned out halfway decent. I knew it was an issue, which is why I took so many. I could hear the autofocus on my lens constantly searching, to lock on. I watched it feed up and down the shoreline a few times and that was good enough for me. I thought I might try in the afternoon when the lighting would be better, however I never made it back down there. Photos below are from the early morning. Enjoy!