Flame-colored Tanager in Milwaukee 4/30/23!!!!!

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This mega rarity was found yesterday evening along the bluff at Sheridan Park, just behind the pond. I don’t think this species has ever been seen in the United States outside of Arizona or Texas. Even those sightings are limited as well. I arrived this morning about 5:45am. It took almost two hours before the bird finally showed. It was about 100 yards north of where it was seen yesterday evening. It was just feeding on the newly hatched midges, bouncing around the branches. It put on a spectacular show for about 15 minutes, only about 25′ in front of everyone. It was always at eye level or below, due to it being on the bluff. It certainly did not seem to mind all the binoculars and cameras pointed at it. The bird was still present when I left. However, I have since heard that it went down into the thickness of the brush on the bluff and out of sight. I will provide a pin to where it was seen. Hopefully it shows itself again, as I’m sure there are plenty of people waiting for it! Photos below are from early this morning. Enjoy!

*** update, as of 11:40am it was relocated to the south, by the old, paved service drive that goes to the beach. That is east of the playground, along the bluff. ***

*** update 2, it was still being seen as of last light, feeding along the bluff edge. It was back by the original location or the pin posted below. Good luck! ***

*** update 3, it is still being seen 5/2 at 8am, down on the bluff between the 2 northern most jetties. Good luck! ***

https://maps.app.goo.gl/smQE9He8jUbJFB9X8

Grasshopper Sparrow at Grant Park Beach 4/18/23

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A Grasshopper Sparrow was discovered near the Northern Mockingbird this morning at the Grant Park Beach. It was on the north side of the parking lot, along the tree line and out into the grass area. I stopped after work and it was still in the same general area. It moved around with several Dark-eyed Juncos and a couple American Robins. This bird is a little early for the year, and is the third good sparrow in the last five days in Milwaukee County. While not as rare as the last two, this one is still not as common. I really enjoy seeing this species each year. Photos below are from the afternoon. Enjoy!

Northern Mockingbird at Grant Park Beach 4/17/23

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After work today, I thought I’d head down to Grant Park and see if the feeder area had any good birds. When the weather is brutal, like it was this afternoon, the feeders usually host some good birds. On my way to the feeders, I stopped at the beach parking lot and decided to walk out to the concrete pier and see what was around. No more than 30′ from my truck and I find a Northern Mockingbird! I didn’t even bring my camera with me. I ran back to the truck and got it setup. I walked to where I last saw it but I could not find it. I figured it had to be in the grasses somewhere, so I walked towards the lake. As I walked farther, there is a gap between the grass dunes and there it was! So, I circled back around towards the parking lot, to try for a better view. As soon as I got over there, it flew right out in front of me and fed for several minutes. It was quite active, moving very fast over the grassy areas, feeding. It was hanging with 7 American Robins, 1 Savannah Sparrow and 1 Field Sparrow. I watched it go from the sandy area of the beach, all the way to the west side of parking lot and then across the outlet to the yacht club side. Eventually, it ended up on the parking lot side again. It was extremely windy and very chilly, especially compared to the last week of beautiful weather. This was a completely unexpected bird for the day, which makes it all the more rewarding. Photos below are from the afternoon. Enjoy!

Louisiana Waterthrush at Grant Park 4/11/23

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Late Monday evening, a Louisiana Waterthrush was found singing along the creek. It was in the creek that runs northwest from Seven Bridges at Grant Park. On Tuesday, I left work around 1130am, as I wanted to try for it. This is one of my favorite warblers and can be easily missed in spring. They usually pass through our area from middle to late April. As I was walking down the stairs, I saw one of my friends, who had just seen it up the creek. I made my way up and found it all the way towards Lake Dr. It then circled around me and went down creek. It was not very cooperative at first. I spent three hours waiting for it in several spots, before finally getting some close, excellent looks at it. I watched it feed for quite a while and it amazes me how it can grab the teeny tiny worms from a fast moving creek. It happens so fast, and I would not have known it was catching them without capturing it on photo. It was seen again early this morning, but several others failed to relocate it after that. There are a few creeks in that area, so it’s possible it just moved to another one. Seven Bridges has a lot of foot traffic, especially when the weather is nice, like the last few days. The coordinates below are approximately where I watched it for the majority of the time. It also came back to this location several times. Good luck if you try for it. Photos below are from mid-day Tuesday. Enjoy!

42.924494, -87.848741

2022 Wisconsin Butterflies

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This is a “year in review” photo gallery, of the different butterflies I photographed in Wisconsin this past year. 2022 was an amazing year for some of the rare or uncommon strays to our state, especially in Milwaukee County. Those included Marine Blue, Reakirt’s Blue, Common Checkered Skipper, California Tortoiseshell, Gray Hairstreak and Variegated Fritillary. When looking at the photos, if you are interested to see where a specific butterfly was seen, please navigate to the individual pages from the gallery page. You can do that by clicking on Butterflies and choosing a the one you want to see. Also, there is a great website for Wisconsin butterflies, that has photos for each specie and a description to help ID them. In addition, you can submit your sightings throughout the year. That website is, Home — wisconsinbutterflies.org. Enjoy!

‘Summer’ Spring Azure

American Copper

American Lady

American Snout

Aphrodite Fritillary

Appalachian Brown

Baltimore Checkerspot

Banded Hairstreak

Black Swallowtail

Bronze Copper

Cabbage White

Clouded Sulphur

Common Buckeye


Common Wood-Nymph

Coral Hairstreak

Delaware Skipper

Dun Skipper

Eastern Comma

Eastern Tailed-Blue

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Edward’s Hairstreak

European Skipper

Eyed Brown

Fiery Skipper

Gray Comma

Gray Copper

Gray Hairstreak

Great Spangled Fritillary

Hackberry Emperor

‘Karner’ Melissa Blue

Least Skipper

Little Glassywing

Little Wood-Satyr

Long Dash

Marine Blue

Meadow Fritillary

Monarch

Mourning Cloak

Mulberry Wing

Northern Broken-Dash

Northern Cloudywing

Northern Crescent

Northern Pearly-eye

Orange Sulphur

Pearl Crescent

Peck’s Skipper

Purplish Copper

Question Mark

Reakirt’s Blue

Red Admiral

Red-spotted Purple

Sachem

Silver-spotted Skipper

Silvery Checkerspot

Tawny-edged Skipper

Variegated Fritillary

Viceroy

Wild Indigo Duskywing

Zebra Swallowtail

Beautiful Mandarin Duck in Milwaukee 12/29/22

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Yesterday afternoon, a beautiful male Mandarin Duck was photographed at South Shore Yacht Club in Bayview. I thought I would head down at sunrise today and see if it was still around. It was! This is an incredibly gorgeous bird! About 5 minutes after I arrived, all of the ducks took off and flew to the other side of the breakwall. Turns out, a Peregrine Falcon came in from the north and I didn’t see it at first, but the birds always see predators right away. Within 20 minutes, the ducks all came back and so did the Mandarin Duck. As soon as they landed, a Bald Eagle came circling in from the north. They got up, flew around but came right back. The eagle landed on the rocks of the breakwall, and never bothered the ducks. For the next couple of hours, it moved about between the water and the shore. A great morning to be out! Photos below are from today. Enjoy!

’22 Deer Rut in Milwaukee County

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I spent a couple weeks driving around the county parks looking for deer. I follow the Wisconsin rut report and communicate with a bunch of my friends, who are hunters, to get a fairly detailed timeline of what to expect. This year, at least for the Milwaukee area, the second weekend of November was peak. At this point, the buck would walk right out in the open, with almost no attention paid to people. It is quite awesome to be less than 100′ from some of these massive animals. During the weekdays, I go out after work and drive around until 5ish, when it gets too dark for pictures. On the weekends, I start before sunrise and stay out until I don’t see them any longer. Sometimes though, they are moving all day long! I saw at least 20 different buck (of all sizes) and over 20 doe. This is my second year doing this and it is a blast! The photos below are just some of the pictures I took. I have the different buck grouped together, kind of in order. All 20 are in this post. If you would like to see more of the photos I took and edited, click on the “White-tailed Deer” link below, and you will be taken to the gallery page. Enjoy!

White-tailed Deer

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!

Eared Grebe at Sheridan Park Bluff 10/16/22

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An Eared Grebe was spotted along the shore of Lake Michigan, just below the bluff of Sheridan Park on Sunday 10/16. It was staying very close to the shoreline and sometimes hard to see from above. I decided to walk down the service road to the shoreline. I walked north from there about 100 yards, and it was swimming and diving between two of the jetties. I sat down on the rocky beach area and watched it for about 15 minutes. It was actively diving the entire time. After several dives, it popped up fairly close to me, stared me down and dove again. Every time it would go down and come up, then look at me and continue about its business. This bird appears to be a hatch year and in a plumage I have not seen before. I’m glad that it was reported and stuck around for the day. Enjoy!

Eastern Whip-poor-will in Milwaukee 9/26/22

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Yesterday an Eastern Whip-poor-will was found at the Northwestern Mutual Building downtown. It was probably a window strike during the night and flushed up in the morning, to sit on a ledge of the building. Later in the day, I saw a rare bird report that someone found it sitting in a Maple Tree. It was on my way home, so I decided to see if I could find it. I figured it couldn’t be that hard to find. I haven’t been there in a while and when I arrived, I realized just about every tree there was a Maple! I walked towards the building and then a little east, walking along the concrete walkway, and then turned to the south and there it was! I thought to myself, “wow that was easy!” Very rarely does it ever work out like that. It was only about 10′ off the ground and very cooperative. I had to walk back to my truck and grab my small lens, as it was way too close for the 600mm. There were several angles that provided decent views, but still covered by leaves. It’s been decades since I’ve seen one and I have never photographed one. It was still being seen today, but in a different tree. Today, it was about 25′ up on a dead branch, somewhat blocked by leaves from below, still camouflaged enough to be hidden. Enjoy!