A male Connecticut Warbler was singing in the locust ravine yesterday morning for several hours. I had already seen two for the year, but thought I would try to get photos, since it’s a much smaller area to forage in and less area to hide in. When I was walking up to the spot it was last reported, I heard it sing twice. I quickly got eyes on it, in the thick brush behind the stage. I would say that for Connecticut Warbler it was rather cooperative, considering they usually walk about on the ground, but he was walking in the branches grabbing midges off them. There was also a male Mourning Warbler with him, so sometimes it was tough trying to track the Connecticut. I was able to get a few, what I would call, decent shots for that bird. He then flew to the other side of the ravine and I went around and up, hopefully for a better look. I was walking across the wooden bridge, and noticed he was in the branches, a few feet off the ground. I was able to get an excellent look at him, for 20 seconds or so. I spent a little over two hours there and had 25 warbler species. There were 6 Mourning and 6 Canada Warblers, in the locust ravine area! I didn’t check anywhere else in the park, but it was quite active. Pictures below are from the morning. Enjoy!
Orioles and Grosbeaks at Whitnall Park
In addition to the wonderful selection of warblers this past week at Whitnall Park, there have been a lot of orioles and grosbeaks. They have also been in the flowering trees, picking at the buds, petals and eating insects and worms or caterpillars. Baltimore Orioles have been busy building nests too, with one hanging over the waterfall creek, in the large willow tree. I found a Rose-breasted Grosbeak nest in an apple tree, too. I’m not sure if they are incubating yet, but both the male and female take turns on the nest, so I assume they are. An Orchard Oriole has been around the last couple days as well. He sings from the flowering trees and is quite skittish, as they usually are. These trees have sure produced the birds this spring, which has been a pleasant surprise. All of the photos below are from the past week at Whitnall Park. Enjoy!
Baltimore Oriole
Orchard Oriole
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Black-throated Blue Warbler and more… at Whitnall Park
The Black-throated Blue Warbler that has been at Whitnall Park for the last week, finally decided to put on a show in front of several people! He was singing away in the white flowering tree just east of the bridge. Singing and eating, dropping all the way down to the water, before continuing to the other side. He went in the downed tree overhanging the creek. He even took a little break, right in front of everyone, closing his eyes for a minute or so. After the short break, he continued singing and up creek he went. Up until then, he had been relatively elusive. Perfect timing to enjoy a beautiful bird! He was still being seen as of today (5/10).
Spotted Towhee in Milwaukee County 1/9/21
I got my lifer Spotted Towhee less than two months ago, a beautiful male in Ozaukee County. Then two days ago, a female is found in Milwaukee County, at Greenfield Park! Someone who doesn’t belong to any group or use eBird, had a picture on his camera and showed it to someone who is, saying he thought it was a Spotted Towhee. Sure enough it was! It was confirmed Friday afternoon just before dark. So I thought I would try for it right away Saturday morning. It was being seen on the east side of the park, near the waterfall on the little pond. There is some seed thrown out, under a few trees and it’s attracting a decent variety of birds, including the towhee. I got there around 8 a.m. and friends that were already there said it showed very briefly about 7:30. With it nowhere in sight, I decided to take a walk behind the pond to the railroad tracks and look around back there. I had also heard a Carolina Wren singing from back that way, so hoped to see that as well. I couldn’t find either, so I walked back to the feeding area. I was standing there talking with a few friends and it flew in from behind us, landing in the very thick brushy area. After a few minutes, she popped out and gave very good views for at least 10 minutes. Then she flew up into the trees and flew back behind the pond, into the wooded area. A beautiful bird and a great chilly morning with friends. Since I now have very good photos of both the male and female, I’ll include the male photos from just over a month ago, so you can see the difference between the two. Enjoy!
Male from Ozaukee County 11/27/20
Spring Warbler Migration 2020
The spring migration was incredible for warblers in Milwaukee! We had some very good rarities and several amazing days. On 4/23, there was a Worm-eating Warbler and a Louisiana Warbler at Whitnall Park. That was a perfect way to kickoff the spring warblers! Then on the 27th, there was a Yellow-throated Warbler at the Wind Point Lighthouse. On Friday night 5/1, into Saturday 5/2, the winds were out of the south and the damn broke loose!!! I went to Warnimont Park in the morning, and spent over 13 hours there! I had 100 total species and 21 warblers, including a Brewster’s Warbler (Blue-winged x Golden-winged), 2 Hooded Warblers and big numbers of all the others. On Sunday 5/3, I ended up with 18 warbler species. The next two days were rather slow, but a few nice single birds were being seen. I had a Hooded Warbler in the same area for 5 days. I thought he might be on territory, but there was no sign of him later on in spring. On 5/5, around 9 a.m. an email came through saying a Black-throated Gray Warbler has been seen along the Menomonee River Parkway. I quickly left Whitnall Park and shot over there. Within 30 minutes, there were at least 15 of us searching the area. After another 30 minutes or so, Mark yelled, “got it!”. Everyone hurried over and there he was, working along the ground on the opposite side of the river. Life bird for me! The next 4 days were just so-so. We kind of got stuck in a bad weather pattern and nothing new came in. However, on 5/8, I was at Whitnall Park and it was snowing!!! It was definitely strange to be watching warblers in a snow storm! It didn’t last very long, but fun while it did. On 5/10, the weather changed! I had 19 warblers at Whitnall Park that day and the next. 5/12 provided some excitement, I had excellent looks at a Cerulean Warbler, along with a total of 18 warblers for the day. The next week 5/13-5/18, along the creek at the Wehr Nature Center (Whitnall Park) was just insane! There were warblers everywhere!!! I had posted several reports about how good it was previous days and apparently people took my advice. I would say at any given time there were at least 20-30 people walking up and down the creek watching these beautiful songbirds. The bonus of Wehr Nature Center at Whitnall Park, you can get within a few feet of most birds. They fly around you, almost like an aviary! When it’s as good as it was this past spring, they will fly within inches of you! One particular day, it was so amazing at the logjam, there were at least 30 warblers catching mayflies out of the air or grabbing them from the water and ground. A male Bay-breasted Warbler was so tame, he would hop around between your feet searching for the mayflies and other insects. I told a woman (Amanda) there to put a couple of the mayflies in her hand and hold them out. The Bay-breasted landed on her hand and grabbed them! Pretty awesome experience. I was in the 20’s every day for warbler species during that time and on 5/16, I had 27 warbler species. That day was incredible! I had 1 Connecticut, 2 Prothonotary, 4 Mourning, 6 Black-throated Blue and 8 Blackburnian Warblers. I also totaled 107 species for the day, in a little over 9 hours. I spent so much time at Whitnall Park this spring because it was so awesome, I didn’t get too much time at my other local spring hotspots. However, on the 19th at Grant Park, I had another Yellow-throated Warbler, and a total of 24 warbler species. It continued great through the 24th with 20+ warblers seen each day. In early June, I went up to Adams County and saw 2 Prairie Warblers and 7 Kirtland’s Warblers. Both of those were killer birds to finish up the spring with! The sheer numbers of birds this past spring was amazing. I had several birders tell me this was how it used to be years ago. One can only hope we get to enjoy more spring migrations like this. I ended up with 36 warbler species for the spring. I took over 50,000 photos in May, which is why I’m just getting this report posted. I wish I would have had more time to do it in the summer. All of the photos in this post are from the spring this year. I always try for male and female, along with first spring birds and behavior shots. They are labeled as such too. If there are not any photos under a name, it’s because I missed out. However, if you click on the smaller name, it will take you to its page so you can at least see prior photos of them. Enjoy!!!
American Redstart
Bay-breasted Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blue-winged Warbler
Brewster’s Warbler (blue-winged x golden-winged)
Canada Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Connecticut Warbler
Golden-winged Warbler
Hooded Warbler
Kirtland’s Warbler
Louisiana Waterthrush
Magnolia Warbler
Mourning Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Northern Waterthrush
Orange-crowned Warbler
Ovenbird
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Prothonotary Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Wilson’s Warbler
Worm-eating Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow at Juneau Lagoon 9/23/20
We got very lucky this year with Nelson’s Sparrows in Milwaukee. We might get one or two somewhere along the lake, during migration, but this year we had 4 on 9/23 and 13 on 9/28! They were continuing for over a week. The Juneau lagoon is extremely high with water this year. On the east side, the flooded area, created a nice swampy, muddy area, that attracted numerous birds, including these rare sparrows. The best part about it was the sparrows, which are normally very sulky, came right out on the mud flats and gave great unobstructed views! They were eating little red worms, among other insects. These are very beautiful birds and it was extremely pleasant to get to observe them like this. You can also click on the name below, to go directly to the Nelson’s Sparrow page for more photos. Images below are from 9/23. Enjoy!
Pine Siskins in My Yard 10/7/20
I’ve had Pine Siskins at my house since 9/23. The number seems to grow a little each day. I’m guessing there are over 60 right now! I counted 42 on the ground at one time and could still hear and see them flying around my trees. I figured I would photograph them today, since they were so active at my feeding areas. Usually a few come down, but the majority stay up in the maples or arborvitaes. Not today though, as most were eating thistle seed. After eating they fly to drink water and then back to the tree tops. Some of them are extremely yellow, more than I’ve ever seen on siskins. Having that many around, you really get the variation in color between each one. Some show very little yellow, others a decent amount and still others show more whitish than brown. I have quite a few images, but they show the variation I was talking about. All images are from today. Enjoy!
Fall Shorebird Migration 2020
For the most part, I do the majority of my picture taking in the Milwaukee area. The last few years have not been very good here for shorebirds though, this year included. We did get several Buff-breasted Sandpipers at Lakeshore State Park, which were awesome! There was also a Stilt Sandpiper in a flooded field off County Line Rd. We got two there in spring as well. The hotspot around me this migration season was the Wind Lake Sod Farms. There was an Upland Sandpiper, 10+ Buff-breasted Sandpipers, over 30 American Golden Plovers, several Black-bellied Plovers, a few Semipalmated Plovers, hundreds of Killdeer, 10+ Baird’s Sandpipers, 1 Sanderling and several Least, Pectoral and Semipalmated Sandpipers. Most of the birds provided great looks, with a little patience. I think they had certain areas closer to the roads, that were turned over, creating good close spots for the birds this year. All the photos below were taken in August and September. Enjoy!
23 Warbler Species at Whitnall Park 5/13
Today was excellent at Whitnall Park, with 23 warbler species seen including several uncommon. Hooded, Mourning, Golden-winged, Blackburnian and Black-throated Blue Warblers were the highlights. The Mourning Warbler has been along the creek for the last four days a week now. It has been the most cooperative Mourning Warbler I have ever seen. I also saw 2 Black-throated Blue and 2 Blackburnian Warblers. I watched a Hooded Warbler fly around like crazy, eating insects and may flies for about 20 minutes, then go sit on a branch and fall asleep for a few minutes. Very cool to see. I usually find Golden-winged Warblers hopping around the ground, hunting for spiders. Today was exactly that. They look for the dried, curled up leaves and then stick the head inside and pull out insects, mostly spiders. It’s quite a site to see. There are multiple of all of the common warblers and double digit of a few. Most have been feeding on the ground or flying around catching insects, only several few feet of the ground. Yesterday, a female Cerulean Warbler came out and fed for about 20 minutes, providing some nice views as well. It looks like the next few days are going to be very good for some new birds. Hopefully this continues! Images below are from today. Enjoy!
Black-throated Gray Warbler in Milwaukee County 5/5/20
A beautiful male Black-throated Gray Warbler has been seen the last couple days along the Menomonee River Parkway, although it hadn’t been publicly reported until today. As soon as I saw the email come through, I went straight there. After the short ride over, I started searching for it. Several minutes later I was joined by many and we continued to look. He was finally found, along the western bank of the river! There was also a nice variety of warblers hanging with it, including 1 Tennessee, 3 Orange-crowned, 1 Black-and-white, 1 Palm and 1 Yellow Warbler. What a Stunning bird, and a life bird for me! Images below are from today. Enjoy!
