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!

Worm-eating Warbler, Northern Waterthrush & Ovenbird in May ’22

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Worm-eating Warbler is uncommon in Wisconsin. However, I think Milwaukee County has gotten one the last several years. This year I saw two! One was along a creek at Whitnall Park (5/9), and the other was singing at Warnimont Park (5/15) in the wooded area, east of hole #6. I was able to track down the one at Warnimont and sneak quietly within 25′ of him. I watched him eat spiders, caterpillars and midges, and was also constantly singing. The song is a dry, almost insect-like trill, similar to Chipping Sparrow. It was very hard to get wide open views of him though, as he stayed very low and in patches of thick brush. I still managed decent photos considering the thickets and it was the first time I was able to get one singing, which I love. Northern Waterthrush & Ovenbird are very common in Wisconsin, especially in Milwaukee County during migration. On 5/1, I had 10 Northern Waterthrush and 9 on 5/10, both at Whitnall Park. They can be found anywhere near any kind of water. They are usually singing throughout the entire day. There are many variations of the song, but for the most part it is a loud, ringing, three-part sweet sweet sweet swee wee wee chew chew chew chew. I find that they are very skittish, unless you’re standing still, and they fly and land near you. As soon as you move though, so do they. As for Ovenbird, I had 7 on 5/9 and 6 on 5/10, both at Whitnall Park as well. Ovenbird is found walking the forest floor, picking through leaves and downed branches, looking for insects. They sing a rather loud song, starting quieter and getting louder with each note. It is a rapid, resounding tea-cher, Tea-cher, TEA-cher, TEA-CHER. The photos below were taken in May. Enjoy!

Worm-eating Warbler

Northern Waterthrush

Ovenbird

Chestnut-sided, Black-and-white, Black-throated Green & Magnolia Warblers Spring ’22

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These four warblers are very common in the Milwaukee area during spring migration, and this year was excellent for them. All of them can be found almost anywhere. They are so abundant that I usually see males, females and first spring birds of each. I really enjoy photographing the different plumages of them all as well. Each photo in this post, as is in every post, labeled (male, female or 1st spring) if you click on them. This way you can check to see if you know the correct plumages of each. A Chestnut-sided Warbler arrived on 4/25, the first of the two consecutive fallout days at Warnimont Park. I think this will be a record early arrival for the state. On 5/11 at Warnimont, I had 45 of them and on 5/15 I had 32. Chestnut-sided Warblers sing short fast song sounding like, pleased, pleased, pleased to meetcha! I saw my first Black-and-white Warbler on 4/24, and numbers continued to grow until 5/11 when I found 27 at Warnimont. These warblers are usually found working along dead branches or tree trunks like a nuthatch or creeper. They sing a high-pitched, repetitive weesy, weesy, weesy, which may be difficult for some to hear. It is a very pretty song. I also saw my first Black-throated Green Warbler on 4/24 and my big day for them was also on 5/11, with 39. These warblers are constantly singing in spring and very easy to pick out. It is a rather loud, zee zee zee zee zo zee. I didn’t have my first Magnolia Warbler until 5/8 and on 5/11, I had 42 at Warnimont Park. I also had 33 on 5/15 at Warnimont as well. I find Magnolia Warblers, along with Chestnut-sided to have the most variable spring plumage, most likely because so many pass through the area. I see lots of females and first spring birds with both. Magnolia Warblers sing a very short song that is a whistled weta, weta, WETA, with last note being the loudest. All photos below are from the last 5 weeks in Milwaukee County. Enjoy! 

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Canada, Hooded & Wilson’s Warblers Spring ’22

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Canada Warbler is my favorite! I love the color combination and their beautiful song. This was an excellent spring for them as well. My big day for them was on 5/15, when I saw 12 at Warnimont. They can be found just about anywhere, I usually see them in the low, thicker shrubs. Their song is a loud rapid warble of notes. Canada Warblers also linger late to the end of May. The Hooded Warbler is a very striking bird when seeing in the field. The black that surrounds the males face is very bold and unmistakable! Unfortunately, they aren’t very common, however there seems to be a decent amount that pass through Milwaukee County each spring. Warnimont Park in particular, gets one every year behind the archery range, which I’m willing to bet is the same one each year. This year, he showed up very early, 4/25 along with a bunch of other warblers that day, in our fallout at that park. He continued there for the next two days and was even joined by another as well. They have a very pretty song as well that is a clear weeta-weeta-weet-tee-o. On 5/1, I had a very cooperative female at Whitnall Park. She was along a creek in the middle of the park. Wilson’s Warblers are usually a little later, like the Canada and stay longer. There were lots of them this spring, as usual with 9 being seen on 5/11. 5/15 was also a great day with 8. Both of those days were at Warnimont Park. Photos below are from the last month in Milwaukee County. Enjoy!

Canada Warbler

Hooded Warbler

Wilson’s Warbler