Piping Plover in Milwaukee

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A Piping Plover showed up at McKinley Beach on Tuesday. It stuck around into the next day, but moved on by midday, presumably south. I was down there very late in the evening, with little light. For the most part it hung out in the corner, feeding and walking around. It called a few times, but I think that was because the gulls were getting too close. With about 30 minutes of light left, it moved a little further down the beach and about 20′ from the water’s edge to lay down for the night. It blends right into the sand and even when looking for it, it was nearly impossible to see. A friend sent the band info to the site www.greatlakespipingplover.org for data recording. This is the info he got back, “Thanks for sharing this sighting and photo! This is a 2-year-old female that hatched at Sleeping Bear Dunes. We call her PoNY for her pink, brown and yellow band combo. She had a nest on North Manitou Island at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore this year. Unfortunately, she lost her mate to a Merlin, when her 3 chicks were still very young. The chicks survived for a week and a half but then disappeared. Hopefully she will have better luck next year! It appears she is head south for a rest and vacation for the non-breeding season.” That explains the mid-summer sighting in Milwaukee. While it’s always nice to see these birds in county, it’s too bad this sighting had to be at that expense. Photos below are from 7/2. Enjoy!

Red Knot at McKinley Beach 5/23/23

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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!

Purple Sandpiper at LSSP 9/15/22

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I had just walked down the waterfall ravine at Lake Park to search for a Louisiana Waterthrush, when I received a text from a friend. It said, “at Lakeshore State Park”. I assumed a photo was coming next. When it finally came through, I clicked on it and said to myself, “Wow, our second Purple Sandpiper of the year!” This one was different though. Instead of the usual adults in winter plumage, this was a hatch year bird! I had never seen one before, so I quickly made my way back to the truck and headed down the street to LSSP. It was on the south end of the park feeding on the rocks, near the water’s edge. It was kind of hidden and not a good angle to the sun, so I walked out onto the large rocks to the very edge. I still couldn’t see it from that angle, but just stood and waited, hoping it would come around the rock that was blocking it. After several minutes, it flew right towards me and looked like it was going to land on the rock I was standing on! It saw me and looped around, landing only 25′ away. It looked at me, trying to figure out what I was, since I wasn’t moving and wearing a bright green shirt. A few waves crashed on it and then it started feeding. I watched it at close range for about 5 minutes and then it flew back to the original rock it was on. Guess I was really lucky that day! Photos below are from 9/15. Enjoy!

Baird’s Sandpiper at Lakeshore State Park 9/7/21

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I was out chasing warblers at Warnimont Park yesterday evening, when I saw an eBird hourly report of a Buff-breasted Sandpiper in Milwaukee. The location was inaccurate and the only details were “along the lakefront”. Since I had only 14 warbler species and it was rather slow for songbirds, I decided to head down to LSSP, and see if that was the location for it. On my way, photos were posted of the buffy and it sure appeared to be LSSP. When I arrived behind the Summerfest grounds, I could see people on the beach and a dog in the water, which is a terrible combo for shorebirds! I looked through my binoculars and could see a bird along the waters edge. I walked out and got to the beach, the bird had just flown from the other side, to right in front of me, how convenient! The sun was setting and the lighting was terrible. I tried to position myself to better the light, but it really wasn’t possible. I got setup and started taking photos. I immediately knew this was NOT a Buff-breasted Sandpiper, but rather a Baird’s Sandpiper. Sometime in the hour and a half from original sighting to me getting there, the buffy left and was replaced by a Baird’s. I was ok with that, because I did not have one for the county on the year. The bird was extremely tame, like most sandpipers, if you sit still around them. I watched it feed for about 30 minutes. A Green Heron also came flying in and walked around the beach for a little while. At one point, it seemed like it was going to chase the Baird’s. The Baird’s ran around him and I had to stand up, which flushed the heron across the water. Towards the end of viewing, a few friends joined and it was nice to chat for a little while. It was a beautiful evening with a spectacular sunset. Enjoy!

Black-bellied Plover at Lakeshore State Park 9/3/21

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I received a text this afternoon, there was a Black-bellied Plover at LSSP. I didn’t go at first, but then realized I did not have one for the year. I got down there just before 5pm. I walked out to the beach area and couldn’t find it. I thought I missed out. Then I saw movement right by the two signs in the middle of the beach, close to the water. It was using them as cover. I guess I had never seen that before down there, so I wasn’t expecting it. I walked close to the water and sat on the ground. It was casually walking around and feeding, moving slowly. This was a hatch year bird and for probably never seeing people before, was really tame. It walked right up to me, as close as six feet! At the same time a young Great Blue Heron landed fairly close and walked right past me in the water. It’s crazy how close those two birds were from me! I just sat there, didn’t move and watched them, as they were too close for photos. I watched the plover for about 30 minutes. It didn’t do much or move too far, but would occasionally pick in the pebbles for food. Summerfest was going on and there was a lot of loud music coming from all around. Surprisingly, it didn’t seem too bothered by any of it. Another cool bird for the day. Enjoy!

Red Knot at Bradford Beach 9/3/21

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I started my day a McKinley Beach, just passed sunrise. I was hoping to see a Baird’s Sandpiper, as a few had been seen the previous days. However, there were only Sanderlings, Semipalmated Sandpipers and Semipalmated Plovers, to be found. My next stop was Bradford Beach. I parked in the lot on the south end, looked through my binoculars and didn’t see anything. I sent out a text about nothing on the beach and received one back that there were a few Sanderlings on the far northern end, along with a slightly larger one, that was buffy toned. I had a feeling of what it was, so I drove to the other side and parked. I just took my binoculars with me, instead of lugging my camera to confirm and sure enough it was a Red Knot! I quickly went back to the car and grabbed my camera (should’ve just brought it right away). I walked out to water and sat on a rock. It was kind of working its way to the south, so I just waited. There were plenty of joggers, walkers and dog, that I knew it would be moving around quite a bit. After 20 minutes or so, there were several of us watching now, it flew right in to us with some Sanderlings. It was probably only 30′ away, and coming towards us. There were also 36 Sanderlings running around too, with some of them coming closer then ten feet. Eventually, the Red Knot came that close as well, so close that it was below my minimum focus distance (14.75′)! Always fun when the shorebirds walk right up to everyone. The beach was very busy this morning and I don’t think the bird was seen past 840ish. It was nice to have a day off and see a rare bird! Pictures below are from this morning. Enjoy!

Snowy Plover in Milwaukee County 7/22/21

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I received a text from a friend this evening about a Piping Plover on the South Metro Pier Beach, in Oak Creek. I didn’t get to see one in spring, so I went down there quickly. I walked down to the beach and found it right away. I took a distant doc photo, just in case it would take off. It didn’t look right to me, though. I walked closer and got a pretty good look at it and realized it was not a Piping Plover, but rather a Snowy Plover! Wow, completely unexpected!!! I just got my lifer in Florida, this past February. This was an adult bird in breeding plumage, very beautiful. It was running up and down the beach, feeding among the washed up algae. It was rather skittish, although several times came right past the front of me. Hopefully it will stick around for others to see it. Pictures below are from this evening. Enjoy!

Ruddy Turnstone at Grant Park Beach 5/16

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A single Ruddy Turnstone, in full breeding plumage, showed up at the Grant Park Beach this morning. Actually it was on the sandbar area between the yacht club and the Grant Beach. It was just hanging out with the 75 or so Caspian Terns and handful of gulls. It didn’t do much while I was there, walked up and down the beach a few times and ran up into the sand to preen. At one point all of the terns and gulls spooked from something and flew up, out over the water. The turnstone stood up high on it’s feet and looked around, then squatted down and continued looking up. I thought it would take off but didn’t, and continued walking along the waters edge. I love seeing these birds in spring, always a treat! Pictures below are from the morning. Enjoy!

Fall Shorebird Migration 2020

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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!

Red Knot in Milwaukee 9/3/19

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A juvenile Red Knot took a southern migration break at Lakeshore State Park on 9/2/19. I didn’t hear about it until the next day, when a friend asked me for an ID on a shorebird. I took a look at the photos and to my surprise, it was a Red Knot! I immediately text my group of bird friends, and said it might be worth checking the beach in case it hung around. Usually they don’t and are only one day birds, or even only around several hours. One of them said they could be there within the hour and check it out. A little while later, received a text saying, “it was still there!”. Now I had a choice to make, leave work, race down there and go back to work or work faster, get done sooner and leave early… I stayed and left early. I got down the park about 1:30pm and it was still around. I walked over to the beach area and laid on ground and waited for it to walk over to me. After about 10 minutes or so, it was right in front of me, feeding on the water’s edge. It was a very tame bird, considering it has probably never seen people before. It actually even took a brief, one minute nap, only 15′ from me! At one point, it was only about 5′ from me. It was so close, I slowly slid out my cell phone and recorded video of it. It’s always nice to be able to see a rarity so close! The pictures below are from the day.