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!
Rare Sparrows at Grant Park Beach Area 10/6/20
I was at Sheridan Park this afternoon, but not much was going on. There were a ton of butterflies though, so I decided to head over to the Grant Park Beach area. It can be very good for butterflies, along the south side of the parking lot. As soon as I got out of the truck, I hear “hey!” I look over and Lorri is telling me she just had a Harris’s Sparrow. I started walking the area that she saw it, but could not relocate it. After about 30 minutes, I was watching several Yellow-rumped Warblers feeding on the ground, and in flies the Harris’s Sparrow and lands right in front me! It hung out in the grass, near a clump of trees, on the west side of the parking lot. I continued walking around and in the flowering area on the south side of the parking lot, I scared up a Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow! Wow, two rare sparrows within 100′ of each other! I started off looking for butterflies and ended up watching rare birds, funny how that works sometimes. There were a bunch of Yellow-rumped and Palm Warblers, mostly feeding on the ground. I also had approximately 35 Pine Siskins, one flock of about 20 flew south and 15 or so remained in the tree tops to the northwest. All images below are from this afternoon. Enjoy!
Golden-crowned Sparrow in Calumet County 4/9/20
A Golden-crowned Sparrow has been visiting a private residence since 4/4/20. The homeowners are very nice and welcoming to people looking for the bird. I had a chance to go on Thursday afternoon, 4/9. I arrived to the house at 3:15pm and after about 40 minutes, the bird finally showed under the juniper tree. The bird ate a few seeds and disappeared. It looked like it just went up into the juniper and hid. The brief view I had was with terrible lighting, very dark under the tree and bright sunlight around it. I wasn’t very happy with the looks that I had, so I decided to wait and see if it would come out again. After another 35 minutes or so, it did come out again, but this time stayed out in the open for about five minutes or so, providing me excellent views. It flew off with a group of juncos and I decided to leave. A great afternoon, getting to see a life bird! Images below are from the day. Enjoy!
