American Flamingos… in WISCONSIN!!! 1st State Record!!!

Jeremy12 Comments

On Friday, around 11:20am I received a message in the Milwaukee RBA chat that there were 5 American Flamingos in Port Washington. Obviously, everyone went nuts on the group chat trying to figure out if this was real or not. Meanwhile, I was at work, so I immediately started cleaning up my tools and locked everything up for the day. I figured worst case; I would just turn around if it wasn’t real. About 40 messages later, several texts to friends, and 20 or so minutes, I was able to confirm it! 5 American Flamingos at South Beach in Port Washington, WOW!!! I was already halfway through Milwaukee when I received confirmation, so I’m glad I left right away. When I arrived, around 12:20pm, the parking lot was already full and there were at least 50 people on the beach, half of which were just local residents, who were in awe as well. Everyone there couldn’t believe what they were seeing! There was 3 adults (pink) and 2 hatch year (gray) birds. They were only about 40′ offshore which was even more crazy! They were so close and did not mind all the people. While I was there, they were mostly resting. They would occasionally lift their heads and walk around but that was about it. I had heard that they were eating some kind of food, but I’m not sure what it was though. They also took baths and preened. Then at 5:12pm, they took flight and have not been seen since. These birds were blown into the US from hurricane Idalia and made their way up to us through the south winds this past week. What an epic day in the bird world of Wisconsin! The photos below were taken on Friday 9/22. Enjoy!

Snowy Egret at Lincoln Park

Jeremy4 Comments

I received a “needs alert” email from eBird just past 12:30pm, that a Snowy Egret was seen at Lincoln Park, in Milwaukee. I cleaned up at work and made my way over there. I parked in the lot off Hampton Ave and walked to the river. I found it, about 300 yards north of the Hampton Ave bridge, where the river 3-ways around to the golf course. It was quite far away when I first saw it, so I thought I would try to get closer by going to the other shoreline, from the golf course side. There was no clear way to the river edge, so I ended up trucking through some thick wooded area before finding a deer runway that led to the river. When I popped out close to the shore, I was only about 100′ from the Egret. I’m not sure how I managed to get to the exact spot I needed, walking through what I did! I used the new Willow tree growth on the shoreline as a blind. I watched the bird for about 15 minutes, until it took flight East, around the tributary towards the golf course. When I first saw it from afar, it was actively feeding and moving around. Once I got closer, it wasn’t doing much, just preening and standing around. By the end of the afternoon, I heard it had moved Southeast down the river to Estabrook Park, near where the old damn used to be. Photos below are from early afternoon on 5/22. Enjoy!

White-faced Ibis at Horicon Marsh

Jeremy5 Comments

I was on the auto tour on Monday morning (5/24) watching the shorebirds, but it was foggy and not a very nice morning for pictures. I wanted to see the Red Knot though, so it was worth it. I looked at the weather and decided to come back again on Tuesday, as it was suppose to be better by 7ish. Of course it wasn’t, the weather report was wrong… shocker!!! With the southwest/west winds Monday night, I thought there was a chance to have some cool birds blow through. I arrived just past sunrise, but it was cloudy, so alas no sun. I sat down by the rocks on the drawn down pond that has been holding the shorebirds, pretty much in the same spot I was on Monday. They would move around quite a bit, but always came to the one spot that was closer to the road. It might take 20 to 30 minutes, but it was worth the wait each time! After an hour or so of sitting there, I hear a couple of strange calls coming from the right. I look over and here come 2 ibis flying in. They end up landing, just to the right of me, about 100′ away! I move my camera around, get them in focus and realize they are White-faced Ibis. Wow, that was unexpected! There was only one other person on the auto tour at that time, but they were way south, near the red rock and still in their vehicle. The two ibis fed for about 10 minutes before flying off to the north. I’m not even sure they saw me sitting there. If that wasn’t good enough, about an hour later, 2 Red-necked Phalarope and 1 Wilson’s Phalarope flew in, again landing right in front of me! What is going on??? All 3 were in full breeding plumage. I just got my lifer Red-necked Phalarope about a week prior, but it was far out and not in breeding plumage. By this time, there were a handful of vehicles on the road and numerous people walking by. Good thing the phalaropes were rather tame and did not spook every time the other shorebirds would move around. My day went from ok, to great, to amazing, all in about an hour and a half! Photos below are from the morning. Enjoy!