warblers in wisconsin – Page 5 – Jeremy Meyer Photography

2019 Spring Warbler Migration

July 10, 2019July 11, 2019 Jeremy6 Comments

It was another fantastic spring for warblers, in Milwaukee County. The weather was not very good, with most days being cloudy. Things started out fairly early, with 13 warbler species coming through the area April 20th-26th, along with some nice mild weather. Then it turned back to the classic weather pattern of northeast winds every day for the next couple weeks. It wasn’t until May 5th, that we got another decent push of new warblers. From then on, the weather didn’t really cooperate, but the warblers did! I had 20+ species every day for the next two weeks. May 15th was by far the best day for species and numbers of warblers. I was stuck at work early in the day, but left by noon and stopped at Doctor’s Park. It was really good there, but for some reason, every random person in the park felt the need to come up to me and ask what I was taking pictures of. That doesn’t really help when I’m trying to sneak around and get close to them. So, I left and went to Lake Park. From 2:30-7:30pm, I had 99 species and 27 warblers. I think it was the best single day that I’ve seen, in my life. Every tree had 10 or more warblers, and not just Yellow-rumped or Palm. It was absolutely incredible that day. For the spring, I ended up with 34 species, including 3 sub-species. All of them were seen in Milwaukee, except one, which was the Kirtland’s Warbler (Adams County). I think my best find this spring was a beautiful male Yellow-throated Warbler. I put my binoculars on him and said his name in my head and moved on to the next warbler. Then I was like, wait a minute, what??? I got him in view again and couldn’t believe it, it really was one! On top of that, he even gave me some good photo ops. I found him at Grant Park (Wil-o-Way), around 6pm on May 6th. A few other cool finds were a Brewster’s Warbler on May 15th, at Lake Park, and a odd Palm Warbler at Warnimont Park on May 7th. Instead of it being yellow in the face and neck, it was orange! I have never seen anything like it. I also had two big misses this spring, a Prairie and a Kentucky Warbler, both seen on days that I was at the parks. I took over 30,000 photos again this spring, trying to capture the warblers in their most natural state, whether it’s eating, preening, bathing or singing. I also try to get both male and female of each and sometimes I get lucky with first spring birds that are just starting to show their colors. I have a lot of photos below, so take your time when going through them, to see the differences between males, females, and first year birds, as well as some behavior/action shots. I will list each warbler that I saw this spring, which you can also click on to go to their page, for an extended gallery. Hope you enjoy!

Whitnall Park Warblers 4/22/19

April 22, 2019April 28, 2019 Jeremy2 Comments

Warblers are starting to arrive in Wisconsin! Yellow-rumped Warblers have been around for a couple weeks, but numbers are really starting to build now. Today, I had 14, just along the creek north of the waterfall. A Louisiana Waterthrush was flying up and down the creek, and an early Nashville Warbler made an appearance at the logjam, in the evening. A Palm Warbler and Black-throated Green Warbler were also seen today, but I missed them. Pine Warblers were seen a few days ago, too. I ended the day with 46 species, just along Kelly Creek. Warbler migration is my favorite time of the year, and we are already off to a great start! Here are some photos from the day.

2018 Spring Warbler Migration

June 2, 2018March 14, 2019 Jeremy2 Comments

Spring warbler migration is my favorite time of year. This past April/May happened to be one of the best since 2013 and quiet possibly my favorite ever. I ended up with 33 warbler species for the month and I saw them all in Milwaukee County, I even missed 2 rarities that were reported. I took over 38,000 photos this spring. I was able to capture some very cool behavior as well, including singing, eating, sleeping, preening and courtship. Some highlights were, a Connecticut Warbler at Whitnall Park (which I was finally able to get pictures of). Cerulean Warblers at Whitnall and Warnimont Parks, I think I had four this year. Lastly, a Worm-eating Warbler at Whitnall Park, which I thought I had seen days earlier, but just couldn’t confirm. Some of the behavior activities included, watching a Golden-winged Warbler eat a giant flying bug, then get really tired and sleep for about 25 minutes. That all happened within five feet of the ground. Later, I watched him grab spiders out of dried, dead curled leaves, that webs were attached to, and eat them. That was one very smart bird! I had a Canada Warbler go on a singing rampage for about 20 minutes at Whitnall Park, when a second female flew into the “logjam” he was feeding near. Sometimes singing too close for my camera to focus on. On two different occasions, I watched a singing Black-throated Blue Warbler eat bugs from the brush, then go down into the thicket and sleep for a few minutes. He would then “pop up” start singing and eating again. It happened four or five times on each occasion. I saw three different Yellow-breasted Chats, at three different parks, with there being a potential pair at Bender Park. Based on recent reports, it seems likely that there is a pair of them at Bender Park. This was an extremely fun warbler migration. The sheer number of warblers I saw this spring was incredible! I thought I’d share my spring experiences with you through photographs. Below is a list of the warblers that I saw, along with links to each page to view full galleries. After that is a large gallery of photos, males and females of each, in alphabetical order. Take your time to see the differences in the two, along with some of their behavior activities. Enjoy!