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Activities in Lake Park
BIRDS
OF LAKE PARK
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... 9/13/05
Reports of Walks in
2003:
May 24
Sept
6 Sept 20
Oct 4
Reports of Walks in
2004: April
24 May
15 May
22 Sept
11
Oct 2
Oct
9
Reports of Walks in 2005: April
23 May
14 May
28
Sept
10
Sept
24 Oct 1
Report of Bird Walk
By Paul Hunter
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Lake Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
About 16 birders saw and heard about 30 species from 7:30 till almost
10 AM.
After discussing how to revise the Lake Park checklist, we struck out
on the almost completed new path in Locust Ravine, passing under the
bridges from which we usually look down upon warblers. Swainson's
thrushes darted among the shadows. Cedar waxwings whistled
overhead. A few white-throated sparrows called.
We walked along Ravine Road and across Lincoln Memorial Drive to scan
the shore of Lake Michigan. Several molting mallard paddled in
the fragrant, decomposing algae, where a sanderling had foraged earlier
in the morning. Nearby, eastern bluebirds swooped down to the
lawn from small trees. We saw bluebirds only on one other walk
since spring 2003. The juvenile suggests that they MAY have
nested in Lake Park. Very near the bluebirds, a mixed flock of
yellow-rumped and palm warblers and chipping sparrows along dined on
the dry lawn and sought protection in the trees.
A single northern waterthrush prowled the dry streambed in Girl Scout
Ravine. A singing red-eyed vireo and a silent magnolia warbler
patrolled the branches closer to eye level on the foot bridge over
Ravine Road. 3 drab warblers with wing bars gleaned the branches
of a bare low hawthorne tree for several minutes, giving us enough time
to determine they were blackpoll warblers.
Unfortunately we did NOT see our signature species, the red-headed
woodpeckers, which have been seen several times this summer, once with
gray-headed juveniles. Tim Vargo of the Urban Ecology Center
joined the walk and updated us on his banding efforts.
Bill Mueller,
Conservation Chair for the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, provided
thought insight about the habitat the birds we were seeing need to
survive. Dolores Knopfelmacher, Co-chair of the Nature Committee
of Lake Park Friends,
arranged refreshments and provided details of how actions of park
management and employees influence the habitat at Lake Park. I
also made connections with a teacher at Hartford Avenue
University K-8 School and may lead her fourth graders on bird walks
this winter and spring.
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)
Sanderling (Calidris alba) - 1
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)
Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)
Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica) - 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee (Contopus virens) - heard only
unknown Empidonax flycatcher
?? Blue-headed Vireo (Vireo solitarius)
Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus)
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)
White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)
Winter Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes)
Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis) - 6 including juvenile
Veery (Catharus fuscescens) - heard only
Swainson's Thrush (Catharus ustulatus)
Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)
Magnolia Warbler (Dendroica magnolia)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata)
Palm Warbler (Dendroica palmarum)
American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla)
Blackpoll Warbler (Dendroica striata)
Northern Waterthrush (Seiurus noveboracensis)
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina)
White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) - heard only
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis)