Report of Duck Watch
By Paul Hunter
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Lake Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
The inaugural Duck Watch provided more excitement than expected.
Bill Mueller
first sighted a Short-eared Owl
as it flew from the lake into a still leafed out tree on the shore in
line with Ravine Road. As I ran up for a closer look, the main
group at North Point may have seen a second Short-eared Owl fly up into
the bluff in the park. I got a good look at the long wings and
moth-like flight of this life bird when it briefly flushed.
As I sought out the owl, Bill Mueller identified a first year Great Black Backed Gull by its
massive size and muscular shape as it flew close by shore.
We all got good looks at 100 or more Snow
Buntings as they flew like snow flakes, swirling around the
rugby field just south of the water filtration plant (the old gun club).
Wait a second, wasn't this a DUCK Watch? Two Black Scoters stuck close to two Surf Scoters. Both were
conveniently just 40-50 meters offshore in very good light. The
several Horned Grebes were
farther off and frequently diving, but their bright white throats and
dark napes and slender bills were distintive. Few if any scaup
were present, but a small raft of a few dozen Buffleheads swam in the water just
south of the water filtration plant. About 40 Gadwalls, 80
Mallards, 20 Ring-billed Gulls and 4 Herring Gulls, 2 Dark-eyed Juncos,
3 American Goldfinches, and 1 American Crow were also present.
Two birders, Bill Mueller and Judith Huf, were quoted in a light
feature story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about people on the
lakefront enjoying the warm weather.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/oct05/366779.asp