Report of Duck Watch
By Paul Hunter
Saturday, November 19, 2005
11 AM - 1 PM
Lake Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
While Tim
Vargo and members of the Urban
Ecology Center were watching thousands of sandhill cranes
congregate in the marshes of the Jasper-Pulaski Wildlife Area in
Indiana, about 20 birders of all ages and levels of experience gathered
along the Lake Michigan shoreline at Lake Park We enjoyed bright
sunshine, temperature in the low to mid 40s and a southerly breeze.
Bill Mueller
sighted a couple Black Scoters
and several White-winged Scoters
and pointed them out to newcomers as we gathered north of Bradford
Beach at North Point.
Robin Squier, 4th grade teacher from nearby Hartford Avenue School
pointed out two female Northern
Shovelers. Her pupil correctly pointed out a Herring Gull
and a Ring-billed Gull and distinguished them as having "square" and
"round" heads respectively. I informed him that he would be
leading Lake Park birding events in ten years.
A professionally dressed woman got out of her car to ask what were the
hundreds of little duck with white bellies that she saw fly in the
night before. I gave her my binoculars and she pointed out female
Buffleheads and thanked us for
helping. Then we saw another female Bufflehead in the open on the
algae mat, still as a "sitting duck". Worried that she was ill,
we approached. She lumbered away, listing leftward and flopping
her wings clumsily. We saw no other ill-appearing birds.
Several college students from Lutheran Campus Ministry who were
collecting trash on the rocks said they only saw a dead gull.
As Bill Mueller held the fort at North Point, I lead the crew slowly
north to the soccer field. Judith Huf and Jym Mooney scouted ahead
and found a Red Phalarope
spinning in the waves just 25 meters from shore at the north end of the
soccer field, just south of the water filtration plant. Jym said
this bird appeared less buffy than the individual
seen on 10/19-23 farther south between Bradford
Beach and Ravine Road. We also saw the bird on the grass below
the soccer field preening itself, quite a different habitat than its
high artic breeding ground or open ocean wintering quarters.
Roxanne Schrank took these photos.
As we marveled at this "life bird" for many of us, Dennis Casper
sighted a Red-breasted Merganser within
a 100 meters of shore. Bill Mueller caught up with us and
identified two whitish spots about 300 meters out as probable
Red-throated and Common Loons. Roxanne, whom I hope will be
leading birding events sooner than ten years from now, agreed that she
would enter our list into eBird.
Thanks to Gil Walter, Co-chair of Nature Committee, Lake Park Friends, for
joining us. He and his co-chair, Dolores Knopfelmacher, are
patiently enduring the passion of avid birders (Bill Mueller and
myself) for picayune details as they edit and prepare to publish a
brochure with the checklist of birds in Lake Park.
50 Gadwall (Anas strepera)
300 Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
2 Northern Shoveler (Anas
clypeata)
300 Greater Scaup (Aythya marila)
6 White-winged Scoter
(Melanitta fusca)
2 Black Scoter (Melanitta
nigra)
200 Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola)
3 Common Goldeneye
(Bucephala clangula)
2 Hooded Merganser
(Lophodytes cucullatus)
7 Red-breasted Merganser
(Mergus serrator)
1? Red-throated Loon (Gavia
stellata)
1? Common Loon (Gavia
immer)
1 Red Phalarope **
(Phalaropus fulicarius)
40 Ring-billed Gull (Larus
delawarensis)
10 Herring Gull (Larus
argentatus)
6 American Goldfinch
(Carduelis tristis)
Subject: Re: Red Phalarope
Milwaukee
From: "John Idzikowski" <idzikoj@uwm.edu>
Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2005 15:04:06 -0600
http://my.execpc.com/CE/5F/idzikoj/waders/redphal111905.jpg
http://my.execpc.com/CE/5F/idzikoj/waders/redphal111905b.jpg
http://my.execpc.com/CE/5F/idzikoj/waders/redphal111905c.jpg
Still 50 yards south of the Linnwood filtr. plant at N Point most of
the afternoon.
John I, Milwaukee
Subject: Milw red phalarope
From: "Marilyn Bontly" <mbontly@wi.rr.com>
Date: Sun, 20 Nov 2005 08:39:18 -0600
This bird was still present between 7:30 and 8:00 am today south of the
filtration plant, at the end of Ravine Rd in Lake Park. It was
mostly feeding on the algae covered rocks along the shore.
Marilyn Bontly, Bayside
From: "Mike McDowell"
<mmcdowell@tds.net>
Date: Sun, 20 Nov 2005 15:55:45 -0600
WisBirders, ...
As reported this morning, the RED PHALAROPE remained at North Point
/Milwaukee: http://www.birddigiscoping.com/redphalarope.jpg
Mike McDowell, Waunakee - Dane County, http://www.birddigiscoping.com/
From:"Robert Hambley"
<rhambley@wi.rr.com>
Date:Mon, 21 Nov 2005 23:23:12 -0600
This morning I toured Grant Park. I started in Wil-o-way..
And had fun with the WB and RB Nuthatches. ...
After hanging out for a while, I moved up to the Lake Park Shoreline. I
got the following, which I believe was the previously reported
Red
Phalarope. I am looking for confirmation of the ID. http://tinyurl.com/c6oed
Robert Hambley, St. Francis, WI, Milwaukee County,
www.rlhambleyphotography.com
Photo by
Bruce Schultz, November 23rd 2005, with webbed feet visible.
A different Red Phalarope
was 10/19-21/05 and 10/23 at Lake Park between
Bradford
Beach and Ravine Road.
This is
the 24th record for Wisconsin. The middle to end
of October is the typical time to find this species in Wisconsin.
Another
Red Phalarope was seen several years ago in the same spot.
