Report of Duck Watch
By Paul Hunter
Saturday, December 3, 2005
Lake Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
A Long-tailed Duck at North Point and a Snowy Owl on a side trip to the
Coast Guard Impoundment highlighted this Duck Watch.
Over 15 birders with at least six scopes gathered in the light snow and
light wind and shivered in the 20 degree weather along Lake Michigan
north of Bradford Beach from 11 AM to noon. The male Long-tailed
Duck provided several views of its white-capped and -naped winter
plumage as it dived along with it compatriate Common Goldeyes some
80-90 meters offshore. Bill Mueller saw a Black Scoter and
several Redheads. John Meyer (spelling?) pointed out a Hooded
Merganser not far off the northern end of Bradford Beach.
Hundreds of Greater Scaup flashed their long white wings stripes and
they flew low and northward in small groups. Red breasted
Mergansers and Buffleheads dived 50 - 150 meters out and Mallards and
Gadwalls dabbled close to shore.
At noon Bill Mueller led the group to the Snowy Owl he found the day
before. We drove south on Lincoln Memorial Dr to the southern end
of the Hoan Bridge and into the parking lot of the Lake Express
Ferry. The owl sat motionless on the breakwall some 70-80 meters
away, facing out to Lake Michigan.
Bill and I continued on to South Shore Marina and saw American Coots,
American Black Ducks, a Ruddy Duck, and hundreds of Ring-billed and
Herring Gulls. Mainly "wild" plumaged Rock Pigeons and a
actively feeding Mute Swan represented invasive and exotic
species. As they loaded decoys onto their boats, two duck hunters
explained the three levels of permitting required to shoot up to six
ducks (only one female) per day outside of Milwaukee city limits.
- Dec 3 Birding Forecast:
- I saw at least a
couple thousand Greater Scaup in offshore along Lake Michigan from
Whitefish Bay to the Coast Guard Impoundment on 11/26/05, along
with a couple dozen Red-breasted Mergansers, one Hooded Merganser, a
couple hundred Buffleheads and several Common Goldeneyes.
(Paul Hunter)
- If we are lucky we may see a Snowy Owl, a
Northern Shrike, or Pine
Siskins. I do NOT expect another phalarope, but a Purple
Sandpiper would be a nice rarity. A few Scoters should still be
around, but the Harlequin Duck (seen earlier at Shorewood Nature
Preserve) is less likely.
Subject:
more Lake Michigan birds - Milwaukee
From: "William Mueller" <iltlawas AT earthlink.net>
Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2005
It seems that everyone birding the Milwaukee lakefront today had
something a little different. The Lake Park "Duck Watch" at North Point
had (in addition to the birds Daryl found) one Black Scoter, one male
Long-tailed Duck, 6-7 Redheads, and one Hooded Merganser.
The group moved to the ferry dock where we all saw the Snowy Owl that
was found there on Friday (and it seems John I. must have had a second
bird on the Govt. Pier, because he and we were at these locations
nearly simultaneously). Sadly we missed the California Gull(s!).
Between Bay View, the inner harbor and the treatment plant just north
of North Point, there were hundreds of goldeneyes, hundreds more
Bufflehead, the Ruddies, Gadwalls, and Mute Swan Daryl already
mentioned, hundreds of Red-breasted Mergs well offshore, and approx.
5-6000 Greater Scaup - thus maybe 8-10,000 waterfowl in all now in
the Milwaukee Embayment, and another several thousand Herring Gulls,
along with (just) hundreds of Ring-billed Gulls.
(....and I'll be going back tomorrow in search of those Californias....)
William P. Mueller, Milwaukee, WI , (414) 643-7279
E-mail: iltlawas AT earthlink.net, On the web:
http://home.earthlink.net/~iltlawas/index.html
############################################################
Subject: Lake Michigan "run"
From: Daryl Tessen <bhaunts AT core.com>
Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2005
I decided I needed to do some birding, and get away from all the
Christmas shopping, etc. Started at Milwaukee's South Shore Park
early this morning--around 8. Besides a nice variety of
waterfowl, all pushed close to the boat landing due to the
duck hunters farther out, was an adult CALIFORNIA GULL. It is
interesting that John had a 2nd year bird later in the day further
north along the lake. The bird at South Shore had the dark eye,
darker mantle, mottled head-- winter plumage, longer wings when it
briefly flew and its size was noticeably smaller than a nearby Herring,
and somewhat larger than the numerous adjacent Ring-billeds. Was
able to watch it for 20+ minutes. A pleasant surprise!!
Other birds there were 1 Mute Swan, 1 Pintail, 1 Redhead, 1 Hooded
Merganser, numerous Coots, scaup, about 10 Ruddy Ducks, etc.
North Point had thousands of scaup, mainly south of the point,
goldeneyes, Gadwalls, etc.---no scoters.
Virmond Park had nothing out of the ordinary. Port Washington was
likewise quiet except for an adult Great Black-backed Gull.
While Harrington Beach SP itself was quiet because of the darn duck
hunters, the area to the south and north was good. Off Sandy
Beach Rd (this is the first road south of Cedar Beach Rd which is the
south boundary of the park) there was a Black Scoter, a Red-throated
Loon, 2 Red-necked Grebes and a Surf Scoter among others.
Off Jay Rd (north of Harrington Beach SP) there was a Common Loon and
the Barrow's Goldeneye. For the latter you definitely need a
scope.
Sheboygan had 2 Killdeer, 1 Black Scoter and excellent Purple Sandpiper
habitat but not the bird. However anyone in this area should
check the beach from the north breakwall north to the point.
Maybe one will show up one of these days.
The Cleveland area had thousands of gulls, the only noteworthy was a
Glaucous Gull and some standard diving ducks. I had hoped to
check Manitowoc/Two Rivers and possibly Green Bay but I had spent too
much time elsewhere so had to head westward after Cleveland.
Daryl Tessen, Appleton, WI