Report of
Christmas Bird Count
By Paul Hunter
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Lake Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
The Lake Park Christmas Count was success in several ways. 21
birders in 3 parties covered the entire park and seemed to enjoy
themselves. The number of species seen, 26, exceeded the number of
counters. We all got to hear an Eastern Screech Owl whiny and
trill in response to a tape just east of the wooden Rustic Bridge over
Locust Ravine. Several novice birders joined us for the first
time. The food and camaraderie were heart-warming thanks to the
Nature Committee of Lake Park Friends.
9 of the 26 species were ducks and gulls that we won't be reporting to
Audubon since Mark Korducki counted the ducks all along the lakeshore;
unless he did not see the one Long-tailed Duck that my party saw among
the scaup just 80 meters or so offshore just south of the Linwood water
treatment plant.
I hope everyone enjoyed my 1/2 hour introduction to the count and
announcement about upcoming Lake Park and WSO events. I
especially enjoyed the post-modern responses to my Socratic
introduction to the count: "What did John James Audubon do?" I
asked. "He went bankrupt." answered one counter. "He shot
birds.", answered another.
Photos of the rarely seen Black-capped Snow Chicken will not be posted
on my web site, even if the record is accepted by the WSO ;-)
Paul Hunter
http://home.wi.rr.com/phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
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Lake Park - Locust Ravine
Observation date:
12/16/06
Distance covered: 1.0 mile(s)
Start time: 2:30
PM
Duration: 1 hour(s) 45
minute(s)
Number of people in party: 21
Comments: Robins at Locust and Marietta
Also: Great Tit seen at Locust Ravine feeders.
3 Cooper's Hawk
1 Rock Pigeon
4 Mourning Dove
1 Eastern Screech-Owl
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
13 Downy Woodpecker
2 Hairy Woodpecker
10 American Crow
1 Great Tit
35 Black-capped Chickadee
8 White-breasted Nuthatch
68 American Robin
2 European Starling
11 Dark-eyed Junco
5 Northern Cardinal
4 American Goldfinch
43 House Sparrow
Total species reported: 17
=========================================================
Bradford Beach - North Point
Observation date:
12/16/06
Distance covered: 0.5 mile(s)
Start time: 3:15
AM
Duration: 1 hour(s) 0
minute(s)
Number of people in party: 7
Comments: Male Long-tailed Duck just south of
Linwood water treatment plant, 80 meters offshore.
30 Gadwall
12 Mallard
300 Greater Scaup
1 Long-tailed Duck
50 Bufflehead
200 Common Goldeneye
2 Red-breasted Merganser
60 Ring-billed Gull
1 Herring Gull
Total species reported: 9