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2007 Southeast Wisconsin Birding
Past Events and Reports of Events
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2/2-5/07
by William P. Mueller,  Milwaukee, WI, (414) 643-7279,  E-mail: iltlawas@earthlink.net,  On the web: http://home.earthlink.net/~iltlawas/index.html
>       A group of 18 of us from Milwaukee's Urban Ecology Center birded  Michigan's Upper Peninsula and northeastern WI this weekend.[2/2-5/07]  Both crossbill species, many Pine Siskins, and Common Redpolls were found just west of Whitefish Point in Chippewa County, yesterday. Heavy lake effect snow prevented us from reaching some of our other planned destinations.
>       This morning, all of us had amazingly good looks at a dark morph  Gyrfalcon in the city of Marquette. This bird was perched on an ore dock very similar to the one in Ashland. We were able to view this bird from several angles. This individual is dark blackish-chocolate in color, with some white feathering in the upper breast. At its closest to us, the bird was about 80 meters away. This bird looks quite massive, so I'm guessing it is a female. We also watched it several times in flight over the harbor. This is a breathtakingly beautiful bird, of a color morph I had never previously seen. It was a life bird for about 2/3 of the participants.
>       In southern Oconto and northern Brown County on the way home this afternoon, a fine collection of raptors was along Hwy 141. 18 Rough-legged Hawks (2 or 3 dark morph individuals, all the remaining ones were light-morph birds), 6 Bald Eagles, 10 Red-tailed Hawks, and 2 Cooper's Hawks were in an approx. 20 mile stretch of highway. 4 more Bald Eagles were in flight over the mouth of the Fox River in Green Bay.
>       South of Green Bay, the ag fields between I-43 on the east, Glenmore Rd on the west, Pine Grove Rd on the north, and Langes Corners Rd on the south had several nice flocks of Snow Buntings, the largest of which had 300-350 birds. A smaller flock of Lapland Longspurs (about 50-60 birds), and even smaller numbers of Horned Larks were in the same block described by the aforementioned roads.
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Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2007 ,   Subject:
Lansing Loop trip,   From:
"Chris West" <little_blue_birdie@msn.com>
     11 hardy birders turned out at 0700 this morning for the Lansing Loop trip that goes from Goose Isl park to Lansing Iowa and back to LaX.
Morning temp approx: 30 Deg ,  High temp approx: 45 Deg , Clear with a few lingering clouds , Leader: Fred Lesher ,   Total: 56 Species
      Here are some of the highlights of the trip:  RUFFED GROUSE , N HARRIER , CACKLING GOOSE , All three Mergansers , Ruddy Duck , Redheaded duck , N Pintail , L Scaup , Thousands of Canvasbacks , Hundreds of Bald Eagles , Cooper's Hawk , TVs , 10s of RT Hawks , E Bluebirds , Am Widgeon , Gadwall , Pileated Woody , T Titmouse , Song Sparrow
      Some species missing include: YB Sapsucker , Golden Eagle , No unusual gulls at all! , Sharp-Shined Hawk , RL Hawk
All in all, a good trip.  There is still an amazing amout of ice on the Mississippi (pools 7,8,9).


Subject:  [wisb] WSO Columbia County Ponds Field Trip report
From: Thomas Schultz
Sat, 24, March, 2007, 8:00 AM, Outing, Arlington, Goose Pond, Spring Waterfowl, Wisconsin Society for Ornithology,  http://www.uwgb.edu/birds/wso/wsofieldtrips07.pdf
    It was a very foggy morning on Saturday when about 60 birders converged on Goose Pond at 8:00 AM. The limited visibility -- initially just 100-200
feet -- made it just about impossible to view the waterfowl out on the water. Fortunately, after around 8:30 the fog started lifting a bit, and we
could begin to make out more and more birds on the pond. Most numerous were the Canada Geese, but there were also about 25 Tundra Swans, Cackling Geese, a variety of ducks, and Song Sparrows and an Eastern Meadowlark were singing. A Tiger Salamander was spotted crossing the entrance road and many enjoyed close-up looks and some were able to take photos.
    From there we headed over to Harvey Road & DM Ponds, where we checked out the flooded cornfields. We found mainly ducks, but two Greater
White-fronted Geese were spotted off Hwy. DM, along with Ring-neck Ducks, American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, and a Canvasback. We took Harvey Road
north to just beyond Hwy. 60, where a flooded field held a nice variety of ducks, including Canvasbacks, Redheads, Wood Ducks, and Blue-winged Teal,
among others, and we also found a Greater Yellowlegs, a Northern Harrier, and there were a number of Sandhill Cranes in the fields behind. Just up
the road we stopped at Schoeneberg Marsh. It was still mostly frozen, but we were able to find a few Pied-billed Grebes, 3 Snow (Blue) Geese, a couple
dozen Greater White-fronted, an Eastern Bluebird, a few Tree Swallows, a Swamp Sparrow, and a Northern Harrier doing its flight display.
    In Arlington we searched near the park and spotted a pair of Eurasian Collared-Doves in a tree and two Cooper's Hawks flying about. The group
headed north toward Poynette and then west on CS, and we heard Eastern Phoebes and a Tufted Titmouse along the route. A Turkey Vulture was also
spotted. Our final stop was at Lake Wisconsin, along the Hwy. V causeway (Whalen Grade). There were several swans there, but the majority were
Mutes, with just a couple of Tundras, and we watched one of the agressive Mute Swans chase them into flight. A nice variety of ducks was present,
including a single Ruddy Duck, and our first Northern Pintail for the day.
    Many in the group were surprised that there had been so few geese present in the flooded fields today -- certainly a lot fewer than we would normally
find on this trip. The very mild temperatures over the last couple of weeks may have had something to do with that -- probably resulting in larger
numbers of geese dispersing further north. Today the temperature started in the upper 40's and rose to the low 60's by noon, with light winds.
    Tom Schultz, WSO Field Trip co-chair, Green Lake Co

.

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4/15/07: Riveredge Bird Club annual Pike Lake (Washington County) field trip
    The RBC's oldest annual field trip was held Sunday (4/15/07) from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. We start out each year in Jackson and wend our way past Big Cedar Lake, Wildlife Drive and a number of grassy fields and flooded farm fields in search of what's in the area before ending up at Pike Lake. This year it took us more than 4 hours to make the 15 minute drive (as OnStar would take you) from Jackson to Pike Lake.
    It was worth the detours, since by the time we called it quits we had counted 72 species (well above average for the trip), but added only about 8 new ones at Pike Lake, where both woods and water were much quieter than usual. We missed on Winter Wren and Yellow-Rumps and had a lone Hermit Thrush there.
    The weather was great, with sunny skies and temps starting at 0 C and topping out around 60 F. This is a trip that in a few years has been done in shorts, while other years we have shared the trails with X-country skiers. It's April in Wisconsin after all.
    Highlights?   13 duck species, Common Loons on Pike and Big Cedar, Great Egret at Wildlife Drive, a nice kettle of Turkey Vultures at Pike Lake SP, Sandhill Cranes calling at numerous stops, no shorebirds other than Killdeer and Wilson's Snipe, only two Bonaparte's Gulls, a Forster's Tern at PLSP, several Phoebes, Tree Swallows at three locations, both kinglets and several Brown Creepers, a number of Eastern Bluebirds and Meadowlarks and 8 sparrow species: Chipping, Field, Vesper, Savannah, Fox, Song, Swamp and Junco.
     Nineteen participants turned out for the trip.
Carl Schwartz, Milwaukee
RBC field trip chair

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Hoy Audubon Field Trip
Lake Mills State Wildlife Area : Zeloski Marsh Unit in Jefferson County
Saturday, August 18, 2007
  http://ebird.org/wi/news/Hotspot_Zeloski.html
Please contact John Raymond fieldtrips@hoyaudubon.org , 262.633.0285 or for information

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Crane Watch at Bong
    Saturday, September 29, 2007. 6 to 7pm.
Witness the wonderful spectacle of sandhill cranes coming into the marsh to roost.
Delight in the sights and sounds of this amazing evening ritual. Observation Platform.
Richard Bong State Recreation Area, 26313 Burlington Rd, Kansasville, Kenosha County. Call 262-878-5600.
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Adult Birding Workshop: History of Ornithology and Sparrow ID
by Tim Vargo, at Urban Ecology Center,  http://www.urbanecologycenter.org/ 
Wednesday, October 3, 2007,    5 - 6:30 p.m.
For adults,   $10 (Members - $5, free for regular birding volunteers),   Call to register, 964-8505.
 We will take a quick peek at the history of ornithology and then dabble in the often-daunting task of identifying little brown sparrows.
 This will be followed by a twilight stroll. Binoculars provided.
Tuesdays, October 9 and 16, 2007, At sunrise
Bird Banding with Tim Vargo at Riverside Park with Urban Ecology Center.
For adults and accompanied children.   Free - donations appreciated
Call Tim at 964-8505, x116, for details, exact times and to register
Few experiences compare with feeling the rapid heartbeat of a bird in your hand while releasing it back to the wild.
Join us for coffee and an up-close look at birds.
BIG SIT - http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/site/funbirds/bigsit/bigsit.aspx
 Joe Devereaux, President of the Enderis Park Bird Watching Club, will be at Kohler Andrae State Park (Sheboygan)
in a 17 foot diameter circle on the  boardwalk above the Black River Marsh from 7:00 AM - 7:00 PM on Sunday October 14th
 info@epbwc.com       414-460-1761      http://www.birdwatchusa.com <http://www.birdwatchusa.com/
October 19, 20 and 21, 2007
Inland Bird Banding Association (IBBA) 2007  Annual Meeting
Riveredge Nature Center, Newburg, WI
Among the activities scheduled or planned are:
Northern Saw-whet Owl banding on Friday night, general bird banding Saturday and Sunday mornings,
scientific paper sessions, Bandit software workshop, field trips to local birding hot spots,
Evening Speakers:
Friday: Noel Cutright  "The Breeding Birds of Wisconsin"
Saturday: Vicki Piaskowski, International Coordinator for Birds without Borders (Belize)

If you are interested in receiving information on  meeting registration materials, please email : James.Ingold@lsus.edu.
You do not need to be a bander to attend!
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Benjamin F. Goss Bird Club   http://www.gossbirdclub.org/
First Presbyterian Church, Lower Level, 810 North East Avenue, Waukesha
(Refreshments and Social time beginning at 6:45 P.M.)
7:00 P.M. - Anne & Pat Moretti will present:
Birding in the Texas Hill Country, Big Bend and the Davis Mountains

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Saturday, November 17, 2007
Field Trip from Milwaukee's - Urban Ecology Center to see
 Sandhill Cranes at Jasper Pulaski Wildlife Area in Indiana
9 a.m. - 9 p.m.
For adults & accompanied children, ages 12+
Adults: $35 (Members - $30),  Children: $25 (Members - $20)
Call to register, 414-964-8505.
Each fall tens of thousands of sandhill cranes congregate in the shallow marshes of the
 Jasper-Pulaski Wildlife Area in Indiana to reinforce pair bonds.
 Witness one of the Midwest’s most amazing wildlife spectacles.
 Bring a bag lunch and we’ll stop for dinner at a restaurant.
Sunday,  November 18, 2007 - 7:00 P.M.
     Benjamin F. Goss Bird Club,   http://www.gossbirdclub.org/Programs.htm
First Presbyterian Church, Lower Level, 810 North East Avenue, Waukesha
 Planning a Birdy Landscape, with Mariette Nowak
 Wisconsin Society for Ornithology's Education Chair and
 author of the new book, Birdscaping in the Midwest: A Guide to Gardening with Native Plants to Attract Birds
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Saturday, December 1, 2007
Adult Birding Workshop: Feathers Part II
by Tim Vargo, Research Coordinator at Milwaukee's  -  Urban Ecology Center
2:30 - 4 (NEW TIME) p.m., For adults
$10 (Members - $5, free for regular birding volunteers)
Call to register, 414-964-8505.
What’s the most salient bird characteristic - something all birds have that nothing else has?
Feathers of course, which take a variety of forms and perform multiple functions.
We will take an in-depth look at this amazing adaptation and then hike into
Riverside Park at dusk to look for birds. Binoculars provided..
 Hoy Audubon  Holiday Potluck and Christmas Bird Count Preparation
Thursday, December 6, 2007
River Bend Nature Center - Racine
Program at 7:00 P.M., Potluck beginning at 6:00 P.M. - Snacks at 5:30 P.M.
Bring a dish to share and your own dinnerware.
We’ll hear how you can help with the next Racine Christmas Bird Count
scheduled in mid December along with viewing slides on birds we can expect to see.
We’ll also hear updates on the River Bend Nature Center and
finish up the evening with some holiday songs!