12/5/09 Milwaukee, Lake Park Duck Watch

Wisconsin birders,

See the list from the 12/5/09 Lake Park Duck Watch that I am
forwarding below.

--- Paul Hunter
Whitefish Bay, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
http://lakeparkbirds.blogspot.com/
=====================================================

12/5/09 Lake Park Duck Watch
Jym Mooney, Todd Wilson, Evan Barrientos, Judith Huf, Dennis Casper, ...

Location: McKinley Marina
3 American Coot
250 Ring-billed Gull
140 Herring Gull
1 Lesser Black-backed Gull

Location: Bradford Beach - North Point
30 Gadwall
1 American Wigeon
1 American Black Duck
40 Mallard
3 Redhead
1000 Greater/Lesser Scaup
50 Bufflehead
100 Common Goldeneye
6 Red-breasted Merganser
15 Ring-billed Gull
3 American Crow
2 American Goldfinch

Location: Milwaukee Art Museum
300 Canada Goose
8 Mallard
40 Greater/Lesser Scaup
10 Bufflehead
40 Common Goldeneye
5 Red-breasted Merganser

Location: Milwaukee Harbor
Rainbow Trout with lamprey injury
1 American Black Duck
30 Mallard

Report of 11/14/09 Duck Watch

Lake Park birders,

See the message from Jym Mooney that I am forwarding below.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
http://lakeparkbirds.blogspot.com/
=====================================================
The Lake Park Duck Watch this morning attracted 13 birders. Buffleheads, mallards, and gadwalls were the main ducks observed, although we did find a couple each of common goldeneye and greater scaup. At least one distant flight of ducks was identified as red-breasted mergansers. Most folks got looks at common loons (three total observed), and I found a red-throated loon and also saw a great egret fly overhead shortly before the group gathered.

Jym Mooney, Milwaukee

=================

[Jym, Thanks for forwarding your list and leading the Duck Watch.]

Lake Park 11/14/09
10:00 AM
1 hour(s) 30 minute(s)
Jym Mooney

80 Canada Goose
20 Gadwall
25 Mallard
2 Greater Scaup
50 Bufflehead
2 Common Goldeneye
10 Red-breasted Merganser
1 Red-throated Loon
3 Common Loon
1 Great Egret
X Ring-billed Gull
X Herring Gull
2 American Crow

kestrel 11/7/09

Begin forwarded message:

From: Jym Mooney <hopmoon@milwpc.com>
Date: November 8, 2009 4:45:48 PM CST

Had a flyby kestrel yesterday morning at Lake Park, and astoundingly
good
looks at an adult Cooper's hawk. I flushed it walking up Locust
Ravine. It
perched on a bare limb between the two feeder sites, and allowed me to
circle it (at a respectful distance) and get excellent views from all
angles. Sparrows were almost non-existent yesterday morning
(although the
Cooper's may have had something to do with that), but I did find two YR
warblers still hanging around.

Nelson's sparrow at Lake Park, 10/31

On Nov 1, 2009, at 10:54 AM, Jym Mooney & Carol Lee Hopkins wrote:

Hi Paul & Brian,

I got back supportive comments from John I., Steve Lubahn, and Peter
Fissel,
and I feel more confident that I did indeed find a Nelson's sparrow
yesterday at Lake Park. I plan to submit a report to WSO since this
appears
to be a fairly late migrant.

Very exciting to add another life bird to my list. I was actually
searching
the rocks and brush along the lakefront yesterday hoping I might find a
Harris's sparrow for my year list, but what the heck, I guess I'll
take a
Nelson's!

Jym

-----Original Message-----
From: Jym Mooney & Carol Lee Hopkins [mailto:hopmoon@milwpc.com]
Sent: Saturday, October 31, 2009 1:38 PM
To: 'steven lubahn'; Wisbirdn
Subject: Possible Nelson's sparrow at Lake Park, 10/31

I had an intriguing sparrow this morning on the lakefront along the
soccer
field east of Lake Park. It first popped up onto a rock within brushy
vegetation on the north end of the shoreline, just before the water
treatment plant. This was the only chance I got to get any optics on
it (my
bins). My first impression was a buffy face, not otherwise heavily
marked,
and I caught my breath as I realized it might be a Nelson's or LeConte's
sparrow. The bird quickly dropped and kept low and moving in the brush,
finally flushing about ten feet into some tall dry grasses and brush
closer
to the fence. I thought I had lost it, until while circling the
grassy spot
I suddenly realized it was just a few feet in front of me, lurking
down low
in the vegetation. For the next 15 minutes I was able to get fleeting
glimpses, just eyeballing, as I was too close for optics. Finally a
large
SUV came around the corner in the water plant side of the fence and
the bird
flushed into the long row of bushes that parallels the fence, and I
did not
find it again.

My impressions were that this was a very small sparrow, and very
secretive.
Once I saw it run quickly a couple of feet within the grass and
brush. The
bill looked proportionate to its size (not stubby like a LeConte's).
The
top of the head was dark with a grey crown stripe, and once I saw the
bird
from behind and noted a grey nape as well. The back was dark with a
couple
of rough white streaks; I was reminded of the "saddle" on a marsh
wren by
the pattern, although on this sparrow the whole back had the
pattern. When
it flushed the first time I noted that the spread tail feathers seemed
pointy and separate (not an even end of tail edge like most of our
common
sparrows).

I did not get a look at the breast or belly of this bird. What holds me
back from being sure it was a Nelson's was that the face color was
not the
bright orange that Sibley illustrates. It was more buffy. (The
light was
not optimal, as it was overcast this morning when I found the bird.)

I have never seen a Nelson's sparrow before, so before I make the call I
wanted to solicit comment from some of our sparrow experts out there.

Thanks for any suggestions/comments.

Jym Mooney, Milwaukee

Lake Park, Milwaukee 11/1

------------------------------

From: "Jym Mooney & Carol Lee Hopkins" <hopmoon@milwpc.com>
Subject: [wisb] Lake Park, Milwaukee 11/1
Date: Sun, 1 Nov 2009 11:56:09 -0600

Lake Park was noticeably quieter this morning. Buffleheads, which I
first
saw yesterday, now number around 40, and there were also gadwalls, a
wigeon,
and greater scaup on the lake. The highlights of the morning were a
beautiful orange-crowned warbler and a juvenile red-headed woodpecker.

Jym Mooney, Milwaukee

eBird Report - Lake Park - Locust Ravine , 11/2/09

Lake Park birders,

See the message from Wis Bird Net that I am forwarding below.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
http://lakeparkbirds.blogspot.com/
=====================================================

Date: Mon, 2 Nov 2009 11:38:35 -0800 (PST)
From: Mike Goodman <goodman4835@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: [wisb] Fw: eBird Report - Lake Park - Locust Ravine , 11/2/09

Mike Goodman,South Milwaukee

North Point very quiet- Bufflehead,mallard scaup

Location: Lake Park - Locust Ravine
Observation date: 11/2/09
Notes: RH woodpecker Immature
Number of species: 13

Canada Goose 10
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-headed Woodpecker 1
American Crow 5
Black-capped Chickadee 3
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Brown Creeper 1
Fox Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 5
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 3
American Goldfinch 20
House Sparrow 5

Also seen [8] chipmunks & [9] squirrels

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Lake Park 10/27

Lake Park birders,

See the message from Wis Bird Net that I am forwarding below.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
http://lakeparkbirds.blogspot.com/
=====================================================

From: "Jym Mooney & Carol Lee Hopkins" <hopmoon@milwpc.com>
Subject: [wisb] Lake Park, Milwaukee 10/27
Date: Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:13:12 -0500

Interesting birds this afternoon in Lake Park included an eastern
towhee and
an orange-crowned warbler (both nicely-plumaged males) and a fox
sparrow.

I am at a loss over one bird that was feeding on seed spilled on the
ground
near Bradford Beach. It was sparrow-sized, mostly plain brown with no
markings on the head/face, and two wing bars. There was light
streaking on
the breast, nothing like a song sparrow or house finch. The bill was
sparrow/finch type, but not very heavy. I welcome any suggestions.

The snow goose was still located with a big group of Canada geese at the
lagoon in Veterans Park.

Jym Mooney, Milwaukee

Goshawk at Lake Park 10/25

Lake Park birders,

See the messages from Jym Mooney that I am forwarding below.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
http://lakeparkbirds.blogspot.com/
=====================================================
-----

On Oct 25, 2009, at 8:45 PM, Jym Mooney wrote:

I was checking out the sparrow seed dump north of Bradford Beach
early this morning, roughly between 7 and 8. I spotted a large hawk
that came banking over the bluff slightly south of me. I got my bins
on it, and could see it was an accipiter (long tail, broad wings). I
watched its flight pattern, and noted slow, steady wing beats. It
circled back out of sight over the bluff, and then came back out. On
the second pass it soared a bit.

Otherwise it was all steady beats, not the flap and glide pattern of
the smaller accipiters. Mostly I was only able to see the underside
of the bird, which was whitish with light barring on the breast and
wings. This bird did not have the red/orange breast barring of a
Cooper or sharpie, or the brown streaks of an immature accipiter.
After the second pass back over the bluff I did not see the bird
again. Later I also found a Cooper's hawk and a red-tailed hawk in
the park, which allowed me to compare their underside patterns with
what I remembered of the first hawk.

Jym

Report of Milwaukee's Lake Park Duck Watch , 10/24/09

Wisconsin and Lake Park Birders,

Lake Park Duck Watches: Saturdays 11AM - 1PM
Fall 2009: . . Oct 24 . . Nov 14 . . Dec 5
Gather on the EAST side of Lincoln Memorial Dr, north of Bradford
Beach.

The first Lake Park Duck Watch of the year yielded Scoters, Scaup,
Redhead, Coots and Mallard on Lake Michigan offshore Milwaukee
County. On land we saw a few Warblers, many Sparrows, a Pewee, and
a House Wren. In between, 3 Dunlins slowly probed the mud at the
Coast Guard Impoundment.

After scoping the Scoters at North Point, Judith Huf and Paul Hunter
carpooled to the Coast Guard Impoundment and pointed out the Dunlins
to Betsy Abert who happened to drive by on her way from South
Milwaukee to see the Scoters at North Point. She suggested Sheridan
Park. The brush piles in the scrubby woods near the archery range
fluttered with avian activity. (We did NOT see Steve Lubahn or a Rock
Wren. ;-)

--- Paul Hunter, Whitefish Bay, Milwaukee County
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
http://lakeparkbirds.blogspot.com/
=====================================================

North Point - Bradford Beach:
1 Surf Scoter
3 Black Scoters
1 Redhead
50 Greater Scaup
1 DC Cormorant
100 Ring-billed Gulls
10 Herring Gulls
(Sanderlings per Jym Mooney)
4 American Crows
2 Palm Warblers
6 Song Sparrows
2 Chipping Sparrows
3 DE Juncos (SC)
12 American Goldfinches

Coast Guard Impoundment
70 Mallards
2 Cooper's Hawks
3 Dunlins

South Shore Marina
8 Mallards
2 Am. Coots
20 Ring-billed Gulls
60 R. Pigeons

Sheridan Park - Archery Woods
2 Red-tailed Hawks, 1 immature with pure white secondary feather
(left distal)
1 E. Pewee
1 House Wren
8 BC Chickadees
6 Golden-crowned Kinglets
1 Hermit Thrush
1 Orange-crowned Warbler
1 Swamp Sparrow
6 White-crowned Sparrows

--------------------------------------------------
Before the Duck Watch, Judith Huf saw these species mainly near the
feeders in Locust Ravine:

Mourning Dove 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Downy Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
American Crow 9
Black-capped Chickadee 10
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
House Wren 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
Hermit Thrush 1
Orange-crowned Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Chipping Sparrow 1
Fox Sparrow (Red) 2
Song Sparrow 3
Lincoln's Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 20
White-crowned Sparrow 3
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 20
Northern Cardinal 1
Purple Finch 2
American Goldfinch 20

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/wi)

Duck Watch highlights 10/24/09

Lake Park Birders,

Judith Huf and I were the Duck Watch today. She may post a more
complete list. Here are the highlights from what I recall:
- 1 Surf and 2 Black Scoters at north of Bradford Beach
- 3 Dunlins at Coast Guard Impoundment
- Orange-crowned Warbler, Phoebe, and Swamp Sparrow at Sheridan Park

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
http://lakeparkbirds.blogspot.com/
=====================================================

Pine Warblers 10/18

------------

From: Petherick Chris <cpetherick@me.com>
Subject: [wisb] Re: Pine Warblers Milwaukee
Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2009 08:44:49 -0500

I came across a first year female pine warbler in Milwaukee's Lake
Park yesterday morning as well, along with quite a few yellow rumped
warblers near the bridge that is out. There were also a lot of RC and
GC kinglets in the park. Other birds were:
Hermit thrushes
Winter Wrens
Brown Creeper
WC and WT Sparrows
Juncos
E. Phoebe
Redstart
Purple Finch

Along with a couple of other birders, we located 4 Surf Scoters and 1
White winged scoter off of Bradford Beach along Milwaukee's
waterfront. There was a 6th Scoter, but it was difficult to tell
between the surf or the white winged scoter for that one. We also had
4 gadwalls amid a decent size flotilla of scaups.

Chris Petherick
Fox Point, Northeastern Milwaukee County

10/14 Bradford Beach scoters

Lake Park birders,

See the messages from Wis Bird Net that I am forwarding below.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
http://lakeparkbirds.blogspot.com/
=====================================================

-----------------------------

Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:08:20 -0500
From: steven lubahn <stevenlubahn@wi.rr.com>
Subject: [wisb] Scoters -Milwaukee

Both White-winged and Surf Scoters have been present all week off of
Bradford Beach in Milwaukee. Today was a great day to scope the lake.
There were swarms of Chimney Swifts this morning, shorebirds moving
south and flocks of Bonaparte's gulls kissing the lake and riding the
wind this afternoon.

Wind and birds, what else is there?

Steve Lubahn
Milwaukee

10/11/09 Barrientos

------------------------------

From: "Evan Barrientos" <ebarrientos@wi.rr.com>
Subject: [wisb] Lake park birds
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 2009 12:49:34 -0500

A quick this morning gave me:
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Nashville Warblers
Yellow-rumped Warblers
Palm Warblers
Winter Wrens
Black-capped Chickadees
Golden and Ruby-Crowned Kinglets
Hermit Thrush
Evan B
Bayside
www.ebarrientos.smugmug.com

Warbler Walk, September 26, 2009

Lake Park birders,

Sorry for the delay in getting Dennis Casper's report out.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
http://lakeparkbirds.blogspot.com/
=====================================================
==
Begin forwarded message:

From: Dennis J Casper <dcasper@uwm.edu>
Date: September 26, 2009 10:09:15 PM CDT
To: phunter1@wi.rr.com
Subject: Warbler Walk, September 26, 2009

Paul,

Here is the list from this morning's walk. A pretty good day, as you
can see, despite the gloomy weather. A smaller group today but all
interested and avid and appreciative. Thanks for continuing to
organize these walks. They mean a lot, I think, to a good number of
people. Jean and I will be gone for a couple of weeks. We're off
tomorrow for Hawk Mountain and Cape May! Hope the migration numbers
hold up! See you after we get back.

Peace,

Dennis

Lake Park Fall Warbler Walk (#6) September 26, 2009

Thirteen birders joined together this morning for the sixth and last
Lake Park Warbler Walk of the 2009 fall season. The day was cool,
cloudy, and damp. It had rained earlier, and there was still a sense
of moisture in the air. These weather conditions led to some low
expectations for the quality of birding we were likely to enjoy. But
these expectations were, to our great joy, decisively dashed! The
birding was excellent from the beginning. We began by birding along
the west side of the locust St. ravine and among the trees between
the ravine and the ball field. The trees were active with warblers
and other birds, so we wound up spending a good bit of time in this
area. Then after a brief sojourn around the old road bridge over the
ravine, we moved down the east side of the ravine toward the
pedestrian bridge over Ravine Rd. There was much activity on both
sides of the path, both in the trees on the east side of the ravine
and in the trees along the bluff, and we were continuously turning
one way, then the other to catch the latest warbler to be
discovered. After a short time on the pedestrian bridge, we moved to
the head of the Grand Staircase where there was a flurry of activity
and forged on to the Wolcott Statue, with stops on the way along the
Girl Scout Ravine and the edge of the golf course. Once more, around
the statue, there was ample bird life to keep us busy. The walk
ended at the statue around 10:30 with eight to ten highly satisfied
birders parting company at that point. Jym Mooney and Dennis Casper
returned to the Warming House to work up the list for the morning.

Today's was the last Warbler Walk of the current season. Lake Park's
winter monthly Duck Watches down on the lakeshore will begin in
November. Stay tuned!

Thanks to all who joined our walk today.

Dennis Casper

Total Species: 40

4 Canada Goose
25 Mallard
5 Double-crested Cormorant
3 Cooper's Hawk
6 Sanderling
45 Ring-billed Gull
6 Herring Gull
25 Chimney Swift
1 Red-headed Woodpecker
4 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

4 Downy woodpecker
12 Northern Flicker
1 Eastern Wood-Pewee
1 Blue-headed Vireo
8 Blue Jay
3 American Crow
30 Black-capped Chickadee
6 White-breasted Nutcatch
1 Brown Creeper
1 House Wren

1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
4 Eastern Bluebird
1 Swainson's Thrush
1 Golden-winged Warbler
5 Nashville Warbler
1 Northern Parula
2 Chestnut-sided Warbler
4 Magnolia Warbler
1 Black-throated Blue Warbler
5 Yellow-rumped Warbler

3 Black-throated Green Warbler
3 Palm Warbler
3 Blackpoll Warbler
4 Black-and-White Warbler
6 American Redstart
12 White-throated Sparrow
2 White-crowned Sparrow
2 Northern Cardinal
3 Rose-breasted Grosbeak
3 Common Grackle

Milwaukee Ibis 9/29

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:35:57 -0500 (CDT)
From: John H Idzikowski <idzikoj@uwm.edu>
Subject: [wisb] Milwaukee Ibis

Yesterday at 6 pm while scanning gulls at Bradford Beach a Plegadis
Ibis flew over heading north. It turned northwestward just before
North Point and disappeared over Lake Park. No details could be seen
for specific ID.

John Idzikowski,
Milwaukee

fast ferry and pelagics

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 2 Oct 2009 11:37:26 -0500 (CDT)
From: John H Idzikowski <idzikoj@uwm.edu>
Subject: [wisb] Re: fast ferry and pelagics?

The idea of Lake Michigan having some sort of undiscovered pelagic
assemblage of birds way out 30 miles from shore is not new, but the
parallels to oceanic pelagic birding are only superficial. Oceanic
pelagics are concentrated and targeted mostly by occurrences in
specific areas defined by a food source present due to currents and
upwellings because of local benthic canyons and dropoffs. The depths
of Lake Michigan way out from shore are far too deep for most divers
and with the decline of its main prey exploited during migration,
Long-tailed ducks, a deep diver, have declined in migration so we are
left with the mostly migrant group of birds in more shallow water
along the shore. The most productive trips have been those in small
boats that parallel the shore in September- Novemeber that are about
1-3 miles out where divers and phalaropes will be found.

Suppose you had 500 jaegers- our only truly pelagic migrant?
(kittiwake?) -on Lake Michigan evenly spread out- that's probably way
too many to expect in fall, but that would be one jaeger per 45 sq
miles- you'd be lucky to get one on any ferry trip. On the ocean of
course they are often attracted to the feeding community defined by a
food source and are therefore more concentrated. Even on Lake
Michigan I think that they still stay within 10 miles of shore. Most
are carried to the Michigan side of the Lake because of the
prevailing winds in fall and some concentrate on the south end- i.e.
Miller Beach. The best way to get jaegers on Lake Michigan's west
shore is to sit along the shore late in the evening from Sept 15- Oct
15 (but I have also had Poms as late as December) and watch a gull
loafing area such as the breakwater right near the Lake Express Ferry
in Milwaukee or a similar spot elsewhere, especially on E or NE
winds. They may come in to shore late in the evening and
often will attack some gulls before dark. .

There are some benthic features that have defined feeding areas for
divers near shore- if you have been around for awhile you remember
Loon Bluff in Ozaukee Co- where we found many divers and sometimes
jaegers and kittiwakes attracted to these concentrations. It turned
out that there is a sort of a shallow benthic plauteau near the Bluff
that due to adequate sunlight penetration creates a local food
supply. This property was added to a federal list for consideration
of acquisition in the late 70's, but it was sold to a private party.
At the north end of Virmond Park just south of Loon Bluff there is a
shipwreck and you might have noted the concentration of divers at
this spot when you searched for the Barrow's Goldeneye that wintered
near shore for many years. I imagine that this wreck is covered with
Zebra and Quagga mussels.

John Idzikowski,
Milwaukee

Fwd: 9/29/09 Lake Park - Sparks

Lake Park birders,

See the message from Wis Bird Net that I am forwarding below.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
http://lakeparkbirds.blogspot.com/
=====================================================

From: Paul Sparks <paul.sparks@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:55:52 -0500
Subject: [wisb] Re: Lots of birds at Lake Park Milwaukee

Here's a link to some of the photos from today;
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bookguy/sets/72157622482831664/ And I
forgot to
mention I saw a few Eastern Phoebes as well today.
Paul Sparks
Glendale, Milwaukee County

On Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 3:08 PM, Paul Sparks <paul.sparks@gmail.com>
wrote:

I headed out to Lake Park this morning after seeing lots of birds in my
backyard. I had Dark-eyed Juncos, Gray Catbird, White-throated Sparrows,
Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and a couple
unidentified
warblers before I even left the house. At Lake Park, there were birds
everywhere. Lots of Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Palm
Warblers, a few Black-throated Green Warblers and American Redstarts.
Also
had a Magnolia Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, and Common
Yellowthroat. At one point on the bridge by Lake Park Bistro, I had
so many
birds around me I couldn't keep track of them all. There were
warblers and
one Red-eyed Vireo bathing in the puddles on the bridge. And I had a
Black-throated Green land five feet from me and stayed while I got some
photos. I saw one Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Downy Woodpecker,
Flicker, and
both Nuthatches. I also saw a few wrens but couldn't ID them. I did
have one
Hermit Thrush. And right before I left I had a Red-tailed Hawk land in a
tree near the bridge by Lake Park Bistro. When I got home I checked the
backyard and had a Northern Waterthrush feeding in the creek. All in
all, a
pretty good day.

Paul Sparks
Glendale, Milwaukee County

Fwd: Wind damage in ravines

Lake Park birders,

See the message from Wis Bird Net that I am forwarding below.
Thanks to Jym for the warning.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
http://lakeparkbirds.blogspot.com/
=====================================================

From: "Jym Mooney & Carol Lee Hopkins" <hopmoon@milwpc.com>
Subject: [wisb] Milwaukee, Lake Park - Caution: Wind damage in ravines
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:30:15 -0500

Just a heads up, there are a lot of large trees and limbs down in Locust
Ravine in Lake Park. I assume the other ravines are in similar
shape. I
would recommend staying out of the ravines until the park people have a
chance to remove the damage. I saw a large pine tree that had been
uprooted
and is leaning against another tree, and a very large limb that has
snapped
off a big tree that is caught in another tree's branches. It just
doesn't
look safe down there.

Jym Mooney, Milwaukee

Sparks 9/25 and 9/27

Lake Park birders,

See the message from Wis Bird Net that I am forwarding below.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
http://lakeparkbirds.blogspot.com/
=====================================================

From: Paul Sparks <paul.sparks@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 2009 14:19:09 -0500
Subject: [wisb] Backyard Birds, Lake Park, and Estabrook Park

On Friday I went to Lake Park in the morning and it was very quiet.
Saw one
Brown Creeper. ... in the afternoon and had much better luck. I saw
several warblers including, Black-throated Green, Northern Parula,
Common Yellowthroat, Magnolia, Black & White, Blackpoll, Yellow-
rumped, and Nashville. I also had a Blue-headed Vireo, Yellow-bellied
Sapsucker, and a Red-breasted Nuthatch.
I didn't go out at all yesterday, but went to Lake Park this morning
and the
only highlight was a Hairy Woodpecker and a few Winter Wrens in the
ravine.
...
Some of the better photos are below.

Black-throated Green Warbler;
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bookguy/3954612350/
Hairy Woodpecker; http://www.flickr.com/photos/bookguy/3959900518/
Nashville Warbler; http://www.flickr.com/photos/bookguy/3959900264/
Hermit Thrush;http://www.flickr.com/photos/bookguy/3959899740/

Paul Sparks
Glendale, Milwaukee County

LP 9/26/09 Barrientos

Lake Park birders,

See the message from Wis Bird Net that I am forwarding below.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
http://lakeparkbirds.blogspot.com/
=====================================================

From: "Evan Barrientos" <ebarrientos@wi.rr.com>
Subject: [wisb] Lake Park Yesterday, Anting Robins, and Screech Owl
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 2009 10:43:15 -0500

Yesterday Lake Park was slow to start but then really got going.
Sapsuckers and Flickers are everywhere. Had all the woodpecker
species minus pileated and hairy just stading in one place. The list
of what I saw on the warbler walk and on my own is further below
In my front lawn, a saw a Robin "Anting" for the first time. This is
when a bird stands on an anthill, lets the ants crawl over itself,
and then eats the ants. After the bird left I looked at the anthill
and saw the ants were started to eat the scat. A few minutes later I
looked again and saw that an ant had gotten stuck in the scat and
suffocated.

At night I was in a friend's lawn in Mequon and I heard an Eastern
Screech Owl repeatedly calling.

Lake Park:
1.. Gadwall
2.. Cooper's Hawk
3.. Chimney Swifts
4.. Red-headed Woodpeckers
5.. Red-bellied Woodpeckers
6.. Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers
7.. Downy Woodpeckers
8.. Northern Flickers
9.. Eastern Wood-Pewee
10.. Blue-headed Vireo
11.. Blue Jays
12.. American Crow
13.. Black-capped Chickadees
14.. White-breasted Nuthatches
15.. Brown Creepers
16.. Winter Wrens
17.. Ruby-crowned Kinglets
18.. Wood Thrush
19.. Golden-winged Warbler
20.. Nashville
21.. Northern Parula
22.. Chestnut-sided
23.. Magnolias
24.. Cape-Mays
25.. Yellow-rumped
26.. Black-throated Greens
27.. Blackpolls
28.. Black and White
29.. Redstarts
30.. White-throated Sparrows
31.. Rose-breasted Grosebeaks
Evan B
Milwaukee
www.ebarrientos.smugmug.com

Fwd: grackles in Lake Park 9/25/09

Lake Park birders,

See the messages from Wis Bird Net that I am forwarding below.
Blackbirds don't usually stop over very often in Lake Park during
migration.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
http://lakeparkbirds.blogspot.com/
=====================================================

Date: Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:14:15 -0500
Subject: [wisb] Hitchcock's The Birds remake Lake Park yesterday
From: Brian Hansen <rawshooter@gmail.com>

Paul Sparks and I [Brian Hansen] were doing a little shooting/
birdwatching in Lake Park yesterday afternoon when we stumbled onto a
scene right out the the movie The Birds. Near the feeders in the
Locust Ravine there must have been 300 to 400 Common Grackles feeding
on everything from acorns to wild flower seeds in the prairie garden
to the bird feeders. What a racket and they didn't seem all that
concerned with us. It is the first time I have ever seen a spectacle
like that in the park. Paul had a nice wave of assorted common
Warblers around 3:00pm as well as Sapsuckers but by the time I got
there it was pretty quite except for the Grackles. The only other
things of note was a big movement of Northern Flickers and Paul
mentioned he had a flock of Robins in Estabrook at least as big as
the flock of Grackles we saw.
Brian Hansen
Milwaukee - east side

Additions to 9/19 Warbler Walk List

Lake Park birders,

See the message from Jym Mooney that I am forwarding below.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
=====================================================
Begin forwarded message:

From: Jym Mooney
Date: September 19, 2009 12:17:09 PM CDT
To: Paul Hunter
Subject: Additions to today's list

Hi Paul,

Walking to my car through the Locust Ravine, I saw a golden-winged
warbler,
a redstart, and a RT hummingbird. The GW warbler was a female, and very
cooperative and cute.

Jym

Fwd: Lake Park bird photos on Flickr

Lake Park birders,

See the message from aul Sparks that I am forwarding below.

See bird photos in Lake Park from Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bookguy/tags/lakepark/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/floresdavid/tags/lakepark/

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
=====================================================

Begin forwarded message:

From: Paul Sparks <paul.sparks@gmail.com>
Date: September 20, 2009 10:03:06 AM CDT
To: phunter1@wi.rr.com, Wisconsin Bird Net <wisbirdn@freelists.org>
Subject: Re: [wisb] Warbler Walk - Lake Park - Milwaukee, 9/19/09

For anyone interested, here's the photo of the Brown Thrasher; http://
www.flickr.com/photos/bookguy/3937580260/

Paul Sparks
Glendale, Milwaukee County

On Sat, Sep 19, 2009 at 11:56 PM, Paul Hunter <phunter1@wi.rr.com>
wrote:
Warbler Walk - Lake Park - Milwaukee, 9/19/09

--
www.paulcsparks.com

Warbler Walk - Lake Park - Milwaukee, 9/19/09

Warbler Walk - Lake Park - Milwaukee, 9/19/09

Paul Hunter led the fifth of six weekly fall Warbler Walks at
Lake Park on 9/19/09. About 10 other birders joined the walk
included the other two Warbler Walk leaders, Jym Mooney and Dennis
Casper, as well as illustrator and artist, Judith Huf.
Jym, Judith and others got an early start in various parts of
the park. Jym saw the sanderling on the algae mat on the shore of
Lake Michigan and the Connecticut Warbler in Locust Ravine,
"downstream" from the "iron" bridge. He and others saw the geese,
ducks, comorants, and gulls at the lake shore also.
Few birds ate from the feeders near the wooden Rustic bridge at
the 8:30 AM start of the scheduled Walk, but several warblers flitted
in a leafless tree near the baseball diamond for several minutes,
allowing us to fairly confidently separate a Bay-breasted and a
Blackpoll Warbler. At the pedestrian bridge over Ravine Road near
the Pavilion, Dennis Casper located another pair of drab warblers
with wing bars, one of which we able to call a Pine Warbler. We saw
very little in the Waterfall Ravine and on the lake shore, except a
young Cooper's Hawk with one short outer tail feather, soaring for a
minute or two along the bluff, apparently using the updraft from the
steady easterly wind off Lake Michigan.
Behind the statue of Dr. Wolcott and his horse, some of us saw a
flash of the Brown Thrasher a photographer showed us an image of. We
also saw a young Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Brown Creepers, Song
Sparrows, a young Rose-breasted Grosbeak and another Pine Warbler.
We cut across the Golf Course and found warblers and sparrows
clustering around small wet spots teeming with small moths. The
Savannah Sparrows had yellower heads and darker streaks than we were
used to seeing. The Nashville and Wilson's Warblers sallied down
from small trees after the moths.

Number of species: 45

Canada Goose - Branta canadensis 12
Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos 3
Double-crested Cormorant - Phalacrocorax auritus 6
Cooper's Hawk - Accipiter cooperii 1
Sanderling - Calidris alba 1
Ring-billed Gull - Larus delawarensis 40
Herring Gull - Larus argentatus 12
Red-bellied Woodpecker - Melanerpes carolinus 2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - Sphyrapicus varius 1
Downy Woodpecker - Picoides pubescens 5
Hairy Woodpecker - Picoides villosus 2
Northern Flicker - Colaptes auratus 1
Blue Jay - Cyanocitta cristata 1
American Crow - Corvus brachyrhynchos 8
Black-capped Chickadee - Poecile atricapillus 15
Red-breasted Nuthatch - Sitta canadensis 1
White-breasted Nuthatch - Sitta carolinensis 10
Brown Creeper - Certhia americana 3
Winter Wren - Troglodytes troglodytes 2
Eastern Bluebird - Sialia sialis 2
Swainson's Thrush - Catharus ustulatus 2
American Robin - Turdus migratorius 6
Gray Catbird - Dumetella carolinensis 1
Brown Thrasher - Toxostoma rufum 1
European Starling - Sturnus vulgaris 1
Nashville Warbler - Vermivora ruficapilla 2
Magnolia Warbler - Dendroica magnolia 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler - Dendroica coronata 12
Black-throated Green Warbler - Dendroica virens 1
Pine Warbler - Dendroica pinus 2
Palm Warbler - Dendroica palmarum 10
Bay-breasted Warbler - Dendroica castanea 1
Blackpoll Warbler - Dendroica striata 1
Black-and-white Warbler - Mniotilta varia 1
Connecticut Warbler - Oporornis agilis 1
Common Yellowthroat - Geothlypis trichas 1
Wilson's Warbler - Wilsonia pusilla 2
Chipping Sparrow - Spizella passerina 6
Savannah Sparrow - Passerculus sandwichensis 4
Song Sparrow - Melospiza melodia 2
White-throated Sparrow - Zonotrichia albicollis 12
Northern Cardinal - Cardinalis cardinalis 3
Rose-breasted Grosbeak - Pheucticus ludovicianus 1
House Finch - Carpodacus mexicanus 5
American Goldfinch - Carduelis tristis 3

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Fwd: 9/18 Warblers in Lake Park

Lake Park birders,

See the message from Wis Bird Net that I am forwarding below.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
=====================================================
------------------------------

From: Paul Sparks <paul.sparks@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:19:46 -0500
Subject: [wisb] Lake Park Milwaukee

Had a good morning at Lake Park this morning. I spent three hours and
saw a
good variety of birds (even if I'm not sure of all the species). I wrote
about what I saw and posted photos here;http://
photogsparks.wordpress.com/
A recap of what I saw if you don't want to make the jump;

Black & White Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
American Redstart
Tennessee Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Palm Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Cape May Warbler
possible Blackburnian or Yellow-throated Green Warbler
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Swainson's Thrush
Gray-cheeked Thrush
White-throated Sparrow

I plan on making the Warbler Walk tomorrow, and will probably be there
early. Also, please speak up if I got any of the species wrong in the
photos. I'm still learning, and fall warblers aren't easy. :)

Paul Sparks
Glendale, Milwaukee County

Shorewood, Wisconsin Swift Count 9/13

Lake Park birders,

My report to the organizers of the annual Swift Night Out is below.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
=====================================================
From: Paul Hunter <phunter1@wi.rr.com>
Date: September 19, 2009 5:58:41 AM CDT
To: Paul and Georgean Kyle <dwa@austin.rr.com>
Subject: Shorewood, Wisconsin Swift Count

Number of swifts counted: 155

Time (and time zone): 6:45 - 7:15 PM, central
Date: Sunday, September 13, 2009
Address: city, state/province: southwest Corner of Maryland and
Capitol in Shorewood, Wisconsin
Broad description of the site, e.g. school, warehouse, residence,
Chimney Swift Tower, etc.: - Apartment bld 5 stories high - chimney
in the southwest corner
Weather conditions may also be reported. - clear, calm, about 65
degrees Fahrenheit

Six of us gathered at the corner of Capitol Drive and Maryland Avenue
and waited anxiously as we saw only a few swifts very high on this
clear, calm, seasonably temperate evening. A Peregrine Falcon flashed
past over St Roberts church. It wasn't till a couple minutes past
sunset till a flock of 155 swifts started purposefully swirling
around the chimney in the southwest corner of the apartment building
on the southwest corner of Capitol Drive and Maryland Avenue.

Lake Park - Yellow-billed Cuckoo photos 9/10/09

Lake Park birders,

See the message from Wis Bird Net that I am forwarding below.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
=====================================================
-----------------------------

Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:39:24 -0500
Subject: [wisb] Yellow-billed Cuckoo photos
From: Brian Hansen <rawshooter@gmail.com>

Here are some shots of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo I watched in Lake
Park last Thursday for those interested. What a shy bird.
http://www.pbase.com/image/117333873

http://www.pbase.com/image/117333890

http://www.pbase.com/image/117333900

Brian Hansen
Milwaukee - east side.

9/14/09 Warblers in Lake Park

Lake Park birders,

See the messages from Wis Bird Net that I am forwarding below.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
=====================================================

------------------------------

From: "Jym Mooney & Carol Lee Hopkins" <hopmoon@milwpc.com>
Subject: [wisb] Lake Park, Milwaukee 9/14 - Connecticut warbler
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:59:57 -0500

I found a dozen warbler species this afternoon at Lake Park, including a
Connecticut warbler in Girl Scout Ravine, plus Tennessee, Nashville,
magnolia, blackpoll, black-and-white, redstart, ovenbird (6! after
seeing
none so far this fall), northern waterthrush, common yellowthroat,
Wilson's,
and Canada.

Jym Mooney, Milwaukee
------------------------------

From: Paul Sparks <paul.sparks@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:40:25 -0500
Subject: [wisb] Lake Park Milwaukee

I spent about 2 1/2 hours at Lake Park this morning and had a nice
variety
of birds. The bridge just north of Lake Park Bistro had American
Redstarts,
Chesnut-sided, Wilson's, Blackpolls, and a Black & White Warbler. A bit
further north I found a Black-throated Green, Magnolia, Palm, Ovenbird,
possible Bay-breatsed, and a Red-breasted Nuthatch.
It was a nice morning to be out.
Paul Sparks
Glendale, Milwaukee County

Lake Park Warbler Walk, September 5, 2009

Lake Park birders:

Last week Dennis Casper and crew saw a total of 10 warbler
species including a Hooded Warbler. See his report below.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
=====================================================
=================

Paul,

Below is the list from Saturday. I didn't feel literary so there's
no comment, just the list. But we had a great walk.

Dennis

Lake Park Warbler Walk (#3)
Sunday, September 5, 2009, 8:30-10:30 a.m.
Sunny, pleasant
34 birders

Species: 36

25 Canada Goose
25 Double-crested Cormorant
1 Cooper's Hawk
1 Merlin
3 Ruby-throated Hummingbird
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
2 Downy Woodpecker
2 Hairy Woodpecker
7 Eastern Wood-Pewee
2 Philadelphia Vireo
1 Red-eyed Vireo
1 Blue Jay
5 American Crow
15 Black-capped Chickadee
1 Red-breasted Nuthatch
4 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
3 Swainson's Thrush
11 American Robin
1 Gray Catbird
2 Cedar Waxwing
10 Tennessee Warbler
1 Nashville Warbler
1 Yellow Warbler
2 Chestnut-sided Warbler
1 Magnolia Warbler
4 Black-throated Green Warbler
1 Blackpoll Warbler
2 Black-and-White Warbler
11 American Redstart
1 Hooded Warbler
7 Chipping Sparrow
1 Northern Cardinal
2 Indigo Bunting
25 American Goldfinch
1 House Sparrow

Birds: L P W Walk 9/12, spring warbler photos

Lake Park birders:

I am forwarding Jym Mooney's report of yesterday's Warbler Walk as posted on Wis Bird Net and e-Bird. Chuck Hagner also posted a list from his regular, personal walks at Estabrook Parkway. Brian Hansen's photos of warblers in Lake Park this spring are beautiful. Follow his link below.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
=====================================================

------------------------------

From: "Jym Mooney & Carol Lee Hopkins" <hopmoon@milwpc.com>
Subject: [wisb] Lake Park Warbler Walk, Milwaukee, 9/12
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2009 18:17:06 -0500

Two dozen birders enjoyed some good warbler "stands" this morning. We found a couple of decent warbler groups, which meant that we spent most of our time scanning trees in just three spots. We had nine warbler species (Nashville, magnolia, Cape May, black-throated green, black- throated blue, Blackburnian, blackpoll, redstart, and Wilson's), good looks at a Philadelphia vireo, eastern bluebirds, eastern wood-pewees, ruby- throated hummingbirds, and a juvenile rose-breasted grosbeak. Total 34 species, plus three of the group added a Canada warbler and a red-breasted nuthatch to the day's list just after the group broke up.

Jym Mooney, Milwaukee

Location: Lake Park - Locust Ravine
Observation date: 9/12/09
Notes: Pre-group walk by group leader added red-tailed hawk, RB
and herring gulls, Caspian tern, Canada goose, mallard, DC cormorant,
and house sparrow.
Number of species: 34

Cooper's Hawk - Accipiter cooperii 1
Chimney Swift - Chaetura pelagica 2
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - Archilochus colubris 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker - Melanerpes carolinus 2
Downy Woodpecker - Picoides pubescens 3
Hairy Woodpecker - Picoides villosus 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee - Contopus virens 4
Philadelphia Vireo - Vireo philadelphicus 1
Red-eyed Vireo - Vireo olivaceus 1
Blue Jay - Cyanocitta cristata 4
American Crow - Corvus brachyrhynchos 6
Barn Swallow - Hirundo rustica 4
Black-capped Chickadee - Poecile atricapillus 24
Red-breasted Nuthatch - Sitta canadensis 1
White-breasted Nuthatch - Sitta carolinensis 10
Eastern Bluebird - Sialia sialis 6
Swainson's Thrush - Catharus ustulatus 1
American Robin - Turdus migratorius 1
Gray Catbird - Dumetella carolinensis 1
Nashville Warbler - Vermivora ruficapilla 4
Magnolia Warbler - Dendroica magnolia 4
Cape May Warbler - Dendroica tigrina 2
Black-throated Blue Warbler - Dendroica caerulescens 1
Black-throated Green Warbler - Dendroica virens 6
Blackburnian Warbler - Dendroica fusca 1
Blackpoll Warbler - Dendroica striata 7
American Redstart - Setophaga ruticilla 5
Wilson's Warbler - Wilsonia pusilla 3
Canada Warbler - Wilsonia canadensis 1
Chipping Sparrow - Spizella passerina 1
Northern Cardinal - Cardinalis cardinalis 4
Rose-breasted Grosbeak - Pheucticus ludovicianus 1
House Finch - Carpodacus mexicanus 1
American Goldfinch - Carduelis tristis 20

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/wi)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2009 00:19:25 -0500
Subject: [wisb] Lest we forget our spring Warblers - fall to follow...
From: Brian Hansen <rawshooter@gmail.com>

Hi All,
I haven't posted photos in a long time so I thought I would try to catch up a little.

Now that the fall migrants are making their way back through
Wisconsin, I thought I would finally post my spring ones. A spring I will never
forget. Fall is turning out to great as well. I had a few nice waves today
in Lake Park. A lot of Cape Mays, some Bay-breasted, Black Polls and even a
couple early Palms. Hopefully it won't take me till spring to post them.

http://www.pbase.com/bhansen/spring_migrants_lake_park_milwaukee
Change the view to large if they are too big. Sorry but I didn't take the time
to size them all but most are small.

Brian Hansen
Milwaukee - east side

Swift Count 9/13 Sunday, Shorewood

Lake Park birders,

See you Sunday. The swifts may be in any of several chimneys, so
I recommend meeting at the northeast corner of Capitol and Maryland,
rather that in the church parking lot.

Lake Park Chimney Swift Count
Capitol and Maryland in Shorewood (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
Sun., Sep 13, 2009; 6:40 - 7:20 PM
20 minutes before and 10 minutes after Sunset

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
=====================================================
Begin forwarded message:

From: Paul Hunter <phunter1@wi.rr.com>
Date: September 8, 2009 1:48:31 PM CDT
To: JoAnn Early Macken <macken@wi.rr.com>
Subject: Re: chimney swifts

JoAnn,

It could be that the individuals we saw in August are already on
their way to South America and the ones you saw recently are migrants
from farther north.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
=====================================================

On Sep 8, 2009, at 11:41 AM, JoAnn Early Macken wrote:

Dear Paul,
We looked for the chimney swifts last night at St. Robert's but saw
only a few circling overhead. Apparently, they've moved to another
chimney kitty-corner from the old one, above the GraniteWerks store
on Capitol Drive. We watched them from the circular drive for the
Atwater School kindergarten building on Maryland Ave. Do you know
what happened?
Best wishes,
JoAnn

=====================================================

It is time for A Swift Night Out September 2009!

For the ninth year, the Driftwood Wildlife Association will be hosting:

"A SWIFT NIGHT OUT"

As summer draws to a close and the swifts have finished raising their
young, these fascinating aerial acrobats begin to congregate in
communal roosts prior to their migration in the fall. Some roosts may
consist of an extended family group of a half a dozen birds or so,
but the larger sites can host hundreds or even thousands of swifts!
We encourage you to involve your local Audubon chapters, bird clubs,
scout groups and neighbors in this exhilarating spectacle.

Here is how it works: Keep your eyes to the skies at dusk and watch
for areas where swifts are feeding. Look for a tall shaft, chimney or
similar structure to locate where Chimney Swifts (central to east
coast) or Vaux's Swift (Pacific coast) go to roost in your area.

On one night over the weekend of September 11, 12, 13 observe the
roost starting about 30 minutes before dusk and estimate the number
of swifts that enter. When you have your number, contact us with your
results. That's all there is to it!

Please pass this message along to any listserve or other groups that
you think might be interested.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Best Regards,

Paul and Georgean Kyle

Driftwood Wildlife Association
1206 West 38th, Suite 1105
Austin, TX 78705

Visit us at:
www.ChimneySwifts.org

The latest issue (Volume 14) of our annual newsletter "Chaetura" is
now on line. There were many new towers added last year, so go to the
"Newsletter" link on our home page and check it out. Your tower may
be featured!

Warbler Walk Lake Park - 8/29/09

Lake Park birders:

Just in time for the next Warbler Walk this Saturday, I sending the
report of the walk from two weeks ago. Oh, well; better late than
never.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
=====================================================
On Saturday, August 29, 2009, Paul Hunter led the second of the
six weekly autumnal Warbler Walks at Lake Park in Milwaukee. About
15 - 20 birders joined the stroll out of the wind, down Locust Ravine
and along the bluff below the Pavilion (which houses the bistro) and
back up Waterfall Ravine. We in the main group somehow lost contact
with Dolores Knopfelmacher and Marilyn Bontly, who added Tennessee,
Cape May, and Black-throated Green Warblers to our list.
The Great Blue Heron stood tall and the Spotted Sandpiper
teetered along the shore of Lake Michigan. The Red-tailed Hawk moved
southward along the bluff in the steady northwesterly winds. The
Hummingbird hovered among the jewelweed and other flowers in Locust
Ravine. An apparent family of 4 Bluebirds sallied down from lower
branches of ash trees near the baseball field down to the lawn near
about a dozen Chipping Sparrows. Jym Mooney caught the flash of the
Oriole in the treetops near the Wolcott statue.

Location: Lake Park - Locust Ravine
Observation date: 8/29/09
Number of species: 41

Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos 22
Double-crested Cormorant - Phalacrocorax auritus 20
Great Blue Heron - Ardea herodias 1
Cooper's Hawk - Accipiter cooperii 1
Red-tailed Hawk - Buteo jamaicensis 1
Spotted Sandpiper - Actitis macularius 1
Ring-billed Gull - Larus delawarensis 50
Herring Gull (American) - Larus argentatus smithsonianus 15
Caspian Tern - Hydroprogne caspia 12
Chimney Swift - Chaetura pelagica 12
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - Archilochus colubris 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - Melanerpes carolinus 1
Downy Woodpecker - Picoides pubescens 4
Hairy Woodpecker - Picoides villosus 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee - Contopus virens 1
Eastern Phoebe - Sayornis phoebe 2
Red-eyed Vireo - Vireo olivaceus 1
American Crow - Corvus brachyrhynchos 4
Tree Swallow - Tachycineta bicolor 20
Barn Swallow - Hirundo rustica 20
Black-capped Chickadee - Poecile atricapillus 7
Red-breasted Nuthatch - Sitta canadensis 2
White-breasted Nuthatch - Sitta carolinensis 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - Polioptila caerulea 3
Eastern Bluebird - Sialia sialis 4
Gray-cheeked Thrush - Catharus minimus 1
Swainson's Thrush - Catharus ustulatus 1
American Robin - Turdus migratorius 1
Cedar Waxwing - Bombycilla cedrorum 4
Tennessee Warbler - Vermivora peregrina 1
Cape May Warbler - Dendroica tigrina 1
Black-throated Green Warbler - Dendroica virens 1
American Redstart - Setophaga ruticilla 2
Northern Waterthrush - Seiurus noveboracensis 1
Wilson's Warbler - Wilsonia pusilla 1
Chipping Sparrow - Spizella passerina 12
Northern Cardinal - Cardinalis cardinalis 5
Indigo Bunting - Passerina cyanea 3
Baltimore Oriole - Icterus galbula 1
House Finch - Carpodacus mexicanus 2
American Goldfinch - Carduelis tristis 12

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

9/7 Milw Birds

Lake Park Birders,

See posts from yesterday on Wis Bird Net about Milwaukee birding.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
=====================================================
------------------------------

Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2009 22:34:56 -0500
Subject: [wisb] White-throated Sparrow - Lake Park
From: Brian Hansen <rawshooter@gmail.com>

Heard and then saw my first White-throated Sparrow of the season. Seems
very early? Also had a few Tennesees and a Black and White tonight
after
work around 6:30. Not much else happening.
Brian Hansen
Milwaukee - east side.
------------------------------

From: Sharpbill@aol.com
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2009 07:48:15 EDT
Subject: [wisb] MCZoo Bird Banding Report

Greetings,

We banded over the weekend, and while it was slow, we did capture a nice
variety of birds. Species include: Canada warbler, magnolia warbler,
black-throated blue warbler, Northern waterthrush, ovenbird, black-
capped
chickadee, 17 Swainson's thrushes, gray catbird, and American robin.

Species observed include Eastern wood-peewee, blue jay, Northern
flicker,
red-eyed vireo...

Next banding will be the weekend of September 12/13th. Hope to see you
there!

Cheers, Mickey

Michelene M. O'Connor
Zookeeper
Milwaukee County Zoological Gardens
10001 W. Bluemound Rd.
Milwaukee, WI 53226
(414) 771-3040, X157

-------------------------------------------

Sent: Monday, September 07, 2009 11:27 AM
To: Chuck Hagner
Subject: eBird Report - Estabrook Park , 9/6/09

Location: Estabrook Park
Observation date: 9/6/09
Notes: 69.8°F rising to 78.8°F, scattered clouds, winds calm.
Observed adult American Goldfinch feeding begging juveniles.
Number of species: 33

Canada Goose 24
Mallard 10
duck sp. 2
Great Blue Heron 1
Herring Gull 1
Rock Pigeon 12
Mourning Dove 1
Chimney Swift 2
Belted Kingfisher 1
Downy Woodpecker 5
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
Red-eyed Vireo 7
Blue Jay 5
American Crow 5
Black-capped Chickadee 23
White-breasted Nuthatch 5
House Wren 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 3
Swainson's Thrush 4
American Robin 9
Gray Catbird 4
Cedar Waxwing 5
Tennessee Warbler 8
Nashville Warbler 1
Chestnut-sided Warbler 2
Magnolia Warbler 3
Blackburnian Warbler 3
American Redstart 12
Northern Waterthrush 1
Wilson's Warbler 3
Northern Cardinal 5
American Goldfinch 27
House Sparrow 9

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/wi)

Urban Conservation Treaty for Migratory Birds

Wisconsin and Lake Park Birders,

I wish I had more time to work on bird conservation in
Milwaukee. I am dreaming of bringing groups together around the
framework of an Urban Conservation Treaty for Migratory Birds. See
below.

--- Paul Hunter, Secretary, MOBCAW
Milwaukee Olmsted Bird Conservation Alliance of Wisconsin
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/MOBCAW.html
=====================================================

In the next to last article in the September 2009 edition of the
Birding Community E-bulletin that Bill Mueller posted on Wis Bird
Net, the Urban Conservation Treaty for Migratory Birds is mentioned.
This program of the US Fish and Wildlife Service no longer has funds
for the several up-to-$150,000 grants it has made since 1999.
However the grant application process still provides a blue print for
conserving birds in urban areas.

In the Milwaukee area various groups are already active in some
of the areas included in the bird treaty. Below is a very partial list:

- Habitat Creation, Protection, and Restoration;
... Wisconsin Metro Audubon Society - Martin House at Grobschmidt Park
http://www.wimetroaudubon.org/
... Ozaukee Washington Land Trust - http://www.owlt.org/

- Education and Outreach;
... Urban Ecology Center - http://www.urbanecologycenter.org/

- Hazard(s) Reduction; and
... Wisconsin Night Guardians for Songbirds: WINGS - http://
www.wihumane.org/wildlife/wings/vision.aspx

- Non-native, Invasive, or Nuisance Animal and Plant Species Management
... http://www.parkpeoplemke.org/index.php/weed-out.html

=====================================================

http://www.fws.gov/birds/urbantreaty.html
The Urban Conservation Treaty for Migratory Birds, is an outreach
program designed to address a sometimes overlooked area of bird
conservation -- the need to work with cities to preserve habitat and
educate citizens about birds in an urban environment.
Due to lack of funding, we are not able to take new applications
for challenge-cost-shares at this time. We are still open to future
partnering with cities. We are currently looking for ways to put City
staff and Service personnel together to discuss opportunities for
Treaty Cities by utilizing partnerships and funding from outside
sources.

http://www.fws.gov/birds/Urban%20Treaty%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf
The focus areas of the Urban Conservation Treaty for Migratory
Birds are Habitat Creation, Protection, and Restoration; Education
and Outreach; Hazard(s) Reduction; and Non-native, Invasive, or
Nuisance Animal and Plant Species Management.

http://www.fws.gov/birds/uctmbga/UCTGAinstr.pdf
For more information on Urban Conservation Treaty for Migratory
Birds, or sample application and proposals, contact:
Julie St. Louis, National Program Coordinator
Urban Conservation Treaty for Migratory Birds
Division of Migratory Bird Management , USFWS
4401 North Fairfax Drive, Room 634 Arlington, Virginia 22203
Julie_stlouis@fws.gov , 703-358-1714 , 703-358-2217 (fax)

http://www.ci.chi.il.us/Environment/BirdMigration/sub/laws_treaties.html
Federal, state, and local legislators have enacted a number of
international treaties and domestic laws to provide protection for
migratory birds.
- 2001 Executive Order on Migratory Birds is designed to help Federal
agencies comply with the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
- 1999 Urban Conservation Treaty for Migratory Birds
- 1992 Wild Bird Conservation Act establishes a Federal system to
limit or prohibit the importing of exotic bird species into the
United States.
- 1980 Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act authorizes financial and
technical assistance to the States for the development, revision, and
implementation of conservation plans and programs for nongame fish
and wildlife.
- 1973 Endangered Species Act to conserve the ecosystems upon which
endangered and threatened species depend. Endangered species are
those in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion
of its range. Threatened species are those likely to become
endangered within the foreseeable future.
- 1972 Ramsar Convention maintains a list of wetlands of
international importance
- 1959 Antarctic Treaty prohibits the taking, importing, and
transporting of birds and mammals native to the Antarctic
- 1956 Waterfowl Depredations Prevention Act authorizes the use of
surplus grain owned by the Commodity Credit Corporation to feed
waterfowl to prevent crop damage.
- 1940 Bald Eagle Protection Act prohibits taking, possession, and
commerce of the bald eagle and the golden eagle.
- 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act is the domestic law that implements
the United States' commitment to four international conventions for
the protection of migratory birds and their habitats. The Act
protects species or families of birds that live, reproduce, or
migrate within or across international borders at some point during
their annual life cycle.

Fwd: WIngs fall monitoring

Lake Park Birders,

I am forwarding Scott Diehl's announcement below requesting help
monitoring for injured and dead birds this fall through October. If
I set this message up correctly, you can reply to message to let
Scott know you are interested.

Now that I work next to City Hall in Milwaukee, I may be able to
arrange to participate. The trick for me is getting up early enough.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
=====================================================
Begin forwarded message:

From: "Scott Diehl" <sdiehl@wihumane.org>
Date: September 5, 2009 5:30:42 PM CDT
Subject: WIngs fall monitoring

We'd like to get fall WIngs Bird Collision Monitoring started on
Sunday, September 13th. If you are willing and able to monitor for
injured and dead birds this fall (through October), please let me
know what day(s) of the week and which Section you would like to
monitor. As I start hearing back from you, I'll put together a
monitoring calendar.

If you haven't seen it lately, please check out the WIngs web site at
www.wihumane.org/wildlife/wings/default.aspx. We have lots going on,
including another big giveaway of WindowAlerts window decals. If the
8 free decals in this offer are not enough to treat all of your
windows, we also have a special arrangement with WindowAlert.com that
gives customers that use our coupon code (on our web site) a free
pack of decals with their order and a donation of $1.00 back to WIngs
for every pack purchased.

The WIngs program will be featured in two "In Wisconsin" segments on
Wisconsin Public Television in the next few months, and we've just
developed a partnership with Milwaukee County Parks to get
WindowAlerts on the windows that pose a collision hazard for birds on
each of the 400 buildings in the Milwaukee County Parks system! The
latter program is made possible by a generous grant from the Jeff
Rusinow Family Foundation.

Scott Diehl, Manager, Wisconsin Humane Society,
Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, 4500 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53208-3156, sdiehl@wihumane.org
web: www.wihumane.org, fax: 414-431-6200
"No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted." -Aesop

Milw River, Estabrook Park 9/5/09, full moon and migration

Lake Park Birders:

While canoeing the Milwaukee River from Kletzsch Park to Riverside
Park on Saturday, September 9th, my family and I saw a couple hundred
mallards, mainly males in their drab, late summer plumage. We also
saw a green heron, several great blue herons, a few spotted
sandpipers, a couple dozen ring-billed and herring gulls. and three
or four kingfishers. There were no cliff swallows at the Hampton
Avenue bridge, but there were a couple dozen nests stuck up under the
southern edge of the bridge. The water was low, so we spent a lot of
time hung up on rocks and mudbars.

Below see Chuck Hagner's report from Estabrook Park and Brian Hansen
full moon observation that I am forwarding from Wis Bird Net.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
=====================================================

Sent: Saturday, September 05, 2009 11:12 PM
To: Chuck Hagner
Subject: eBird Report - Estabrook Park , 9/5/09

Location: Estabrook Park
Observation date: 9/5/09
Notes: 53°F rising to 75°F, clear and calm. Wood Duck and Eastern
Bluebirds were juveniles. Rose-breasted Grosbeak was first-fall male.
Badgerland Striders Half-Marathon was being run in the park while I
was birding.
Number of species: 34

Canada Goose 1
Wood Duck 1
Mallard 19
Great Blue Heron 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Ring-billed Gull 2
Herring Gull 1
Rock Pigeon 5
Mourning Dove 2
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Downy Woodpecker 6
Empidonax sp. 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Red-eyed Vireo 5
Blue Jay 7
American Crow 3
Black-capped Chickadee 20
White-breasted Nuthatch 4
House Wren 3
Eastern Bluebird 4
Swainson's Thrush 8
American Robin 14
Gray Catbird 7
Cedar Waxwing 9
Black-and-white Warbler 1
American Redstart 5
Louisiana Waterthrush 2
Song Sparrow 3
Northern Cardinal 7
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1
American Goldfinch 35
House Sparrow 7

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/wi)

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 5 Sep 2009 23:30:31 -0500
Subject: [wisb] Saturday night full moon and migration
From: Brian Hansen <rawshooter@gmail.com>

I have to confess that when I first got into birding 3 years ago and
started reading the posts here I was a bit skeptical about some of the
things birders did to view birds. Things like watching the radar,
pishing,
looking at the full moon with binocs etc... Well let me exclaim I am a
believer. May 8th 2007 I looked at the radar (and saved it on my
computer)
at around 1AM. It was a solid mass of huge dark green circles up to 100
miles in diameter around every radar site north of the Kentucky/Indiana
border. The next morning I was out at sunrise and had one of my best
days
ever. I photographed and IDed - with the help of wisbird members - 19
species of warblers that day. Then I ran into John Idzikowski
(spelling?
sorry) one day this spring in lake park and watched him pish in about 50
birds of various species including many warblers, gnatcatchers,
chickadees,
an eastern phoebe etc... to within about 10 feet of us. So close in
fact I
couldn't focus my camera on them. Now tonight I was sitting outside and
heard songbirds flying high overhead. I grabbed my binocs and and just
watched the full moon for about 15 minutes and after a while started
noticing quick dark blips going by. Well let me just say I am
officially a
believer and from this point on will believe pretty much anything I
read on
here :) - except what Freriks says :) :) I just wish it wouldn't have
taken me 40 years to find all this out.
Should be great tomorrow. The radar shows heavy movement in and around
Green Bay and Minneapolis as well as the UP.
http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/full.php This is a big download for
those of
you with slower connections.

Brian Hansen
Milwaukee - east side

Fwd: Olive-sided Flycatcher in Lake Park 8/18

Lake Park Birders:

Below is an advance level discussion by my main two birding mentors,
John Idzikowski and Bill Mueller. The Olive-sided Flycatcher WAS a
migrant.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
=====================================================

Begin forwarded message:

From: William mueller <iltlawas@earthlink.net>
Date: August 20, 2009 7:28:05 AM CDT
To: Paul Hunter <phunter1@wi.rr.com>
Subject: Re: Fwd: Olive-sided Flycatcher in Lake Park 8/18
Reply-To: William mueller <iltlawas@earthlink.net>

When you say YBFL is latest, do you mean latest in spring? That would
be correct, but MANY of the flycatchers begin southward migration in
Aug.; some individuals earlier than others. The earliness of phoebes
in spring turns into lateness in fall - they are most often the last
flyc spp to leave WI in fall. Departure dates for many of the others
are spread over Aug-Sept., some may stay into Oct. Most are quite
long-distance migrants - but not phoebe.

--------------------------
Begin forwarded message:

From: John H Idzikowski <idzikoj@uwm.edu>
Date: August 20, 2009 11:56:52 AM CDT
To: Paul Hunter <phunter1@wi.rr.com>
Cc: "William P. Mueller" <iltlawas@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: Olive-sided Flycatcher in Lake Park 8/18

I have at least a dozen records of Osfly from the last half of August
in Mke Co; most leave the state by sept 15. I would definitely call
this present bird a migrant. Ybellied Fly are late in May but
generally peak in late Aug and early Sept.- again most are gone by
Sept 15; Least is the latest Empid in fall and the earliest in spring
as are Phoebes. A late fall empid is nearly always a Least except
when it is a western vagrant- esp Hammond's or Dusky/Gray. Who knows
what ultimate factors played into the annual occurrences-timings of
these birds- Pleistocene glaciation followed by warming and habitat
availability? But they all seem to be obligate insectivores and
timing also depends upon length of migration route- the earliest are
temperate migrants wintering farthest north. There is probably
somewhat of a correlation between relative wing length and distance
migrated in flycatchers as in other passerines.

ji
----- Original Message -----

Begin forwarded message:

From: John H Idzikowski <idzikoj@uwm.edu>
Date: August 19, 2009 10:18:29 AM CDT
To: Paul Hunter <phunter1@wi.rr.com>
Subject: Re: Olive-sided Flycatcher in Lake Park 8/18

Paul- in my experience these are migrants that are consistently seen
after Aug 15 in s Wisc.

----- Original Message -----
Begin forwarded message:

From: William mueller <iltlawas@earthlink.net>
Date: August 19, 2009 3:46:18 PM CDT
To: Paul Hunter <phunter1@wi.rr.com>
Subject: Re: Fwd: Olive-sided Flycatcher in Lake Park 8/18
Reply-To: William mueller <iltlawas@earthlink.net>

It is definitely a migrant - they start south in August normally.
Closest nesting areas are 250 miles north of here.

-----Original Message-----

From: "Paul Hunter" <phunter1@wi.rr.com>
To: "John Idzikowski" <idzikoj@uwm.edu>, "William P. Mueller"
<iltlawas@earthlink.net>
Sent: Thursday, August 20, 2009 7:14:39 AM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central
Subject: Fwd: Olive-sided Flycatcher in Lake Park 8/18

John and Bill,

I was hoping that you two would comment on whether this flycatcher
was a migrant or not. I know that the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher is
one of the latest passerine migrants in our area, but Phoebes are one
of the earliest. What accounts for such a variation in flycatcher
migration timing?

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
=====================================================
From: "Paul Hunter" <phunter1@wi.rr.com>
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Sent: Wednesday, August 19, 2009 8:07:31 AM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central
Subject: Fwd: Olive-sided Flycatcher in Lake Park 8/18

Lake Park Birders:

I am forwarding John Idzikowski's sighting of an Olive-sided
Flycatcher. I believe this is not necessarily a migrant but rather
an individual disbursing from nesting areas. Thanks to Jym Mooney
for forwarding John's message to me.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
=====================================================

-----Original Message-----
From: John H Idzikowski [mailto:idzikoj@uwm.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 9:56 AM
To: hopmoon@milwpc.com
Subject: lake pk

olive s fly this morn working the snags near the warming house

Fwd: 8/30 Lake Park sightings

Lake Park Birders,

I am forwarding a few messages posted on Wis Bird Net last week.
Several warblers and a Merlin were seen.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
=====================================================
------------------------------

From: Paul Sparks <paul.sparks@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 2009 14:34:04 -0500
Subject: [wisb] Lake Park Milwaukee

I went to Lake Park in Milwaukee this morning and there was quite a
bit of
movement. I walked around for a few hours with Brian Hansen, Dave
Frericks,
and John (forgive me, I forgot his last name). Quite a few warblers
moving
through; American Redstart, Nashville, Black-throated Green, possible
Blackburnian, Magnolia, and I have a photo of what is probably a
Prothonotary or Blue-winged. I'm leaning towards the former. We saw
both a
Red-eyed Vireo and a Philadelphia. Brian picked out a nice Canada
Warbler
that gave some nice, but shaded views. I'm probably missing something.
Hopefully one of the other guys can post a more complete list.
Here's a link to five photos of birds we saw this morning. The first
photo
is the Prothonotary or Blue-winged. http://www.flickr.com/photos/
bookguy/

Paul Sparks
Glendale
Milwaukee County
--
www.paulcsparks.com

------------------------------

From: "Jym Mooney & Carol Lee Hopkins" <hopmoon@milwpc.com>
Subject: [wisb] Re: Lake Park Milwaukee
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 2009 15:58:56 -0500

I must have just missed you guys in the park this morning! I had nine
warblers (Tennessee, Nashville, blue-winged, magnolia, redstart,
chestnut-sided, blackpoll, black-and-white, and Wilson's), and Todd
Wilson
and I saw a flyby merlin. Very nice change from yesterday's quiet
showing!

Jym Mooney, Milwaukee

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 30 Aug 2009 16:50:01 -0500
Subject: [wisb] Re: Lake Park Milwaukee
From: Jesse Ellis <calocitta8@gmail.com>

Paul-
That mystery CFW looks like a Wilson's by shape and color to me.
Perhaps a
first-year female to explain the lack of a cap.

--
Jesse Ellis
Madison, Dane Co, WI
=======================

From: "Evan Barrientos" <ebarrientos@wi.rr.com>
Subject: [wisb] MERLIN at Lake Park yesterday
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 17:41:48 -0500

Yesterday morning there was an adult Merlin at Lake Park perching and
flying about. I did manage to get photos.
www.ebarrientos.smugmug.com/nature/wisconsinbirds
Evan B.
Milwaukee
------------------------------

Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 19:04:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: Dennis Casper <denncasp.bird@yahoo.com>
Subject: [wisb] Urban Ecology Center Bird Walk, August 27, 2009

Urban Ecology Center Bird Walk
Location: Riverside Park/Urban Ecology Center
Observation date: 8/27/09
Number of species: 24
Number of birders: 15
Mallard 3
Great Blue Heron 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Ring-billed Gull 6
Mourning Dove 1
Chimney Swift 2
Downy Woodpecker 2
Eastern Phoebe 1
Red-eyed Vireo 1
American Crow 5
Black-capped Chickadee 7
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
American Robin 4
European Starling 80
Cedar Waxwing 3
American Redstart 1
warbler sp. 2
Song Sparrow 2
Northern Cardinal 1
Common Grackle 12
American Goldfinch 31
House Sparrow 6

Warbler Walk Report - Lake Park - 8/22/09

Lake Park Birders:

Jym Mooney led the first Warbler Walk of fall. I am leading the
next one this Saturday, 8/29/09. We start at 8:30 near the warming
house or on the wooden bridge over Locust Ravine.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
=====================================================
From: "Jym Mooney & Carol Lee Hopkins" <hopmoon@milwpc.com>
Subject: [wisb] Lake Park Warbler Walk, 8/22
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 2009 12:43:51 -0500

Our first Lake Park Warbler Walk for the fall season was held today.
Nine
birders enjoyed a relatively quiet morning, with some nice
highlights. We
did find some warblers: 2 Cape Mays, a black-and-white, and 2 American
redstarts, plus 2 blue-gray gnatcatchers (Old World warblers). A
Cooper's
hawk (juvenile) gave us a couple of quick fly-bys. An eastern wood-
pewee
gave everyone excellent looks as it sat on a low limb and called
repeatedly.
We all also had good looks at a giant swallowtail butterfly, which
most of
the group had not seen before. Prior to the start of the group walk, I
found a Baird's sandpiper picking at the algae and trying to avoid
the waves
on the rocks north of Bradford Beach.

Jym Mooney, Milwaukee

Location: Lake Park - Locust Ravine
Observation date: 8/22/09
Notes: Butterflies: monarch, cabbage white, azure, and giant
swallowtail
Number of species: 27

Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos 6
Cooper's Hawk - Accipiter cooperii 1
Baird's Sandpiper - Calidris bairdii 1
Ring-billed Gull - Larus delawarensis 20
Mourning Dove - Zenaida macroura 2
Chimney Swift - Chaetura pelagica 6
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - Archilochus colubris 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker - Melanerpes carolinus 1
Downy Woodpecker - Picoides pubescens 1
Hairy Woodpecker - Picoides villosus 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee - Contopus virens 3
Eastern Phoebe - Sayornis phoebe 5
Red-eyed Vireo - Vireo olivaceus 1
American Crow - Corvus brachyrhynchos 6
Tree Swallow - Tachycineta bicolor 3
Black-capped Chickadee - Poecile atricapillus 15
White-breasted Nuthatch - Sitta carolinensis 4
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - Polioptila caerulea 2
American Robin - Turdus migratorius 1
Cape May Warbler - Dendroica tigrina 2
Black-and-white Warbler - Mniotilta varia 1
American Redstart - Setophaga ruticilla 2
Chipping Sparrow - Spizella passerina 4
Northern Cardinal - Cardinalis cardinalis 3
Indigo Bunting - Passerina cyanea 3
House Finch - Carpodacus mexicanus 6
House Sparrow - Passer domesticus 4

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/wi)

Olive-sided Flycatcher in Lake Park 8/18

Lake Park Birders:

I am forwarding John Idzikowski's sighting of an Olive-sided
Flycatcher. I believe this is not necessarily a migrant but rather
an individual disbursing from nesting areas. Thanks to Jym Mooney
for forwarding John's message to me.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
=====================================================

-----Original Message-----
From: John H Idzikowski [mailto:idzikoj@uwm.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 9:56 AM
To: hopmoon@milwpc.com
Subject: lake pk

olive s fly this morn working the snags near the warming house

eBird Report - Lake Park - 8/15/09

Lake Park Birders,

See Jym Mooney post from Wis Bird Net below. He's leading the
first Warbler Walk of the fall next weekend.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
=====================================================

From: "Jym Mooney & Carol Lee Hopkins" <hopmoon@milwpc.com>
Subject: [wisb] FW: eBird Report - Lake Park - Locust Ravine , 8/15/09
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 2009 16:03:44 -0500

Ran a preliminary check of Lake Park this morning, in preparation for
the
beginning of our fall Warbler Walks series next Saturday. No
migrants yet.
Most interesting birds were on the lakefront: mute swan, spotted
sandpiper,
great blue heron, and a juvenile hooded merganser.

See you all next Saturday morning at the Lake Park warming house at 8:30
a.m.! More info at http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/
lakeparkbirds.html

Jym Mooney, Milwaukee

-----Original Message-----
From: do-not-reply@ebird.org [mailto:do-not-reply@ebird.org]
Sent: Saturday, August 15, 2009 3:57 PM
To: hopmoon@milwpc.com
Subject: eBird Report - Lake Park - Locust Ravine , 8/15/09

Location: Lake Park - Locust Ravine
Observation date: 8/15/09
Number of species: 22

Canada Goose 36
Mute Swan 1
Mallard 25
Hooded Merganser 1
Great Blue Heron 1
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Ring-billed Gull 100
Herring Gull 4
Caspian Tern 15
Chimney Swift 15
Downy Woodpecker 2
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
Red-eyed Vireo 6
American Crow 4
Barn Swallow 2
Black-capped Chickadee 8
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Cedar Waxwing 30
Song Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 6
Indigo Bunting 2
American Goldfinch 12

Purple Martin funds and services needed

Lake Park Birders,

Bill Mueller and his assistants need funds to refurbish several
Purple Martin houses that people have donated in response to requests
for unused houses. Money is also needed for the special poles that
can allow the houses to be lowered for cleaning. The houses also
need to be closed up for winter and opened in spring to lessen the
chance for House Sparrows using them. Bill also needs cement for the
footing for the poles and locks to prevent vandals from lowering the
houses during nesting.
Make out checks to "Wisconsin Society for Ornithology" with
"Purple Martin Partners Fund" in the memo line.
Mail checks to: Christine Reel, WSO Treasurer, 2022 Sherryl
Lane, Waukesha, WI 53188-3142.

If you have more time than money, consider helping clean, repair
and paint old houses or helping dig the hole for the footing, mix the
cement, and plumb the base pole upright in the cement. Or you can do
what I did, provide moral support while Bill and others put the
finishing touches on a martin house and get your picture taken with
the crew.
To volunteer contact Bill Mueller, WSO Conservation Chair,
414-698-9108, or iltlawas@earthlink.net.

See photos of some martin houses put up this year in Milwaukee:
- Grobschmidt Park on the south side of Milwaukee:
http://puma-in-wi.blogspot.com/2009/03/new-beginning-for-martins-in-
milwaukee.html
- Lakeshore State Park near Discovery World:
http://puma-in-wi.blogspot.com/2009/05/thanks-to-gentlemen-pictured-
here-for.html
- Wisconsin Humane Society:
http://puma-in-wi.blogspot.com/2009/07/new-potential-puma-site-at-wi-
humane.html

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
=====================================================

Fwd: Swan at Bradford Beach

Lake Park Birders,

Maryanne Niesen saw a Mute Swan at Bradford Beach this week.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
=====================================================

Begin forwarded message:

From: <dniesen4@wi.rr.com>
Date: August 13, 2009 10:01:32 AM CDT
To: Paul Hunter <phunter1@wi.rr.com>

Please feel free to pass the info. on to others.
I saw the swan again on Wednesday.
Maryanne
---- Paul Hunter <phunter1@wi.rr.com> wrote:
Maryanne,

No one else has reported this, but this would be about the time
for the invasive, non-native Mute Swans to be disbursing from the
inland lakes. They are regularly in the lake south of South Shore
Park through the winter.
Is it okay for me to post your sighting to the rest of the Lake
Park Birders?

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
=====================================================

On Aug 12, 2009, at 9:00 AM, <dniesen4@wi.rr.com> wrote:

Hi Paul,
On Monday and Tuesday my husband and I observed a swan (mute?) just
north of Bradford Beach near the lake shore. We also saw a lone
goose (snow?) in the same area. Has anyone else reported this?
Maryanne Niesen

Re: chimney swift mid-afternoon swirling

Lake Park Birders,

The Chimney Swift experts in Texas replied about some
interesting behavior that Lenore Lee observed here in Milwaukee.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
=====================================================

On Aug 11, 2009, at 10:20 AM, Paul D. and Georgean Kyle wrote:

Paul,

You may be seeing swifts arriving from more northern breeding
grounds. They are probably flying low to check out potential
roosting sites. We will see that behavior here in a few weeks.

Best Regards,

Paul and Georgean

Paul D. and Georgean Z. Kyle
Driftwood Wildlife Association
1206 West 38th, Suite 1105
Austin, Texas 78705

Visit our web site:
www.chimneyswifts.org

We Support the Travis Audubon Society
"Inspiring Conservation Through Birding"
www.travisaudubon.org
----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul Hunter" <phunter1@wi.rr.com>
To: "Paul and Georgean Kyle" <dwa@austin.rr.com>
Cc: "Lenore Lee" <lenorelef@yahoo.com>
Sent: Sunday, August 09, 2009 1:05 PM
Subject: chimney swift mid-afternoon swirling

> Paul and Georgean Kyle,
>
> A friend here in Milwaukee noted 200 swifts swirling in the mid-
> afternoon. I have never seen or read about that. Any thoughts?
>
> --- Paul Hunter
> http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
> =====================================================
>
> On Aug 9, 2009, at 9:31 AM, Lenore Lee wrote:
>
> So would you call it swarming behavior!? It was very powerful.
> There are several chimneys on the high rise buildings, but it
> didn't seem as if they were entering them, just flying in a vast
> swift mass.
>
> Thx,
>
> Lenore Lee
>
> You get out of life what you put into it.
>
> --- On Sat, 8/8/09, Paul Hunter <phunter1@wi.rr.com> wrote:
>
> From: Paul Hunter <phunter1@wi.rr.com>
> Subject: Re: chimney swift count, 8/7, Shorewood Wisconsin
> To: "Lenore Lee" <lenorelef@yahoo.com>
> Date: Saturday, August 8, 2009, 1:28 PM
>
> Interesting. That seems way too early to be roosting behavior.
> Check out your neighborhood for old big tall chimneys often in
> alleys with no cap or cage blocking them. Then go back to those
> chimneys a half hour before sunset in late August and early
> September.
>
> --- Paul Hunter
> http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
> =====================================================
>
> On Aug 8, 2009, at 9:53 AM, Lenore Lee wrote:
>
> I live on Farwell and Brady. At about 1 pm on Friday, I saw over
> 200 chimney swifts between Farwell and Prospect. They continued to
> circle, in diminishing numbers until after 2:00. Is this normal?
>
> Lenore Lee

chimney swift count, 8/9, Shorewood Wisconsin

Lake Park Birders,

About nine of us counted swifts in Shorewood, Wisconsin
tonight. We got about the same results as Carol Johnstone did on 8/7.

--- Paul Hunter
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
=====================================================

Number of swifts counted: 150-200
Time (and time zone): 7:40 - 8:10 PM, Central
Date: 8/9/09
Location: St. Robert's parking lot
Address, city, state/province: Corner of Capitol Dr and Maryland Ave
in Shorewood, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin
Broad description of the site: School (abandoned incinerator)
Weather conditions may also be reported.: Cold front with
thunderstorms pasted through at about 6 PM. Partly sunny with light
wind by counting time.