Fwd: Warbler Walk Report - Lake Park - Milwaukee , 5/15/10

Lake Park Birders,

I am not sure whether I sent the report below to you all already.

Dennis Casper will be leading the last vernal Warbler Walk of 2010
tomorrow. After that the walks start again in fall on August 21st.

--- Paul Hunter
Whitefish Bay, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
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Warbler Walks at Lake Park, - Saturdays, 8:30 to 10:00 AM
Spring 2010: April 17, April 24, May 1, May 8, May 15, May 22
Fall 2010: Aug 21, Aug 28, Sept 4, Sept 11, Sept 18, Sept 25
Meet at the Warming House on the north end of the park.
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Warbler Walk Report - Lake Park - Locust Ravine , 5/15/10

About 20 birders gathered on the wooden Rustic Bridge at 8:30 AM.
About 15 minutes into the walk we crossed paths with Scott Diehl
leading several beginning birders from the Wisconsin Humane Society.
Scott noticed a Northern Mockingbird flying over the treetops and
pointed it out to all of us. The white-wing patches and long tail
clinched the identification, though a brief sighting never completely
satisfies the desire to savor such a rare bird. Later we completed a
"mimic thrush slam" by seeing a Brown Thrasher and a Gray Catbird.

Warblers spread themselves in small numbers throughout the park, but
some allowed good looks. One drab yellow warbler defied exact
identification, however. Most birds sang meekly, but fortunately the
flycatchers identified themselves by calling fairly frequently.

After the official end of the Walk, 10 AM, several of us carefully
scanned the shades of the primaries of the dozen or so small terns
patrolling Lake Michigan about 30 - 40 meters offshore to find both
Common and Forster's Terns, along with their larger, loud cousins,
the Caspian Terns.

We then continued north along the lake shore to find the Song and
Savannah Sparrows skulking among the bushy, rocky shore line. In the
hedge row just south of the Linwood water treatment plant, we saw 2
Baltimore Orioles, a handful of warblers, Red-winged Blackbirds, 2
Eastern Bluebirds and the Gray Catbird -- not quite as productive as
Chicago's "Magic Hedge", but productive nonetheless.

Jym Mooney started birding in Lake Park at about 6 AM. He saw
several species not seen by the rest of the group, as noted with "JM"
on the list below.

2 Mallard- JM = Jym Mooney before Warbler Walk
20 Double-crested Cormorant
1 Cooper's Hawk Dolores Knopfelmacher: Captured small
songbird on ground under shrub on golf course.
4 Spotted Sandpiper- JM
2 Sanderling Fly by on lake shore. Large wing stripe, no
breast spots.
40 Ring-billed Gull
15 Herring Gull (American)
8 Caspian Tern
10 Common Tern gray wings
2 Forster's Tern frosty wings
1 Mourning Dove- JM
10 Chimney Swift
1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird Steve Morse: Near M Coles
Community Room at top of Grand Staircase.
2 Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)- JM
1 Eastern Wood-Pewee
1 Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - JM
2 Least Flycatcher Che-bek!
1 Eastern Phoebe
2 Great Crested Flycatcher
30 Blue Jay Migrating north in small flocks at treetop level
3 American Crow
2 Tree
Swallow

in nest box on NE
corner of lawn bowling court
1 Northern Rough-winged Swallow
10 Barn Swallow
100 swallow sp. flying low over Lake Michigan about 100 meters
offshore
8 Black-capped Chickadee
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 House Wren
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet- JM
10 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
3 Eastern Bluebird 1 at lawn bowling court. 2 near Linwood
water treatment plant
10 American Robin 0
1 Gray Catbird near Linwood water treatment plant
1 Northern Mockingbird with Scott Diehl's group. Flew over
Locust Ravine
1 Brown Thrasher at Wolcott Statue feeder
5 European Starling
1 Nashville Warbler- JM
2 Yellow Warbler near Linwood water treatment plant
2 Chestnut-sided Warbler
4 Magnolia Warbler
1 Black-throated Green Warbler
1 Blackburnian Warbler- JM
10 Palm Warbler mostly near Linwood water treatment plant
2 Black-and-white Warbler
2 American Redstart at Rustic (wooden) Bridge over Locust Ravine
2 Ovenbird Seen, not heard
3 Common Yellowthroat
1 Wilson's Warbler- JM
1 warbler sp. Female yellow vs female Wilson's, near Linwood
water treatment plant
1 Scarlet Tanager- JM
1 Chipping Sparrow
2 Savannah Sparrow Along lake shore near rugby field
2 Song Sparrow Along lake shore near rugby field
1 Lincoln's Sparrow- JM
1 Swamp Sparrow- JM
20 White-crowned Sparrow
2 Northern Cardinal
2 Rose-breasted Grosbeak
3 Indigo Bunting At Locust Ravine feeder
12 Red-winged Blackbird near Linwood water treatment plant
1 Common Grackle - JM
15 Brown-headed Cowbird
2 Baltimore Oriole
6 House Finch
10 American Goldfinch
2 House Sparrow