Warbler Walk 2010 Sept 25

Lake Park birders,

See my report from the last Warbler Walk of 2010 that I am forwarding
below.

--- Paul Hunter
Whitefish Bay, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin
http://home.roadrunner.com/~phunter1/lakeparkbirds.html
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Lake Park Duck Watches: Saturdays 11AM - 1PM
Fall 2010: Oct 23, Nov 13, Dec 4
Gather EAST of Lincoln Memorial Dr, north of Bradford Beach.
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About 15 birders enjoyed an extended, last Warbler Walk of fall on
9/25/10 at Lake Park in Milwaukee. Several of us ended at the
Warming house shortly before noon. A few of us started shortly
before the official 8:30 start time. The sun shone intermittently as
a brisk northerly wind pushed the warblers and sparrows down into the
ravines and the bases of the bluffs.

After a peek at a Red-bellied Woodpecker from the wooden bridge, we
found a few Yellow-rumped Warbler and White-throated Sparrows near
the prairie planting just south of Locust Ravine near the baseball
diamond. On the way to the iron bridge, we struggled to identify a
Blackpoll Warbler, and had an easier time finding a Rose-breasted
Grosbeak and a Gray Catbird. At the iron bridge we looked down on a
Black-and- White Warbler and more sparrows. At the footbridge over
Ravine Road, a Red-eyed Vireo and Red-breasted Nuthatches gave us
fairly close up, nearly eye-level views. As we passed the lawn
bowling courts, a runner from the Badger Striders pointed out a
Cooper's Hawk that had just attempted catching a squirrel.

On the golf course, we saw Bluebirds, Goldfinches, a Brown Thrasher
and drab flycatchers, but the apple tree in which Dennis Casper had
seen Golden-crowned Kinglets shortly before the start of the Walk.
A couple dozen House Sparrows gobbled up seed at the feeder near the
Wolcott Statue, apparently moving in from the neighborhood a block
west where a long-time feeder was removed. A gray-cheeked Swamp
Sparrow bathing in the creek in Waterfall Ravine allowed us all long
looks and the time to debate the identification by a process of
elimination. The couple dozen Chipping Sparrows at the base of the
bluff between Waterfall Ravine and the Grand Staircase were less
cooperative. The streaked Savannah Sparrow hiding among its Chipping
cousins showed itself only briefly. The Semi-palmated Plover that
Judith Huf saw before the Walk had been chased off by Boy Scouts
cleaning up the lake shore, but the 12 Sanderlings just moved to the
algae mat a little farther north.

For several of us the Walk ended with a flurry of sightings in Locust
Ravine from Ravine Road to the Warming House. Winter Wrens skulked
like coffee-brown mice under fallen logs. A couple Swainson's
Thrushes hid in underbrush. A Black-throated Green Warbler gave an
extended and clear, but distant view. Close up views of a male and
female Magnolia allowed comparison of the chest streaking. The
highlight was the couple of fairly clear views of a male Black-
throated Blue near the very end of our walk.

Location: Lake Park - Locust Ravine
Observation date: 9/25/10
Notes: Warbler Walk
Number of species: 55

Canada Goose - Branta canadensis 23
Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos 20
Double-crested Cormorant - Phalacrocorax auritus 3
Cooper's Hawk - Accipiter cooperii 1
Semipalmated Plover - Charadrius semipalmatus 1
Sanderling - Calidris alba 12
Ring-billed Gull - Larus delawarensis 25
Herring Gull - Larus argentatus 8
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - Archilochus colubris 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker - Melanerpes carolinus 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - Sphyrapicus varius 9
Downy Woodpecker - Picoides pubescens 7
Hairy Woodpecker - Picoides villosus 1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) - Colaptes auratus [auratus
Group] 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee - Contopus virens 1
Empidonax sp. - Empidonax sp. 3
Eastern Phoebe - Sayornis phoebe 3
Red-eyed Vireo - Vireo olivaceus 2
Blue Jay - Cyanocitta cristata 4
American Crow - Corvus brachyrhynchos 2
Black-capped Chickadee - Poecile atricapillus 20
Red-breasted Nuthatch - Sitta canadensis 4
White-breasted Nuthatch - Sitta carolinensis 6
Brown Creeper - Certhia americana 3
Winter Wren - Troglodytes troglodytes 3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - Polioptila caerulea 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet - Regulus satrapa 5
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - Regulus calendula 12
Eastern Bluebird - Sialia sialis 2
Swainson's Thrush - Catharus ustulatus 3
American Robin - Turdus migratorius 4
Gray Catbird - Dumetella carolinensis 3
Brown Thrasher - Toxostoma rufum 3
Cedar Waxwing - Bombycilla cedrorum 3
Tennessee Warbler - Vermivora peregrina 3
Orange-crowned Warbler - Vermivora celata 1
Nashville Warbler - Vermivora ruficapilla 1
Magnolia Warbler - Dendroica magnolia 3
Black-throated Blue Warbler - Dendroica caerulescens 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) - Dendroica coronata coronata 40
Black-throated Green Warbler - Dendroica virens 4
Palm Warbler - Dendroica palmarum 6
Blackpoll Warbler - Dendroica striata 3
Black-and-white Warbler - Mniotilta varia 5
American Redstart - Setophaga ruticilla 10
Ovenbird - Seiurus aurocapilla 1
Chipping Sparrow - Spizella passerina 25
Savannah Sparrow - Passerculus sandwichensis 1
Swamp Sparrow - Melospiza georgiana 2
White-throated Sparrow - Zonotrichia albicollis 35
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) - Junco hyemalis hyemalis/
carolinensis 6
Northern Cardinal - Cardinalis cardinalis 5
Rose-breasted Grosbeak - Pheucticus ludovicianus 5
House Finch - Carpodacus mexicanus 5
American Goldfinch - Spinus tristis 20
House Sparrow - Passer domesticus 25

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