2011 08 27 Warbler Walk #2 for Fall

Fellow Lake Park Birders,

See my report from this morning's Warbler Walk below.

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

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Warbler Walks at Lake Park, - Saturdays, 8:30 to 10:00 AM
Fall 2011: Aug 20, Aug 27, Sept 3, Sept 10, Sept 17, Sept 24
Meet on the WEST side of the Warming House
near the tennis courts on the north end of the park
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Report of Warbler Walk 8/27/11

13 birders enjoyed a mild, sunny day with a pleasant northerly
breeze. We added a species to the checklist at Lake Park, Stilt
Sandpiper. Confusing fall warblers took us a long time and much
discussion to sort out around the Wolcott Statue. The heavy leaf
cover made finding birds difficult.

Lake Park - Locust Ravine, Milwaukee, US-WI
Aug 27, 2011 8:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.0 mile(s)
Comments: Warbler Walk
44 species

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) 17
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 10
Blue-winged Teal (Anas discors) 3
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) 4
Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) 4 One adult had green plastic
band on left leg
Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus) 11
Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius) 1
Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla) 10
Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla) 4
Stilt Sandpiper (Calidris himantopus) 1 Jym Mooney, Judith Huf,
Dennis Casper, and I by consensus and process of elimination
determined that the fairly long-legged, fairly slim sandpiper probing
the muddy lakeside edge of the "algae" mat north of Bradford Beach
this morning was a Stilt Sandpiper. While the legs were somewhat
yellow they weren't quite as long as either Yellowlegs species in
relation to the body. The bill was definitely not upturned. Judith
felt it was slight down-curved. I noticed a dark wide line above the
eyes after Judith pointed it out. It did not quite have a sewing
machine probing action like a dowitcher, but it was definitely more
methodical in its feeding and less nervous than a Yellowlegs.
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) 5
Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) 10
Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia) 2
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) 2
Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica) 4
Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) 4
Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) 3
Eastern Wood-Pewee (Contopus virens) 2
Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) 1
Yellow-throated Vireo (Vireo flavifrons) 1
Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus) 1
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) 6
Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) 2
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) 2
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) 12
White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) 5
House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea) 4
Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis) 1
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 4
Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) 12
Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapilla) 1
Northern Waterthrush (Parkesia noveboracensis) 1
American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) 4
Cape May Warbler (Setophaga tigrina) 1
Magnolia Warbler (Setophaga magnolia) 1
Blackburnian Warbler (Setophaga fusca) 1
Canada Warbler (Cardellina canadensis) 1
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina) 15
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 1
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) 6
House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) 6
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) 12
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) 6

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

2011 06 06 Hooded Warbler

Lake Park Birders,

Another old post.

Paul Hunter

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[wisb] Re: Hooded Warbler Lake Park Milwaukee (2011 BIGBY #185)
• From: "B.G. Sloan"
• To: wisbirdn
• Date: Tue, 7 Jun 2011 17:14:27 -0700 (PDT)

I can't believe I forgot about the Hooded Warbler! I saw it yesterday (Monday) afternoon in this same general location, towards the lake bluff part of this ravine. I guess I was so pumped up about my close-encounter-of-a-turkey-kind in Lake Park that I blanked out about what I saw after that encounter!

The Hooded Warbler is species #185 on my 2011 Milwaukee walking BIGBY. (What's a BIGBY? See: http://bit.ly/iDHq3D). Shows how much I love turkeys. A bird already on my 2011 BIGBY list (Wild Turkey) made me temporarily forget an interesting new addition to the list (Hooded Warbler). :-)

Bernie Sloan
Milwaukee
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On Tue, 6/7/11, Judith Huf wrote:
From: Judith Huf
Subject: [wisb] Hooded Warbler Lake Park Milwaukee
To: "wisbird"
Date: Tuesday, June 7, 2011, 8:47 AM

There is a singing Hooded Warbler in the South Ravine between the golf course and the light house right now.

Judith Huf
Milwaukee
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2011 05 13 Prothonotary Warbler

Lake Park Birders,

Another old post below...

Paul Hunter

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[wisb] Prothonotary Warbler Lake Park Milwaukee - plus todays sightings and photos
• From: Brian Hansen
• To: wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
• Date: Fri, 13 May 2011 00:36:45 -0500

I had a really fun day that was capped off by a PROTHONOTARY WARBLER near the statue in Lake Park about a half hour before sunrise. Lifer! ...

I started the day at Lake Park of course with some good looks at a Northern Parula and a Yellow Warbler on the ground. Lots of sparrows including Savannah, Field and Clay Colored. Philadelphia, Warbling and Blue-headed Vireos, 3 male Scarlet Tanagers - never got a decent shot - and a female Scarlet that posed nicely. ...

I ended the day at Lake Park with Prothonotory, Wilsons, another Canada, Chestnut-sided, Yellow, both Black-throateds, tons of Common Yellowthroats and the typical more numerous Warbs. For the 6th day in a row Blue Jays were flying through in groups from 4 to 20. I'm too tired to do my ebird right now but I would say close to 20 or just over on the Warblers.

Here's the Prothonotary http://www.pbase.com/bhansen/image/134660280

Here's the rest including the Canada Warblers. The first 4 rows are from today.
http://www.pbase.com/bhansen/spring_2011

The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher with the honeybee is my favorite shot of the spring so far. One of my favorite birds. I watched it spend a few minutes knocking the stinger off and then down the hatch.

Brian Hansen
Milwaukee - east side
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2011 06 06 turkey

Lake Park Birders,

I just noticed that I have posted any updates to this blog since November 2010 about recent sightings, so I will be adding old sightings here and there.

Paul Hunter
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[wisb] Lake Park Wild Turkey!!! (Milwaukee, 6/6/11)
• From: "B.G. Sloan"
• To: wisbirdn
• Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2011 14:52:44 -0700 (PDT)

... I decided to head to nearby Lake Park ... near the end of my walk, at about 1:15PM, I turned a corner on a Lake Park sidewalk and came face to face with a female Wild Turkey! The hen had come up out of the Locust Street Ravine and was checking out some gone-to-seed dandelion heads. She didn't seem particularly concerned by my presence. Eventually I got within about 15 feet and started "talking turkey" (quiet noises that approximate gobbling...it's worked for me in past turkey encounters). The turkey cocked her head from side to side and looked at me quizically for several minutes. Then she grew bored, crossed the sidewalk, and entered the woods on the Lake Michigan bluff. Within seconds I lost sight of her.

This was the closest encounter I've had with a Wild Turkey since I had a small flock of turkeys frequenting my Urbana (IL) neighborhood from 2005-2007 (I memorialized these birds in an op-ed piece in the local newspaper there. See: http://bit.ly/cDEHIU).

Interestingly, this isn't a new Milwaukee BIGBY species for me: I had a quick glimpse of one south of Lakeshore State Park in April, and I'm pretty certain I'd heard a hen call in the Locust Street Ravine in Lake Park after that. But this interaction was way cooler!! :-)

Bernie Sloan
Milwaukee
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2011 08 20 Warbler Walk #1 for Fall

Warbler Walk Report: 8/20/11, Led by Paul Hunter
The first walk of the fall was under threat of thunderstorms, and was
cut short by a half hour when rumbling thunder began. Otherwise the
70 degrees and intermittent light sprinkles were not unpleasant for
our small group of seven die-hards. We tolerated the moderate stench
of the decomposing Cladophora "algae" along the lakeshore, but were
not rewarded by any migrating shorebirds, however we did learn how to
identify juvenile Mallards by their bill color and white-margined,
blue specula. We almost thought a spirited grayish songbird with
white-edged tail was a junco, but it turned out to be a gnatcatcher.

Aug 20, 2011
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM
14 species

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) 8
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 15
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) 1
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) 5
Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) 5
Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica) 10
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) 5
swallow sp. (Hirundinidae sp.) 5
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) 3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea) 2
Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis) 1
Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) 10
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina) 8
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) 2
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) 10