Mysticete's 2021 Year list thread (Take 2) (1 Viewer)

[Mysticete]

So I have found over the last few years that writing movies reviews on Letterboxd has substanstially improved my film knowledge, so why not apply the same principle to birding?

So here is my attempt at chronicling my birding/naturalist exploits over the last year. It's probably going to be a blog more than anything else, and I expect the entries are going to be sparse for the next few months (Birding in winter in Wisconsin, while better than Wyoming, isn't the most fun experience).

Anyway...

(Take 2 because I started this in the 2020 subforum...whoops)

 

[Mysticete]

So January 1st...time to start my county list for Winnebago and my yearly list! I slept in a bit today and procrastinated on starting my birding. Generally, in winter that isn't a horrible thing: I find winter birding to be less time sensitive than during other seasons. I finally, after gassing up on fuel and drink (very much hot chocolate weather!), I managed to hit up the first site by 11:00 am, Asylum Point County Park.

This isn't the greatest spot, however the open areas and prevalence of weedy areas has apparently produced shrikes in the past, and I have had look with winter sparrows and finches here along the road margins. So was mostly seeing if I could start off the year knocking off American Tree Sparrow. These are relatively common wintering birds in my area, but you really have to visit the right habitats to see them. Upon entering the area I got my first proper ebird sighting, a pair of Mourning Dove on the telephone wires. I spent a very short time driving the roadways, which wasn't easy or very enjoyable as the part attracts 50 bazillion ice fisherman, all with big pickups, and the snow meant I had limited room to pull over. Birding wasn't the greatest here, perhaps foreshadowing the rest of the day, only seeing a couple of groups of Black-capped Chickadee and a good flock of House Sparrows. I suspect some American Tree Sparrows may have been mixed in, but the views I got weren't great and there was nowhere for me to properly pull over and scrutinize them better. Still...the nice thing for January 1st is that any bird is a new bird, so I am up to at least 3 species.

Next I drove north, focusing on Lake Winnebago. There are several spots where the Fox River empties into the lake, creating large ice free areas that are attractive to ducks and such. The first stop was Kimberly Point, where I added the expected ducks for this time of year: Mallard, Canada Goose, and Common Goldeneye. The latter are remarkably abundant here in contrast to the Traverse City area of Michigan, where they are scarce. Same latitude just different side of the lake, so a bit interesting. I was also able to pull a female Hooded Merganser out of a group of mallards, which was a nice addition for the time of year.

I continued on, trying a few other spots. Adjacent Riverside Park didn't give me much in the way of waterfowl, just a pair of Mallard. Jefferson Park however was pretty productive. I had probably 800 Common Goldeneye here, a record large enough that Ebird flagged it, along with a large number of Mallards and Canada Geese. Try as I might, I couldn't pull a American Black Duck out of the mix. Adding to the year list was a small number of Common Merganser and more surprisingly a good-size flock of Ruddy Ducks. Normally, I might see one or two this time of year: Here I had 26, which was again flagged by ebird. Despite the Ruddys, duck diversity was more limited than normal, with no scaup, Redhead, Bufflehead, or swan. It's been a milder winter so far than normal, so I wonder if that might be affecting duck diversity, and those other birds are hanging out in areas that are normally iced out already. Also seen here were the first two American Crows of the year, and a passerby pointed out a Bald Eagle in the tree. Wisconsinites love there bald eagles, and any random person who sees you with binoculars will just assume you are looking for eagles.

By this point my feet were frozen, but I wanted to hit up one other site before calling a day: Heckrodt Wetland Reserve. This is one of the best birding locations in the area, and contains forest, swamp, pond, and field habitat, and is protected, so no worry over getting shot during hunting season. It's also very well covered by local birders. Finally, they have an elaborate feeder set up which even during the pandemic has been kept well stocked. For those of us without feeders, this is a great place to get a lot of typical wintering birds. Normally...not so much today.

Watching for 15 minutes sadly only revealed a small number of Slate-colored Juncos and a couple of Grey Squirrels, my first wild mammal of the year. I also added a small group of European Starlings which flew across the road near the entrance.

I had planned to stay longer, but the cold and a rapidly filling bladder (alas, while many places have remained open during the pandemic, the bathrooms haven't), led me to head off home. I'll definitely hit off Heckrodt again soon though, as even in winter the feeders produce way more than this usually.

Overall a bit disappointing start...I expected a few more species of ducks and certainly more songbirds at Heckrodt. At least it gives me more motivation to bird?

Year species total:
Birds: 13
Mammals: 1

 

[Mysticete]

Fearing chaos today in the news, I decided to take the morning off, for some nice distracting birding. Good choice it turned out!

I got a late start again...this time trying to wait for an icy fog to lift that never really did. With the fog in place, I decided to do some forest birding, hitting Heckrodt, this time with extra layers of socks to keep my feet warm. The conditions were actually quite nice, fog aside: frost covered all the vegetation, creating a beautiful background to bird against, while the air was still, so I wouldn't have to worry about windchill.

First up was the feeders. Activity here felt a bit low, much like last time. Juncos and Chickadees were present today, but there was a bit more diversity, with White-breasted and Red-breasted Nuthatch both present. The latter can be scarce at times so was a nice get early in the year. Next I hit the trails. Went off to check the Great Horned Owl nest, but work was being done on the trail and it was blocked. A small mixed flock nearby however did get me my first woodpecker of the year, A Hairy Woodpecker. I continued on the trail, hitting up the secondary feeding station. This is further back in the reserve and sometimes isn't stocked well, but it was today. In fact, this area was birdier than the main feeding station. Besides the White-breasted Nuthatches and Chickadees, also present were a small group of House Finches, as well as a group of House Sparrows. This is probably the first time I have seen them in the reserve. Here in the states, I find that most areas with even a hint of being natural generally lack House Sparrows. A pair of American Goldfinches hung out in nearby trees. Three species of woodpecker were present in the general area. Besides Hairy Woodpecker, I was also able to add Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers to the year list. Best was probably a Tufted Titmouse that flew in for a quick bite. Heckrodt is the single best location for this species in the county, and one of the (only?) breeding sites. So a good add.

I continued the rest of the trail, but other than the occasional woodpecker and chickadee, it was pretty quiet. I did add some flyover Rock Pigeons however. Revisiting the main feeders revealed a somewhat different set of critters, including a group of Gray Squirrels, goldfinches, and a Downy Woodpecker.

I tried for the owl again, but although I found the nest I didn't any owls. They were probably there, just hiding in some of the thicker conifers. There was a quite large mixed flock of birds, mostly consisting of species I had seen elsewhere in the reserve, but a Brown Creeper was a good add, that I often struggle to get prior to spring when larger numbers start to migrate through.

After here, I decided to hit up some waterfowl spots. Mostly, I continued to have bad luck here, dipping on most of just about anything other folks have seen recently. I did add a single Lesser Scaup at Jefferson Park, but otherwise it was just tons of Common Goldeneye, Mallard, Canada Goose, and a small number of Common Merganser.

Satisfied with at least knocking off a decent number of the wintering songbirds and woodpeckers, I headed home.

 

[Mysticete]

Work has been leaving me exhausted on the weekend, and the bitter cold hasn't exactly encouraged me to go out lately for birding. But, with a forecast of weather in the 40's today, I decided to take advantage of the situation and visit my favorite local winter destination, Heckrodt Wetland Reserve.

Overall, spent about 2 hours wandering the reserve, seeing many of the typical species from past visits, although Hairy Woodpeckers were unusually scarce and I didn't manage to score a single Tufted Titmouse. There was a single Red-breasted Nuthatch at the feeder though, which isn't a particularly common bird locally.

However, by far the highlight of the morning was a single roosting Barred Owl, high in a leafless deciduous tree. I have a weird history with this bird locally. I managed to see a pair of these birds, practically in the parking lot, on my very first spring in Wisconsin at the reserve. However, since then I haven't logged a single encounter, although they are frequently enough reported on ebird. So it was nice to see one, especially given that I tried quite a bit in 2020, and despite logging Snowy, Great Horned, Eastern Screech, and Short-eared, never did connect with this species. Also added to my yearlist White-tailed Deer, a common and almost tame mammal of Heckrodt. Some carnivore scat on the boardwalk however suggested some more interesting critters, but alas other than the typical squirrels they didn't show.

Overall, I am now up to
Birds: 25
Mammals: 2

 

[Mysticete]

Still feeling exhausted on the weekend, which has really nuked my interest in particularly long drives, so I haven't been trying to really expand my state list. But I did drag my sorry butt out to field test the new binoculars the tax fairy left me. Vortex Razor HDs! I haven't bought a new pair of binoculars in ~15 years, so I was long overdue to upgrade, and I love how crisp the image is and how lightweight they are, a significant upgrade over the my trust eagle optics bins.

Also motivating me is the change in weather. As soon as March rolled around, it was like someone flipped a switch, as temperatures climbed, sunny weather has prevailed, and birds started dribbling back in.

I did my normal circuit today, which comprised hitting up some lakeside parks and Heckrodt. I was considering hitting Bubolz Nature Reserve, but I didn't wrap up Heckrodt until noon, and the nice weather made me dread the number of normies I would probably have to hike by in the afternoon.

First stop was Kimberly Point. Good waterbirds have popped up here on a regular basis, but I never seem to have much luck. That held out this morning, with only the usual Goldeneyes, Mallards, and Canada Geese in attendance. Best "bird" was a cooperative Muskrat calming chilling on rock just off the beach. I guess humans are not the only mammals to appreciate the nice weather. Also connected with ID'able views of Herring Gulls...for whatever reason almost every gull has been in flight or distant, so I haven't really tried to ID them. Trees in the park also attracted a few Common Grackles, which are always a nice harbinger of spring (although one I will almost certainly be sick of by the time migration is over).

Next stop was Jefferson Park. My luck was much much improved, as nearly every likely species of waterfowl was gathered out on the lake, including many FOY for me. These included, besides all previously mentioned species I had seen this year, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Gadwall, Northern Shoveler, Wood Duck, Hooded Merganser, and Tundra Swan, the latter of which I had been failing to see to the point of it becoming an embarrassment. Also added Ring-billed Gull to the year list...these gulls I find to not be too common in winter, but come spring they are readily seen. Driving out of Jefferson Park also allowed me to add a pair of FOY American Robins as well as a lone Red-winged Blackbird.

Next up was Heckrodt. Sure enough, the change in seasons was evident at the feeders, with Grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds joining the normal woodpeckers and Chickadees. Also joining them were several Northern Cardinal, another sign of how little birding I have done this year, as it should not have taken me this long for my FOY.

Hitting the trails I meandered up a little service road I never bothered checking out. This netted me another cardinal as well as House Finches, but also let me find some interesting brushy areas that I will need to remember to check out come Warbler migration. Overall, bird numbers seemed a bit down for the rest of the walk, although a flyover Turkey Vulture was another FOY. It was interesting to see however all the nesting behavior underway. I watched Juncos, Mourning Doves, and House Finches all carrying nesting material, and it was pretty obvious from the noise made that the Canada Geese were starting to stake out territories. Also cool were some of the nonbirds. I had my FOY Eastern Chipmunk, and most surprisingly, a Common Gartersnake, both clearly enjoying the warmer weather. With the snake obviously my first herp of the year, given I have been stuck in arctic Wisconsin. Voles were also very active and out and about. I tried to turn these into Southern Red-backed (which I have seen here), but they seemed to be all Western Meadow Voles as far as I could tell. I pointed out one to a family and all I got was a EWW. Uh, if that is your response why the hell are you at a nature reserve. Those folks were then followed by a large family that was quite happy with having there 5 year run up and down the boardwalk at full tilt. Moments like this remind me why I live alone.

Birding was slow here on out, but one more surprise was in store. A very cooperative and close Barred Owl. I had gone two years without seeing this species in the reserve, and here we are, having seen this species on now my last two trips. Anyway, after gobbling down a protein bar I went off to do some errands. Maybe Spring Break in a week will give me an opportunity to travel farther afield?

 

[Mysticete]

Oh...and I also got a armchair ABA bird with Mitred Parakeet, So I did technically grow that list even with everything else being crummy.

Updated tallies for the year:

Birds: 39
Mammals: 5
Herps: 1

 

[Mysticete]

Some incidental birding yesterday. I had some errands yesterday morning in Green Bay, after which I had a little bit of time to check out a spot I hadn't tried before: Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary in Green Bay. My errands lasted all morning, so I didn't get a chance to hit it up until 1 in the afternoon, and given the nice weather it was absolutely packed with people. So far from optimum conditions.

Bay Beach is a wildlife rehabilitation sanctuary which also has a good network of trails and is well known as being a songbird hotspot during migration. In winter, they various lakes are kept mostly open, and it's known to attract various odd geese and such to hang out with the ever present Canada Geese and Mallards. I can't say I really saw all that much interesting on the wild bird front. The most interesting was a scattering of American Black Ducks mixed with the mallards, which were tame enough to get pretty good looks at. I thought this was a year bird but apparently wasn't. Also some fantastic looks at wild Sandhill Cranes, which clearly were used to people and allowed relatively close approach. I thought I glimpsed a Rusty Blackbird but I couldn't pull a clear look out from the grackles, so either I was wrong or I just missed it.

Even if the birding wasn't great, I do like zoos, and this place definitely doubled as one. They have a large area of enclosures dedicated to birds of prey, with most of Wisconsin's native species on display, all rescues that are unable to be returned to the wild, usually due to wing injuries. This presented a nice chance to get close up looks at birds such as Gyrfalcons and Turkey Vultures, which I have only seen distantly at best. In a separate area of the park they have some nice displays of various mammals, mostly orphans or animals seized from private individuals that are imprinted on people. Most of these critters weren't out, other than the bobcat, who was pretty cooperative.

So a decent if not particularly birdy afternoon. I can definitely see why this place is popular with migrant songbirds, as it has a very central park feel. I am hoping to spend at least on day in migration hitting up this place, so hopefully will have more luck then.

Birds: 39
Mammals: 5
Herps: 1

 

[raymie]

Some incidental birding yesterday. I had some errands yesterday morning in Green Bay, after which I had a little bit of time to check out a spot I hadn't tried before: Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary in Green Bay. My errands lasted all morning, so I didn't get a chance to hit it up until 1 in the afternoon, and given the nice weather it was absolutely packed with people. So far from optimum conditions.

Bay Beach is a wildlife rehabilitation sanctuary which also has a good network of trails and is well known as being a songbird hotspot during migration. In winter, they various lakes are kept mostly open, and it's known to attract various odd geese and such to hang out with the ever present Canada Geese and Mallards. I can't say I really saw all that much interesting on the wild bird front. The most interesting was a scattering of American Black Ducks mixed with the mallards, which were tame enough to get pretty good looks at. I thought this was a year bird but apparently wasn't. Also some fantastic looks at wild Sandhill Cranes, which clearly were used to people and allowed relatively close approach. I thought I glimpsed a Rusty Blackbird but I couldn't pull a clear look out from the grackles, so either I was wrong or I just missed it.

Even if the birding wasn't great, I do like zoos, and this place definitely doubled as one. They have a large area of enclosures dedicated to birds of prey, with most of Wisconsin's native species on display, all rescues that are unable to be returned to the wild, usually due to wing injuries. This presented a nice chance to get close up looks at birds such as Gyrfalcons and Turkey Vultures, which I have only seen distantly at best. In a separate area of the park they have some nice displays of various mammals, mostly orphans or animals seized from private individuals that are imprinted on people. Most of these critters weren't out, other than the bobcat, who was pretty cooperative.

So a decent if not particularly birdy afternoon. I can definitely see why this place is popular with migrant songbirds, as it has a very central park feel. I am hoping to spend at least on day in migration hitting up this place, so hopefully will have more luck then.

Birds: 39
Mammals: 5
Herps: 1

I'm pretty sure Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary has the world's only captive Black-billed Cuckoo. You can't see it right now because it is one of the (currently closed) buildings, but cool nonetheless.

 

[Mysticete]

I'm pretty sure Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary has the world's only captive Black-billed Cuckoo. You can't see it right now because it is one of the (currently closed) buildings, but cool nonetheless.

I'm planning on doing at least one spring big day trip up to the Green Bay area, so maybe I will see it then. I've felt low on energy this year (Work and living in a pandemic world are a drain), but I really need to up my birding game, and spring usually helps with that.

 

[Mysticete]

last weekend I went birding, but forgot to do an entry, so here is a very quick summary:

With warm and nice weather, I decided to hit up Uihlein Waterfowl Production Area. This is pretty much the best and most accessible set of wetlands in the county, with fairly extensive marshes, grasslands, and a few swampy bits, and with all sorts of cool breeding birds, from Yellow-headed Blackbirds to bitterns. Being this was the first week of April, a lot of these hadn't returned, more than I expected. Still, my major target was to knock off some "wetland" ducks which otherwise are hard to see on lake Winnebago. On that front, I did decent. Highlights were a Wilson's Snipe, not only a first of the year but also a county bird for me, and probably the most cantankerous Common Garter Snake I had ever seen, which rather than slither off as normal, flattened down and mock struck at me. It was definitely an impressive specimen, far beefier and larger than most garter snakes have seen, and even posed for decent pictures.

Various first of the year birds (besides the snipe), in no particular order:
Blue-winged Teal, American Widgeon, Green-winged Teal, Pied-billed Grebe, American Coot, Northern Harrier, Tree Swallow, Song Sparrow, and Savannah Sparrow.

 

[Mysticete]

Now to bring us up to the present: This weekend is insanely busy with work, but I wanted to do some birding this morning, so I crammed as much stuff possible into Saturday, submitting a conference abstract, finishing a talk I am presenting in a couple of days, and grading 2 assignments for 100+ students.

Still plenty of things to do today, so I stayed local and birded Asylum Point which is on the north side of town. On the shore of Lake Winnebago, this set-aside bit of land includes a bit of woodland, old field, and marsh habitat, with both sheltered and exposed sections of lakefront property. It's a decent birding spot, although it's pretty heavily disturbed and I think the habitat suffers a bit from that. Unlike last weekend, this morning was fairly dreary, gray and wet, with a bit of wind at the beginning. Not the funnest birding weather, and a good chunk of the trails were a soggy mess. I was really hoping to get a Red Fox Sparrow, which has been a nemesis bird for me in the state. They migrate through the state and are not exactly rare, yet I just haven't managed to happen upon one yet. Well, no luck today either, but I did see a fair number of birds, seeing 32 species, my best single site list so far in 2021. The horrible weather also had its brightside, in that it kept people off the lake. This meant there were a fair share of birds on the lake itself, including good numbers of Red-breasted Merganser, Buffleheads, and Horned Grebes, as well as a few Lesser Scaup and Canvasback. The Horned Grebes were one of the highlights of the morning, as it feels like its been years since I have seen any in breeding plumage, mostly seeing them in the dull winter plumage. Which is a shame as they are truly beautiful birds. Other birds on the lakeshore new for the year were American Pelican and a single Double-crested Cormorant.

The weather however kept land birds pretty scarce, and I missed a lot of fairly common species. The muddy narrow trails as I worked my way interior also didn't help, and other than American Robins and Red-winged Blackbirds, birding was slow at times. Exploring the trails did net me a very wet and bedraggled looking Blue Jay as well as a few Brown-headed Cowbirds. I did happen upon one small group of shrubs near the end of the trail however that was hopping, with Brown Creeper, Black-capped Chickadee, Slate-colored Junco and best of all some cute and cooperative Golden-crowned Kinglets. With muddy conditions preventing full access of the trails, I drove around to the other entrance, hoping for another shot at fox sparrows, on the way finding a very large and cooperative flock of Blue-winged Teal. The other entrance way was a bit more "upland" and so the trail was dryer. While no fox sparrows were present, I did see quite a few Song Sparrows as well as a few American Goldfinches and a Killdeer. Also had my only raptor of the day, a distant perched Red-tailed Hawk. First one I think I ebirded this year, although of course I have seen quite a few roadside birds while driving.

So between the last two trips, I am up to a modest:
Birds: 61
Mammals: 5
Herps: 1