International Crane Foundation - 2018

This morning started off with me waking at about 5 a.m. to the sound of robins and grackles at first light. I arose from the ground and shuffled to find my flip-flops having stayed outside the night before for some backyard camping with my oldest. By 6:30, everyone was awake and not long after on this gray and cool morning, we were all dressed and ready for an adventure.

We hold a family membership at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, WI. We loaded the girls up and made the trip over to Baraboo; the area around Baraboo is scenic with tall hills and mature stands of trees; as I understand it, it's worth its own separate trip for birding.

While being a charitable organization which advocates for crane species the ICF often supports initiatives around the world to preserve wetland habitats; the organization is probably best know for its work rebuilding the Whooping Crane population in North America. The campus in Baraboo has on display pairs of cranes from each crane species around the world.

Blue Crane - Southern Africa


Red Crowned Crane - East Asia


Wattled Crane - Subsaharan Africa


Whooping Crane - North America

A number of the exhibits at the ICF are truly impressive. The habitats created for the Whooping Cranes and Wattled Cranes stand out as being the largest with plenty of seating / viewing area. They also have large ponds for the birds. The vegetation around the ICF is also quite impressive supporting a host of native plants including a variety of oak trees, prairie grasses, and flowers like native Blue Lupine. The ICF is currently fundraising for and constructing all new enclosures for the other crane species on display. More information on the reconstruction can be found here

2018 Spring Migration Comes to a Close

This morning, I still arose at 5:30 am. I quickly showered and dressed. The windows were open to help the house cool off, it's still a bit early for air conditioning. And the yard was fairly silently. Spring migration has come to a close. After 2 + weeks full of birds and regular rain storms at night (and often during the day), the boom time for birding in my backyard came to end.

This spring's weather was lousy. I consider the height of migration to be mid-April through mid-May and I am particularly vigilant about watching for birds and topping off feeders. The mid and late April snows followed by almost constant rain in early May certain impacted the birds' migration. We saw a ridiculous numbers of birds some mornings and they made quite the commotion.

The yard was frequented by Orioles both Orchard and Baltimore, both pictured above. The highest count at one time was 8 male Baltimores and 4 Orchards. I had a very difficult time keeping oranges and grape jelly at the feeders. They arrived on May 1st and as of today, I only saw two this morning and none this evening.

Warblers like the Yellow Rumped Warbler pictured above also came calling in numbers like we hadn't seen before. Common Yellow Throats, Black Throated Greens, Tennessee, and even this Chestnut Side Warbler (pictured below) all made debut appearances in our yard.

Thrushes have often been visitors to the yard during migration, we usually pick up a Gray Catbird or a Brown Thrasher, or a Swainson's Thrush. This year we had them all, and a new visitor, a Gray Cheeked Thrush (1st image below). The Thrushes made regular visits to our shrubs (Highbush Cranberry, Staghorn Sumac, Pagodoa Dogwood) from which they'd launch hopping assaults on our backyard compost. For a couple of days we had two Gray Catbirds who were also making trips to our Oriole feeders (2nd picture below, in shrub, not the feeder) and we had two Swainson's Thrushes in the dogwoods just yesterday (3rd picture below)

Our previous record count for bird species in a single year was in 2015 with 47 species identified. For 2018, we are at 55 species and we still have the rest of summer and fall migration to go.

We also started spring with nesting pairs of birds using our nest boxes as of mid April. Chickadees in one, and Eastern Bluebirds in the other. May has changed this situation entirely. The House Wren evicted the Black Capped Chickadees and some mystery has happened to the Bluebirds. The male hasn't been seen in 2 or so days, the female has been around. They had a single egg in the nest which was intact yesterday but as of today was broken. It remains unclear what happened, but it is possible that this will be the first time in four years that Eastern Bluebirds fail to nest successfully in our yard.

Help with Sparrow Identification

Sparrows and other small brown birds can be a real pain to identify. Was that brown bird in the bush or hiding in the Blue Stem, a female indigo bunting, female house finch, or some kind of sparrow? And if it's a sparrow; what type? Song? Swamp? Chipping?

The good news is with a good pair of binoculars or a camera with a good zoom, our sparrow friends have some fairly distinct markings if you know what you are looking for.

Below are some examples.

White Crowned Sparrow has distinct black and white stripes on its head. It migrates into southern Wisconsin in the spring and can be often be easily found between late April and mid May. They are regular visitors to my yard and often scratch at the ground near our row of shrubs. I've also seen them in the willows and dogwoods in the marsh.


White Throated Sparrow. These sparrows are probably the ones most easily confused with White Crowned Sparrows. They migrate into Wisconsin around the same time; I've even seen them foraging in our yard together. They have a yellow patch with their white and black stripes. They also sing a different tune, I'd almost compare their song more with that of a Black Capped Chickadee; it's also my ringtone.


Chipping Sparrow. These tiny sparrows are about the smallest sparrows you'll find in Wisconsin. They also return in the spring, and they often hang around my yard through the summer. They have a distinct chestnut colored cap and and black stripe near their eyes.


American Tree Sparrow. These guys also have a distinctive chestnut cap. The strip near their eye tends to be a brown or chestnut color as well, and they have a fairly distinct white wing bar. These guys come down from Canada during the winter. They are pretty talented foragers; they can fly into a stand of Big Blue Stem, land on a stalk, bending it, and pick away at the seeds. I've typically only had them come visit my yard when there's snow on the ground.


Swamp Sparrow. I've yet to have one of these guys come visit my yard but I do often see them in the marsh when birding. They also return in the spring and will spend the summer in wetlands. They have a similar look to the American Tree Sparrows but their head is darker brown rather than chestnut. They often have a small white patch under the beak and can be found singing on low perches like a top reeds or in red osier dogwood on spring mornings starting in mid to late April.


Clay Colored Sparrow. Another which I've never spotted in my yard. Their light brown / khaki face with brown stripes and a white-ish under belly is fairly distinctive. I often see these guys in and around a tall grass prairie near home. They seem to prefer staying lower to the ground and often disappear into the grasses or lower branches of shrubs.


Fox Sparrow. The freak snow storms in April brought this chestnut colored beauty to our backyard for the first time this April. With a reddy chestnut color, gray-ish cap, and overall being fairly large for a sparrow; the Fox Sparrow is pretty distinct.


Song Sparrow. A true herald of spring. These guys migrate back to Wisconsin earlier in spring than many other birds. They can often be spotted near water like retention ponds, creeks, marshes, etc. They can be found perching at the end shrubs or trees singing their hearts out at sunrise. They are one of my favorite sounds when in the marsh, and they come to visit my yard from time to time. They have fairly distinctive streaky or striped underbellies and faces.

That's many but not all of the sparrows which pass through Wisconsin. One of my rules of thumb when tracking birds in our yard is to pay extra close attention to small brown birds because you never know when you've encountered a new species; you just need to look closely enough at a bird which might otherwise be perceived as boring.

Horicon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge

This past weekend, I made the trip up to Horicon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge, a trip my dad and I had talked about taking for the Crane Count in 2017, but a trip which we were never able to take.

I planned the trip around accessing the refuge from WI - 49 near Waupun. The marsh spans 33,000 acres, the northern two-thirds of the marsh are managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service while the WI DNR manages the bottom third, better accessed for Horicon, WI. My family joined me, and we headed up to stay the night on Friday, April 27th, which would have been dad's 70th birthday.

We stayed the night before because by 6:00 am on Saturday, I was hiking around in the marsh. The main access point is in the northeastern corner of the marsh. There's a road which supports an auto-tour, it's 3 miles long, and there are additional hiking trails: Redhead Trail, Red Fox Trail, and Egret Trail which allow birders, runners, and dog walkers greater access to the marsh. Based on the size of the marsh, even if you hike every trail and road at this access point, you've probably seen less than one twentieth of the marsh.

I pulled into the parking lot just before sunrise.

It was sunny and cold. just below freezing.

I grabbed my backpack, it held the essentials for the trip: dad's Alpine binoculars which I'd given him years earlier, water, my Stoke's field guide, my wife's Nikon camera which she generously allows me to borrow for birding, a map of the marsh, and a small container of my dad's ashes.

The mission was simple. Follow the trails. Look for birds. Find out where the cranes were hiding. And ideally come across the right spot to spread dad's ashes. If not this access point, then move onto another.

I decided to walk the auto-tour backwards.

Just off the Egret trail is a floating walkway which takes visitors out into one of the ponds.

As I walked along this trail, I walked through clusters of swallows, who were still warming themselves in the rising sun. It was about freezing and flying insects were not about. The tree swallows perched on oaks and aspens at the edge of the pond near their selected nesting cavities, having been carved at some point by woodpeckers. Further along the trail is a tower for greater viewing, it was covered in barn swallows who noisily chittered to one another but seemed surprising undisturbed by my presence.

Three sides of the platform face deeper waters which shimmer in the sunrise without cattails to block out the light. The western side is full of cattails and on this morning, full of Blue Winged Teal.

I followed the Egret Trail into a woods where kinglets, chickadees, and woodpeckers scratched and pecked and willows, aspens, and oaks looking for their breakfast. I exited back on the auto tour road and headed back up toward the parking lot. I'd been hiking around and taking pictures for about 2 hours, and I decided to sit in my car to warm up. It being black, it warms nicely in the sun. This also when I realized that my adventures in this access point might take longer than expected. My wanderings so far had stumbled on the usual suspects like: Red Winged Blackbirds and Song Sparrows and also more exciting things like American White Pelicans, Great Egrets, and Northern Shovelers and I had only covered about one third of this area. I also hadn't seen any cranes.

To be sure, I had heard them. They were everywhere and nowhere. I'd hear a guard call or a unison call, raise the binoculars and stare off into a sea of grasses and reeds and see nothing.

I hiked part of the auto-tour to point where I could see Trumpeter Swans and Redhead Ducks in a pond off the road. There was trail head I had passed by which looked like it would have better access, so I circled back to the start of the Redhead Trail.

The Redhead Trail was a bevy of activity: Northern Flickers, Yellow Headed Blackbirds, White Breasted Nuthatches, and better access to the ponds where the swans were swimming. It was on this trail where I got my best view of the Sandhill Cranes. Two flying above who eventually landed in some far off stand of grass where they disappeared from view. The trail meanders back well away from the auto-tour; there are also periodic benches.

The trail eventually runs along side, Libby Creek. I took a seat at a bench just a foot or two away from the water. By this point in the morning, it was warmer and lighter. Other people had started to drive the auto-tour; I saw runners, and cyclists, but back here on Redhead Trail near Libby Creek; it was quiet. A group of bachelor Wood Ducks was making their rounds in the creek, swimming around some fallen branches.

I eventually soldiered on from Red Head trail to Red Fox trail and back to the parking lot. I decided to drive the auto toor as well, which is where I was able to add Buffleheads to my list for the morning. But by the end, I had only see a couple more flying cranes.

I left this area later than I expected and drove out to the other access points, following WI - 49 to County Highway Z to Point Road. The other access points provided far less access. For the most part they were slightly elevated land with a spotting scope looking down on the massive marsh in the distance. They served more to make me feel very small in this world than they did provide access to the creation below.

In the afternoon, I met up with my girls for lunch in Waupun, and we made our way down to the Horicon Marsh Explorium run by the WI DNR. This areas was bustling with activity. People were out with their kids and their dogs. The museum is new and kid friendly and does a good job explaining the history of the marsh. We did some hiking with the girls on the trails and saw Canada Geese, Painted Turtles, Forster's Terns, and other wildlife but only airborne cranes.

At the end of our time in the DNR managed site, I'd come to a couple of conclusions. Firstly, a Crane Count here may have been a miserable idea. The area is gigantic, it's about 150 times bigger than the marsh where dad and I had completed the Crane Count in 2016. Near the Sugar River, we can use our binoculars to see across the whole site and can reliably expect to see 6-12 cranes. While I understand others have seen 100+ cranes in Horicon, my experience was one of ghost birds hiding in the reeds, and I am certain my dad would have found this be a frustrating experience. Secondly, I'd decided where best to spread his ashes.

The girls and I backtracked to Redhead Trail on the opposite end of the marsh. The hike back to Libby Creek was made significantly more difficult with a 2 and 6 year old in tow. We sat on the bench and watched the water flow by. It sort of reminded me of King's Mill Creek which trickles through the yard of my childhood home. So we spread the ashes near the bench in the quiet of the creek just yards from the pond where the Trumpeter Swans swim.

Post Crane Count - Count

Given as poor as the weather was on the weekend of the crane count, I decided to head back out into the local marsh this past weekend.

There was more sun, and it was a little warmer. It wasn't raining or snowing. So the weather was much better for birding.

I managed to capture a number of birds with the camera, so I figured I'd share the images here.

There were Wilson's Snipes all over the place. They were winnowing in the air as the males displayed for the females.


I started off by heading north from the parking lot along the Sugar River, when I came across a group of Greater Yellow Legs


At the far northern edge of the SNA, a pair of cranes skirmished with a pair of Canada Geese.


This pair was near the parking area. It was too dark for my initial images to come out well, but on my way back from the north end, the light was much better. I believe these are the two which I almost mistook for large rocks on the morning of the crane count. They were in the same area of prairie.


The highway bisects the marsh separating the north from the south end; a tunnel takes hikers from one end to the other. As I exited the tunnel, there is drainage gulley for the highway. Blue Winged Teal were going for a swim.


On the southern end past the oak stand, this crane wandered alone near the trail.

In the end, I would guess that there are 3 pairs in the marsh and that they are somewhat evenly distributed. What's nice about the month of April is that reeds and grasses haven't really sprung up, so they are fairly easy to spot.

Post Crane Count Snow

As I detailed yesterday's Crane Count in a post, the snow fell. It continued to fall through the night. It's continued to fall as I write this post. And it's expected to continue to fall until evening.

The plows are not out.

And I have not shoveled.

I did however refill the bird feeders this morning.

This has supported the usual suspects, and for most of the day, we've had American Goldfinches, House Finches, Morning Doves, Dark Eyed Juncos, Black Capped Chickadees, and American Tree Sparrows.

It is to the best my recollection, the first time I've seen the male Goldfinches in full yellow mode during a snowstorm. During the fall and winter they are a more drab brown like the females. As spring returns so does their bright yellow plumage.

More interesting to watch has been the American Robins. They had already polished off the remaining berries in my Nannyberry Viburnums and my Highbush Cranberries during our somewhat cold March. They scouted the shrubs this morning looking for any remaining.

There were none.

And so I had a couple try something I hadn't seen before.

This Robin had been digging in the safflower feeder.


And this one appeared to be trying to eat sunflower seeds.

For as miserable as yesterday's weather was, I'm glad the Crane Count was yesterday and not today.

2018 Crane Count Completed

I woke just before my 5:30 alarm this morning. It wasn't totally dark, but it was dark enough to warrant turning on a handful of lights, enough for me to see without waking the family. I put on a pair of flannel-lined jeans, two pairs of socks, a t-shirt, a sweatshirt, and a flannel shirt on top.

It was 35 degrees F and drizzling. I slid on my new, brown Frogg Togg rain gear. I purchased a size L to make sure they'd fit over my layers. I grabbed my boots, gloves, and yellow BvB snow cap. My last step before heading out was grabbing my backpack.

The pack had a handful of useful items in it which I'd packed inside plastic grocery bags the night before (rain-proof, right?). The camera, my phone, my keys, my wallet, a Norwex cloth to wipe away rain from my glasses, and my dad's binoculars.

I pulled into the Sugar River Wetlands just before 6:00.

I lifted the wipers from windshield to be sure there was no chance of freezing. It was still raining. Despite the 35 F temperature, I wasn't cold. Layering did the trick. As my high school ecology teacher liked to say, "There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing."

The wind was the real monster. The wind advisory for the day said sustained winds of 25-30 mph with gusts up to 45 mph. With the snow cap over my ears and my Frogg Toggs ruffling in the wind like a loose tarp or tent caught in a storm, I couldn't hear much.

It was dark. And my glasses were covered with drizzle dots. I could make out the trail, so I started by heading north from the parking lot. This is the smallest portion of the boundary for the State Natural Area.

I could make out some calls: Song Sparrow, Red Winged Blackbird, Eastern Meadowlark, American Robin.

But I couldn't actually see anything.

Something to my right. Just feet away. It sounded like an asthmatic chicken or something. It's call was clearly in distress. As I crept forward down the trail, the call changed direction moving from my right to my left. Something had taken off, flow just in front of me somewhere, and I hadn't seen it.

As for the cranes. There were no guard calls. There were no unison calls.

Overall by comparison to other trips, the marsh was quiet. No Canada Goose honks, no Mallard quacks. Mostly wind and Red Winged Blackbirds.

Once I could see the Sugar River, I turned to head back south.

It was getting lighter. I could see birds on the trail ahead of me. They come down to the trail to pick at the grit.

There are sparrows here in abundance. Sparrows can be tricky to identify. They are small brown birds which are wary enough of people to stay away. Field marks and calls are very helpful in identifying them. Darkness, rain, and quiet made this task mostly impossible. I can say with certainty that I saw Song Sparrows and Dark Eyed Juncos, but at this point in my outing they were all simply small shadowy birds staying 20 or more feet ahead of me on the trail.

Just a little ways south of where I had parked my car, I noticed two large rocks. The DNR recently did a controlled burn of the area. It's a combination of wet prairie and true mucky wet marsh land. This end is mostly prairie with plants like big blue stem as the dominant species. I stopped because I couldn't remember there being large rocks of any kind on the site.

I stood on the trail and stared. It was starting to get lighter. I could tell that the two large rocks were gray, and that they didn't really look like rocks. They began to unfurl themselves, stand erect and stare back at me. My first pair of sandhill cranes. They didn't guard call at me. They just stared almost as if bewildered. While I was thinking how lucky I was to have come across them in these miserable conditions, they must have wondered what a human was doing out in them.

I continued southward. The trail runs through a viaduct over which the highway roars, although this morning there was little traffic. Then there is a stand of oak trees.

It was quite here. The trail is little bit lower here and the stand of trees is fairly dense. There was no wind or much less. It wasn't as cold. Visibility was still poor. And there were birds everywhere.

Red Winged Blackbirds, Song Sparrows, Northern Cardinals, American Robins, Northern Flickers, Dark Eyed Juncos, Ruby Crowned Kinglets, Eastern Phoebes, Downy Woodpeckers, White Breasted Nuthatches, and a Hermit Thrush.

I crossed out of the oak stand. To view the wetter marshy area on the south end of the site. Typically I can spot at least two pair of cranes here.

I looked. No cranes.

I walked further down the trail. Every few feet, the same startled call as I heard at the start of my outing. But now there was enough light for me to see. Wilson's Snipes. Literally dozens of them. A few tried to take off like they would for a display flight, up in the air they went but all were driven back to ground swiftly by the shifting winds. Most just moved 10-20 feet further into the marsh and away from the trail.

No cranes.

More "rocks". Canada Geese hunkered down, riding out the storm.

I walked back to the oak stand to get out of the wind.

A lone jogger ran by. Scared all the birds off the trail. He was the only other person I saw.

Persistence and experience told me not give up on the south end, there are always cranes, all spring and summer long. Their prints can be seen on the gritty trail.

The end of the oak stand is actually mostly Quaking Aspen and Red Osier Dogwood. The Dogwood seems to grow in clumps out in the marsh as well. A Northern Flicker was moving about in one of the Aspens, when something caught my eye between the trees and probably 70 some feet out.

Two long necks. Light gray or white. I finally dug the binocular out of the pack and grocery bag.

Between my glasses getting constantly wet and the binoculars getting wet. They were mostly useless, but the light was getting better. Two more Sandhill Cranes, These two were feeding together slowly picking through the marsh, seemingly unaware of my presence.

By this point, I'd covered the site top to bottom. My core was dry and warm. My face was wet and cold. And beyond knowing that it had become significantly more light out. I had no idea what time it was. I hadn't taken my phone or camera out for fear of them getting wet.

I started back to the car.

When the car started, the clock let me know it was 7:45 a.m. I decided to end my count 15 minutes early.

We're expecting snow tomorrow, it's already started tonight.

March Weekend of Birding in Wisconsin

This past weekend provided sunshine and a temperature over 40 F. So I knew going into the weekend, that it'd be a good time to get back out into some nearby parks to see what migratory birds were making their way back into the neighborhood.

Certain visitors had already made their way into our yard. On my 2018 species list, I'd already documented: Common Grackles, American Robins, and Red Winged Blackbirds. My goal for the weekend was to find some of the feathered travelers who I didn't necessarily anticipate seeing in my backyard.

The Madison area is full of great places to bird. If you are looking to spy waterfowl, there are a host of lakes and parks with open water. Other birds species can be found in abundance as well: there are nearby state parks, conservancy lands, and the varying habitats at the UW Arboretum. I chose none of above.

To avoid the cold and the dark on Saturday, I opted to go birding in the afternoon rather than in the early morning. An odd time to be sure, and I wasn't certain how much fruit my venture would yield. To my surprise, the Goose Lake area and Quarry Ridge Recreation Area (managed by Dane County and the City of Fitchburg) made for an excellent afternoon of birding.

The first thing to catch my eye was this lone Bald Eagle.

Beyond this, the trip involved a number of the usual suspects: Herring Gull, Ring Billed Gull, Canada Goose, and of course the familiar Mallard.

Amongst the ducks and geese, I spotted one swimming alone. This Northern Shoveler.

I decided on Sunday to bare the cold. It was just below freezing and still some what dark when I headed out into the Sugar River Wetlands State Natural Area (managed by the WI DNR and Upper Sugar River Watershed Asso.) in Verona. This marsh yields regular sitings of Sandhill Crane, Red Winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Song Sparrows, and later in summer: Yellow Warbler, Common Yellow Throat, and even Ruby Throated Hummingbirds.

This chilly March Sunday morning did not disappoint. A number of the usuals were present: Song Sparrows and Red Winged Blackbirds in abundance. A single Eastern Meadowlark I could hear but not spot. 5 Sandhill Cranes wondering the property, two walking down the mucky trail just like me.

As I turned to head back to my car, a large black bird swopped through the stand of oaks at the south of the SNA.

While nonmigratory, this Pileated Woodpecker really made my day.

Regardless of where you live, get out a map. Find some local parks. They don't have to be state parks or designated conservancy lands. Local and county parks, or scrub land along a bike trail. These call can make for unique birding experiences. Get out there and enjoy the early spring weather, after all, winter is only 9 months away.

Rare or Endangered Bird Sightings: What You Can Do

NPR ran an article this past week on the rediscovery of the native Florida Flamingo population which I found fascinating. In short, the bird was believed to be extirpated from the state in the 1800's. In the early 2000's a small population of flamingos was discovered to still be living in Florida year round in Florida Bay.

This got me thinking about what birds might we think no longer live in Wisconsin. It also got me thinking about the value of logging our observations in citizen science databases like eBird.org or by participating events like the Midwest Crane Count.

I did a little digging and came across a Wisconsin DNR listing of rare bird species in Wisconsin. The list is pretty interesting and provides status codes for the species based on how endangered or numerous they are.

For example, a species I've often seen in parks near me, the Eastern Meadowlark, is listed as SGCN as part of the Wisconsin Wildlife Action Plan. SGCN is "Species of Greatest Conservation Need". I've often logged my Meadowlark sightings in eBird, which is generally a good thing to do. However what I learned by visiting the DNR site is that for some of these species, there is a another database being used to track them.

The Wisconsin Natural Heritage Inventory is part of the DNR and is responsible tracking the location of rare or endangered species in Wisconsin. A full list of life being tracked and other useful information can be found here.

For birders, the list of rare birds is a good place to start. There were a number of species which I've seen in my birding adventures. Keep these species in mind the next you are out birding and be sure to log them in WI DNR's Natural Heritage Inventory.

Spring is Here: Robins, Red Winged Blackbirds, Grackles, Killdeer, and Cranes Return

I've only managed to photograph American Robins in our nannyberries but as of today, we took a walk this evening and saw Red Winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles. We also hear Sandhill Cranes and Killdeer today. Generally I declare Spring to have sprung when I've seen the Red Winged Blackbirds, Common Grackles, and American Robins which is typically closer to March 10th. When I have some good photos I'll share them here.

The Robins have been busy picking away at the berries left in our nannyberry viburnums.


The blackbirds like the Common Grackle have been looking through the leaf litter we didn't rake or remove last fall.

Great Backyard Bird Count - Weekend Summary

As I'll be at work tomorrow, I won't be participating in the last of the The Great Backyard Bird Count. So I thought I'd summarize how the weekend went here.

Most of my counting was done at home, but I did make a short trip out to a local park yesterday. Here's a summary of the weekend's observations.

Species	Highest Count
American Crow	2
American Goldfinch	4
American Tree Sparrow	4
Black Capped Chickadee	4
Blue Jay	2
Common Redpoll	5
Dark Eyed Junco	7
Downy Woodpecker	2
European Starling	22
Hairy Woodpecker	1
House Finch	9
Mourning Dove	21
Pine Siskin	4
Red Breasted Nuthatch	1

In short not a bad weekend for birding, especially with the amount of wind we had. The Great Backyard Bird Count is currently reporting nearly 95,000 checklists submitted and over 5,000 species observed. That's amazing! Great job everyone!

Great Backyard Bird Count - Day 2 - Better Start and Unwelcome Visitors

Day 2 has started and we've had some different visitors this morning including two Northern Cardinals and a Red Breasted Nuthatch. The Great Backyard Bird Count has had updates as well, an additional 8,000 checklists submitted since I last posted and an additional 400 species reported.

The map they've shared shows checklists posted from all over the world.

In addition to some welcome visitors, we also had 23 European Starlings show up. It may be a sign that it will soon be time to take down the suet feeder.

Great Backyard Bird Count - 2018 - Day 1 Summary

So I posted earlier this morning when it was pretty windy. I ended up submitting three checklists for today. Here's a summary of my high counts for the yard for today.

Species	High Count
American Crow	2
Black Capped Chickadee	3
Blue Jay	2
Dark Eyed Junco	7
Downy Woodpecker	1
European Starling	1
Hairy Woodpecker	1
House Finch	2
Mourning Dove	9
Pine Siskin	3

At the end of day 1, I'm off to a slow start. Hopefully tomorrow will go a little better. NOAA says 60% chance of slow, likely half an inch, with a high near 33 F. Precipitation may bring the birds out in droves or keep them hunkered down like today.

As of now the Great Backyard Bird Count is showing 21010 checklists submitted with 3836 species counted worldwide. That's awesome! Hopefully your counting is going better than mine.

Great Backyard Bird Count - Just Getting Started

Happy Friday all!

I just submitted my first checklist as part of the 2018 Great Backyard Bird Count. This morning was mostly a bust. It was quite windy; my assumption is that the birds were largely hunkered down this morning. The feeders were blowing around...the highlight of the morning was a Downy Woodpecker male and a Hairy Woodpecker female.

These are two lookalike species, so I thought I'd jump into that quickly. Here are some pics I took back in 2016 which illustrate the difference.

Hairy woodpeckers are larger, they take up most of my double suet cake feeder.


Downy Woodpeckers are significantly smaller but have very similar markings.

The difference between the two species is most apparent when you can see the side by side. It's also worth noting the Hairy Woodpecker is equipped with a larger beak.

Also in case you are interested in seeing how the Great Backyard Bird Count is going, they shared a pretty cool live map. Happy birding all! I'll update things as I submit more checklists.

Great Backyard Bird Count - Little Yellow Birds

"Yellow birds" is probably a misnomer. However two fairly common, small brown birds with yellow highlights are likely to make an appearance at your nyjer feeder.

During warmer months, the American Goldfinch is easy to spot. Males are a vibrant yellow and really add a splash of color to our bird feeders. In the colder months, the males take on a more brown appearance and look very much like their female partners.

Vibrant Male


Male just starting to get his color back in early spring.

Pine Siskins are brown little birds which you'll often find amongst the more common American Goldfinches. They also seem to enjoy nyjer seed and are a winter migrant. By the time the male Goldfinches have returned to their vibrant yellow, the Siskins have likely returned to the North. While the Siskins don't turn a bright yellow, they do have distinctive yellow feathers on their wings. When taking a quick glance at your feeders, it might easy to assume that a bunch of small brown birds is made up entirely of Goldfinches but take a closer look and you may find some Siskins in the bunch.

Pine Siskins visiting my feeders.

Great Backyard Bird Count - Little Red Birds

The Great Backyard Bird Count starts this week on Friday. During this time of the year in Wisconsin, the feeder birds should be relatively easy to attract with oil rich seeds like sunflower and nyjer. Sexual dimorphism is bound to be on display in a variety of species as red males and brown females make their way to your feeders. The reddest of all is the state bird of Illinois; the Northern Cardinal is the easiest to pick out of the crowd.

Northern Cardinal - The males will be pretty much red all over.

Cardinals are easy to pick out with their bright red bodies, black mask, and red beaks. Even the more earth-toned females have a brightly colored beak which will help set these birds apart from the other visitors to your yard. The Cardinals will also be bigger than the other winter red birds visiting your yard. House Finches, Purple Finches, and Common Redpolls are sort of like variations on a theme, finches with a splash of red.

House Finches - have a fair amount of brown plumage including at the very top of the their head.


Purple Finches - Very similar to House Finches, their "red" plumage is often more fuchsia. The cap on the head is also not brown.

As pictured above, the House Finch and Purple can be relatively easily confused. The House Finch has spread throughout the Eastern half of the US and is easy to spot in gardens and suburban settings. I see them daily eating safflower and sunflower seeds. Purple Finches, I've only see during migration periods. They are somewhat larger than the House Finches, and the females seem to have more distinctive markings especially on the face. It's my understanding that Purple Finches are more common further north in Wisconsin.

Common Redpoll - Look for the bright red cap which appears on both the males and females to make this id.

The last little red bird is the Common Redpoll. They fit into my bucket of little brown birds for which I'll fetch the binoculars. The key to making the positive id is the small red cap which is shared by the both males and females. Black markings near the beak similar to a sparrow are also present and unlike the House and Purple Finches who have a white-ish beak, Redpoll beaks tend to be yellow or orange-ish.

Citizen Scientists Call to Action - Great Backyard Bird Count

In my last post, I focused on some opportunities to get out and bird. This post is a call to action in your own yard.

From Feb. 16 - 19, the Great Backyard Bird Count is hosted by Cornell Lab of Ornithology and eBird. This is an extended weekend opportunity for you to spend time watching birds in your backyard and documenting in eBird which species you saw.

The Great Backyard Bird Count is a great opportunity to start birding as a hobby for yourself, and it provides scientists with a wealth of data. It allows them to see where in the US different species are and how many. It's a unique opportunity to part of something bigger than yourself.

So you're new to the world of birding? Not sure what you need to know...let's start there.

1. Unsure about correctly identifying birds. Here's a good place to start.
2. Unsure about counting. (I'll address that below)
3. Unsure about when. Pick any time over 15 minutes between Feb 16 and 19th
4. Unsure about documenting. You'll need to create a free account on eBird.

Counting strategy can be tricky, right? You see one bird, then later you see two. Did you see three? Or did you see two? For species where males and females look different, I keep track of the highest number of each male and female I see. Then total them. So for example, if I see 1 red cardinal, then later 2 brown, and then later 3 red; I would total it as 5 total cardinals. That way I know I am not doubling counting.

eBird is relatively simple. Once you've created your free account; find the Submit link. You then need to identify your location. Look up your location using "Find it on a map" and searching for your county. Once in, enter a more precise location. Once you've filed your location, you'll be brought to a list of birds. This where you enter your count. It's relatively simple.

Winter - A Great Time To Get Out of Your Yard to Bird

I recognize that the entire purpose of this blog was / is aimed at encouraging readers to landscape with native plants to build a healthy ecosystem at home and enjoy the wildlife which inhabits your yard. However winter wildlife watching can become run of the mill. Another Eastern Cottontail Rabbit, woodpeckers back at the suet, finches on the nyjer feeders....sometimes you need to get out.

During the winter a host of birds will look for places with open water to pass their time. Open water provides places to find food, places to swim in relative safety, and of course a place to drink. The upper Midwest has a number of places where there will be some amount of open water. In fact, for some of you this water might just be right near your backyard.

Water features of note are good sized rivers (especially ones which generate hydro-power) like the Wisconsin River. Sites near hydro electric dams tend to remain open. Areas which end up artificially heated by human activity or urbanization like the Mississippi near Dubuque, IA or Lake Michigan near Manitowoc or Milwaukee may also be places with open waters. Larger bodies of water like Lake Michigan or the Mississippi are unlikely 100% freeze over anyway and may be slower to freeze up in the fall / early winter when compared to smaller bodies of water.

So what are you likely to see?

Bald Eagles for starters.

Bald Eagle Days in Sauk Prairie - 2012?

A host of Midwestern cities have eagle watching festivals or tours including: Sauk Prairie WI, Dubuque IA, Galena IL, Prairie du Chien WI and Starved Rock State Park IL.

You will also see waterfowl too of course

Tundra Swan nears Brownsville MN 2016

All of the Mallards and Canada Geese which had been loitering around the golf course, your yard, the local retention pond are joined by mergansers, golden eyes, swans, and less common varieties of duck and geese in open water wherever it's found. Not only are a number of these species attractive; they can be easy to spot as they are moving about in flocks. On their own merit these are worthy birds to watch. Personally, I've been most interested in the migrating swans. These can be seen near the Upper Mississippi River Wildlife Refuge in places like Alma WI and Brownsville MN. Most recently, I encountered Trumpeter Swans on Lake Evergreen near Hudson, IL (and as you can see others have seen them too.)

If it's starting to feel like winter is dragging on, jump over to ebird and explore the data, either by species or region and plan an outing to see something which holds your interests and makes the cold bearable.