Here They Come

This morning, just after 5 a.m. I woke to this on the radar...

BIRDS!

"Here they come," I thought to myself. And my mind bridged into a Primus beat, DUN DUN dun-da-dun-da DUN DUN...

"Here they come. Here come the bastards..."

Excited as I was, per my usual early-riser fail, I fell back asleep for another two hours before I rose to meet the best weather day we will have this entire week. Lucky me, I had the day off! Temperatures climbed to 60°F which had not happened since the first week of December 2017!

I hit the trails shortly after 8 a.m. Initially, I was somewhat disappointed by the lack of birds. As temperatures rose over the next hour, bird activity picked up in small spurts. By the end of my first 100 minutes of birding, it was apparent the activity on the radar was represented by an increase in Yellow-rumped Warblers, Eastern Phoebes and Ruby-crowned Kinglets. Another wave of Golden-crowned kinglets had also arrived.

Yellow-rumped Warbler, Nine Springs, Dane Co, 12April2018

Shorebirds were also among the new arrivals but remained relatively sparse in diversity and numbers.

Greater Yellowlegs, Nine Springs, Dane Co, WI 11April2018

Speaking of shorebirds which generally seem to be late this spring, an early Baird's Sandpiper defied the trend on Sunday and Monday. It was a nice patch bird to get under my belt. It also serves as a testament to another one of those weird spring migrations where many birds have been late to arrive, yet a few oddballs like this Baird's arrived early. My sympathies go out to these hardy scouts.

Baird's Sandpiper, Nine Springs, Dane Co, WI 9April2018

Following solo birding for the first part of the morning, I met my birding buddy, Kyle for some brief clandestine birding followed by the usual mix of shorebird, waterbird and passerine birding that occupies the lives of we freak birders. We birded in the fanatical fashion I've become accustomed to over the past month. The intermittent reinforcement of first-of-the-year birds combined with some tantalizing gems, fed our addiction to keep birding. 

The Franklin's Gull at Ashton K pond was a year bird for Kyle. For me, it was simply delightful to see this species again under far better viewing conditions than last time I observed it. The small flock of Pectoral Sandpipers, Wilson's Snipe and two Greater Yellowlegs present at Ashton K had us excited we might find more shorebirds at the much more expansive Nine Springs. However our misguided prediction for good shore-birding did not bear out. No worries. If birding were simply everything one expected it would be rather boring. The surprises undoubtedly are a large part of allure. 

Franklins' Gull, Ashton K, Dane Co, WI 12April2018

Franklins' Gull, Ashton K, Dane Co, WI 12April2018

The Red-necked Grebe reported at Stricker's Pond (Yes! In my birding patch!) was a welcome surprise to fuel our afternoon birding.

Red-necked Grebe, Stricker's Pond, Dane Co, 12April2018

Following the Red-necked rendezvous, we visited the adjacent Tiedeman's Pond where I spied what had become my nemesis patch-bird for the past two weeks, a Great Egret. With no time for photos, I returned later in the day to capture a few images of the egret and Red-necked Grebe. I was hoping to find the grebe in better light and closer to the shore. That did not come to fruition. But returning to Stricker's for late day birding was worthwhile nonetheless as it yielded my sixth patch FOY of the day, Purple Martin. Apparently they were MIA during our earlier visit.

Great Egret, Stricker's Pond, Dane Co, WI 12April2018

Purple Martin, Stricker's Pond, Dane Co, WI 12April2018

As mentioned before, Nine Springs was nearly a bust on shorebirds. However, it delivered on many other levels: American Bittern, numerous Fox Sparrows, an unexpected Vesper Sparrow, brilliant Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, and more Yellow-rumped Warblers, Hermit Thrush and Golden-crowned Kinglets. Hermit Thrush was another species that had eluded me for the year until today. By the time we reached Nine Springs we had seen single birds at at least three locations. Clearly they, along with more sparrows, had rode the recent wave of migration.

Today appeared to mark the arrival of Chipping Sparrow. Where have they been?! I don't blame them for staying south. Our weather in Wisconsin has not been friendly to the bold bird scouts arriving ahead of the pack.

Chipping Sparrow, UW Arboretum, Ho-Nee-Um, Dane Co, 12April2018

That's a wrap for birding on this glorious Thursday.

Since my last post, I've continued to bird and eBird at a compulsive pace. I really DO NEED to address my growing TO-DO list before migration really heats up. With the continual appearance of goodies in my birding patch it's difficult to reason doing much of anything else outside of work but bird.

A Ross's Goose made an appearance earlier this week less than two miles from my house. Eek. A nice bird to admire en route home from work.

Ross's Goose, Gammon soccer fields, Madison, Dane Co, WI 10April2018

And even on the days when FOYS are one or none, I continued to lose myself in the birds and to contemplate their lives and journies. The frequent freezing temps of recent weeks and few observable insects left me pondering how the flycatching Eastern Phoebes were managing to find food. Wonder no more. Minnows!  While I was not fast enough to freeze frame the encounter, I watched an Eastern Phoebe fly down to Stricker's Pond, come up to a branch with minnow in bill and whack it to death before swallowing it whole. Who knew?! I've seen many a passerine and flycatcher engage in "whack-a-bug" but never "whack-a-minnow." I guess when faced with hard times, protein is protein?

Eastern Phoebe, Dane Co, WI 8April2018

And finally, lest you think, THIS, ALL OF THIS, is just about the numbers (how banal!), I'll leave this image of these swallows whose fluid recirculating feeding engrossed me for the spell of over an hour one calm afternoon. These are the graceful patterns soothing my soul. They become tattooed on my retina and keep me looking for that next indelible experience. This is the gravity of birding. The numbers, that's just icing. Fun but at times nauseatingly too sweet.

Tree Swallows, Madison, WI 8April2018