The Dark Side of Winter's Extension

When I last posted I made reference to the survival of some migrants and recently arrived breeders being dependent on a reprieve from the recurring winter we have been experiencing in Wisconsin. I mentioned it somewhat flippantly, erring on the side of hope that our temps would quickly rebound and the birds who have always amazed me with their tenacity would be on the upside of this insane extension of winter.

Swamp Sparrow, My yard, Madison, Dane Co, WI 17April2018

Then today, southern Wisconsin was hammered with yet another snowstorm. This was the scene from my backyard early this afternoon.

My yard, Madison, WI 18April2018

The reality of the past couple days has been revealing itself one report after another:

• 17 Tree Swallows found expired in bluebird boxes in Waukesha County
• 1 Eastern Bluebird found expired in a bluebird box in Milwaukee County
• 2 Eastern Phoebes and 1 Golden-crowned Kinglet found expired in Milwaukee County
• Crisis alerts posted from the area wildlife rehabilitation centers with reports of taking in record numbers of starving birds: American Robins half their weight, an emaciated Yellow Rail in Dane County that later expired... The list goes on...
• Many birders are reporting seeing lethargic birds along dangerous roadsides desperately seeking bare ground and nutritional resources. 
• A friend in Marathon County reported walking up to several lethargic, starving American Robins and easily catching them. These birds were taken to rehab.

The gravity of the situation is now all too apparent.

I hate to sound grim, but those Purple Martins that had just returned to southern Wisconsin late last week have probably expired. 

Birds are expiring despite efforts to stock nest boxes/houses with mealworms.

Mother Nature seems pissed. This feels like bad karma, the result of too many folks balking at the inconvenient truth that is climate change. The birds are paying the price.

And what about the Eastern Phoebes? Last Thursday I counted 5-6 along a 3/4 mile stretch of creek. Yesterday despite the reprieve from the snow, I could not find any along that same stretch. I told myself it may have simply been the time of day. But then I read about the expired Eastern Phoebes in Milwaukee and the other niggling possibility of their demise suddenly seemed quite plausible. 

The sunny conditions of yesterday afternoon had me hopeful the worst was behind us. The birds in my yard seemed to be faring quite well. Many of the same species from the first storm had returned in greater vigor. They seemed less desperate, less bedraggled, recovering and replenishing nutritional reserves for the next leg of the journey.

Hermit Thrush, my yard, 17April2018

American Tree Sparrow, my yard, 17April2018

The sun came out in the afternoon and temperatures rose into the 40s. Evidence of winter's most recent blast was diminishing. Hope was springing eternal...

Pileated Woodpecker, Middleton, WI 17April2018

Birds were active, seemingly in good condition. Strong flights. Singing, feeding, engaging in territorial disputes. All seemed to be returning to normal. 

American Woodcock, Middleton, WI 17April2018

I flushed two American Woodcock during a creekside stroll. They were in a sheltered gorge presumably seeking a scarce supply of earthworms. Superficially they appeared in good health. I do hope that was the case.

Eastern Bluebird, Walking Iron Park, Dane Co, WI 18April2018

I was relieved to encounter a pair of Eastern Bluebirds during an evening walk in western Dane County. Yay! They dodged the bullet of winter's most recent blast.

But an impending resurgence of winter was on its way... Would it come in the form of mostly rain or snow? 

Fox Sparrow in the snow, my backyard, 18April2018

By early this afternoon it was clear the answer was snow, and lots of it. The yard was quickly blanketed in several inches. It continues to fall as I write. 

I arrived home mid afternoon, shoveled some bare areas for the birds and distributed more seed and mealworms. Finding my five pound bucket of mealworms nearly depleted, I went into panic mode. It seemed critical I have an ample supply of mealworms for another stressful 24 hours for the birds.

Black-capped Chickadee, a hearty regular diner of mealworms, my yard 18April2018

Therefore despite the hazardous road conditions, I headed out in the storm on a quest for mealworms. I arrived at Mounds on the west side of Madison to learn they had sold out of mealworms this morning! My back-up, Menard's, was also sold out. Fortunately I had remembered seeing mealworms at Jung's Garden Center on a recent errand. They had plenty in stock. At least for the sake of the birds in my yard, a crisis was averted. Plenty of food will be available to weather the storm in my neck of woods. Tomorrow I expect to wake to the "way" calls of the hermit thrush that has been roosting in the evergreen outside my bedroom window. I will dutifully rise to do my small part to help the visitors in my yard survive what I hope is truly the last snowstorm of the season. Enough already!

Hermit Thrush, my backyard, 18April2018

As for the aerial insectivores and various other bird species in peril in the wake of these winter storms, it's heartbreaking to consider the devastation ensuing. We are only beginning to understand the bird losses of recent days. The coming months will certainly reveal the rest of the story. Undoubtedly this spring will go down as one of the more ruthless for the birds, or make that against. 

Snow Birds

MORE WINTER! MORE WINTER!

Stricker's Pond, Dane Co, WI during the storm 15April2018

Yesterday brought a mid-April snowstorm to much of Wisconsin. Here in southern Wisconsin we seem to have gotten less than six inches. Further north did not fare so well with several regions getting in excess of two feet of snow in blizzard conditions!

Even though our storm was mild in comparison to the north, many of the recently arrived birds were clearly struggling under the onslaught of snow and temperatures in the mid 20s.

Hermit Thrush in the Washington Hawthorn gifted to me by my birding pal, Aaron

I remained indoors most the day with much of my birding confined to the comforts of looking out my back window upon the sizable flock of birds taking advantage of the ample bird food at my house and the neighbors.

Hermit "Snow" Thrush eating mealworms by the garden shed

The mealworms we have been supplying for months were the delicacy du jour for our regular customers, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Northern Cardinal and American Robin, as well as our recently arrived visitors comprised of several sparrow species and Hermit Thrush.

Fox "Snow" Sparrow, my yard, 15April2018

I tallied seven sparrow species for our backyard including a high total of sixteen Fox Sparrows! The other species included Swamp, Song, White-throated, Chipping and American Tree Sparrow, and Dark-eyed Junco.

The American Tree Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos have this cold snap aced as they are regular winter residents in Wisconsin.

American Tree Sparrow, my yard, 15April2018

However this Swamp Sparrow (photo below) appeared to be struggling in the unforgiving weather. It fed continuously throughout the day, hunkered down around and under the garden shed. The reappearance this morning of what seemed to be the same two "Swamps" along with two Hermit Thrushes were reassuring that most of my backyard birds survived the night. Though some Swamp Sparrows will over-winter in southern Wisconsin one of the two feeding in the yard yesterday was clearly not among the hardy souls the could endure a Wisconsin winter.

Swamp "Snow" Sparrow, my backyard, Madison, WI 15April2018
Most of the time this bird was puffed up and squinty-eyed

Of course with so many birds flocking to one area, a hungry Cooper's Hawk had to take advantage of the feast. It successfully made off with what appeared to be a Dark-eyed Junco (better that than a Hermit Thrush).

Hermit Thrush, my yard 15April2018

A brief drive to Ashton K pond yielded two more sparrow species including my FOY Savannah Sparrow.

Savannah "Snow" Sparrow, Ashton K, 15April2018

The stiff winds out of the north were something to behold in this open landscape. Getting out of my vehicle against the north wind required a surprising feat of strength. It's no wonder why multiple Killdeer were seen hunkering down in the lea of hillocks and rocks, that is until I disturbed them in my efforts to get a photo. FAIL.

"Snow" Killdeer, Ashton K, 15April2018 

The Vesper Sparrows were gritting in the middle of the road barely escaping death by car strike, not once but at least three times, while we admired watching a group of five feeding on what appeared to be a dangerous stretch of road.

Vesper "Snow" Sparrow. Ashton K, 15April2018

On our brisk walk around Stricker's Pond, we encountered a myriad of birds, some managing better than others in the snowfall.

Bonaparte's and Ring-billed Gulls doing just fine. 15April2018

Red-breasted Merganser, seemingly unphased by the storm, 15April2018

Red-necked Grebe, continuing at Stricker's Pond, 15April2018

The insectivores appeared the most weathered. If they had sentient thoughts, certainly "WTF" would be among them.

Eastern "Snow" Phoebe having a tough time finding insects, 15April2018

Unfortunately the Purple Martins returned just a few days ago. There is worry being voiced that their populations may collapse due to this veritable winter in what should be spring. The aerial insects these birds rely on are undoubtedly in short supply at this time. The suggestion has been put forth to train the Purple Martins to catch mealworms or scrambled eggs in flight. I'd like to see that. It's tough times right now for the recently arrived breeding insectivores and other migrants mistakenly entering our state as if it's spring.

Shorebirds were few and far between at the limited places I stopped to bird on Sunday. The few I found were weathering this recurrence of winter surprisingly well.

Greater "Snow" Yellowlegs seeming finding plenty to forage upon in the mud. 15April2018

Wilson's "Snow" Snipe, fitfully surviving. 15April2018

Like many of these birds, I too look forward to milder temperatures. Unlike them though, my survival does not depend on it. Theirs just might.

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

April Snow into Patch Gold

Early Tuesday evening this was the birding scene...

I woke the next morning to this...

SNOW! April 4th and we are dealing with snow in southern Wisconsin.

However for contrast, here was the scene in the backyard this morning. The snow was largely gone, but the frigid weather and the shittest birds in the world (Wild Turkeys) remained.



In the wee hours of this morning, during one of my many periods of wakefulness, my handy phone told me it was 18° F! Eek! Yeah that's more like "degrees FUCK!!!" not Fahrenheit. That was enough to tip my decision to sleep in.

Despite the sense of being under the spell of Snow Miser, the birds continue to trickle into the state albeit trickle is key word. Where are all the Bonaparte's Gulls?!? I associate Easter with a large influx of Boni's. Yet Easter has passed and thus far Bonaparte's Gulls seem in short supply. This particular bird has been spending time at Stricker's Pond this past week and is probably one of the most photographed gulls in the area right now. Scruffy looking little bugger. My hands went numb and I failed to get a sharp image despite my relative close proximity to the bird.

This past Thursday was our best weather day with temperatures climbing into the 40s. Woohoo! I was fortunate to have the day off and took advantage of Nature's reprieve from arctic blasts. I walked over six miles between my neighborhood, Owen Conservation Park, the Confluence Ponds, North Fork Marsh and the Pheasant Branch Creek Corridor trail. I continued to add FOY species to my birding patch list...

Winter Wren, Owen Conservation Park, not cooperating for photos
A new patch addition this week

...as well as relish in admiring recurrent but nonetheless stunning birds decked out in their finest plumages.

Fox Sparrow, Owen Conservation Park, Madison, Dane Co, WI

Sandhill Crane in the snow, Stricker's Pond, Middleton, WI 

Sandhill Crane exercising what might be a faulty nesting strategy if we get the rain that is forecast

Great Blue Heron, Stricker's Pond, Middleton WI

Friday's strong winds blew in a few Franklin's Gulls that continued in various locations today. I finally saw this FOY species at Ashton K pond during my second attempt at birding this small ephemeral pond. I saw reports later in the day of two Franklin's having been present today. I suspect I simply missed them in the tightly packed flock of Ring-billed gulls. To my good fortune, one was standing outside the flock upon my return, making it more easily discernible. Moments later it moved into the interior, effectively disappearing again. An el crappo doc shot was obtained which I will spare from display on this blog.

My good fortune continued into the afternoon when I hit PATCH GOLD, so golden little can be uttered about this nugget. Patch gold and a golden high sure to make for the sweetest of dreams this eve. Here's lookin' at you kid (x3). It doesn't get any better!

March into April

Well that's a wrap for March. We are off and birding into the second quarter of the 2018!

My local birding patch statistics. I completed March with ninety-nine species in my local birding patch which is centered around near west Madison, WI.  Forty-two of those species were first seen in January, only seven in February and the remaining fifty were seen in March. As of today, April 1st, my local birding patch total sits at 102 species for the year. Per eBird, my days of checklist streak stands at twenty one. My best streak is only twenty-nine days. I’m going for 100!

I had no plans to bird much yesterday, March 31st due to the weather forecast looking like more of winter with 20-30 mph winds, gusts to 40 mph and a mixture of rain and snow. Yes it was windy and cold but the day turned out to be more tolerable than anticipated.

Song Sparrow, North Fork Marsh, Middleton, Dane Co, 31March2018

This Song Sparrow looks about as happy I was to be out in the blustery conditions. Have I ever mentioned how I annoying I find birding in the wind?

Being a fair-weathered spirit as of recent, I slept in late and planned to work around the house most of the day. However, I was enticed into what was supposed to be a 15-20 minute walk to breakfast. Of course we went with binoculars in hand. It is spring after all and we live in a decently birdy neighborhood. Our route to breakfast took us through Kettle Pond which revealed increased sparrow activity including an influx of Fox Sparrows and a smattering of singing White-crowned Sparrows. Following breakfast we noted Golden-crowned Kinglets in the Spring Harbor neighborhood where we dined, more evidence of new arrivals. Given we were only 5 minutes from Lake Mendota we decided to check for waterfowl. The wind was gusting and the birds were moving. Turkey Vultures, Bald Eagles, Red-tailed Hawks, Pine Siskins and Great Blue Herons flew overhead. On the water we found multiple Horned Grebes mixed in with the same waterfowl I had been seeing for the past week. Horned Grebe had been my nemesis species for a good two weeks. So I was quite happy my relatively incidental birding effort yielded a new year bird in my patch. I surmised there must have been an influx of Horned Grebes overnight as well. Scanning the lake, it appeared the ice on Lake Mendota had finally gone out. As of the day before I could see still an ice edge lined with gulls in the southeast corner of the lake where none seemed present on March's final day.

Merrill Springs Parks with view of Lake Mendota in background, 31March2018

I was tempted to bird some more on Saturday but remained disciplined in getting chores done around the house. However, an early evening run to Costco found me on some quick birding detours which yielded my last two patch species for March, a lone Pectoral Sandpiper and two Snow Goose at Ashton K pond.

So here we are on the day of fools, April 1st. I worked the morning then headed out in the afternoon for some brisk weather birding. A brief stop at the Confluence Ponds yielded an unexpected Sharp-shinned Hawk and an exciting but somewhat concerning encounter with a bat.

I spotted this bat flying from one of the wood duck boxes. It crossed Deming Way to land on the ledge of a window at the business across from the pond. It rested for a spell, flew a short then landed on the building, scaling the concrete wall. It appeared to be gleaning insects from the textured surface. It crawled all the way down to the ground, proceeded along the building edge until it finally found a small hole between the mulch and foundation where it absconded to what was hopefully a warm refuge. It seemed a bit exhausted. Good luck little buddy! I seem to be on at least a 5-year streak of seeing bats in late winter/early spring.

We returned to Spring Harbor Beach where the waters were much calmer than the day before. A similar number of Horned Grebes continued from the day prior. Red-breasted Mergansers were plentiful.



Seeing the mergansers engaged in a courtship dance made this unplanned stop well worth it!

Finally we arrived at our planned destination Frautschi Point which we found quite lively with an impressive number of Golden-crowned Kinglets (38 estimated!), my first-of-the-year Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a Barred Owl, Cooper's hawk and an assortment of common woodland birds.

Golden-crowned Kinglet, Frautschi Point, 1April2018

Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Frautschi Point, 1April2018

At the nearby Eagle Heights we scoured the terrain looking for sparrows. American Tree Sparrows were present in the dozens, followed by less numerous Song Sparrows, a few Fox Sparrows and my final FOY patch bird of the day, a somewhat disheveled looking White-crowned Sparrow.

American Tree Sparrow (after it heard a good joke about 2 more weeks of winter),
Eagle Heights, 1April2018

White-crowned Sparrow, Eagle heights gardens, Madison, Dane Co, 1April2018

It may be frigid outside, but hope certainly abounds! I'm ecstatic with my new birding digs, with rediscovering old haunts from when I formerly resided in Madison and uncovering lesser known pocket's of birding goodness. Nature's surprises never cease to amaze me!