[wisb] Horicon Marsh Ibises - NO
- From: Petherick Chris <cpetherick@xxxxxx>
- To: Wisconsin Bird List Wisconsin Bird List <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 05 May 2010 17:21:08 -0500
I went to Horicon Marsh today to look for the ibises but came up empty
handed. I spent about 2 hours along Hwy 49 looking for them to no
avail. I found another bird that was very interesting but couldn't ID
and unfortunately I couldn't get a picture and no one else was
around. Hopefully someone else will see it today or during the bird
festival. It was a warbler-like bird that hopped around the leaves
and buds of trees. It had a gray upper and a white lower body. The
eye had a white eye ring and the white extended around the eye, so it
was more than just an eye ring, but rather white around the eye. The
lower half of the head, including around the eye was white, the upper
half was gray. The white was what I would consider off-white, not
pure white - I did not notice any yellow. The upper gray was a medium
gray, similar I would say to a Titmouse gray I guess. It definitely
had no olive coloring like a Nashville Warbler, it was noticeably gray
in color. There was a distinct break in color between upper and
lower. The tips of the wings were darker gray than the rest of the
gray when it sat on a branch. There were no wing bars at all and no
other markings on chest or back, such as streaking. As I mentioned,
it hopped around leaves and blossoms like a warbler rather than flying
off a branch and back similar to an Empidonax, so I have ruled them
out. As I go through my various field guides I come up with only a
few birds that fit this description - an immature Virginia's Warbler
(from Nat Geo Guide, does not look like an adult as seen in Sibley's),
Lucy's Warbler, a variant of the Orange-Crowned Warbler (did not have
any black marking near eye and the white encompassed the eye) and the
Gray Vireo. There certainly could be others that i am missing (and
that are more common around here). I listened to songs from my iBird
Pro and I have to say that I heard singing that sounded very much like
a Virginia's Warbler. The Nashville Warbler has a similar song, so it
could easily just have been a Nashville song i was hearing or other
notes mixed together I suppose. So I am stumped on the bird. i was
able to watch it for about a total of 10 minutes so i feel that i had
a very good view of it from about 25 feet away without obstructions,
such as branches. I was below it, so i was looking upward and over at
it, and it was due south of me. The area I saw it was shaded, so the
sun was not in my eyes as I looked. It was about 1pm when i found
this bird. It was located on Dike Road just as you enter the marsh
and turn west along the small creek or gully with the trees all around
it. It was about 30 feet from the end of the trees where the road
continues into the marsh.
Any help with this bird would be greatly appreciated as it's something
I haven't seen before. Thanks. Sorry for the length.
As for other birds of note at Horicon today:
Hwy 49:
Black Crowned Night Heron - 1
Forster's Terns - a lot
Black Terns - a handful
Ring Necked Ducks - 5
Ruddy Ducks - 100's
Greater/Lesser Yellowlegs - a lot of each
Wilson's Phalarope - 1
Bufflehead - a single one
White Pelicans - 18
Sora - numerous
Solitary Sandpiper - 1 (of course)
Black Necked Stilt - 1
Auto Loop:
Eastern Meadowlarks
Wood Ducks
White Crowned Sparrow
Red Necked Grebe
Dike Road:
Unidentified warbler - 1
Yelow Warbler - 5
YR Warbler - 25
Palm Warbler - 25
Black and White Warbler - 1
Rough Legged hawk - 3
Northern Harrier - 3
Least Flycatcher - 1
Willet - 2
Marsh Wren - 1
Chris Petherick
Fox Point, Northeastern Milwaukee County
####################
You received this email because you are subscribed to the Wisconsin Birding
Network (Wisbirdn).
To UNSUBSCRIBE or SUBSCRIBE, use the Wisbirdn web interface at:
//www.freelists.org/list/wisbirdn.
To set DIGEST or VACATION modes, use the Wisbirdn web interface at:
//www.freelists.org/list/wisbirdn.
Visit Wisbirdn ARCHIVES at: //www.freelists.org/archives/wisbirdn.
Other related posts:
