Spent some time along Milwaukee's lakefront yesterday (10/17) and today (10/18). Picked up two new Milwaukee walking BIGBY species, bringing the total to 155 species. In the process, I came up with a catchy name I'm going to start using for this BIGBY category: MilWALKee BIGBY. :-) Some highlights: * Horned Lark. MilWALKee BIGBY species #154. There were a number of these birds in Lakeshore State Park on Sunday. Several at the south end of the park on the large shoreline rocks and in the grass. And a flock of 10-15 birds flew over the park headed due east. As the flock got out over the harbor they made an abrupt u-turn and headed back towards shore. It was like it suddenly dawned on them that there was nothing ahead of them except open water. * I finally got close enough to the orange-collared Canada Goose in Veterans Park to be able to read the alpha-numeric code on the collar (U7F5). After a little poking around, I found a website where one can report such information (see: http://bit.ly/ahPeeo). Theoretically, the banders are supposed to get back to you and let you know when and where the bird was banded. We'll see. * Later in the day I visited Schlitz Audubon Nature Center to look for turkeys. It was a nice day, with lots of people walking the trails, but no turkeys. But as I left SANC, three turkeys crossed the road in front of me! Now if I could just get turkeys as MilWALKee BIGBY birds... * Watched an interesting crow/gull interaction today. The gull was picking at a fish that washed up on Bradford Beach. The crow would sneak up behind the gull and yank on a tail feather. The gull would turn around and then the crow would do a little "dance" in front of the gull. Then the gull would turn its attention back to the fish. The crow would then yank a tail feather again. This process was repeated over and over. The crow looked like it was having a playfully good time, and the gull acted like an irritated crotchety old codger. (For those of you who know fish, can you tell me the kind of fish the gull was picking at? See: http://bit.ly/dgb4wj. The fish was about three feet long). * For the first time this season (for me) there was a nice raft of ducks in Lake Michigan off of Bradford Beach. They were just close enough to show some tantalizing field marks, yet just far enough away to frustrate me when it came to positive IDs. Sometimes I thought I saw some Redheads. Other times I thought I saw Scaup species. But I'm pretty confident with one ID. Several times I saw a blackish duck flap its wings and reveal the white wing patch of a White-winged Scoter. Don't know if it was just one bird or several. MilWALKee BIGBY species #155. This is also species #199 for my 2010 "combo" BIGBY list! (What's a "combo" BIGBY? See: http://bit.ly/a2HhKW). Wonder what my 2010 200th combo BIGBY species will be? Bernie Sloan Milwaukee #################### 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.