[wisb] Milwaukee Lakeshore and Bong Rec Area today

From: Peter Fissel <pfissel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Wisconsin Birding Network <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:20:02 -0600
I took a badly-needed mental health day and went along to Lake Michigan with 
Steve Thiessen, Nolan Pope and Chuck Heikkinen today.  We started at McKinley 
Marina, where we had great looks at the hybrid Common Goldeneye/Hooded 
Merganser (I'd seen it on the WSO field trip, but it's such a cool-looking 
bird...)  Not much else of note there.  Tons of ducks off Bradford Beach/North 
Point, but we couldn't find anything out of the ordinary, including the 
Harlequin.  Next stop was behind the Discovery World - we walked out on the 
breakwall past the Pieces of Eight restaurant.  Had an adult Glaucous and two 
or three immature Great Black-backed Gulls on the breakwall across the harbor, 
plus a very dark Snowy Owl.  A first-winter Glaucous flew by later.  The 
Long-tailed Duck was at the south end of the impoundment directly behind the 
museum.
 
We had checked the river from the Summerfest grounds side earlier, seeing very 
little, so we crossed over the Hoan Bridge and checked from under there.  There 
were three Horned Grebes down towards the CGI, a few Ruddy Ducks north of the 
Petroleum Pier, and a White-winged Scoter across by the breakwall.  From the 
Texas Ave. overlook, we saw tons of ducks, but again, nothing out of the 
ordinary.  
 
Since I somehow had never been to Bong State Rec Area in Kenosha Co., we 
decided to go look for the Townsend's Solitaire.  There were quite a few Cedar 
Waxwings, Pine Siskins, E. Bluebirds and at least one Yellow-rumped Warbler 
working the trees along the entrance road, just past the first building.  The 
feeders by the Visitor's Center were active - Nolan & Chuck saw a couple of 
Ring-necked Pheasants by the ones in back.  They also talked to the staff 
person and found out the Solitaire hadn't been reported for the last three 
days.  A Cooper's Hawk was hanging around - seems ominous...  We also had a 
couple of Red-tails and at least one Rough-leg there.  As we drove back to 
Madison, a Peregrine flew over the car in Delavan (Walworth County,) and we saw 
several Kestrels along the way.   
 
While visibility near the lake was good, the fog thickened as we headed west, 
and by Walworth County, all of the trees were covered in hoarfrost.  It was 
really quite an amazing sight - fortunately, the roads were clear. 
 
Peter Fissel 
Madison, WI 
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[wisb] Milwaukee Lakeshore and Bong Rec Area today

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