[wisb] My Mount Horeb & Sauk City CBC highlights, owling query & other observations
- From: Aaron Stutz <agstutz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:29:39 -0600
Hi all,
I did the Sauk City CBC on Saturday with Jim Schwarz and the Mount Horeb
CBC on Sunday by myself. Here are my highlights...
Sauk City CBC--my best areas are probably the Dam and the VFW Park
3 E. Screech Owls--1 apparently flew a few feet over our heads in
response to a tape--only Jim saw it.
3 Great Horned Owls
15 Bald Eagles--most observed from the Dam in the early AM
1 Fox Sparrow
1 white-headed Junco
about 100 Herring Gulls at the Dam--only there in the AM. Very few
settled on the water. There is very little ice, so most of the
waterfowl were spread out all along the river and the Madison Lakes.
There was 1 B1 Thayer's Gull candidate in the gull flock, but it flew
overhead in bad light and I didn't feel comfortable calling it.
a flock of Robins and Cedar Waxwings on the golf course north of the Dam.
Mount Horeb CBC--my area is the region southwest of Mount Vernon--very
few cars, good oak woodlots and some sizable grasslands and wetlands.
By best owling morning ever--no wind/ideal listening conditions despite
temps ranging from -2 to 10 degrees F.
Between 5:15AM and 7AM I heard 16 different owls.
10 Great Horned Owls--every other stop basically had a pair duetting
3 E. Screech Owls--as is usual they were in oak woodlots too small to
harbor a pair of Great Horned Owls. I only heard a Screech Owl at one
stop where I also heard a Great Horned Owl and the two species were
about as far away from each other as they could possibly be and still be
in hearing range.
2 Barred Owls
1 N. Saw-whet (possibly 2)--"toot-tooting" in a stand of conifers 6-10
feet tall. This belt of conifers stretches from Rettenmund Rd to Colby
Rd. I thought this area looked ideal for Saw-whets last year and made a
note of it on my map. Hearing some "toot-toots" in response to my i pod
made my day. I only played calls from Rettenmund, but the habitat on
Colby looks just as good (there are more houses though)--there is also
good Long-eared Owl habitat on Colby (I will tell you if I hear any next
year).
1 juv. Northern Shrike--on 92 south of Messerschmidt
2 Rough-legs
5 flyover Snow Buntings on Primrose Center Road
large numbers of Tree Sparrows, Cardinals and Blue Jays feeding in
un-harvested cornfields
other common species were only found near feeders--typically I can find
a handful of birds by just pishing at every woodlot. This year the
woods were empty unless there were feeders nearby.
Notably absent--no Ring-necked Pheasants or Pileated Woodpeckers. I
suspect the deep snows of the past two winters are doing a number on the
pheasants that make it past the hunters. The absence of Pileated
Woodpeckers in my Sauk City and Mount Horeb Counts has me a bit
stumped--it will be interesting to see the numbers from all the areas.
Owling query:
What time of morning do other CBC owlers have the most success? On the
Madison and Sauk City CBC's I was out starting around 4:30, but did not
hear much until closer to 5:15. I have had owls call and/or fly in to
check me out in the 4AM-5AM range, but vocal activity typically picks up
after 5AM. Any other comments on conditions affecting owl activity
would be appreciated (e.g. wind or no wind, temperature, moonlight,
overcast or cloudy, etc).
Aaron Stutz
Madison, WI
Dane 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:
