[wisb] Trip report, 5/16-518 - Dane, Iowa, Grant & Sauk Counties
- From: Brian Doverspike <briandoverspike@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 19 May 2010 13:37:57 -0500
Becky and I took a couple of days to do some birding and camping at
Wyalusing State Park, an annual trip for us because we love the park so much
and it is the spot where our birding adventures with each other began. We
began on Sunday at Pheasant Branch because the posts from Saturday were so
fantastic. As Peter Fissel and others already posted, what a difference a day
makes! We saw more birders that we had seen on Saturday at Horicon than we saw
Warblers Sunday at Pheasant Branch, three to two. We picked up a couple of
year birds here, those being an Indigo Bunting and an Eastern Wood-Pewee and
enjoyed birding some with Nolan Pope, meeting John Feith, and meeting up with
Peter at the end.
Moving on we went to Thompson Memorial Prairie near the Dane and Iowa
County borders. Here we picked up the usual Bobolinks and Eastern Meadowlarks,
we did not find any Upland Sandpipers as hoped or spend much time searching for
Grasshopper Sparrows. Next we moved to a spot on county road W, just a half
mile south of Highway 39 in southern Iowa County, thanks to information
provided by John Romano to us about five years ago. Here we picked Western
Meadowlark. What a beautiful song! It was also nice to be able to compare the
songs and field marks between the Eastern and Western Meadowlarks. We also
struck out on Uppies here. We had three in this field last year. For those
looking for these birds the habitat for miles around this area looks excellent
for these species.
After this we finally made it to Wyalusing State Park. The birds must
know we are coming because the target birds for us are becoming ridicuously
easy to find there. I'll give the birds the credit here, I'm sure our skills
as birders have little to do with the matter. :) We had a Cerulean Warbler
who wouldn't even let us get our tent set up before dragging us away for a
look. What a burden! If all lifes troubles were so difficult! After camp was
in order we decided to head down to the boat landing. We only made it about a
hundred yards down Long Valley Road, I believe it is called, when I heard a
bird that sounded suspiciously like a Kentucky Warbler. Sure enough we located
a singing male amoungst the leaves and low and behold what was a foot or two
away but a male Yellow-throated Warbler. How easy can this birding thing get?
Along the road to the boat landing were numerous American Redstarts, and
Cerulean and Kentucky Warblers singing. Closer to the boat landing we found an
Acadian Flycatcher, and just before the railroad tracks we found a pair of
Yellow-billed Cuckoos which we found several times at this spot. They ended up
being one of the stars of the trip. We just had our lifer Yellow-billed on the
WSO White River Marsh trip on the first of May. At Wyalusing we saw no less
than four birds in two probable mated pairs and heard at least three to four
more. Every morning I heard one while laying in the tent pondering how long I
should let the better half sleep before dragging her out into the cool morning
air to look for birds. At the boat landing it was a matter of minutes before
our favorite bird made his presence known. As I'm sure anyone who had been to
Wyalusing already knows, I'm talking about the Prothonotary Warbler. He was
quite the showman, giving us great looks and even perching on the shore end of
the dock for a few photos. We also had a Northern Waterthrush along the shore
that probably felt slighted for the lack of attention it received. Other birds
of note in the park were Canada and Blackpoll Warblers, Swainson's and Wood
Thrush, and Red-shouldered Hawk.
On Tuesday we worked our way home with several stops along the way. Patch
Grove yielded two Eurasian Collared-Doves. Our time at Governor Dodge produced
Bell's Vireo, Louisiana Waterthrush, Orchard Oriole and a Quentin Yoerger
sighting. Sorry Tom, I only had time to see the driver. After we were done
here we headed to Spring Green where surprise surprise we ran into Quentin and
Tom Prestby again. They had seen the Northern Mockingbird but we struck out in
about forty five minutes of searching. A Brown Thrasher fooled us a couple of
times with its calls and flashes of Blue Jays through the trees also had us
hopeful but no dice. I guess this birding thing isn't always so easy! :) We
did get nice looks at Orchard Orioles and numerous Lark Sparrows here.
Our final stop of the trip was Baxter's Hollow where once again we ran
into Quentin and Tom. We really weren't stalking you guys! This was our
planned trip route for the day. Anyway they told us it was pretty quiet and we
had a nice chat with them for about ten minutes, during which time Quentin
located a Louisiana Waterthrush. During our walk we added Ovenbird,
White-throated Sparrow, Yellow-throated Vireo, Blue-winged Warbler, and heard
singing Veery's and a Winter Wren. All in all a wonderful trip!
Brian Doverspike and Becky Anderson
Pardeeville, Columbia County
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- » [wisb] Trip report, 5/16-518 - Dane, Iowa, Grant & Sauk Counties - Brian Doverspike
