Hi everyone, Rob Pendergast and I spent the weekend birding around southern WI. The weather played a big role in finding birds. I was amazed at the LACK of species. Entire families of birds were missing this weekend. On Sat, we attended the WSO field trip to White River Marsh. See Tom Schultz's post on that. Afterwards, Rob and I birded our way back to Stevens Point and around Portage County. We ended up finding a Dunlin at 6th Ave marsh and had a flyby Merlin. 106 species for the day wasn't too shabby considering the rather poor weather. On Sunday, I led a Madison Audubon field trip to Mazo Bottoms, Arena and Spring Green. At Mazo, Ovenbirds, Blue-winged Warblers, Baltimore Orioles and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks were singing. I also heard one Hermit Thrush singing first thing in the morning. All other expected species were missing. Amazingly, the ONLY migrant we saw that morning was Yellow-rumped Warbler. Grasshopper and Lark Sparrows are back at Spring Green Preserve, but the Mockingbird is not. The windy conditions made for difficult birding on the prairie. After the field trip, Rob and I made the run to Mukwanago to see the Cinnamon Teal. That was WI state bird #325. Yesterday, we headed down to Wyalusing State Park. The almost complete lack of residents (much less migrants) was astounding! Yellow-throated Warbler, Henslow's Sparrow and Louisiana Waterthrush were the only resident specialties that had returned so far. Missing were: Acadian Flycatcher Kentucky WarblerWinter WrenProthonotary WarblerAmerican RedstartCerulean Warbler (we heard only one, briefly, down at the Boat Landing) We did find one Black-throated Green Warbler. The 6 species of warblers we saw were the only 6 species that have been seen at Wyalusing since April 1st.Bev Pozega emailed me yesterday afternoon to report their first Ruby-throated Hummingbird of the season (that arrived after I had left of course). The lack of migrants was amazing. Rob and I ended up seeing 131 species for the weekend. The vast majority were residents that have slowly trickled in in the last few weeks. Some notes on missing species: Waterfowl: present in decent numbers and expected species. No Am Black Ducks however. Weird. Grebes: 3 species. Expected numbers. Herons: Great Blue and Egret were present. Where are the Green Herons?? Also, neither Night-heron was seen. Raptors: species present, but lower numbers than I typically see. Rails and Gallinules: present in species and numbers. Plovers: what plovers? Killdeer was the only one. Sandpipers: Both Yellowlegs in lower than average numbers, only a few Solitary and only one Spotted. Uplands were present in usual numbers, as were Snipe and Woodcock. One Dunlin made up the entire rest of the shorebird species. Where are the rest of the shorebirds? (actually, I know the answer. I just heard a report from Cheyenne Bottoms in KS of shorebirds in the hundreds of thousands.) Gulls: present in expected species and numbers Terns: same as gulls with the exception of Black Tern. We saw only one. Doves: all three. Cuckoos: What Cuckoos?? Yellow-billed and Black-billed are now late in arriving. I've never missed either species at Wyalusing around the first of May. Swifts: What swifts? I don't know how many towns we drove through, but nary a swift was to be found. over a week late in arriving. Hummingbirds: nada. Also late in arriving. Woodpeckers: all the expected species in expected numbers as usual. Flycatchers: What flycatchers? E Phoebe was the only one. Interestingly enough, the only other flycatcher species that have shown up this spring have been vagrants.... Vireos: also missing and late. Swallows: All present and accounted for except Bank. Where are they? Wrens: all except Winter. Thrushes: Hermit, Robin and Bluebird. All others are MIA and late. Mimids: The Mockingbird has not returned to Spring Green Preserve. Brown Thrashers are present in expected numbers. We had only one Catbird all weekend. Where are they? Warblers: Somehow we managed to scrape together 10 species this weekend, but some extremely odd ones missing: Cerulean, Kentucky, Palm, Orange-crowned, Parula, Black and White, Redstart, and Prothonotary. All of those should have been seen this weekend. The weirdest missing warbler of all? Common Yellowthroat. They should be back and common by now. Tanagers: none. Scarlets are late. Sparrows: mostly present in decent numbers. No Lincoln's, White-crowned or Juncos. Buntings: Indigo Bunting should be back by now. Where are they? The one vagrant we saw this weekend was a beautiful male Cinnamon Teal. All above species were eBirded via my new, and awesome, Birdlog app. :D I'm leaving, shortly, for Oak Harbor, OH for 12 days, then off to Rochester, NY for two weeks. See you all in June! Happy Birding! --Chris W, Richland County Interpretive Naturalist Mississippi Explorer Cruises http://mississippiexplorer.com/chris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://swallowtailedkite.blogspot.com/ http://www.nabirding.com/http://www.flickr.com/photos/swallowtailphoto "The beauty and genius of a work of art may be reconceived, though its first material expression be destroyed; a vanished harmony may yet again inspire the composer; but when the last individual of a race of living things breathes no more, another heaven and another earth must pass before such a one can be again." (From William Beebe's "The Bird: Its Form and Function," 1906) #################### You received this email because you are subscribed to the Wisconsin Birding Network (Wisbirdn). 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