Peter Gorman and I (the Biblioloons) did our Birdathon to benefit the Natural
Resources Foundation this weekend. Since we are far more casual than many of
the participating teams, we no longer try to do ours in a single day, but
stretch it out over a 24-hour period from early evening one day to late
afternoon the following day. This means a shorter list, but we're not utterly
exhausted afterward (we're not as young as we used to be.) Â
As we did last year, we incorporated the MAS Baxter's Hollow field trip into
our Birdathon, which meant doing it on Memorial Day weekend again this year.Â
We started Saturday evening at the County V ponds west of Deforest and picked
up some ducks and two of our target birds, Common Gallinule and Yellow-headed
Blackbird. I reported previously on the nice shorebird flock we had at Goose
Pond, which included a bonus Red-necked Phalarope. Schoeneberg's Marsh was a
bit of a bust, with no Red-necked Grebes to be found (Jim Otto, who we ran into
there, thinks the grebes are nesting in a different spot than recent years,
although probably still somewhere at Schoeneberg's. Still, we should have
been able to hear them if they were vocalizing. The Pied-billed Grebes
certainly were quite audible.)Â After a fruitless cruise of area roads for
Eurasian Collared Doves, we gave up and went to Mud Lake. Jim said he'd heard
a YB Chat there earlier in the evening, but it was already after sundown and
things were quiet, especially out in the marsh. We did eventually hear a
Least Bittern, and picked up a Woodcock peenting as we left. We drove a few
roads north of Mud Lake listening for Whip-poor-wills, but missed them. It
was getting late and Peter G had to drive back to Mt. Horeb yet, so we called
it a night. Â
I met him the next morning at the park & ride south of Sauk City and we
proceeded to Baxter's Hollow. There was a smaller group than last year
already there. Perhaps the prospect of being eaten alive by mosquitoes scared
some folks off. The skeeters were bad, but we persevered. Unfortunately,
the birds were fairly quiet. We did get a Cerulean Warbler between the
parking lot and the first bridge, and one or two Acadian Flycatchers called,
but other than that, it was mostly the usual suspects such as Redstarts,
Veerys, Red-eyed and Yellow-throated Vireos, etc. We finally got a Louisiana
Waterthrush singing up towards the end of the gravel road at the top, and heard
a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, then saw a pair copulating. Stunning misses were Wood
Thrush and Baltimore Oriole. I also somehow missed the pair of Black & White
Warblers that pretty much everyone else saw. Â
After the field trip broke up, Peter and I headed over to nearby Devil's Lake
State Park, which was predictably jammed with people, not so much with birds.Â
We did at least see a pair of Bobolinks and heard a Wood Thrush on Burma Road,
but that was about it. We cut our losses and headed for the adjacent Sauk
Prairie Rec Area. We had just gone through the first set of curves on the
access road when we heard our first Bell's Vireo, then heard four more not long
after that. We later heard at least two more before we stopped for lunch.Â
At the spot where Dan Doeppers and I had a White-eyed Vireo two or three years
ago, Peter asked me to refresh his memory on their song. I had just finished
describing it and giving him the "quick, please, the beer check" mnemonic when
I heard something sing on my side of the car. I said "What the heck was
that?"Â It sang again, and Peter asked "Is that one?"Â Darned if it wasn't a
White-eyed. I had a great look at it, although I'm not sure if Peter got on
it. I'm curious if it's the same bird, since it's so close to the same spot
where the previous one was. Â
Later, we were on the perimeter road on the northeast boundary of the property
when I heard a Mourning Warbler on my side of the car. We stopped to listen
to it (I forgot all about recording it for the research project Jay Pitocchelli
is running,) when Peter spotted a copulating pair of Black-billed Cuckoos on
his side. Odd to get both species mating within a couple of hours and three
miles of each other. We didn't get much else there, so after eating lunch, we
went down to check the dam at Prairie du Sac. Picked up Pelicans there, but
nothing else. Fish Lake across the river in Dane Co. was dead, so we went
down 188 to retrieve my car at that park & ride and left it at the one at 78 &
14 east of Mazomanie. I figured we might pick up a few species at Bakken's
Pond west of Spring Green, but it was as dead as I've ever seen it and devoid
of birds. On the way to Spring Green Preserve, we picked up Lark Sparrows by
a puddle on Jones Rd. Good thing, since we missed them at the Preserve, along
with Grasshopper Sparrows. I did hear a very distant bird that was way over
by the west side of the property that I strongly suspect was a Blue Grosbeak -
definitely not an Orchard Oriole. It was just a little too far away to be
completely certain, so we didn't count it. Â
After a quick stop at Pleasant Valley for Red-headed WPs (another miss,) we
headed for Stewart Park in Mt. Horeb, where we picked up a few common species
that we'd somehow missed up to that point (Red-tailed Hawk among them.)Â Since
we still had an hour left, I left my car there and we went down to Thomson
Prairie south of Blue Mound. We whiffed on Upland Sandpiper and Grasshopper
Sparrow, but did get Dickcissel along County F. Schurch-Thomson Prairie was
our next stop. Predictably, we heard another Bell's Vireo on the way in (by
this point, we were regarding it as a "trash bird".)Â Not much was singing out
in the prairie besides Bobolinks, but we did pick up an unexpected EC Dove that
was flying away as we came around the corner of the woods on the mowed path.Â
Odd place to get one, but we were glad to get it after missing it in the
Arlington vicinity the previous evening. Â
With just a little time remaining, we tried Prairie Grove and Arneson Rds., but
got nothing new. As 6:30 p.m. (the end of our 24-hour period) was
approaching, we slowly cruised County F past Thomson Prairie again, hoping for
an elusive Grasshopper Sparrow. Missed that again, but I did hear a
Henslow's. Unfortunately, it only sang twice, and Peter missed it both times
(the second time it waited until he closed the car door.) Â We gave up and
called it a day. Ended up at 114 species, with 112 both of us got and one
each that the other guy missed. Not great, but with almost no pass-through
migrants and lots of unexpected misses, we were pretty satisfied. Definitely
did better than last year. As Peter reminded me while we drove down Burma Rd.
in 90-degree heat, last year on more or less the same date, it was 38 degrees
there, with a few snowflakes. You gotta love May in Wisconsin...
As a reminder, should anyone feel motivated to donate to the Birdathon, here's
the link:
https://wibirdathon.dojiggy.com/ng/index.cfm/ab22e6a/reg-pages/pledge/biblioloons
Peter FisselBiblioloons Team CaptainMadison WI
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