A group of us from the Madison area went on an all-day excursion yesterday. Our first stop was the Mazomanie Wildlife Area along County Y in far western Dane Co., where we had great looks at what was likely at least two Bell's Vireos. We also had a possible YB Chat giving a few raspy notes a ways off, but it was difficult to be certain with the wind. We also cruised Buena Vista (Portage County,) where howling winds kicked up huge clouds of dust from bare ag fields and made birding challenging, to say the very least. We did manage to see three Whooping Cranes in a farm pond, but smaller birds were hard to come by. Had multiple Brewer's Blackbirds, Eastern Meadowlarks, Savannah and Clay-colored Sparrows, but most other calls or songs were lost in the wind, and the birds were staying low. We spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening birding the Black River St. Forest in Jackson Co. Very few migrants around - most of what we heard or saw were nesting species, including Red-eyed, Blue-headed and Yellow-throated Vireos, Blue-winged, Nashville, Blackburnian and Yellow Warblers, plus Common Yellowthroats, Hermit Thrushes and Veeries. Near sunset, we were hiking a trail along Battle Point Flowage when two Common Loons flew by, calling - nice! At Oxbow Pond, we also saw two Great Blue Herons flying around with their necks extended, apparently calling to each other - strange sight and sounds. Common Nighthawks were flying over, calling and "booming", which I'd never heard before. Around 8:35 p.m., we headed over to Bartos/Staffon Rd. just west of the prison. At 8:50, the Chuck-will's-widow began calling from very near the prison on the north side of the road. He called continuously for two or three minutes. Just as I was telling Jim Schwarz that if the bird stopped calling, we should stay alert and see if we could spot it flying, the bird stopped calling. We waited for a minute or so, and it started up again, very close to us on the south side of the road. I can't figure out how we didn't see it relocate, since it was still fairly light out. We walked down closer to where it was calling. It kept it up for several more minutes, then stopped. We heard a very distinct, loud series of sharp noises that I can only presume were wing-claps (I think four times,) then a low series of almost "throbbing" sounds that reminded me of nothing so much as when I've heard recordings of blood flow or heartbeat from an ultrasound. (Birds of North America Online describes the wingclap as "rare"; they also mention a "growling" noise, that could describe what we were hearing, and which appears to have a territorial function.) After the bird once more relocated to the north side of the road, we heard the same wingclap/throbbing series again, then it moved farther back in, closer to the prison and resumed calling. We left around 9:20 with it still calling, and went west to the intersection with Cemetery Rd., where a couple of Whip-poor-wills were calling (another was very close to the road as we went south on Cemetery towards Hwy 54.) Really a pretty amazing end to what had been a somewhat disappointing day of birding (due to the high winds.) Our "tick count" among the five of us was well into double-digits (I only found one on my sock when I got home - I highly recommend nylon pants...) And the biting flies are also quite active. You have been warned... Peter Fissel Madison, WI #################### 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