[wisb] Milwaukee Lakefront 2, 2/15-2/16 - Two new 2011 BIGBY species

From: "B.G. Sloan" <bgsloan2@xxxxxxxxx>
To: wisbirdn <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2011 08:58:38 -0800 (PST)
I walked the southern portion of my BIGBY route on Tuesday and Thursday, adding 
one new 2011 BIGBY bird each day. My BIGBY count for the year is now 57 species.

Before I report on the bird highlights I want to mention a tragic event on my 
BIGBY route. On Monday I posted a few links to some photos of the ice ridge at 
McKinley Beach. The very next day a 23 year old man was standing on the edge of 
the ice in this exact same spot when a section of ice broke loose and fell into 
the lake, with the man on it (see http://bit.ly/gl969s if you're interested in 
details).

What a difference a day can make on the lakefront. On Tuesday there was a lot 
of open water in Milwaukee Harbor. Yesterday the harbor was jammed shut with 
ice floes. Here's a "before" picture from Tuesday: http://bit.ly/fhf30z (the 
dark line in the middle of the photo is ducks, mostly Greater Scaups). And 
here's an "after" photo from yesterday, taken from pretty much the same spot: 
http://bit.ly/fDhUlz. I'm thinking the ice must have come from the Milwaukee 
River, which flows into the harbor? On Tuesday there were thousands of Scaups 
in the harbor. Yesterday I could only find six. 

Some birding highlights:

* Mute Swan behind the art museum (Tuesday). 2011 BIGBY species #56.

* Horned Lark (Wednesday). 2011 BIGBY species #57. A slow but steady trickle of 
flyovers above Lakeshore State Park, plus one on the rocks.

* On Tuesday a flock of at least 1,000 Scaups flew by at close range. 
Interesting sound with all the wing-whistling. 

* There's been an influx of Mallards this week. Not that long ago I could find 
only a few. Tuesday and Wednesday I recorded at least 200. Most were sleeping 
on the ice, but this one was eyeing me suspiciously: http://bit.ly/h6Mivt.

* I think I'm seeing an increase in Ring-billed Gulls. A sign of spring?

* The crows look like they've found a new sport: harrassing gulls on the ice. 
There were several crows tormenting gulls. They would land on the ice and walk 
up to a gull cawing racously until the gull flew off. One bird would actually 
yank on a gull's tail feathers if the gull tried to ignore it.

* Saw a Red Fox AND a Gray Fox in Lakeshore State Park. Too far away for decent 
photos. Interesting that I see them out in broad daylight fairly frequently, 
since Red Foxes are usually diurnal hunters and Gray Foxes are usually 
nocturnal hunters. I have a new theory about this "abnormal" behavior. I've 
been seeing coyote tracks in the snow in the park, and I've read that foxes 
tend to avoid coyotes. Maybe they're active in the daylight because they're 
less likely to run into coyotes at that time of day? Just a thought.

Bernie Sloan
Milwaukee


      
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[wisb] Milwaukee Lakefront 2, 2/15-2/16 - Two new 2011 BIGBY species

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