[wisb] Milwaukee Lakefront, 2/18 and 2/20 - Great Back Yard Bird Count (2 new BIGBYs)

From: "B.G. Sloan" <bgsloan2@xxxxxxxxx>
To: wisbirdn <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2011 17:45:21 -0800 (PST)
I focused my Great Back Yard Bird Count (GBBC) activities on my BIGBY route. 
What a shocker! :-)  

In the process, I also picked up two new 2011 walking BIGBY species, bring the 
total to 59 species for the year. On 2/18 I had 29 GBBC species and 9,680 
individual birds. On 2/20 I had 18 GBBC species with 757 individual birds.

Before I go on, I wanted to pass along some info to those of you who like 
looking at the GBBC data. I jumped the gun on an earlier Friday (2/18) report 
and submitted some erroneous gull data (i.e., 3,750 Herring Gulls). I've 
followed the process for requesting deletion of that report, and I did a new 
revised 2/18 report today like the GBBC FAQ suggests, but the old one is still 
there for the time being.

Before listing my GBBC highlights, I wanted to share a few photos from Friday. 
It was a beautiful day...sunny, crisp clear air, deep blue sky:

* Here's a shot of the Lakeshore State Park prairie with the Milwaukee downtown 
skyline looming in the background: http://bit.ly/iiq39c

* Here's a photo of some folks ice fishing near downtown Milwaukee: 
http://bit.ly/dVu8Gm

* On Wednesday, 2/16, Milwaukee Harbor was clogged with ice. Just two days 
later (2/18) the harbor was almost all open water: http://bit.ly/egBfhM

The birding highlights:

* Red-breasted Merganser. Bigby species #58. One male on Friday. Eight birds on 
Sunday (4 males, 4 females). The Sunday birds only counted for 4 GBBC birds, 
though. I could see a group of 4 birds and another group of 4 birds, but the 
rock island behind the art museum prevented me from seeing both groups at the 
same time. The males somehow manage to look elegant and eccentric at the same 
time. :-)

* American Black Duck. BIGBY species #59. Nine birds sitting together on the 
ice behind the art museum in the middle of 130 Mallards. My attention was drawn 
by how much darker they were than the Mallards. But I actually may have 
overlooked them if I hadn't stopped to count the Mallards for the GBBC.

* Singing birds: Northern Cardinal, House Finch, Dark-eyed Junco, Black-capped 
Chickadee. Spring can't be too far away! 

* And last, but certainly not least: an estimated 9,053 gulls on Friday in 
Milwaukee Harbor! And, yes, this qualifies as a GBBC count because I could see 
them all in one view. They were too far out for me to identify them by species, 
so I listed them on the GBBC report as "gull species". The count of 9,053 birds 
is based on a representative photo of a 45-foot-wide stretch of ice shelf with 
194 birds, extrapolated to the full 2100-foot-wide stretch of ice shelf the 
gulls occupied.

If anyone wants to see my full GBBC reports, just let me know...

Bernie Sloan
Milwaukee


      
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[wisb] Milwaukee Lakefront, 2/18 and 2/20 - Great Back Yard Bird Count (2 new BIGBYs)

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