[wisb] Milwaukee Lakefront, 2/22 - Video of vocalizing Goldeneyes
- From: "B.G. Sloan" <bgsloan2@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: wisbirdn <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2011 07:58:04 -0800 (PST)
Walked the southern portion of my BIGBY route yesterday, 2/22/11. Had one new
BIGBY species, bringing my 2011 BIGBY count to 60 species.
The shoreline behind the Milwaukee Art Museum was packed with small chunks of
ice that looked like eggs: http://bit.ly/fTmyGt
As I walked through the southern end of Veterans Park I heard a woodcock
"peent", accompanied by the trill of a spring peeper frog. But then the
rational part of my brain took over. Way too early for a woodcock, and they
don't peent in the middle of the day. And no way would frogs be out on a
sub-freezing day. I tracked the sounds to Milwaukee Harbor and found that they
were coming from Common Goldeneyes. Kinda weird to be standing in a very wintry
setting and hear sounds that my subconscious associates with spring. :-)
Anyway, I took a short (2 minutes) video of the Goldeneyes. You might have to
turn up your computer volume a little bit to hear the frog-like noise, but it's
obvious if you're listening carefully for it. There are a lot of "peents" at
about the 1:12 mark. Here's the video: http://bit.ly/dMrgYj
A few bird highlights:
* Redhead - BIGBY species #60 for the year. Three birds mixed in with the
Scaups and Goldeneyes in Milwaukee Harbor.
* Maybe 1,500 ducks. Mostly Scaups and Goldeneyes.
* Lots of Snow Buntings at Lakeshore State Park. Maybe 75+. Very vocal. They
were passing through in small groups as I walked through the park. They would
land, forage for seeds among the prairie plants for awhile, and then take off.
* Maybe 2,000 gulls sitting together in a small area of the ice, being very
vocal.
* There's a gull hanging around whose call sounds like a person yelling "Help!"
(actually a little more like "Halp!"). First time I heard it I thought someone
had fallen through the ice.
* 17 Dark-eyed Juncos. Maybe the most I've seen in Milwaukee.
* Great close-up views of three Black-capped Chickadees sitting in a shrub five
feet away from me. I spooked them when I tried to take a photo. :-(
Bernie Sloan
Milwaukee
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- » [wisb] Milwaukee Lakefront, 2/22 - Video of vocalizing Goldeneyes - B.G. Sloan
