[wisb] More Columbia County birds

From: James Schwarz <jfschwar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Wisconsin Birding Network <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 19:15:58 -0500
As mentioned earlier, my wife and I went birding today.
Our first goal was to find the Snowy Owls near DeForest. We found only one just 
north of Mueller Road along Portage Road. For the record, this is actually 
still inside Dane County.

From there we headed the short distance north into Columbia, stopping first at 
the Harvey Road and Wandgness Road ponds. It was nice to see a large number of 
mostly geese there. Most were Canada geese but also there were Greater 
White-fronted and Cackling Geese. During the short time there we only saw a 
Wigeon and a couple of Green-winged Teal for ducks. There were 8 Killdeer 
around the muddy areas. This looks good for shorebirds that hopefully come 
soon. A majority of birds were in flooded fields east of Harvey Road. We did 
not take time to scope. There may have been as many as 1000 birds in the area.

We went north on Harvey Road to the Hwy 60 ponds. There were around 1000 birds 
in those ponds. A single Snow Goose, several Northern Pintail and Redheads were 
in the east pond. The west pond had Wood Ducks. Both ponds had good numbers of 
Cackling geese and Greater White-fronted Geese.

Since we were in the area, we decided to drive past Goose Pond. As expected 
there was not much to see because the thick ice, as reported earlier. But as we 
looked at the "few" Canada Geese along the east edge of the east pond. While 
looking at the geese, a Bald Eagle flew in scaring hundreds of ducks and geese 
out the grass and flooded field we had not noticed. So I guess if you want to 
see a lot of birds at Goose Pond a trained Bald Eagle would be helpful. Or you 
could try to get a better view from Kemper Road.
We also enjoyed seeing our first Eastern Meadowlark today. It was singing along 
Kemper Road west of Goose Pond Road.

Several other flooded fields in Columbia County looked good for shorebirds. One 
that has been good in past years is near the intersection of County Hwys K and 
I. (not far from Goose Pond)

Good Birding.

Jim Schwarz
Madison, Dane Co
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[wisb] More Columbia County birds

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