Sunday a few members of the Oshkosh Bird Club had a field trip in the general Fox Valley area. One of our target species was Gray Partridge. We got to the Shirley Road and W intersection around 11:30/noon (I think) and just as we rounded the corner a Cooper's Hawk flew from the SE corner area barn area to the spruce tree on the NE corner. We could not find the partridge. Drove up and down both roads for a half hour or so. I was CERTAIN the birds were there and as we approched the intersection again from the west on Shirley, I scanned the corner field carefully and slowly - and there they were! About 7-8 of them were hunkered down beside the dirt clumps - almost invisible. They did not move the entire time the four of us looked at them and had not moved the entire 30 minutes or more that we were in the area - maybe because of the Cooper's? Amazingly hard to find in an open field. Bettie Harriman Oshkosh At 06:55 PM 1/18/2010, jdx14@xxxxxxx wrote: >Hi all, > Rick Fare and I made a tour of the lake front, then up to De Pere, >then back to Milwaukee on Monday. > Before sunrise we had the Black-legged Kittiwake soaring above the >harbor and gazebo area in Port Washington. > We then stopped at the house with the Harris's Sparrow and it came >to the feeder at 7:30 AM sharp. > Then off to Sheboygan for the Barrow's Goldeneye and Harlequin >Duck. We could not find the Barrow's in the river or the river >mouth. We then >went to the North Point parking lot and Rick spotted the male Barrow's >Goldeneye south of the parking lot. So either the bird from the harbor that >Daryl T. saw went north or there are two Barrow's in the area. We then made >our way to the gazebo. Halfway there Rick spotted TWO Red-throated Loons >swimming about 300 yards out. > I then walked along the ice right next to the shore and spotted >the female Harlequin Duck as it swam out into the lake midway between the >gazebo and the parking lot. There was one Black Scoter mixed in with the >Scaup at the parking lot also. Two Great Black-backed Gulls and two Glaucous >Gulls were there also. > We then were off to Shirley Road and W for the Gray Partridge. As >Michael Sears reported in his post we were greeted with heavy fog and poor >visibility. We stayed in the area for about an hour and came up empty >handed. > Then it was off to Wehr Nature Center in Whitnall Park for the >Carolina Wren. The wren came to the feeders almost immediately and put on a >great show for the next 30 minutes. > Our last stop was at Betsy Abert's for the Eurasian Collared-Doves >and they did not disappoint. There were five perched in the tree right in >front of Betsy's house. > So it was a great end to a great day of birding! >John Dixon >Brighton Township, Kenosha Co. > >#################### >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. #################### 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.