[wisb] Northwoods trip
- From: Peter Fissel <pfissel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Wisconsin Birding Network <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2011 22:15:00 -0600
Nolan Pope, Jim Otto and I went up to Oneida, Forest and Vilas counties this
weekend. Apparently, there was an unscheduled WSO field trip to the northwoods
- at least, it felt like it on Sheltered Valley Rd. on Saturday! I actually
had known ahead of time about the Riveredge group going up, but we were
surprised to run into the Bay Area group first.
We went up Friday morning, stopping briefly at Buena Vista and not seeing much
except a few Snow Buntings and Common Ravens. We stopped for lunch in Tomahawk
(Lincoln Co.) and found a flock of at least 250 Bohemian Waxwings just east of
downtown on Hwy 86/Soco St., between 4th & 5th Sts. Considering that it was a
life bird for Jim and the only time I've seen more than two at a time, we
considered it the highlight of the trip. I called Carl, since I knew they were
still behind us at Buena Vista, and his group found them (plus a few Pine
Grosbeaks, which we missed. Note: we checked again today around the same time
on our way south, but didn't find any birds.) When we got to Rhinelander, we
poked around a bit around the old hospital, but the only bird of note we saw
was a male RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD a couple of blocks north of there. Since it
was only about 1:30, I decided to head for Sheltered Valley Rd. east of Three
Lakes. Unfortunately, the intermittent snow showers turned into a steadier
snow for about an hour, which made birding tough. We only saw a few common
birds, so headed for Alvin in Forest Co. The snow abated somewhat, but the
winds were gusting up, and all we found were a couple of Common Redpolls at the
house up on the hill (fortunately, since they were the only ones we had all
weekend.) We gave up and headed back down Pine River/Sheltered Valley Rd.,
seeing little.
Saturday, we got an early start over to Sheltered Valley again. It was quite
mild and foggy, which meant light winds. We had a pretty good day, with a
couple of flocks of Red Crossbills (including one flock of six that landed in a
tree right above us as we pished like mad,) and possibly a couple of flyover
White-winged Crossbills that I wasn't sure enough about to count. We also
heard what Jim and I were sure was a No. Saw-whet Owl calling a few times from
a large pine stand across the bog just east of Divide Rd. (the western Divide
Rd., in Forest Co.) While at the Pine River bridge, we had a very inquisitive
pair of Gray Jays following us around just before the Bay Area group pulled up.
We yakked with them (the birders, not the birds) for a while, then headed east
as they went west. Later, we ran into the Riveredge group and stopped to
compare notes with them. Heading to Alvin again, we found a couple of dozen
Evening Grosbeaks at the house up the hill, and a few more at the feeder at the
north end of town. I headed back to Three Lakes for lunch via Military Rd.,
where we found our first flock of Pine Siskins on a feeder. After lunch, we
headed out Scott Lake Rd. but didn't find much. Heading up Giant Pine Rd., Jim
spotted a large owl flying through a deciduous woods. After it flushed and
flew short distances a few more times, we finally IDed it as a Barred Owl.
Back on Sheltered Valley, we ran into the Riveredgers again and heard about
their success with Boreal Chickadees west of Giant Pine Rd. We tried one last
time there, but the snow was picking up again and we gave up.
This morning, we got up to Fire Lane Rd. north of Conover (Vilas Co.) a bit
later than I had hoped (my fault,) and whiffed on Spruce Grouse. Farther east
on Fire Lane, we were pishing by a bog when a NO. GOSHAWK began calling
repeatedly. A Gray Jay also glided in to land near us (I love the way they
fly...) We tried Sheltered Vally Rd. one last time, but it was stunningly
quiet, despite it being a nice day (although the winds occasionally gusted up
from the north.) We finally gave up around 11:00 and headed south. Despite
missing my two "northern nemesis" birds (Boreal Chickadee and Black-backed WP)
yet again, and being disappointed at not finding the Spruce Grouse, we
considered it a pretty successful trip.
Peter Fissel
Madison WI
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