[wisb] Sheboygan, Manitowoc, Horicon today

From: Peter Fissel <pfissel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Wisconsin Birding Network <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 02 Jun 2012 22:06:45 -0500
Steve Thiessen, Nolan Pope, Jim Schwarz and I could not muster the willpower to 
get up early enough to attend the WSO trip, so instead we went over to Lake 
Michigan.  We stopped along Hwy 49 through Horicon Marsh on the way to look for 
the ibis, but could not find it.  Our next stop was Deland Park in Sheboygan to 
check the beach.  There were a lot of Bonaparte's Gulls, some in very funky 
plumages, but we couldn't pick anything else out besides those, Ring-bills and 
Herrings.  At North Point there was more of the same.  We finally found a flock 
of shorebirds off the rocky point by the gazebo - mostly Sanderlings, with a 
few Semipalmated Sandpipers and Plovers, plus a Dunlin.  Back at the parking 
lot, Jim noticed a flock of Sanderlings on a flat rock offshore to the south - 
they were soon joined by five Ruddy Turnstones, which then flew over and landed 
below the parking lot.  We also checked the beach south of Blue Harbor - again, 
nothing out of the ordinary, although Steve might have had a look at a lone 
Common Tern.
 
Stops at Hika Bay Park and Fischer Creek were unproductive, and Manitowoc was 
disappointingly quiet.  Only terns were two Caspians on the beach by the 
walkway to the impoundment, which is undergoing some construction at the south 
end.  On our way back to Fond du Lac, we were detoured off Hwy 151 onto County 
JJ, which took us past Collins Marsh.  Lots of Great Blue Herons there (circa 
40!,) plus an immature Bald Eagle and apparently two pairs of Osprey (one pair 
using a platform out in the marsh, and the others using the top of the fire 
tower...)
 
We took Hwy 45 north from Fond du Lac and cruised Lone Elm Rd.  There were 
three Cattle Egrets on the Fond du Lac Co. side, one house farther west from 
where Carl Schwarz reported them yesterday (near the intersection with Howlett 
Rd.)  Another check of Hwy 49 across Horicon was successful, thanks to the 
Bridges, who had the White-faced Ibis in their scopes (roughly where it was 
reported earlier today, partway out on the north side on a cattail island, 
although somewhat closer to the pumphouse than stated - perhaps a quarter-mile 
east.)  Peter and Cynthia also tipped us off to the King Rail that Todd Wilson 
had reported in the morning (I understand from Cynthia that it was actually on 
LEDGE Rd., not Point.)  We drove out and checked some of the likely habitat - I 
had a nice look at a Sora on the south side, and Jim and I were pretty sure we 
heard an Am. Bittern pumping to the southwest.
 
Speaking of Horicon, I think I neglected to mention that last Sunday morning, I 
had a Common Tern down behind the Int'l Education Center on Hwy 28.  The dark 
primaries were very evident in flight, especially compared to a Forster's on 
the same impoundment.  
 
Peter Fissel
Madison WI
####################
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
[wisb] Sheboygan, Manitowoc, Horicon today

Other related posts:
