[wisb] Southern Milwaukee County today, 4-13

From: "Tom Wood" <tcwood729@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <Wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2014 16:43:41 -0500
I started my birding day at Bender Park where a flock of at least 50 Tree
Swallows were soaring over the bluff and occasionally dropping down to the
boat ramp. There were a couple of Barn Swallows and at least one (FOY)
Rough-winged Swallow in the flock. At the boat ramp parking lot I had no
trouble seeing (FOY) Savannah Sparrows as three were perched in a sapling
near my car and another sang from the hillside. The next FOY were two
Caspian Terns flying north. Over 40 Bonaparte's Gulls followed them, and a
couple of lines of  Double-crested Cormorants also moved north.  As soon as
I spotted a large raft of puddle ducks out on the lake, the fog rolled in
and made viewing impossible. I moved to the top of the bluff and saw my
(FOY) Eastern Towhee, a female.
As I was entering Grant Park (Wil-O-Way), Steve Lubahn was leaving, and he
informed me that he had seen an Oregon ssp. of Dark-eyed Junco. I later
relocated possibly the same bird between the playground and the overnight
cabin. It was a dull-colored female with dingy brown on the mantle, just a
faint wash of rust on the flanks, and rust color extending upward in front
of the lesser coverts, but I didn't get a good enough look at the breast to
see if the hood was convex. My junco could have been either the Oregon or a
Cassiar junco.
I had a much too brief and frustrating look at a towhee which was showing a
lot of white spotting on the wings and wing coverts, but I could not
determine if it had the white patch at the base of the primaries which is
found on Eastern Towhee. It would not come out for another look, but it
(presuming the same bird) frequently gave the "drink" call of an Eastern
Towhee. I do not hear that call for Spotted Towhee on the Stokes recordings,
so I am assuming the mystery towhee has at least Eastern parentage if it is
not pure Eastern.
My only FOY here was a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher which foraged in view for a
long time.
Choosing a "bird of the day" is difficult because of the large numbers of
Hermit Thrushes and Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. The former probably
outnumbered the latter by 2:1, but I have never seen so many sapsuckers in
one day. All told, I estimate at least 20, 12 in Wil-O-Way alone, but there
were probably many more. It was wonderful to hear the White-crowned Sparrows
alternating songs with the Fox Sparrow. Yellow-rumped Warbler numbers were
modest; I saw only 5, but there was a Winter Wren and 2 Brown Creepers.
When I arrived at Sheridan Park I located 6 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers within
15 minutes and found 2 more below the bluffs. Down below, Hermit Thrushes
abounded, and there were at least 4 Swamp Sparrows. Both kinglets were
represented, and I finished off the cool and foggy afternoon with a (FOY)
Brown Thrasher.
Thomas Wood, Menomonee Falls, Waukesha County 

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[wisb] Southern Milwaukee County today, 4-13

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