[wisb] WSO Field Trip yesterday - Buena Vista & Necedah areas
- From: "Tom Schultz" <trschultz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "WISBIRDN" <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 31 Jan 2010 11:25:19 -0600
As you are likely aware, I attempted to discourage attendance of this field
trip on Wisbirdn due to the forecasted severe cold -- and it did turn out to
be -4 degrees that morning -- but, believe it or not, there are still a
number of WSO members who are not subscribed to our listserv. Knowing that,
I headed over to Buena Vista Grasslands yesterday to meet anyone who might
show up. Rather surprisingly, there turned out to be 9 cars that appeared
at the meeting point along Hwy. W at 8:00 AM, with a total of 15 people. It
was cold, yes, but really not that bad due to the lack of any wind. In
addition, the sky was clear, so the bright sunshine helped substantially to
warm us up.
We drove several roads at Buena Vista, starting with taking Taft Road up to
Lake Road. In this area we spotted some Snow Buntings and got out to look
for them after they took flight. It was here that we ran into Ty and Ida
Baumann who were coming toward us from the west. We spoke briefly, as they
reported having just seen a couple of Greater Prairie-Chickens a half mile
or so ahead. The two birds had been roosting up in some small trees near a
cornfield, but unfortunately by the time we got down there they had
disappeared from their perches. We continued on and found some other
open-country birds, including a few Horned Larks and a number of American
Tree Sparrows. We got looks at 2 or 3 Rough-legged Hawks and about the same
number of Bald Eagles, but missed the Northern Shrike that Ty and Ida had
reported.
A little after 10:30 we headed west toward Nekoosa and across the Wisconsin
River and on to Ball Road (near Sandhill Wildlife Area). A stop along this
road was very quiet except for a few Blue Jays, but we spotted a couple of
birds flapping and soaring just north of us, and they turned out to be
Common Ravens! Soon we also saw a dark eagle circling just below the
ravens, although it was a little more distant. We started getting glimses
of dark banding on the tail, so we were hoping it might be a Golden Eagle,
but eventually we got better looks and could see some white on the underwing
coverts and a bit starting to come in on the head -- so it was just a Bald.
We continued on to Cranberry Road and turned south, and then west onto Bear
Bluff Road. A brief stop at some feeders produced mainly Blue Jays, so we
continued on to the open cranberry fields, with a nice view of Bear Bluff to
the west. We were hoping to be able to spot a Golden Eagle soaring up in
the sunny blue sky, initially without success -- but then during one final
look we spotted one. It was quite distant, so it was difficult getting the
fieldmarks with just our binoculars, but we had a few scopes set up so
eventually everyone was able to get decent looks at this target bird.
Around this same time I received a call on my cell phone from Daryl
Christensen, who had just been over to Plainfield to see the Varied Thrush
that has been present there. We got directions and our group decided to
head over there, since it was on the way home for most of us anyway. After
initially going to the wrong house, we finally were able to locate the right
one, and we soon got excellent looks at this striking male as it perched in
a tree right in front of the house. By this time it was nearly 2:30, and we
broke up the field trip and everyone headed home. It had been a pretty
chilly day, but it turned out to be a decent one after all!
Tom Schultz
WSO Field Trips co-chair
Green Lake 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.
Other related posts:
