Máistir Nádúraí: Owen Conservation Park

9.24.2009

Owen Conservation Park

We're very fortunate in Dane County to have so many wonderful natural areas for birding. Since the trail project is still underway at the Pheasant Branch creek corridor, our birding trio has been visiting Owen Conservation Park in Madison for the past week. Given last night's migration, I figured today would be good. We saw 12 warbler species, 3 kinds of vireos, dozens of White-throated Sparrows, and lots more! As predicted, we had our first Orange-crowned Warbler of fall. We ended the morning with 53 species in just over an hour of birding. I didn't digiscope, but instead took a few scenic shots of Owen Park with my Nikon Coolpix 8400 & wide-angle lens.

Bio:

Mike McDowell has been documenting southern Wisconsin’s flora and fauna since 1987 and began leading field trips in 2002. Prolific at Pheasant Branch Conservancy, other highlighted natural areas include Pope Farm Conservancy, Spring Green Preserve, and the Baraboo Hills. His nature photography has appeared in various publications, newspapers, magazines and was even featured on a Wisconsin Endangered Resources license plate, a Capital Brewery beer label, and a National Geographic publication. He began journaling nature observations on this blog in 2005. He's the recipient of the 2012 Bronze Passenger Pigeon Award from the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, presented to individuals who have made outstanding contributions in their local communities or state to promote the field of ornithology. He was a finalist in Swarovski’s Digiscoper of the Year photography contest several times. His other interests include insect macro-photography (especially tiger beetles, treehoppers, and robber flies), fossil collecting, amateur astronomy, botany, natural history, and marksmanship with long-range firearms. Once a gigging musician, collecting Fender Stratocasters is a recently revived interest—most prized being a 1957 Vintage Custom 'Mary Kaye' White Blonde. A former IT Professional, he's spent the last 24 years employed in the sport optics industry and has more binoculars than you.