Finally, it actually felt more like spring outside today. Southerly winds helped carry new spring migrants overnight into southern Wisconsin. Dottie Johnson and I scoured Pheasant Branch Conservancy this morning and tallied 42 bird species. New for the year were Eastern Phoebe, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Bluebird, and (unfortunately) a few Brown-headed Cowbirds. The three White-throated Sparrows that have been hanging out near the Conservancy Condos all winter were singing away, but I can't imagine they'll remain much longer. The time for them to leave is coming soon.
Skies were mostly overcast throughout the day, but an encounter with Eastern Meadowlarks at the North Fork section of PBC prompted me to take a few digiscoped photographs. There were three meadowlarks in the vicinity, each adding its voice over the grassland in a unique way. The one bird I was photographing was mostly doing the zeet and chatter calls, but occasion broadcasting its full song. The vocalizations of the two more distant meadowlarks had a haunting and echoing quality; their voices seemed to be reshaped by the wind before reaching my ears. The meadowlarks were eating what appeared to be large beetle grubs and they have the perfect bill for tweezing and plucking food items from densely packed grass or soil.
Pheasant Branch, Dane, US-WI
Mar 30, 2013 9:00 AM - 11:30 AM
42 species
Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Mallard
Turkey Vulture
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Great Horned Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
American Kestrel
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
European Starling
American Tree Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Finch
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
All images © 2013 Mike McDowell