~ Marcel Proust
Pheasant Branch Conservancy early in the morning.
The weather has certainly improved temperature-wise for now, but we remain rainless in southern Wisconsin. We've recently been downgraded to moderate drought from abnormally dry on the U.S. Drought Monitor. It hasn't rained here since sometime in May and yesterday our governor declared that forty-two counties are under a drought emergency. Naturally, I spent a lot less time outside when temperatures soared beyond the hundred mark, but I still managed to visit Pheasant Branch early in the morning a few times to check up on the birds. They seem to be doing fine, thankfully.
Young Eastern Kingbirds.
The Yellow-breasted Chats are very challenging to find now that the male's vocalizations have decreased to only an occasional note or two. A super-spectacular digiscoped chat portrait will have to wait for another season. The Orchard Orioles have dispersed after successfully fledging their young. Indigo Buntings are singing less frequently. At present there is a family of Eastern Kingbirds that are quite entertaining to watch. Their gregarious young perch on bare oak branches acting like they own the entire place. Their parents are busy stuffing dragonflies and other large insects down their throats as quickly as they can. One time one of the young kingbirds discarded some dragonfly wings by letting them fall, but the adult doing the feeding swooped down in a flash, snatched them up before they hit the ground, and then proceeded to make sure junior didn't waste them! "Yes, you must even eat the wings!"
A youngster!
One of the adults scans for food.
As you can see from the list below, there are plenty of good birds during the month of July at Pheasant Branch Conservancy, though it's one of two months (the other being January) I spend less time birding than usual. This time of year I typically do most of my eBird counts via bicycle. I can cover a lot more ground in a comparatively shorter period of time. I'll return to creek corridor birding when the first warbler flocks begin to show up around the second week of August. Hopefully we'll get some rain before then!
Purple Prairie Clover
Date range: Jul 1, 2012 - Jul 31, 2012
Location(s): Pheasant Branch Conservancy
Total # of Species: 72
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Ring-necked Pheasant
Great Blue Heron
Green Heron
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Ring-billed Gull
Mourning Dove
Barred Owl
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Willow Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Tree Swallow
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
Sedge Wren
Marsh Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Common Yellowthroat
American Redstart
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Dickcissel
Bobolink
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
All images © 2012 Mike McDowell