The Creek Corridor: a great place to look at warblers!
The incredible journey of songbirds is underway! It's great to be walking the creek corridor trail at Pheasant Branch Conservancy in search of warblers with Dottie Johnson and Sylvia Marek once again. Some warblers from up north have already made it to southern Wisconsin. So far we've observed a few Tennessee Warblers, Chestnut-sided Warblers, a Northern Waterthrush, and two Black-and-white Warblers. American Redstarts nest along the creek corridor during the summer months, so it's difficult to know whether they're resident birds or not. I haven't seen or heard a Yellow Warbler for about a week; they're among the first conservancy migrants to disperse. Still, there could be more from northern parts of their range coming through our area.
Here's my fall Madison Audubon field trip schedule:
08/25: Fall Warbler Walk at Pheasant Branch (corridor)
09/13: Warbler Walk at Pheasant Branch (corridor)
09/18: Warbler Walk at Pheasant Branch (corridor)
10/06: Migrant Songbirds of Pheasant Branch (prairie)
10/27: Migrant Songbirds of Pheasant Branch (prairie)
These field trips are free and open to the public. I'm pretty sure the corridor trips begin at 7:00 AM, but I'm not sure what time the two at the prairie start. I'll publish the correct times in a follow-up post. Come out and enjoy one of nature's greatest spectacles!
PBC image © 2012 Mike McDowell