August Ends

Common Yellowthroat

As expected, warbler numbers and diversity steadily increased over the past week with a dozen species observed at Pheasant Branch Conservancy from the 26th to the 31st. Looking at the tables from my previous blog post, 2013 somewhat resembles 2011, but it was still a down month considering the effort I put in. With the cold front that's coming, birding should be exceptionally good Monday morning!



Common Yellowthroat © 2013 Mike McDowell

Warblers and Hoppers!

"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things."

~ Robert Brault

We're finally beginning to see a slight increase in the variety of migrant songbirds at Pheasant Branch Conservancy. During the Madison Audubon field trip on Saturday, we found Blackburnian Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, plus a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher and Swainson's Thrush. Birding the same area with Dottie and Sylvia today, we added Canada Warbler to the weekend tally. Still, migration seems behind a week or so and a couple of eBird tables showing warbler species at Pheasant Branch Conservancy appear to bear this out:









Note: The high "Number of Individuals" in the 2013 August 21-25 is due to 5 outings. But even when considering my somewhat inconsistent number of checklists per date grouping, there's solid evidence that migration is stalled, late, or perhaps something else is going on.

One birder told me she believes the reason there are so few warblers in southern Wisconsin right now is because they perished during the cold spring. Though the weather during spring definitely created hardships for migrating songbirds, I think what we're witnessing now is a product of the southerly winds we've had for the past few weeks – the birds don't like to fly in a headwind, even though some manage to migrate despite this.

Still others have speculated that birds may have initiated breeding and nesting later than normal (because of the cold spring), putting birds behind schedule now. However, we should keep in mind that the timing of bird migration is closely connected to the photoperiod. There's one more week to go for August, but the weather isn't looking promising for migration until Tuesday night when a weak cold front moves through.

It's extremely difficult to digiscope warblers in the woods this time of year, but there will likely be a few songbird opportunities before the leaves start to change color and fall. In the meantime, I confess I've become somewhat obsessed with insect photography. If I keep it up, I may have to change the name of this blog! However, as regular readers of my blog know, I've always enjoyed adding insects like butterflies, dragonflies, and tiger beetles to my blog stories. Lately, I've been in pursuit of the very tiny bugs, like leafhoppers, treehoppers, and planthoppers. They're super fascinating creatures!


Acanalonia Planthopper


Sharpshooter Leafhopper


Buffalo Treehopper


Buffalo Treehopper


Red-banded Leafhopper


Red-banded Leafhopper


Brown Stink Bug 


Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetle


Glyptoscelis? Leaf Beetle

Pheasant Branch, Dane, US-WI
Aug 24, 2013 7:00 AM - 10:00 AM
44 species

Double-crested Cormorant
Red-tailed Hawk
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Common Nighthawk
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Willow Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Swainson's Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Cedar Waxwing
Northern Waterthrush
Blackburnian Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Common Grackle
Baltimore Oriole
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

All images © 2013 Mike McDowell

Weekend Nature Photography!

Great Horned Owl


Northern Flicker


Annual Cicada


Evening Primrose


Cardinal Flower


Cream Gentian


Ambush Bugs on Rattlesnake Master


Common Yellowthroat (female)


Lesser Yellowlegs


Lesser Yellowlegs


Least Sandpiper


Least Sandpiper

Pheasant Branch, Dane, US-WI
Aug 18, 2013 6:30 AM - 10:30 AM
52 species

Canada Goose 
Mallard 
Osprey 
Red-tailed Hawk 
Sandhill Crane 
Mourning Dove 
Great Horned Owl 
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 
Red-bellied Woodpecker 
Downy Woodpecker 
Hairy Woodpecker 
Northern Flicker 
Olive-sided Flycatcher 
Eastern Wood-Pewee 
Eastern Phoebe 
Great Crested Flycatcher 
Eastern Kingbird 
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 
Carolina Wren 
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 
American Robin 
Gray Catbird 
Brown Thrasher 
Cedar Waxwing 
Northern Waterthrush 
Common Yellowthroat 
American Redstart 
Chipping Sparrow 
Field Sparrow 
Song Sparrow 
Swamp Sparrow 
Northern Cardinal 
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 
Indigo Bunting 
Red-winged Blackbird 
Common Grackle 
Orchard Oriole 
Baltimore Oriole 
House Finch 
American Goldfinch 
House Sparrow

All images © 2013 Mike McDowell

Summer Wanes

The Creek Corridor!

Over the past week, I've been taking my morning birding walks along the creek corridor of Pheasant Branch Conservancy with hopes of finding southbound migrants. So far the only two non-resident birds have been an Olive-sided Flycatcher (Tuesday) and Black-and-white Warbler (yesterday). It's still early. They'll be here in greater numbers in another week or so.


Partridge Pea

While the dense forest isn't the best setting for digiscoping, there are still interesting things to photograph with my macro lens while I'm birding. This time of year the corridor reminds me of a tropical forest; the cool mornings combined with moist air and wildflower fragrance is olfactory bliss. Calls from Great Crested Flycatchers, Eastern Wood-Pewees, and Baltimore Orioles mixed with resident birdsong render a familiar August theme that's like a prelude to fall migration. Soon these birds will depart and I won't see them again until next spring.

Yellow Jewelweed


Spider nest - unsure of species.


Harvestman


Cicada

Cicadas begin to buzz once the sun has been up for an hour or so. Though not as enjoyable to my ear, their tymbaling is also part of the mid to late summer woodland soundtrack. It seems that the louder they get, the closer we are to fall — a song of impending doom! I found a somewhat lethargic cicada on the side of a tree Wednesday morning when the temperature was in the forties. I wasn't sure if it was dying or recently emerged. Perhaps it was just temporarily inactive because of the chilled air.


Cicada close-up!


American Toad

A toad that paused on the side of the trail as if to check both ways before crossing. I prodded it along so it wouldn't get run over by a bicyclist. Be careful out there!

All images © 2013 Mike McDowell

Soon!

Back to birding!

I walked a section of the creek corridor at Pheasant Branch Conservancy before work this morning hoping for my first southbound warblers of fall migration, but found none. It won't be much longer, though. I usually find a few by August 10th, like canada, chestnut-sided, or black-and-white warblers. They may be post-breeding dispersed birds from the Baraboo Hills, but where does that end and "true" migration begin?

An exciting discovery was finding a family of Carolina Wrens. I saw a male courting a female back in May and thought I might eventually find evidence of breeding. So, there they were; two adults and two immature wrens - the whole dang family! The male was singing away atop a sunlit perch while the female was with two young birds foraging through the rootwad along the creek bank.



This young Red-tailed Hawk was nicely perched for portraiture, but nearby songbirds weren't too thrilled about its presence and were making quite a commotion over it. The hawk was undeterred and maintained its perch despite the distraction.



It was a short walk, but I was meeting friends for coffee before heading to work.

Pheasant Branch, Dane, US-WI
Aug 8, 2013 6:15 AM - 8:00 AM
35 species

Canada Goose
Great Blue Heron
Red-tailed Hawk
Ring-billed Gull
Mourning Dove
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
Carolina Wren
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch

Red-tailed Hawk © 2013 Mike McDowell

Bug Hunting!

Widefooted Treehopper

This morning I experimented with my Nikon 1 V1 and Tamron 60mm f/2 macro lens using a speedlight. I improvised a diffuser with some diffusion material from work, but what I really need is a twin flash system. To do insect macro photography right, I should probably get a DSLR with a larger sensor and a higher quality macro lens. I could do it, but I'm still not sure how committed I am with insects. For documentation purposes, the Nikon 1 V1 does a fine job with bugs and other crawly critters. And just like bird images, the Internet is saturated with exceptional insect photography. Why create more? Well, it's fun. It's a hobby. I would walk through the conservancy even without a camera, but capturing nature images along the way adds a unique type of enjoyment. But do I really want to haul another camera around while I'm birding? Once migration picks up, I probably wouldn't bother carrying a second camera. There are those slow times, though. So, do I plunk down $3.5K for the gear or not?


Mining Bee (?)


Black Swallowtail caterpillar


White-faced Meadowhawk


White-faced Meadowhawk


Brown-belted Bumble Bee (male)


Grasshopper (unidentified)


Red Milkweed Beetle


Goldenrod Leaf Beetle


Punctured Tiger Beetle

Pheasant Branch, Dane, US-WI
Aug 6, 2013 7:00 AM - 12:00 PM
40 species

Mallard 
Ring-necked Pheasant 
Red-tailed Hawk 
Sandhill Crane 
Killdeer 
Solitary Sandpiper 
Ring-billed Gull 
Mourning Dove 
Red-bellied Woodpecker 
Downy Woodpecker 
Hairy Woodpecker 
Northern Flicker 
Eastern Wood-Pewee 
Willow Flycatcher 
Eastern Kingbird 
Blue Jay 
American Crow 
Barn Swallow 
Black-capped Chickadee 
White-breasted Nuthatch 
House Wren 
Sedge Wren 
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 
American Robin 
Gray Catbird 
Cedar Waxwing 
Common Yellowthroat 
Chipping Sparrow 
Field Sparrow 
Song Sparrow 
Northern Cardinal 
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 
Indigo Bunting 
Dickcissel 
Red-winged Blackbird 
Orchard Oriole 
Baltimore Oriole 
House Finch 
American Goldfinch 
House Sparrow 

All images © 2013 Mike McDowell

Early August at Spring Green Preserve

Clustered Poppy-mallow

I spent Sunday morning at Spring Green Preserve with Mark and Dottie Johnson on a macro photography excursion. The skies were clear and the temperature was comfortable, but it's always a little warmer at Wisconsin's desert prairie. Insects weren't quite as abundant as we were hoping for, but we did find a really cool jumping spider near the end of our hike (see below). It was neat to see a Giant Swallowtail, but it perched off the trail behind a thick line of Poison Ivy. Eventually, insects became more active as it warmed up. Until that time, I was content with photographing some of the prairie's unique wildflowers.


Blazing Star beginning to bloom


Dotted Horsemint


Cottonweed


Hummingbird Moth

Mark got a much nicer photograph of this Hummingbird Moth, which I'll post a link to later.


Mating Punctured Tiger Beetles

Like my last visit, the only tiger beetles we found were Punctured Tiger Beetle (Cicindela punctulata). Hmm. I wonder what happened to the other seven species. Perhaps it's seasonal, but last year around this time there were at least four or five tiger beetle species present along the sandy trail.


Phidippus Jumping Spider, perhaps P. whitmani

This jumping spider was the definitive highlight of our morning. I think it's Phidippus whitmani, but I'm not absolutely sure. I checked Bugguide.net and Jumping Spiders of Wisconsin and it was the closest match I could find. Some P. whitmani have abdominal markings, but not nearly as prominent as our spider. Any thoughts?






Prairie Racerunner

I finally captured a photograph of a Prairie Racerunner, though I didn't have an unobstructed angle on it. As we were walking toward the parking lot, the lizard quickly scampered off the trail and hid beneath the vegetation. I was ready with my digiscoping gear and got a few shots off before it disappeared deeper into the dense prairie plants. Eventually, I'm going to find one of these guys out in the open!


Lunch at Spring Green General Store

After a morning of earnest nature photography at the desert prairie, there's nothing like a refreshing lunch at Spring Green General Store. They have delicious soups and sandwiches, but the greek salad with lemon tahini dressing is my favorite.

All images © 2013 Mike McDowell