"So fine was the morning except for a streak of wind here and there that the sea and sky looked all one fabric, as if sails were stuck high up in the sky, or the clouds had dropped down into the sea."
― Virginia Woolf
Turville Point
But for a few hours, the sun was concealed by clouds for the weekend―it's been otherwise windy, rainy, overcast, and cold. Last weekend I did a bit more birding and hiked a few areas in Dane County, including Turville Point Conservation Park in Madison and Pheasant Branch Prairie north of Middleton. A Black-throated Gray Warbler has been present at Turville Point, which I got to see a few weeks back. Poor Sylvia Marek has missed it a couple of times now, but it's still being reported as of this morning. Even when the fickle warbler couldn't be found, there was still a satisfying variety of other songbirds to see: Fox Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, both kinglets, Brown Creeper, Red-breasted Nuthatches, cardinals, jays, robins, my final (probably) Yellow-rumped Warblers of the year, and a few Eastern Bluebirds.
Eastern Bluebird
What a beauty, eh? I've also been scoping Lake Mendota for waterfowl, usually beginning at Spring Harbor in Shorewood Hills, then Marshall Park and Captain Bill's in Middleton, Lake Mendota County Park, and then the north part of the lake from Governor Nelson State Park. The only scoter species I was able to find was a single White-winged, but there has also been Horned Grebes, Pied-billed Grebes, Common Goldeneye, Buffleheads, Ruddy Ducks, Common Mergansers, Common Loons, and scads of American Coots.
Horned Grebe and American Coots
Most sparrows have left Pheasant Branch Prairie. I went there for a little while this morning and found only a handful of American Tree Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos, but the howling winds cut my visit short―I didn't even go to the top of the drumlin. A Bald Eagle and a couple dozen Sandhill Cranes were the most obvious birds, like the kind visible to non-birding people (muggles) if they happened to look. There was only one other person there who asked me if I was looking at the cranes. I said "Yep. I see them, but I'm looking for shrikes." It would have been fun to add "Have you seen any?"
Pheasant Branch Prairie
American Tree Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Still no Northern Shrikes, but I've noted a few Dane County reports on eBird. Soon!
Northern Shrike
Some weeks back I happened upon a perched Northern Harrier that was warming itself in the early morning sun―a rare photographic opportunity. Most of the time when I encounter this species they're on the wing, gliding just a dozen or so feet from the top of the grass on the hunt for a morsel of rodent meat. I find them to be somewhat skittish of people, but this particular bird held its perch for longer than I expected.
Northern Harrier
See? This blog keeps going ... until it doesn't!
All images © 2020 Mike McDowell