"Everything that anyone would ever look for is usually where they find it."
― Margaret Wise Brown
We're a week past the Spring Equinox, but it feels more like winter this weekend. When I woke up this morning the temperature with the windchill was around 12 degrees. Still, in flora and fauna harbingers of spring are emerging and returning. I was thrilled to see my first-of-spring Golden-crowned Kinglets at the Pheasant Branch Creek Corridor. There were also a few Winter Wrens and a single Eastern Phoebe. I didn't hear the resident Carolina Wren, but perhaps it was busy foraging. As the frenetic kinglets so aptly demonstrate, to survive in the cold a bird must continue to metabolize to generate body heat.
By the weather forecast, temperatures should be more seasonably spring-like next week. This part of spring often feels like a battle between two forces; one emergent, the other like an expiring revenant with potent surprises. Wisconsinites well know that April is by no means out of reach from winter's frigid grasp ― I've documented some pretty wild spring snowstorms on this blog in the past, here and here. They do render fantastic opportunities for stunning nature photography, and the hardship placed on birds is generally only for a day or two. The snow quickly melts and the phenological march of spring migration resumes. If a cold-snap carries on for too long, there can be harsh mortality events.
The lone Eastern Phoebe I found restricted its vocalizations to call-notes only ― no fee-bee or fee-da-bee songs were uttered. Singing requires energy, and the diminutive flycatcher was probably struggling to find insects to feast on. Eastern Phoebe call-notes are strikingly similar to Swamp Sparrow and where you are can make the difference between species identification. When I'm in the creek corridor, it almost certainly means a phoebe; at a marsh, the sparrow. However, either can be found in the other's habitat, so it's always best to get a confirming look.
Heartier birds are establishing and defending territories, preparing to impress their female counterparts in the process of mate selection. In many songbird species males will make subpar false nests that are generally completed by the female. All too familiar, isn't it.
A Song Sparrow of the courtyard belts it out ...
Some shallower Middleton area ponds had a thin layer of ice that formed over night, but deeper ones were still open with a variety of migratory waterfowl. There were Hooded and Red-breasted Mergansers at the Black Earth Creek Retention Pond just on the outskirts of Middleton's west side. Some Northern Pintail, too, which is always cool bird to admire. This has become a rather productive birding spot for me that past several years. In fact, in a few more weeks I'll find all five expected swallow species and Purple Martins there ― one finds them where you look, and where you look is often correlated to past experience. This is best, I feel. I don't want to chase someone else's reported birds to a social media group, eBird, or listservs (do those even exist any more?) ― I always prefer to solo it and find my own birds (or insects). Whether common or rare, the experiences are salubrious.
Middleton Area: March 26th, 2022
61 species
Canada Goose
Tundra Swan
Wood Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
American Black Duck
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Ring-billed Gull
Turkey Vulture
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Great Horned Owl
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
American Kestrel
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Horned Lark
Golden-crowned Kinglet
White-breasted Nuthatch
Winter Wren
European Starling
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Cedar Waxwing
House Sparrow
House Finch
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
American Tree Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Eastern Meadowlark
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Common Grackle
Northern Cardinal
All images © 2022 Mike McDowell