"You don't waste October sunshine. Soon the old autumn sun would bed down in cloud blankets, and there would be weeks of gray rain before it finally decided to snow."
― Katherine Arden
"There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now in October."
― Nathaniel Hawthorne
Well, finally! Between crappy weekend weather and getting over my still-lingering chest cold, yesterday delivered on the promise of a gorgeous fall day. I hadn't been to the prairie parcel of Pheasant Branch since early spring and there were some unpleasant changes made to the trail system. Dane County Parks has closed all secondary trails I've historically used for photographing birds. This, they felt, was a compromise between not banning dogs at the prairie and protecting birds. Talk about idiocy ― you have (or had?) a fantastic sanctuary for birds, and rather than ban dogs (which they admitted was a problem), they close trails so that nature-y people can't enjoy it to the fullest extent. Little wonder that fewer birders come here these days. Whatever ― a little sign isn't going to stop me, just like the ineffective 'leash your dogs' signs went ignored for two decades. For now the trails are still passable, but in a few years they'll likely be covered with dense vegetation.
It bothered me for little while, but it didn't take long for the landscape and sounds to cleanse my spirit and put my focus true on the mission. I chose the northeast corner to work with the rising sun; little peeps and zeets of warblers and sparrows were all around me. I even heard one Lincoln's Sparrow singing full song ... I don't think I've ever heard one singing in the fall before.
What do you see there? It was loaded with birds ― and then one popped out into the open ...
Was this the singer? Sparrow-wise, Lincoln's were the most abundant after Song Sparrow. There were also many White-throated Sparrows, a few White-crowned Sparrows, Field Sparrows, Savannah Sparrows, Swamp, a single Fox Sparrow, and ... a couple of Dark-eyed Juncos (winters coming). Typically shy secretive little songbirds, here's another Lincoln's Sparrow that seemed fairly content holding a pose for a minute or so ― very unusual!
Such dapper little brown jobs, eh?
Eventually the Lincoln's hopped over to another branch, and then back down into the grasses, perhaps never to be looked upon by human eyes again. Ever consider that when observing a particular migratory bird through your binoculars? Will anyone else ever see this one?
A handsome White-throated Sparrow ...
A little tricky, but a Savannah Sparrow ...
A young Song Sparrow ...
A drab non-breeding plumaged Yellow-rumped Warbler ...
Warbler-wise, I found a few Yellow-rumped, Tennessee, Nashville, Palm, and Common Yellowthroat. Though I didn't visit the creek corridor this weekend, there could very well be other warbler species there. I wouldn't be surprised to still find Black-throated Green, American Redstart, Black-throated Blue, and a few others. But given the lovely weather, the corridor was sure to be overflowing with muggles.
A Common Yellowthroat assesses threat-level ...
A Palm Warbler surveys for insects ...
A concerned but curious House Wren ...
As with any birding blog post, my complete avian checklist can be found the bottom, but before calling it an outing I decided to take out my macro lens and photograph wildflowers and whatever insects might still be around. Actually, there were bees, grasshoppers, and crickets all over the place. I pondered heading up to Sauk to see if there were any tiger beetles out yet, but I'm content with the season ending. Getting Boreal Long-lipped Tiger Beetle was certainly a huge highlight of the spring and summer insecting season.
Gaura above and New England Aster below.
Common but beautiful ...
Here's a tree cricket feeding on sunflowers ...
I think Black-horned, but I'm not 100% sure. A little closer look ...
Lots of Milkweed Bugs were out ...
A Cherry-faced Meadowhawk ...
See, Lori? There are still plenty of insects around! Still, the fall season (thus far) has been subdued for me ― September completely got away from me without enough outdoor excursions. Thank goodness Dottie and I found a male Black-throated Blue Warbler at the creek corridor for our BTBW Fall Fix a few weeks ago. The forecast shows nice weather during the work week, but then getting cooler for the weekend. I'm not sure how much October sparrowing I'll get in to end the year, but it does look like the fall foliage colors are going to go out with a tremendous bang.
Pheasant Branch, Dane, Wisconsin, US
Oct 1st, 2022 7:00 AM - 11:00 AM
54 species
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
Wild Turkey
Ring-necked Pheasant
Mourning Dove
Sora
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Wilson's Snipe
Ring-billed Gull
Turkey Vulture
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Horned Lark
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
Sedge Wren
European Starling
Gray Catbird
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Cedar Waxwing
House Sparrow
American Pipit
House Finch
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
Field Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
White-crowned Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Tennessee Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Palm Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Northern Cardinal
All images © 2022 Mike McDowell