justnorth posted on January 26, 2007 00:38 :: 1296 Views
The return of winter has not "cooled off" the birding in Wisconsin this week. Observers along the Lake Michigan shoreline continue to find good numbers of birds at Harrington Beach State Park, Milwaukee, and Sheboygan including glaucous, thayer's, iceland, great black-backed gulls, harlequin duck, barrow's goldeneye, and red-throated loons. A male snowy owl is being seen along Hwy. 49 at the Horicon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge and short-eared owls are putting on good shows in the evening at the Middleton airport, Horicon NWR, Bong Recreation Area, Killsnake, Collins Marsh, Mead, and White River Marsh wildlife areas, 6 Mile Road in Ozaukee County, and on private Conservation Reserve Program grasslands in southwestern Dane and Iowa counties. Other continuing rarities include a gyrfalcon in Superior, varied thrush in Washburn, Dunbar and rural Octonto County, and a slaty-backed gull and barrow's goldeneye in Prescott. Winter finches have been a bit slower than in previous years. Redpolls are being found in low numbers across the north and pine grosbeaks seem to be in above average numbers. Birders have had good luck finding both crossbill species in the Nicolet National Forest and bohemian waxwings have been reported from Rhinelander and Chippewa counties. With the return of winter eagle watching has picked up along the Mississippi River in La Crosse all the way down to Dubuque and at Sauk City. Birders across the state have noted low numbers of blue jays this year, probably due to a poor acorn crop. People are encouraged to continue to submit bird sightings to www.ebird.org to help biologists get a picture of bird populations across the state.
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