justnorth posted on July 24, 2007 14:26 :: 1786 Views
The breeding season for many species is beginning to wind down as early nests and even some second nesting attempts have fledged young. Bobolinks and other long-distance migrants are already leaving Wisconsin or staging and moulting in preparation for the long flight to South America. Birders can still hear scarlet tanager, eastern wood pewee, red-eyed vireo and other neotropical migrants singing but this should be winding down by the first of August. Shorebird migration has picked up with many adult shorebirds already back in Wisconsin after a brief nesting season in the tundra.
Birders are reporting good numbers of shorebirds at Horicon National Wildlife Refuge, Crex Meadows Wildlife Area and other places with exposed mudflats. Rarities reported recently include a black-headed gull in Sheboygan, little blue heron and black-necked stilt at Horicon, loggerhead shrikes in Pierce County, a continuing chuck-will's widow in Jackson County, western sandpiper in Milwaukee, and a blue grosbeak at Ft. McCoy and Spring Green Preserve. Birders will find lots of diversity and young birds in wetlands across the state this time of year. Forest birds will begin dispersing soon with birdsong diminishing within the next week. The first migrating warblers will be arriving within the next week to two weeks.
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