A pair of Mute Swans appeared on the Fox River in Waukesha County this afternoon. They fed for awhile and then gave some nice views too. It was a pleasant late afternoon with plenty of sunshine, lows winds, actually was starting to feel like spring could be coming yet. Images were taken on March 11, 2019.
Mute Swan
The pair…
The close up…
“Being shy”
Incoming…
Feeding…
The pair together…
I did some general birding on the first of the new year and it was pretty quiet. The highlight of the day was a Hooded Merganser, some say it’s “Hollyhood”! Some birding on the Milwaukee lakefront produced an adult Iceland Gull at South Shore Yacht Club. That was about it for birds to note on a very cold morning with temps around 20 and stiff winds from the west, it was cloudy. Images were taken on January 1, 2019.
Hooded Merganser, male
Wet head, just after some head dipping…
Iceland Gull in flight, note white wing tips at the South Shore Yacht Club…
While out birding some of the Milwaukee lakefront today, the highlight was a female adult Long-tailed Duck. The duck continually dove for food the whole time I was present which was about 15-20 minutes. No other ducks were in the area of this one. Always in search this time of year for a Snowy Owl, I came up empty. A couple hundred Greater Scaup were present in the lagoon near Summerfest along with a couple Red-breasted Mergansers, Common Goldeneye and one lone female Bufflehead. It was a chilly morning with cloudy skies, stiff winds out of the north, temps were around 31 degrees. Images were taken on December 3, 2018.
Long-tailed Duck, female in winter plumage…
In coming…
Thinking about the next dive under…
Going down…
Halfway in…
Short tail feathers…
Paddling in…
Beauty of the back…
Looking around…
I stopped by the Fox River this morning near the dam in Waukesha to see if anything was going on. There was a male Hooded Merganser present hanging out with Mallards. Could this be the famous “Hollyhood” that was seen last winter? Some believe it is that. I can’t say, but it acted like it could be, on shore once for awhile watching the mallards eat some bird seed that someone had tossed out. It was a gloomy day with a light mist every so often, I hung around and took some pics of this guy as he had not been seen for 4 days and this was my first sighting of him since last winter. Dan W was down at the river and said the merganser had just come in before I got there. Just before I left, the merganser took to the air and flew out of sight to the north. A beautiful duck I will say! Temps were around 35, low winds but a dark gloomy day as said. Images were taken on November 24, 2018.
Hooded Merganser, male
On the shore just being one of the mallards…
The beauty of the back view…
Sitting on the shoreline thinking about the next move…
Start of a stretch that did not happen…
I got a tip this morning from Mike W that swans were at Grobschmidt Park in Milwaukee County. I made the trip over there, they turned out to be Tundra Swans. I have never seen Tundra Swans in SE Wisconsin so it was a treat to see them there. It was a pair and they were resting when I arrived with a few Ring-billed Gulls. This is a difficult place for photos and today was no different, there is only one access point. They remained pretty much opposite the one access location on Mud Lake and it was a long distance at that. After a while the pair swam a little north and then back south and feed. It was a mild November day with low winds, some sun, temps in the lower 30’s. Images were taken on November 11, 2018.
The pair of Tundra Swans swimming south at a distance…
Earlier….On a mud flat, one resting, the other one on alert…
A leg stretch and one resting…
The other one with a leg stretch and the other preening…
Just before the swim…
Swimming south….
A Snow Goose, Blue Morph was reported yesterday at Greenfield Park in Milwaukee Wisconsin. I stopped in at the park late morning and it was still present out near a baseball field. This adult bird was content eating the turfgrass there and was by itself. It was a beautiful day with temps in the 50’s, low winds inland and full sun. Images were taken on October 22, 2018.
Snow Goose, Blue Morph adult hanging out in a grass area enjoying the parks turfgrass…
Binomial name: Chen caerulescens
Category: Ducks, Geese, and Swans
Size: 28” long, 53” wing span
Weight: 5.3 lb
Getting that bite!
Yum…
Eating away…
At takeoff…
Paddling around in the pond, hanging near Canada Geese…
One of my birding stops this morning was Veterans Park in Milwaukee. Canada Geese numbers have been increasing there lately. I typically will check them out with my binoculars looking for something different. Today I picked out a Cackling Goose in one of the Canada Geese flocks feeding in the grassy areas. To my thinking, we get a few in migration but that is about it here in Milwaukee. At times it was hard to locate this goose at a distance when most of the heads are down feeding, this bird just did not stand out, at times I thought it left the area, but it did not. The Canada Geese present did not hang with this goose, a lot of the time the Cackling was 10-20 feet from them. It rained continually for the morning, when it was just misting, that was great. A lot of wind off the lake, temps were chilly to start. Images were taken on October 5, 2018.
Cackling Goose, shorter bill, rounder head than the Canada Goose…
Cackling Goose with a piece of grass in its bill…
Cackling Goose in the front, Canada Goose behind, comparison shot…
Both Geese feeding, Cackling on the right…
Cackling Goose on the right…
Getting a drink…
Cackling Goose in the middle…
Canada Goose, longer bill……in the rain…
Walking through puddles…
Walking through puddles…Cackling in the front…
Cackling Goose feeding on the grass…
More feeding…
Moving along in the mud…
Misty back…
My first stop of the day was in downtown Waukesha at the Fox River just north of the dam. Four Ruddy Ducks, 3 males and one female have been hanging around the last couple of days. They were moving around a lot and at times would be following the female around. They dove a little at times feeding. A Common Loon was also present but remained in the middle of the river to the north. It stayed low in the water the time I was there as once in awhile Mallards and Ring-billed Gulls harassed it lightly. It did do a little feeding at times. A mostly cloudy day with a stiff wind from the northwest temps around 30 degrees, still felt like winter with 5″ of snow on the ground. Images were taken on April 18, 2018.
Ruddy Duck, the stunning male with it’s blue bill in breeding plumage…
Binomial name: Oxyura jamaicensis
Category: Ducks, Geese, and Swans
Size: 15” long, 18.5” wingspan
Weight: 1.2 Lb
Ruddy Duck, female
Ruddy Ducks, male front and female
Ruddy Ducks, the males chasing the female…
Tail up, sign of courtship display…
The mouth open…
Pair of males…
Coming in to shore following the female…
Full speed ahead following the female…
Doing some birding along the lakefront in Milwaukee right after a good snow I did not except to see much. 6 Long-tailed Ducks were doing some feeding at the McKinley Marina was probably the highlight for the day. It looked like 2 males and 4 females, they were spread out in the area. They continually feed while I was there giving a few nice views. It was a cloudy and chilly with winds from the west and snow flurries coming down non stop all day, temps around 31 degrees. It looked like Milwaukee had 5-6″ of snow on the ground from the last 2 days, it suppose to be spring? Images were taken on April 16, 2018.
Long-tailed Duck, adult male, just up from a dive
Long-tailed Duck, adult male just cruising along…
Long-tailed Duck, adult female in non-breeding plumage
Long-tailed Duck, adult male
Long-tailed Duck, adult male just looking around…
Long-tailed Duck, adult male
Long-tailed Duck, adult male looking pretty…
The dive…
Long-tailed Duck, adult male with flurries coming down…
Closeup…just up from a dive…
On a second stop of the day at this location birding on the Fox River in Waukesha appeared a Hooded Merganser. This stunning male spent his time checking out the female Mallards one by one. I think this could be the famous Hooded Merganser “Hollyhood” that was here just over a year ago? Well, not really, who knows for sure, but it put on a great show while I was there giving nice views while following female Mallards around on the river. I am almost convinced there is some connection between male Hooded Mergansers and female Mallards as this is my 3rd time I’ve witnessed this behavior with these two species. What is it with the Hooded Merganser wanting a companion, a mating thing, or ?? It was a cold day with winds out of the northeast, temps below freezing and very little sun. Images were taken on April 8, 2018.
Hooded Merganser, male…crest partially down
His eyes on another female Mallard…
The Hooded Merganser starred at the female Mallard out of the corner of his eye for about 20 seconds, is this the one….
Crest down on this Hooded Merganser swimming over to check out another female Mallard…
Going to check out another female Mallard…crest down…
Cruising over to a female Mallard to see if she was the one!
Crest down…
Crest up…
Crest partially down…
Coming into shore…
Just moving along…
I stopped at the Fox River in Waukesha late morning to see if anything new had come in since yesterday. A stunning Horned Grebe almost in full breeding plumage gave nice views for a couple of minutes and then moved north on the river. Another new species present were a pair of Northern Shovelers, male and female. The male shovelers are so beautiful this time of year. As walkers and joggers started to appear, they all moved to the middle of the river which is the norm there. Another cold day with temps starting out at 19 degrees with a pretty good wind at times, felt like January. The sun was out but I did not feel much heat coming down from it. Images were taken on April 1, 2018.
Horned Grebe
Horned Grebe
Horned Grebe
Horned Grebe
Horned Grebe
Northern Shovelers, female front, male back
Northern Shoveler, male
Northern Shoveler, female
A little birding along the lakefront in Milwaukee this morning provided nice views of a Snow Goose juvenile at Lakeshore State Park. The Snow Goose hung out with about 20-25 Canada Geese. They all grazed on the short turf grass while I was there. Eventually the flock thinned out as groups of 3-4 left the area for one reason or another, that is what they do. A flock of about 8 with the Snow Goose in it were the last ones to leave and that was it. There was very little interaction with all the geese, they just grazed. That was it for birds to note around that area. Not much action in the images, but that is just how it was. It was a nice sunny day but the north wind kept it feeling like winter. Images were taken on March 9, 2018.
The Snow Goose, juvenile with ice in the bill…
Getting some ice…
Grazing…
More grazing…
Getting some ice…
Snow Goose grazing with a Canada Goose…
Taking a look around with grass in the bill…
Closeup
The walk…
On alert!
Grazing away…
Grazing…
Birding along the Fox River in downtown Waukesha today produced a pair of adult Hooded Mergansers, males. They briefly gave nice views when hanging out with Mallards, but then at times moved short distances up and down the river by themselves. There were still ~50 Common Goldeneye on the river along with some Lesser Scaup, pair of Bufflehead and 100+ Mallards. A short birding run along the lakefront in Milwaukee from Bayview to Bradford Beach produced fewer birds than previous days, nothing to note other than previously reported birds. It seemed like the many large rafts of winter ducks had moved north. I saw many large flocks of ducks flying north over the water yesterday. It was a beautiful spring like day with temps well into the 40’s, sunny skies, low winds. Images were taken on February 27, 2018.
Hooded Merganser, male with crest up…
The pair of male Hooded Mergansers…
Hooded Merganser…
Hooded Merganser some displaying…
Hooded Merganser more displaying…
Hooded Merganser, male with crest down…
Hooded Merganser just floating along…
Hooded Merganser with the wind blowing from behind…
Cruising along…
Hooded Merganser with the crest partially down…
Hooded Merganser male, such a beautiful duck!
A stop at Bender Park in Milwaukee County this morning gave nice views of a adult female Long-tailed Duck. Considered a diving duck, this duck dove for food most of the time while I was present. I think a cool looking duck anytime of the year. Other stops I made along the lake were very quiet except I did see large flocks of winter ducks moving north far out in the water. Another note, later in the day in Waukesha County I saw very many large flocks of Sandhill Cranes flying north. It was a mild day with temps in the 40’s, low winds and plenty of sunshine. Images were taken on February 26, 2018.
The Long-tailed Duck just up from a dive…
Binomial name: Clangula hyemalis
Category: Ducks, Geese, and Swans
Size: 16.5” long, 28” wing span
Weight: 1.6 lb
Cool Fact: This duck was once known as Oldsquaw, the female Long-tailed Duck does not get the long tail, just the adult male.
Just up from a dive, a weed still hanging on its bill…
While birding some of the Milwaukee lakefront this morning I came across 6 White-winged Scoters near the South Shore Yacht Club. Males and females we present. They were diving and feeding on mussels along with other ducks. No other ducks to note other than a Hooded Merganser and Redhead, both males that were out a ways seen with my bins. It was very windy with temps about 32 which made for a chilly morning, the sun showed but did not seem to help with the high winds. Images were taken on February 25, 2018.
White-winged Scoter, male, with orange on bill tip…
White-winged Scoter, male Stretching
White-winged Scoter, male stretching
White-winged Scoter, female with a mussel
White-winged Scoter, female
White-winged Scoter, male
Common Goldeneye, male was in the area…
Greater Scaup, male
Greater Scaup, female
A stop at Lakeshore State Park this morning provided a couple of nice views of some Greater Scaup. For the most part everything is frozen but there are a couple of spots still with open water. These ducks were diving for mussels on occasion for something to eat. It was a very cold morning with temps around 10F when I left for birding this morning, the sun at times made it feel pretty nice out there. Images were taken on January 14, 2018.
Greater Scaup, male adult
Greater Scaup, female adult
Greater Scaup, male adult, just a little surface drinking…
Greater Scaup, female adult with a drip…
Greater Scaup, male adult
Greater Scaup, female adult
Greater Scaup, female adult just posing…
Early this morning I found 12 Long-tailed Ducks feeding at Lakeshore State Park in Milwaukee. The last couple of days I had found groups of first 6 then 9 yesterday, now 12! They all appear to be immature or females. I have not studied them close as of yet. They typically all dive about the same time, get their food, surface, look around, regroup and dive once again. I walked the park early just after sun up and these ducks were not around. These typically stay very close together as a group. A couple of hours later they came in from farther out from the south. In the last few days it appears these ducks have a circuit they do for food, and have numerous places they feed. I saw a group of 8-10 off Texas Ave yesterday. Maybe they are the same ducks. This is the first year I have seen more than 1 or 2. The morning started out with some snow flurries that gave way to mostly sunny skies for the morning. It was cold, temps started at 16 and there was a good wind from the west. Images were taken on December 15, 2017.
Long-tailed Ducks, all 12
Binomial name: Clangula hyemalis
Category: Ducks, Geese, and Swans
Size: 16.5” long, 28” wing span
Weight: 1.6 lb
Cool Fact: This duck was once known as Oldsquaw
They all dive about the same time, here are a few in this image…
They come in fast to feed just off the shore in water 15′-20′ deep…
Before the dive…
Start of the dive…
The dive…
Up close…
The blue sky reflection with the Long-tailed Duck…
It was a day with some occasionally mist cloudy skies but I decided to hit a few birding spots along the lake. The highlight of the day was a pair of Long-tailed Ducks at Lakeshore State Park. They were adult females in their winter plumage. They did some on and off diving for food but there were a few people around and fishing boats that kept them out off of shore most of the time. Bradford Beach to the north had scoters but it was too foggy to make them out when I was there. One female Red-breasted Merganser was one of the only ducks in the lagoon, well there were fisherman everywhere today in boats and on land so that makes sense. A cool day at 45 degrees with cloudy skies and some fog. Images were taken on November 5, 2017.
Binomial name: Clangula hyemalis
Category: Ducks, Geese, and Swans
Size: 16.5” long, 28” wing span
Weight: 1.6 lb
Cool Fact: This duck was once known as Oldsquaw
Left one going for the dive, the one on the right already in, just a swirl…
I stopped at the Fox River in Waukesha this morning to do a bird check. Going through group of about 8 Mallards on the other side of the river surprisingly hidden with them was a single male Ring-necked Duck. The Mallards saw me, they thought I had bread, came across the river to me, but the Ring-necked Duck was skittish and stayed back. After a couple of minutes some walkers came by and the Ring-necked Duck flew north on the river and landed. That was the last I saw of it. Other birds present, just the everyday Ring-billed Gulls and those Mallards. No Hooded Merganser…:) Some sun but a mostly cloudy day at my stop at the river, still mild temps. Images were taken on October 26, 2017.
Ring-necked Duck, male in the golden leaf fall water surrounded by a couple of floating leaves…
Binomial name: Aythya collaris
Category: Ducks, Geese, and Swans
Size: 17” long, 25” wing span
Weight: 1.5 lb.
I thought it was time to head up to the Horicon Marsh to see what was going on and glad I did. One of the highlights of the day was watching one Tumpeter Swan, then two along with the cygnets feed and paddle around. When the second adult joined the group, there appeared to be some great trumpet sounds, really, like welcome back to the family! The two adults stirred the bottom by paddling and brought probably up aquatic insects which is what they eat at this age. It was an exciting time watching these adult swans doing their routine feeding the young with no distractions. It was a beautiful day with mostly full sun and pleasant temps, winds were low in the morning. Images were taken on June 6, 2017.
The family…
Binomial name: Cygnus buccinator
Category: Ducks, Geese, and Swans
Size: 60” long, 80” wing span
Weight: 23 lb
Their necks are stained from feeding…
2nd adult joins the group, I hear trumpet like calling with each other…they were so glad to be together…:)
1st adult stretching here…
Cygnets feeding here with some fresh churned-up vegetation for aquatic insects…
Cygnets
Cygnets
Waiting for some fresh vegetation to dig through that the adult brought up from the bottom…
Both adults stirring the bottom by neck work under the water…
Cygnets feeding here with some fresh churned-up vegetation for aquatic insects…
Both adults stirring the bottom by neck work under the water…
Here the adult is paddling the bottom stirring up the vegetation…
Cygnets finding things to eat…
