Baird’s Sandpiper photographed in Jefferson County, Wisconsin. This appears to be the earliest recorded date for a Baird’s Sandpiper to arrive in Wisconsin. There were 3 Baird’s Sandpipers at this location in a field just north of Hwy 106 on Mehring Road. I also tried 3 times in the last 24 hours to locate the Franklin’s Gull reported Northwest of Palmyra on Hwy 106 with no luck. Less than ideal shooting conditions due to shooting into the light at a long distance. Image taken on April 2, 2014.
Western Sandpiper at Bradford Beach, Milwaukee, WI. Photographs taken September 11, 2013.
Binomial name: Calidris mauri
Category: Sandpipers, Phalaropes, and Allies
Description: Brown feathers on back with white underparts. Dark legs and bill.
Size: 5.5” – 6.7” long, 10.2” – 14.6” wingspan
Weight: 0.8 oz. – 1.2 oz.
Habitat: Coastal tundras, shorelines, and mudflats
Diet: Small insects such as flies and beetles as well as spiders, mollusks, and small crustaceans
Nesting: The male builds several nests out of grasses, leaves, and lichens pressed into a mud flat or shoreline. He will then sing to attract a mate, and she will choose the nest. Both parents will incubate the eggs. The typical clutch size is 3-5 eggs. The female may stay and help care for the chicks, or she may leave before the eggs hatch and the male will be the sole caretaker.
Notes: Western Sandpipers breed in Siberia and Alaska, although migration will take them down the West Coast to California. Very rarely are they seen as far east as the Midwest.
Photographs taken at Horicon Marsh and Hustisford on August 20, 2013.
Marsh Wren
Least Sandpiper
Blue-winged Teal Family
Stilt Sandpipers
Lesser Yellowlegs, Hustisford
Pectoral Sandpiper, Hustisford
Least Sandpipers, Hustisford
Least Sandpiper, Hustisford
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Pectoral Sandpipers, Hustisford
To view the full gallery of images, please click here.
Photographs from Horicon Marsh, Fond du lac/Dodge County, Wisconsin taken August 13, 2013.
Marbled Godwit
Marbled Godwit
Common Moorhen with young
3 – Red-necked Phalaropes (background)
Spotted Sandpiper
Juvenile Stilt Sandpiper
Great Egret
Great Egret
Great Egret
Great Egret
To view the full gallery of images, please click here.
The Cattle Egret is one of my nemesis birds this year. After many miles of driving through areas where Cattle Egrets had been reported, this was my first real chance to photograph one. This time it did not disappoint me. I saw not one bird, but two. They were in a double pasture with cows just northeast of Horicon Marsh on Stumpf Road in Fond du lac County, Wisconsin.
I’ve also included images of some Wilson’s Phalaropes (Phalaropus tricolor) from Horicon Marsh.
Photographs taken July 23, 2013.
Binomial name: Bubulcus ibis
Category: Bitterns, Herons, and Allies
Description: White plumage with cream-colored feathers on its chest, head, and tail during breeding season. Yellow bill and gray legs.
Size: 18”-22” long, 35” – 38” wingspan
Weight: 9.5 oz. – 18 oz.
Habitat: Pastures, grasslands, meadows, and wetlands
Diet: Insects (grasshoppers and crickets), spiders, amphibians, and worms
Nesting: Cattle Egrets nest in colonies, typically near a body of water. Both males and females build the nest; males collect twigs and sticks while the female assembles them into jumbled pile in a tree or shrub. It is common for these birds to steal nest materials from others. The female will lay 1 to 5 eggs and raise 1 brood each season. Both parents incubate the eggs. Chicks are born with down feathers but are still helpless. The fledglings leave the nest after about 45 days.
Notes: Cattle Egrets are appropriately named as they tend to forage for food near cattle or other large, grazing animals. They eat insects and other vertebrates spread by these animals. The birds have also been known to forage behind farm machinery. Farmers may welcome these birds to their pastures as Cattle Egrets will help control fly and tick populations among cattle.
To view the full gallery of images, please click here.
Purple Sandpipers at Wind Point, Racine WI. Photographs taken on December 13, 2012
Purple Sandpiper, Wind Point Racine, December 13, 2012
Red Phalarope at the South Metro Pier in Oak Creek Wisconsin on November 8, 2010
Binomial name: Phalaropus fulicaria
Category: Phalaropes
Size: 8.5” long, 17” wing span
Weight: 1.9 oz.
Dunlin photographed at North Point in Sheboygan, WI on May 30, 2012.
Sanderling North Point Sheboygan 5-30-2012
Binomial name: Calidris alba
Category: Sandpipers, Phalaropes, and Allies
Description: Whitish-gray feathers with a thick, black bill and feet.
Size: 7.1″ – 7.9″ long, 13.8″ wingspan
Weight: 1.4 oz. – 3.5 oz.
Habitat: Rocky shorelines in coastal and island regions or inland marshes and wetlands.
Diet: Insects, crustaceans, invertebrates, and plants or grasses.
Nesting: The female gathers materials and builds the nest, usually a scrape on a shallow rocky area or a preexisting depression in sand. She may line it sparsely with grasses, leaves, lichens, moss. The typical clutch size is 3 to 4 eggs and both parents incubate. The male is highly territorial and will defend the nesting site.
Notes: Sanderlings are a populous and widespread shorebird with a global distribution. They show up on nearly every temperate and tropical shoreline in the world. However, they only breed in the high Arctic.
Sanderling North Point Sheboygan 5-30-2012
Sanderling North Point Sheboygan 5-30-2012
Sanderling North Point Sheboygan 5-30-2012
Sanderling North Point Sheboygan 5-30-2012
Sanderling North Point Milwaukee 9-4-2011
Sanderling North Point Milwaukee 9-4-2011
Sanderling North Point Milwaukee 9-4-2011
Sanderling North Point Milwaukee 9-4-2011
Sanderling North Point Milwaukee 9-4-2011
A flock of 37 American Avocets had spent the day at McKinley Beach in Milwaukee Wisconsin on May 1, 2012. Within the flock was one lone Willet that just mixed right in with the Avocets as they feed and rested for the day.
Binomial name: Tringa semipalmata
Category: Sandpipers, Phalaropes, and Allies
Size: 15” long, 26” wing span
Weight: 8 oz
Lesser Yellowlegs at Horicon Marsh and Hustisford Wisconsin. Photographs taken May 12, 2012
