Wisconsin - Part 4

Must apologize to those that are following my journey in Wisconsin.  I had another commitment to show a friend from New York, the White Mountain area of Arizona and try to pursue some birds and I had to put the blogging on hold for about 3 days.  And another friend arrived into Mesa and we took in the Butterfly Wonderland in Scottsdale, so it has definitely put me behind in blogging.  

Next trip was to visit Horicon National Wildlife Refuge and on the way, we made a side trip to Killsnake State Wildlife Refuge and it did not take long to pickup my 10th new life bird on this Wisconsin adventure; the Bobolink.  This was my first viewing of this bird that has always intrigued me when studying field guides.  Reminds me of a blackbird in a tuxedo.  Before my trip came to an end, I got to see several of these birds.  

 Bobolink

As we started to exit this area, and as we were driving very slowly along the gravel road, we came upon a bird that has been a nemesis for me in Arizona; the Clay-colored Sparrow.  They occur regularly in Arizona in the winter months, although they are not common.  And they can be a bit difficult to identify from the many Brewer's Sparrows we see in winter in Arizona.  But looks are deceiving, because when they are singing, their songs are so different from each other.  In Arizona, they are very rarely singing.

 Clay-colored Sparrow

At Horicon, the Sandhill Cranes were scattered in many places and it was interesting to see them in breeding condition.  Spending 20 years in the Platte River Valley of Nebraska, I was used to seeing this bird yearly in spring migration in the hundreds of thousands.  I have also seen many in Arizona in the winter.  But these in Wisconsin were brown instead of gray!  Apparently this reddish-brown coloration is due to them preening with muddy bills and this coloration matches the color of many of the fields where they forage.  

 Sandhill Crane

Other birds that we found at Horicon, include Black Terns, Eastern Kingbirds, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Barn Swallows, and a fledgling Red-winged Blackbird.

  

 Red-winged Blackbird - Fledgling

 Black Tern

 Eastern Kingbird

 Eastern Wood-Pewee

 Barn Swallow

For me, one of the coolest critters to find was a Snapping Turtle.  Not an animal that one wants to mess with because if they latch onto you, they have a lot of power in those jaws and they can break bones in fingers and they do not like to let go! 

 Snapping Turtle

Painted Turtle

Chris taking photos

We returned fairly early as we needed to prepare for the next part of our journey and it included some overnight stays in central and southwestern Wisconsin.  But on the way home, we made another stop of the Manitowoc Impoundment to see if anything new was being seen.  The American White Pelicans were in high numbers and had been absent for several years.  We also had high numbers of Caspian Terns and Bonaparte's Gulls.  

 American White Pelican

 Caspian Terns, Forster's Tern, and Bonaparte's Gulls

 Caspian Tern

Semipalmated Sandpiper

The next day we were to journey to the far corner of the state to pursue some warblers and some rarities in the central part of the state.

Apache County and the White Mountains

This past weekend, good birding friend, Tommy DeBardeleben and I headed to the White Mountains in Apache County of Arizona to do some exploration of the many awesome birding spots to be found here.  This county is unique in Arizona and has some unique habitats that are hard to be found elsewhere in the state.  Our hope was to maybe discover some vagrant migrating eastern birds and at the same time, try to add to our Apache County lists.  Tommy knows the area very well so we hit up some of these spots and also explored some spots that he had not been to.  

First stop on Saturday morning was Sipe White Mountain Wilderness Area.  This is an incredible place to visit and fairly easy to get around on the trails.  The trees in the parking lot were full of warblers including Townsend's, Wilson's, Nashville, and MacGillivray's Warblers.  By the time the weekend was over we found dozens of Wilson's and MacGillivray's Warblers; both species were very common and in high numbers.  Out in the grassland area we had a surprise sparrow, the Grasshopper Sparrow; not a bird that we had expected to see.  We actually found 2 of these birds in the massive numbers of Chipping, Brewer's, and Lark Sparrows.

 Grasshopper Sparrow

Grasshopper Sparrow

Chipping Sparrow

Mountain Bluebirds were quite easily seen along with many Brewer's Blackbirds.

Mountain Bluebird

Brewer's Blackbird

A nice juvenile Townsend's Solitaire is always nice to see with their spotted plumage which differs greatly from the adults.  Western Wood-Pewee is another bird that is great to find and on this trip we were able to compare and note the differences between this bird and the Willow Flycatcher.

Townsend's Solitaire - Juvenile

Western Wood-Pewee

After about 3 hours at Sipe, we then headed to Becker Lake for a short visit and added several water birds to our list and a few more warblers, including this Yellow Warbler.

Yellow Warbler

Next stop was Wenima Wildlife Area along the Lower Colorado River.  We added Willow Flycatcher along with some raptors in this location including a nice Swainson's Hawk.  Also discovered a new snake species that I had not seen before; a Striped Whipsnake.  It was long and wanted nothing to do with us, so it quickly headed into the cover of the bushes, but then it proceeded to stick its head out to observe us a bit closer with the rest of its body totally hidden.

 Swainson's Hawk

 Striped Whipsnake

Striped Whipsnake

Our next stop was Lyman Lake State Park, a place that we had passed by on the highway back in July that appeared to have a lot of potential for some great water or shore birds.  At first, we got a feeling that this place might turn out to be a bust, but once we reached the southeastern shore and the mud flats and shore lines we discovered a juvenile Sanderling foraging along the shore line with Least, Western, and Baird's Sandpipers.  Not a new bird for me, but a new bird to add to my Arizona list.  Also found huge numbers of Killdeer and Spotted Sandpipers.

 Sanderling - Juvenile

Sanderling - With a grasshopper that did not get away

Once we had covered the mud flats fairly extensively, we then head back to the main part of the lake and Tommy quickly spied something different out on the lake, a juvenile Sabine's Gull.  This ended up being my one and only life bird on the trip when I was not expecting any, so it was a great find.  Although it was far out in the lake, once it took flight, the key field marks were clearly visible on the wings.  

 Sabine's Gull - Juvenile

 Sabine's Gull - Juvenile

Sabine's Gull - Juvenile

Tommy's scope came in real handy for viewing so many birds much better than binoculars and he also picked out 6 Black Terns flying low over the lake.  We also ended the lake visit with a fly over Caspian Tern.

Black Terns

By this time of the day, the monsoon rains had settled in the White Mountains and we visited a few more lakes, but with the threat of rain in many places, we left our cameras in the car for protection and enjoyed the birds we could see with our binoculars and the scope.  

At Lyman Lake

 At Wenima Wildlife Area

 At Greer Lakes checking out a Peregrine Falcon

 Luna Lake

 Wenima Wildlife Area

Wenima Wildlife Area

Day one came to a close and we headed back to Greer for the night and plan of day 2.