Change of plans!

Well everyone, Texas is out.  One of Jacob's co-workers had to leave on an emergency so he has to cover their work too.  Now he'll have only 4 days to take off work.  

We decided rather than waste those 4 days, we'd take advantage of them.  As soon as he has some dates nailed down, I'll drive up to Flagstaff and we'll start from there.  Before we head out, we'll run over to the Grand Canyon and pick up California Condor. Then we'll head north to Grand Junction, CO.  At Grand Junction, we'll go looking for Gunnison Sage-grouse. On day 3, we'll go pick up Black Rosy-finch.  Day 4 will be birding our way back south and pick up White-tailed Ptarmigan and Brown-capped Rosy-finch!  I couldn't ask for 3 better lifers.  

Wish us luck! 

Tomorrow, I'm headed to Patagonia to attempt to photograph that stupid Sinaloa Wren.  I'll probably be there until Sunday.  Hopefully the bird will hop out into the open. Keyword here is Patience. 

Happy Birding!

Fri & Sat birding.

So here's a quick summary of birding on Fri and Sat. 

On Fri, I drove back down to Lancaster for the Rosy Finch. No go.  That bird is unofficially gone. 

Actually, as of today, I'd say it's officially gone.  Anyway, it was still a good day.  I managed to bag 6 species of Finch for the day. My single greatest number of Finch species in one day! I had a grand total of 7 species for the week though.  

I also managed to add a bird to Jeff's now growing yard list: 

This Red-tailed Hawk flew directly over my head.  I also saw a Bald Eagle fly directly over the house.  Other birds at the feeders were: Titmice, Chickadees, Cardinals, Common Redpolls, Am Goldfinches, Pine Siskins, House Finches and Purple Finches.   

A stop at Pine Grove Rd on the way home added White-winged Crossbill to my list for the day. 

Today, after orchestra and my lesson this morning, I stopped at Arena Boat landing on my way home for a N Saw-whet Owl that had been reported there. 

After failing to even find the location (much less the bird) I drove down to the small creek that runs alongside the road and picked up a few wintering birds including this very cold looking Killdeer: 

This is the earliest in the year I have ever seen this bird and certainly the first time I have seen one in Jan.  Especially in snow like this.  

I also saw Am Robins, 1 Belted Kingfisher, 1 Song Sparrow, 2 Canada Geese and a bunch of Mallards.  Otherwise there wasn't much around to see. 

I have to double check this but I think that the only passerine in Southern Wisconsin at this time of year that I haven't seen yet is Red-breasted Nuthatch.  Any other passerine would either require a trip up north, or would be a rather rare bird at this time of year. 

In other words, I'm missing only two raptors for Jan and a whole slew of Ducks and waterfowl. 

Interestingly enough, there's so much water frozen around here that I haven't seen a single gull of any species! Not one.  Ah well, that'll change as soon as the ice melts. 

Happy Birding! 

Rosy Finch Ramblings

How many species of Finch are there at these feeders?

What a crazy day.  This morning, I drove an hour south to Lancaster WI where a GRAY-CROWNED ROSY FINCH was reported and has been coming to a feeder.  Unfortunately, said Finch didn't want to come today.  Who knows why.  Tom Prestby, Sean Fitzgerald, Tom Schafer and I spent the better part of 4 1/2 hours watching the feeders and the surrounding area for the bird. No luck.  

We ended up seeing every other finch that had been reported in Southern Wisconsin, just not the one we wanted.  

The 6 finches we DID see were: Common Redpoll, Pine Siskin, House Finch, Goldfinch, Purple Finch and 18 White-winged Crossbills.  

We also managed to rack up quite a list while there including:

Lapland Longspur, Horned Lark, Tufted Titmouse, Song Sparrow, Cardinal, Bald Eagle and Mourning Dove in addition to the regular feeder birds. 

We all cut out around 2:00pm and split up. Tom, Tom and Sean went West to Cassville for waterfowl while I headed North to Patch Grove where I found this bird:

Patch Grove has usually been a reliable place for Eurasian Collared-dove in the past and proved to be so this time.  Sorry for the awful photo. It was into the sun and through the car window. 

Then, I headed out of town on Patch Grove Road and turned North again on Breuer Rd where I found this bird:

Gray Partridge are uncommon year round residents in Wisconsin. They are found in wide open fields in winter near Green Bay and near Patch Grove where I found a group of 8 of them feeding on leftover corn in the snow. 

Farther up the road, there is a cemetery where I found this guy:

This Sharp-shinned Hawk flew in while I was stopped at a stop sign. 

On the way home, I bagged this beauty:

Red-tailed Hawks are way cool birds! 

Then, as I did yesterday, I stopped at the row of Oaks on Dayton Ridge Rd where I managed to get this shot:
This is probably THE best shot of a Red-headed Woodpecker I've ever taken.  One of these days I'll run down there (it's 5 mins from my house) and spend an hour photographing this guy. He was one of 2 birds I saw while there. 

So, that's my day today.  I might run back down to Lancaster again tomorrow. Hopefully the Rosy Finch hasn't taken off yet. If it's still around, the cold weather on Sat might bring it in. 

Until then, to tide you over, I've posted some photos below from last summer when I saw Gray-crowned Rosy Finches in their natural habitat in Jasper NP, British Columbia, CAN. 

(Yes this Wisconsin bird would be new for the USA for me)

Happy Birding! 

Not the world's greatest photos. It was a bright day and I was photographing a dark bird against a white background.

Here's the habitat they live in:

Spectacular eh?