Beautiful day to walk through the park. Bright sun, temps in the 40s and, of course, a wind off the lake. Saw the expected Downy Woodpeckers and Northern Cardinals as we headed to the Gen Wolcott statue. A few White-breasted Nuthatches and a Mourning Dove at the lion’s bridge. We walked west around the ravine entrance and back to the parking lot to take the new pedestrian bridge. From the top of the steps we could see some Goldeneyes on the lake. At the Locust St ravine a Starling and a Red-Bellied Woodpecker were spotted. As we approached the birdfeeders on the south side of the ravine we saw a number of Dark-eyed Juncos. Walking past the feeder, the juncos started flying higher in the trees, a few Black-capped Chickadees began alarming and a nuthatch was rattling like crazy. The cause of all this commotion….

We had great looks at all sides of this Merlin. See all the details on the eBird list

No group birding next Sunday, Feb 26. Stay tuned for a March 5 location

Follow-Ups:
Monday is the last day of the Great Backyard Bird Count. Sit at your window for 15 minutes and eBird what you see.

Alex’s article in the Ozaukee Press: A Birder’s Passion

An Ear on Our Birds: Avian Bioacoustic Monitoring presented by Gary Caspar sponsored by Ozaukee-Washington County Birding Coalition. The 40-minute talk was on Feb 15 at Mequon Nature Preserve.

Boswell’s Books and Schlitz Audubon Nature Center presented a 50-minute interview with Wise Hours author Miriam Darlington and commentary by a few of Schlitz’s owls, watch here

Wisconsin Bird Conservation Partnership (WBCP) Convention Info here It is March 24-25 in Oshkosh. Some interesting talks scheduled. A few of us are heading up just for Friday. Check out the agenda, if you want to go we can arrange car pools.

If you are not yet a member, join the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin now to get access to Field Trip registration opening on April 4.

Upcoming WSO Field Trips: March 11 Sheboygan Lakefront and Mar 25 Dane and Columbia County Ponds registration required.