Sunday, Oct 29 8am at Grant Park – Oak Creek Outlet (1 on the map) at the south end. Recent eBird list Great place for ducks and sparrows along the shrub hedge west of the beach. From there we can check out Grant Park feeders (2). In addition, we can stop at Cudahy Park (3). It is an under-birded park for October in Milwaukee County.

From Wisconsin Metro Audubon Society: The county tracks every parkland and records whether they have bird surveys for that location, whether by the Parks Department or a member of the public. This is based on eBird. Every year they identify priority parks by week. A park could be a priority because there are no surveys done in that week; or because there are surveys but they think there may be more species there than previously identified.

An additional birding challenge this week: bird in costume! Stop groaning, not that kind of costume, a “Steal that look”-kinda costume. I know we all have many colored hats, scarves, coats, pants and boots. You can come up with something!

Finch Report Update: Each year the team at Finch Research Network puts out expected Finch movements based on food availability. That year with hundreds of Pine Siskins and Common Redpolls, they saw it coming. See what they are predicting for this winter, Irruption Alert: Finch Forecast and an Update put out this week.

Refresh your duck ID.

Last Week:

Nice group at Lakeshore State Park last week. The weather was excellent – lots of sunshine and little wind. A Lapland Longspur played hide and seek with us in the short-grass prairie. Soon a Cowbird found us and walked along side the group for awhile. We watched gulls, Mallards, Greater Scaup on the inlet until a Snow Bunting landed on the grass. Pulling ourselves away from that little bird, we were drawn to an energetically diving Long-Tailed Duck. A quick walk along the edge of Summerfest grounds turned up Golden-Crowned Kinglet, Tree Sparrows, Juncos and an Eastern Wood Pewee. A fun morning! See the eBird list for details and pics.

Ongoing Bird Walks:

Second Saturday (Nov-March) 11:00am Duck Watch on Lincoln Memorial Drive -east side heading north up the hill -yellow highlighted area. Look for all the people and scopes.
Sundays 8:00am Wisconsin Metro Audubon Society Bird Walk Wehr Nature Center 9701 W College Ave
Tuesdays 8:00am Urban Ecology Center, Menomonee Valley 3700 W Pierce St
Wednesdays 8:00am Urban Ecology Center Washington Park 4023 W Galena St
Thursdays 8:00am Urban Ecology Center Riverside Park 1500 E Park Place

Upcoming:

Wisconsin Society for Ornithology Un-Convention
Saturday Nov 11, 9:00-4:30, UW-Madison Arboretum
Register here: https://wso.wildapricot.org/event-5411772

ONLINE REGISTRATION ENDS FRIDAY, OCT 27 THURSDAY NOV 2

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Christmas Bird Counts
December 14-31
Many location options – details to come

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