* Wisconsin
* Madison
* 31 January 2010
* WIMA1001.31
Number: 608-255-2476
Reports: 608-255-2476
Compiler: Madison Audubon
Coverage: south-central Wisconsin
Transcriber: Chuck Heikkinen (deliachuck@gmail.com)
BIRDS MENTIONED-
WHOOPING CRANE
PEREGRINE FALCON
Bald Eagle
Hooded Merganser
Great Blue Heron
Eastern Bluebird
Wild Turkey
Great Horned Owl
Pileated Woodpecker
Northern Shoveler
Ruddy Duck
Great White-fronted Goose
LOCATIONS MENTIONED-
Germantown
Pleasant Prairie Power Plant, Kenosha County
Lake Columbia, south of Portage
Bridge Rd and W Broadway bridge, Madison
Spring Green area
UW Arboretum
McFarland
This is the birding hotline report of the Madison Audubon Society for Sunday, January 31st.
Even though it’s just the end of January, some waterfowl species appear readying to migrate north.
Two WHOOPING CRANES were reported in late afternoon last Sunday, January 24th, in Germanton.
On the 26th a pair of apparently nesting PEREGRINE FALCONS were seen at the WE-Energies Power Plant in Pleasant Prairie, just south of the city of Kenosha.
Observers on a hike around Lake Columbia, south of Portage, spotted 10 BALD EAGLES in addition to wintering waterfowl.
Birders were quite active despite the cold weather yesterday, January 30th. A birder reported HOODED MERGANSERS off the bridge by the intersection of W Broadway and Bridge Road in Madison.
Off Highway 14, west of Madison, observers found both a BALD EAGLE and a GREAT BLUE HERON on Saturday, the 30th. Also on the 30th, east of Spring Green on Hwy 60, birders observed two adult BALD EAGLES in a nest, an EASTERN BLUEBIRD and many WILD TURKEYS.
Another walked in the UW-Madison Arboretum and in the Lost City Forest found a GREAT HORNED OWL and a PILEATED WOODPECKER. Then at McFarland he spotted NORTHERN SHOVELERS, RUDDY DUCKS and a GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE with cross-breed offspring.
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The next Madison Audubon field trip is not until March 6th, but in the meantime you are invited to take part in the 13th annual Great Backyard Bird Count on one or more days from Friday, Feb. 12, through Monday, Feb. 15, 2010.
Participants in the free event will join tens of thousands of volunteers of all levels of birding experience to count birds in their own backyards, local parks or wildlife refuges. Each checklist submitted by “citizen scientists” helps create the continent’s largest instantaneous snapshot of bird populations ever recorded, which will help researchers at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society learn more about how the birds are doing and how to protect them. Anyone can take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count, from novice bird watchers to experts. Participants count birds for as little as 15 minutes (or as long as they wish) on one or more days of the event and report their sightings online at http:www.birdcount.org.
Good Birding!
