Cooper's and crows playing "tag"

There's a large grassy lawn dotted with a few trees in Milwaukee's Veteran's Park.

Yesterday afternoon there were 4-5 crows hanging out on the lawn, when suddenly a large immature Cooper's Hawk flew out of some trees by the lagoon. It picked out a crow, swooped down on it, tapped it with its feet, and made this loud guttural call. The Cooper's then flew up into a nearby tree.

Not to anthropomorphize too much, but the crow looked genuinely embarrassed that it had been taken by surprise. Its feathers were all ruffled and it was making low muttering sounds.

The other crows acted as if nothing had happened, which surprised me. I expected them to get all agitated and go after the Cooper's. After about a minute, one of the other crows flew up into the tree where the Cooper's was. It was quiet for about 30 seconds. Then the crow burst out of the tree with the Cooper's in close pursuit. Some fancy aerobatics ensued for about 20 seconds. Most of the time the Cooper's was doing the chasing, but once the crow manuvered so that it was behind the hawk.

The Cooper's then flew back up into a tree. Another crow slowly flew past the hawk, as if challenging it to another "game". The Cooper's took the bait and there was another chase. The scenario repeated itself several times.

One by one the crows drifted away, seeming to grow tired of the sport. The Cooper's and the last crow started one final chase and wound up on the ground, rolling around for a couple of seconds. Then the crow left, leaving the hawk calmly sitting by itself up in a tree.

The thing that surprised me the most about this encounter was that the Cooper's and the crows seemed very calm when they weren't interacting. And when one crow was playing "tag", the others acted as if nothing unusual was going on.

It was a fun encounter.

Photos of sunrise on a section of my Milwaukee walking BIGBY route

My Milwaukee walking BIGBY route is nice because I've been finding lots of interesting birds. But there's more to it than that. The tranquil beauty of an early morning sunrise can be quite the restorative for one's spirits.

Here's an example, captured with just a simple cell phone camera this morning (9/13), at the south end of Bradford Beach:

http://bit.ly/atyFfs

And here's another cell phone shot taken from water's edge at Bradford Beach as the sun peeks over the horizon:

http://bit.ly/bJNBRx

Milwaukee Lakefront, 9/8-9/9 – Ross’s Goose, Eagle, six new BIGBY birds

Beautiful weather for birding Milwaukee’s lakefront. Cool and crisp, with stunning sunrises over Lake Michigan both mornings. I managed to add six new Milwaukee walking BIGBY species, bringing my 2010 count to 126 species. (What's a BIGBY? See: http://bit.ly/cn3cbv).

Here are the highlights from Wednesday, September 8:

* Eastern Screech-owl. Milwaukee walking BIGBY species #121. Heard before sunrise from Back Bay Park.

* Savannah Sparrow. BIGBY #122. Saw it in a sandy patch of tall native grasses and wildflowers at the north end of Bradford Beach. I had seen some movement when I first got there, so I stood there patiently for about 20 minutes and eventually the bird came into view for a bit.

* Lots of Chimney Swifts above the Lake Park bluffs. Maybe as many as 1,000. I was down below the bluffs and had a vantage point where I could pretty much see the whole stretch of Lake Park bluffs from North Avenue to Kenwood. The swifts were swarming like crazy. I’m guessing that the trees at the top of the bluffs are the first to be warmed by the morning sunlight and the insects are most abundant there in the early morning. After a half hour or so they were pretty much gone. Next day I saw one bird.

* There were also about 12-15 Barn Swallows over the rugby field at North Point. Haven’t seen any since.

* While watching the swifts and swallows, some movement out over the lake caught my eye. Adult Bald Eagle, headed in a southerly direction. BIGBY species #123.

* Lake Park was pretty active with warblers (no new BIGBYs) and quite a few migrating Northern Flickers. Also had a Red-breasted Nuthatch.

* There was an American Kestrel hover-hunting over Lakeshore State Park. I always enjoy watching kestrels hunt like this. It made a couple of dives to the ground, but came away with nothing.

* Beautiful Red Fox. It was mousing and insect hunting (even tried to grab a dragonfly) in an overgrown grassy area right east of the Veterans Park lagoon. It was a big fox, and its red and white coat was resplendent in the clear bright sunlight. At one point we stood and looked curiously at each other for a couple of minutes.

* Ross’s Goose. BIGBY #124. Life bird, probable state early fall record for Wisconsin, my best BIGBY bird of the year, and maybe ever. Need I say more? :-)

Here are the highlights from Thursday, September 9:

* Watched two Sanderlings fight on the North Point algae mat. Never seen Sanderlings have an argument before. They would stand toe-to-toe and flap their wings, chest-bumping and vocalizing agitatedly. They did this several times. Each time the bird to my right would eventually back down. Must have been some choice tasty morsels on that stinky spot of algae.

* Hermit Thrush. BIGBY #125. In a Lake Park ravine.
* Gray-cheeked Thrush. BIGBY #126. In a Lake Park ravine.

And two non-nature highlights:

* On Wednesday I walked past the old Edmund Fitzgerald house just north of Lake Park. The ship in Gordon Lightfoot's 1976 song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" was named after the guy who once lived in this house.

* On Thursday in Lake Park I stumbled onto the opening ceremonies of the lawn bowling “North American Challenge”, pitting the best lawn bowlers of the U.S. against their Canadian counterparts. They even had a bagpiper. I think that was the first time I’ve ever been serenaded by bagpipes while birding. :-) If you’re curious about this event, see: http://bit.ly/cAvWsE.

My 2010 walking BIGBY goal - 200 species

I've always thought it would be pretty cool to record 200 walking BIGBY species in a year, but I never thought I'd have the chance until now. So I'm setting that as my goal for 2010.

My BIGBY this year is rather unique. I birded in southern Indiana the first seven months of the year. And now I'm birding in southeastern Wisconsin after moving to Milwaukee. I had a lot of birds in southern Indiana that I'll never get here (Blue Grosbeak, Carolina Wren, Carolina Chickadee, Prairie Warbler, Bobwhite, Grouse, Turkey, etc., etc., etc.). And I've been picking up (or will pick up) species along the Milwaukee lakefront that I never had in my southern Indiana BIGBY (gulls, shorebirds, waterfowl, etc).

Watch...after having made my goal public, I'll probably find out the overlap between my two BIGBY lists is bigger than I thought, and I'll fall far short of my goal. Maybe I should have merged the two lists before announcing my goal to the world. :-)

Bernie Sloan
Bloomington, IN (January-July)
Milwaukee, WI (August-December)

Milwaukee BIGBY species #120

Unlike a lot of people, I have less time for birding on weekends than during the week. But I managed to get out a few times, and added seven more species to my 2010 Milwaukee walking BIGBY list. That list now totals 120 species.

Monarch butterfly migration continues. I had the good fortune this morning to come across a bush in a sunny protected spot that held at least 30 resting Monarchs. I snuck up to within two feet of the bush. Wonderful close-up views. I've decided that I think that the underside of a Monarch's wings are more striking than the orange and black upper side. The upper side has flashier colors, but the underside has more subtle, intricate details. Almost like a stained glass window.

I started out the extended Labor Day weekend on Friday, with a trip to Lake Park. Not much activity at the North Point algae mats (couple of Semipalmated Plovers and Sanderlings), but I picked up four new BIGBY species up on the bluff in Lake Park:

* Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Milwaukee walking BIGBY species #114.
* Orange-crowned Warbler. BIGBY #115.
* Scarlet Tanager. BIGBY #116.
* Eastern Towhee. BIGBY #117.

I felt like I'd been ignoring Veterans Park lately, and favoring the Lake Park end of my BIGBY circuit, so I made two abbreviated visits to Veterans Park on Saturday and Sunday. These two visits produced another two BIGBY species. The Veterans Park highlights:

* Willow Flycatcher. BIGBY #118. Hanging out on the southeast side of the lagoon.
* Osprey. BIGBY #119. Heading south over the shore. One of two big highlights of the weekend! I really love Ospreys, but I tend to see them only during migration.
* Two Peregrine Falcons. Not a new BIGBY bird, but I don't think I've ever seen two Peregrines at the same time before. The other big highlight of the weekend! I'm not sure they were actually together, but they were both in the general vicinity of the US Bank building and downtown, looking for pigeons, maybe.

Finally, I made a trip to Lake Park early this morning. The wind was starting to pick up, so it was hard to find birds. But there were a few interesting things, including BIGBY species #120. The highlights:

* The North Point algae mats were in fine shape. Lots of gulls...150+. Lots of shorebirds...40+ birds. But nothing new: Sanderlings, Spotted Sandpipers, and Semipalmated Sandpipers and Semipalmated Plovers.
* I'd seen only a couple of Barn Swallows over the past several days. But this morning there were 12-15 foraging over the grassy area just south of the water filtration plant.
* Maybe 150 Chimney Swifts flying around above the bluff.
* BIGBY species #120 (Veery). I was at the top of the bluff and some brief motion caught my attention in the woods. I waited for a bit. My patience paid off.

Bernie Sloan
Milwaukee

Mississippi Kites in northern Illinois

For several years now there have been Mississippi Kites nesting and breeding in Rockford, Illinois. To give you an idea of how far north this is, Rockford is only 20 miles away from the Wisconsin state line.

While Mississippi Kites are known to breed in Illinois, their Illinois breeding range is in far southwestern Illinois, 300 miles south of Rockford.

This year it looks like there's been a kite population explosion in Rockford (see following e-mail). I'm wondering if this is the farthest north breeding site for Mississippi Kites in the U.S.?

--- On Mon, 9/6/10, Larry Balch wrote:

From: Larry Balch
Subject: IBET Kite explosion in Rockford
To: ILbirds@yahoogroups.com
Date: Monday, September 6, 2010, 9:19 PM

We can now confirm the existence of 4 juvenile kites in Rockford. We have found two nests, and know the approximate location of a third. We suspect the general location of yet another nest from which no young have yet been found.

On Monday, 29 August, 9 kites were seen by a knowledgeable couple, soaring in circles together above their large back yard. They and we have been seeing one or two kites in their yard for most of the summer.A brief summary of the juveniles we've found:

Kid 1: Found in nest 8/13 4 blocks north of Bloom School, and 2-3 blocks east. Not seen there 8/15. Found on ground 8/16. Seen walking/hopping across lawn 8/17. On the same day it apparently continued across the street to a bush where it spent the next 4 days. First seen flying, a distance of 50 feet, on 8/22. Not seen again until 8/28, 1400 feet from nest. Not seen since.

Kid 2: Found 9/1 about a block directly south of Bloom School. Easily distinguishable from Kid 2 by plumage differences. This bird was very active, often flying 100 to 150 feet between different perches. Fed by adults. Seen again late 9/3 very close to where originally seen. Not seen since.

Kid 3: Found afternoon of 9/5, about a block directly south of Bloom School. Again, easily distinguishable from both Kid 1 and Kid 2 by plumage differences. This bird apparently sat in exactly the same spot for the next 19-20 hours before dropping to a lower branch today. The intersection around which Kids 2 and 3 have been seen is about 550 feet from last year's nest.

Kid 4: Found around 9:30 this morning near its nest, well northeast of Bloom School, and about 580 feet from the nest of Kid 1. This bird was seen to fly about 15 feet later, without leaving the tree.Single birds were known to have fledged from known nests in both 2008 and 2009, both near Bloom School. We did not suspect the existence of other young birds in either year.

Further details will be posted at http://ncios.org/blog later tonight.

Larry Balch
Winnebago County

Milwaukee shorebirds & warblers - BIGBY species #105

Early yesterday I walked to Milwaukee's Bradford Beach, North Point, and Lake Park. All three areas are near Lake Michigan.

I found five new BIGBY species, bringing my Milwaukee walking BIGBY total to 105 species. I started my Milwaukee BIGBY on August 3, after moving from Bloomington, IN. As an aside, my 105 Milwaukee species is by far my highest species count ever for the month of August, BIGBY or non-BIGBY. Very cool!

Bradford Beach was a washout. A couple of people had dogs fetching stuff in the lake at the north end (dogs-allowed section) of the beach, so I didn't bother to look there.

At North Point the algae mats had shifted so that they covered a much smaller area than usual. But I had much better shorebird variety than the past several trips...five species:

* Spotted Sandpiper. Two birds.
* Semi-palmated Plover. Three birds
* Least Sandpiper. BIGBY species #101. One bird.
* Semi-palmated Sandpiper. BIGBY #102. Two birds.
* Sanderling. Several birds.

Up on the bluffs at Lake Park I encountered several waves of warblers along the length of the Locust Street Ravine Trail. Quite a few birds! I was able to identify 11 warbler species. If the lighting had been better (it was cloudy, or maybe high fog) I may have been able to ID a few other species. Here are the Lake Park highlights:

* Eastern Phoebe. BIGBY species #103. Two or more birds.
* Blue Jay. One Bird. Only the second Blue Jay I've seen so far in Milwaukee. Not a new BIGBY bird, but maybe my favorite bird of the day. :-)

The Lake Park warblers:

* Black-and-white Warbler. Maybe a half dozen. I think they are my favorite warbler. No bright flashy colors, but the vivid contrast of the bold black and white markings is striking.
* Palm Warbler.
* Magnolia Warbler.
* American Redstart. Many.
* Cape May Warbler. BIGBY #104. One bird.
* Northern Parula. BIGBY #105. One bird. Hadn't seen one since I left southern Indiana.
* Tennessee Warbler.
* Blackburnian Warbler.
* Blackpoll Warbler.
* Black-throated Green Warbler.
* Chestnut-sided Warbler.