I Logged My 200th Bird Species For Wisconsin! I Got A Great Tip From A Close Friend, Who Knows About

I guess I'm an owl guy now. Just last week I learned about an Eastern Screech-Owl pair that has been nesting in Monona, WI for at least three years, so I had to go take a look over the weekend. The pictures below were all taken on Sunday.

[ID: An Eastern Screech-Owl sleeps in the knotty hole of a tree. The Owl is a red morph, with tawny brown feathers on the head, wings, and breast. Dark brown streaks and white patches make for a scaly camouflage effect on the lower breast and belly. The Owl has tiny brown ear tufts that stick up from the top of her head above feathery white brows. From this angle, the Owl is facing the left side of the frame, with just a little bit of beak and talon visible among the puffed feathers. Her left eye is a black slit, tightly closed against the daylight. End ID]

I visited the nest site a couple times on Saturday between other birding excursions in the area, but had no luck. The tree pretty much hangs over the road in a residential area, so it was super easy to swing by and have a look. It may have been too cold and windy that day for the Owl to want to sleep out in the open.

[ID: An Eastern Screech-Owl sleeps in the knotty hole of a tree. The Owl is a red morph, with tawny brown feathers on the head, wings, and breast. Dark brown streaks and white patches make for a scaly camouflage effect on the lower breast and belly. The Owl has tiny brown ear tufts that stick up from the top of her head above feathery white brows. From this angle, the Owl is facing the camera directly, with just a little bit of beak and talon visible among the puffed feathers. Her eyes are black slits, tightly closed against the daylight. End ID]

I met several other nice birders that were there for exactly the same reason as me. Some just popping out of their cars for a quick look and others stopping to chat or swap birding stories and intel for a while. A mother and son from Monticello, a retiree from somewhere 90 minutes away (he didn't say) who left to seek out the same Snowy Owl I saw a week prior, folks who live just down the block and see the Screech-Owl at least once a week. We learned from past sighting reports that the red morph of this pair is the female and the grey morph is the male, due to their relative size and courtship behaviors. (With many predatory bird species, the females are generally larger than the males, even when coloration between the sexes is identical.) The owner of the house across the street explained that the female has been back living in the nest hole for a couple weeks, but she hasn't seen the male yet this year.

[ID: An Eastern Screech-Owl sleeps in the knotty hole of a tree. The Owl is a red morph, with tawny brown feathers on the head, wings, and breast. Dark brown streaks and white patches make for a scaly camouflage effect on the lower breast and belly. The Owl has tiny brown ear tufts that stick up from the top of her head above feathery white brows. From this angle, the Owl is facing to the right of the frame, with just a little bit of beak and talon visible among the puffed feathers. Her eyes are black slits, tightly closed against the daylight. End ID]

At the end of the day, I decided to wait with one other birder (who had driven about two hours from Menasha) in the hopes that the Owl would emerge before sunset. We weren't completely without luck, as the Owl decided to sleep in until around 5:30pm, when basically all light had gone from the sky. I only saw her because she immediately flew from the hole and landed on a nearby roof to take a look around. Neither of us got a single usable picture, but I could see her well enough through the binoculars to make a positive ID and log my 190th species. My compatriot had to return home that night, but I decided to keep an eye on eBird and pop back over if someone else happened to see the Owl during the day.

[ID: An Eastern Screech-Owl sleeps in the knotty hole of a tree. The Owl is a red morph, with tawny brown feathers on the head, wings, and breast. Dark brown streaks and white patches make for a scaly camouflage effect on the lower breast and belly. The Owl has tiny brown ear tufts that stick up from the top of her head above feathery white brows. From this angle, the Owl is facing the left side of the frame, with just a little bit of beak and talon visible among the puffed feathers. Her left eye is a black slit, tightly closed against the daylight. End ID]

As I'm sure you guessed from the photos in this post, other folks reported the Eastern Screech-Owl sleeping out in the open midmorning on Sunday. So I finished my chores and tossed my gear in the car for yet another short drive to Monona. And much to my delight, she was still there when I arrived, completely asleep and looking quite comfortable! (One of the birders from Saturday had mentioned that she likes to sleep out in the open when it's warmer and not so windy.) I snapped about 700 photos from various angles, then went to meet up with my good friend Rachel.

[ID: An Eastern Screech-Owl sleeps in the knotty hole of a tree. The Owl is a red morph, with tawny brown feathers on the head, wings, and breast. Dark brown streaks and white patches make for a scaly camouflage effect on the lower breast and belly. The Owl has tiny brown ear tufts that stick up from the top of her head above feathery white brows. From this angle, the Owl is facing to the right of the frame, with just a little bit of beak and talon visible among the puffed feathers. Her eyes are black slits, tightly closed against the daylight. End ID]

You see, Rachel got me into birding in the first place, and she and her partner were coming to Madison to visit and go to a hockey game that evening. I made sure to let her know that she better bring her binoculars if she was interested in taking a small detour to pick up a lifer. And being a very well-behaved Owl, the Screecher didn't move an inch from her roost. The light was better this time, so I had to snap another 600 pictures or so. We met a few more birders and checked around the base of the tree for pellets, but didn't find any. We wondered about the species of the tree (I thought ash, she leaned toward box elder), then said goodbye to the Owl. It's certainly fun to pick up a lifer when I'm out by myself, but I find it even more enjoyable to share that moment with someone else.

I didn't get a chance to go birding this past weekend, so it's time for another post from the archives. I wouldn't call this my best bit of photography, but it brings me joy nonetheless.

[ID: A female Snowy Owl rests on the ice of Lake Monona. She's crouched next to a small ridge of ice, wings folded and eyes closed to black slits. She's almost entirely white, with black flecks on her wings, breast, and head. The rest of the scene is nearly featureless white snow, with just the occasional ripple made by the wind. End ID]

Last year around this time (late January) we had experienced an irruption of Snowy Owls in Wisconsin. Two owls in particular chose Lake Monona as their favorite rest spot for a couple of months, and they became locally famous for their continued presence around the Monona Terrace.

I had never seen a Snowy Owl in person before, so I took several opportunities to wander the lake and the surrounding areas hoping to catch a glimpse of my first one. It wasn't until late February that I was walking along the Terrace and spotted a lump on the ice that was much darker and less reflective than anything else out there. My heart began to thump faster and my pace increased as I realized what I was seeing. The Owl was resting in the windbreak caused by a small ridge of ice, so I carefully crept into the barest edge of photography range so as not to disturb her.

I probably spent a half hour crouched on the ice, taking the occasional photo each time she moved. Mostly I was happy to sit in her presence and try to match that level of calm and restfulness. I was inspired to make this post today because I just learned that we've had another Snowy Owl visiting Dane County the past two weeks. I'm thinking it might be a good time to go for a drive, looking for a speckled white mound among the corn stubble...

Not really a question, but I just wanted to say that your photos are awesome! You have a lot of talent, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of it in the future :)

That's really kind of you to say! You can be sure that I won't be quitting photography anytime soon.

Here's a bird that took me completely by surprise. (Content warning for a predator eating/carrying prey. I've put the more graphic pics below the cut.) Last week I was working at my dining room table, waiting for a plumber to show up. I glanced out the window and saw this Cooper's Hawk land on the neighbor's roof.

[ID: A male Cooper's Hawk stands on the roof of a house. The Hawk is mostly bluish grey with orange and white stripes on the breast and legs. He has dark red eyes and a hooked yellow beak with a grey tip. He's standing at the edge of the roof, looking off to the left. There are grey and black feathers scattered about, but the roof is blocking his prey from view. The sky in the background is an overcast grey. End ID]

Of course, I immediately jumped up and grabbed my camera. Based on the smaller size and the bluish tint to the wings, I figure the Hawk was male. I noticed right away that he was bending down to pick apart and eat something. I couldn't tell what he was eating, but I could see lots of black and grey feathers scattered about.

[ID: A male Cooper's Hawk stands on the roof of a house. The Hawk is mostly bluish grey with orange and white stripes on the breast and legs. He has dark red eyes and a hooked yellow beak with a grey tip. He's standing at the edge of the roof, looking down at his prey and lifting one yellow foot with sharp, black talons. There are grey and black feathers scattered about, but the roof is blocking his prey from view. The sky in the background is an overcast grey. End ID]

He stuck around for several minutes, which gave me some time to find a good position and adjust my settings to compensate for the overcast skies. (Picture me standing on a dining room chair, slightly crouched to line lens up with the top edge of the window.)

[ID: A male Cooper's Hawk stands on the roof of a house. The Hawk is mostly bluish grey with orange and white stripes on the breast and legs. He has dark red eyes and a hooked yellow beak with a grey tip. He's standing at the edge of the roof, looking down over the edge of the roof. There are grey and black feathers scattered about, but the roof is blocking his prey from view. The sky in the background is an overcast grey. End ID]

Just as I was taking another burst, the Hawk did a little hop to get a better grip on his meal. Go ahead and scroll past this last photo if you'd rather not see the remains of what appears to be a Downy Woodpecker. All I knew in the moment was that I had held the shutter button through the whole sequence. It was only later while processing photos that I could make out enough detail on the prey for a possible ID.

[ID: A male Cooper's Hawk is shown mid-hop in the air above the roof of a house. The Hawk is mostly bluish grey with orange and white stripes on the breast and legs. He has dark red eyes and a hooked yellow beak with a grey tip. He's just flapped his wings to hop into the air and get a better grip on his prey. The prey appears to be the remains of a Downy Woodpecker, with the head and most of the upper body torn away. However, the remaining feathers appear to have the characteristic black and white pattern on the tail to suggest either a Downy or Hairy Woodpecker. There are grey and black feathers scattered about. The sky in the background is an overcast grey. End ID]

Just after that, the Hawk flew off between the houses and was gone. It made me a little sad to think that one of our regular feeder visitors was now somebody's lunch, but it's somewhat comforting to think that our neighborhood must have a fairly healthy ecosystem. At least we have enough small birds and other prey around to convince the raptors to keep coming back to their favorite hunting grounds!

I took this photo back in May during the Horicon Marsh Bird Festival. Spring migration was just kicking into high gear, and lots of different species were moving through, establishing territory, starting nests.

One of the paths we were walking was completely taken over by Tree Swallows, claiming every available nest box. This lovely lady must have already claimed the nest box nearby because she refused to move from her perch as we passed. She gave me a nice long look from about 10 feet away, still probably the sharpest photo I've taken of a Swallow.

[ID: A female Tree Swallow sits on a bare branch. She has a white body and throat, with dark gray head and wings. There are small flecks of blue on her forehead above a jet black beak and shiny black eyes. She clings tightly to the branch with pinkish feet, seemingly unafraid of the people nearby. End ID]

I found the Snowy Owl! Using the recent sightings reported in the area as my guide, I went driving around Dane, WI yesterday. I stopped to scan a corn field with my binoculars and spotted this guy perched on a fence post.

I knew right away the large white bird on the post was the Snowy I was after, so I quickly grabbed my camera and got out to find a good spot to set up. Of course, as soon as I got the bird in frame he decided to fly up to the roof peak of a farm building further away. Even so, I sat down and took a few long-distance bursts in case that was only look I would get. Then I noticed that there was a house among the farm buildings. If someone was home maybe they'd let me take a closer look?

Just as I'd hoped, the folks living there were home and they were happy to let me onto their property for a chance at a better photo. They even pointed out a good spot behind a concrete wall where I could stand totally out of sight of the corn field. It turned out to be such a good blind that all the shots in this post were taken there. And just as we were talking, the Owl flew back down to that same fence post!

He was very cooperative, sitting mostly still while I fiddled with settings and let the auto-focus pick between the snow and the post. I figure he was hunting, scanning the field for little creatures. Then he did a little preening and stretched his neck before taking flight!

He didn't immediately pounce on anything, instead wheeling up toward a tree across the field. I thought he would land up there, but instead he flushed a smaller dark bird and started chasing it! Zooming in on the photos of the sortie revealed that the enemy was either a Cooper's or a Sharp-shinned Hawk. I wish I could have seen how that encounter turned out, but they flew out of sight across the field.

Even without a high-speed pursuit, seeing the Snowy Owl so close was my top birding moment of the year so far. Many thanks to Dean and Deb for welcoming me onto their property and making this moment possible!

Folks, I picked up a lifer just down the street from my house! It was raining a bit on Sunday, so we decided to dig our raincoats out of storage and go hunt for some puddles in need of splashing. Now, I've learned my lesson over the past couple years: never leave home without the binoculars or the camera. And this time I was very glad I grabbed the bins before heading out.

[ID: A Horned Grebe floats on the blue water of Lake Monona. They are facing to the right, showing an impressive profile in the evening sunlight. The Grebe is a small ducklike creature, mostly black with smudges of brown on the flanks and throat. Their head is their most striking feature, black with piercing red eyes. Above and behind each eye a tan stripe radiates backward to create a small crest, the eponymous horns. A thin line of pink skin traces forward from the eye to join with the black dagger of a bill tipped with white. Small beads of water sit on the Grebe's back from their most recent dive below the surface. End ID]

But wait, wasn't it raining at the beginning of this story? It was! We wandered through the neighborhood for a while, mom and kid forging ahead while I lagged behind counting Sparrows and Finches. We made our way down to a park at the edge of Lake Monona. Of course, I had to go out on the dock to check the water for anything interesting. Sure enough, there were a pair of small birds bobbing with the waves, diving down to hunt, and popping back up again. I said to myself, "are those Grebes?" just before I noticed a flash of tan on their heads. Folks, I knew I had never seen a Grebe with tan on it before! I called Caitlin over, handed her the binoculars, and dashed home to grab my camera.

[ID: A Horned Grebe floats on the choppy grey water of Lake Monona. The bird appears to be drenched, but unbothered by the rain. In the low light it's just possible to make out the tan horn on their head and the brownish flank against the black body. End ID]

The above photo is a much more accurate representation of my view from Sunday. The rain began to pick up as I was returning with my camera, but I ignored the poor conditions and set up to shoot anyway. I needed to be sure of the species for my life list! So I got cozy on the downwind side of a nearby tree and started scanning the water for small black birds popping up. I did eventually relocate them, fairly far out on the lake. I was also surprised to see a Common Loon cruise by at a much closer distance.

[A Common Loon floats in profile, partially submerged, on the grey water of Lake Monona. The Loon is almost entirely black, with the white checked back and tapered white neck band characteristic of their breeding plumage. Their gently curved head and knifelike bill are jet black. End ID]

Certainly not the best pictures I've taken, but they were good enough to make a positive ID. For the time being, I would have to be content with this documentation. A couple days later, however, the clouds had passed through and we had just enough time for a walk before dinner. And it was golden hour! Perhaps the Grebes were still around?

[ID: A Horned Grebe floats on the blue water of Lake Monona. The lake is much calmer and the sunlight is reflecting off the wet feathers of the Grebe. End ID]

Not only was the Horned Grebe back at the same dock, it was much closer this time and very cooperative, turning back and forth to make sure I could see their best angles. I sat right down at the end of the dock and snapped away while my kid went looking for sticks to bash on the rocks at the shoreline. It was very peaceful sitting out by the lake, listening to the birdsong, the fitness class at the top of the hill, the captain of the rowing team calling out their orders, my son making up games about climbing the rocks and telling me all the arcane rules he just uncovered. Even the Loon came back around for another cruise.

[ID: A Common Loon floats out in the distance on the blue water of Lake Monona. End ID]

Sometimes you go out and find a bird, and other times the bird finds you. What with it still being February, I've been mostly birding at places with open water. (I'm always looking for opportunities to spot some waterfowl that I haven't yet seen this year.) And because it's February in Wisconsin, the open water tends to be near springs or the rivers connecting the various lakes. One such place is a stretch of the Yarhara River between Lake Waubesa and Mud Lake in McFarland, WI. I was just walking out of the parking lot at Babcock County Park, checking out the Canada Geese and various ducks, when this creature just strolled out from behind a tree.

[ID: A Greylag Goose stands in the snow near a river. The Goose is shown in profile looking to the right. It is mostly grey with bright orange bill and feet. The eye is dark brown with a thin orange ring around it. Folded wings become gradually darker grey as they extend back into primary flight feathers, with bright white tail coverts underneath. End ID]

Being only about 30 feet away, I knew immediately that this was one of the Greylag Geese that have been reported in the area recently. There was no mistaking that bright orange bill and distinctive honk. You know, the honk you hear in your head when someone tells you to picture a farm goose. It really is just like that, and for good reason. I knew basically nothing about the Greylag Goose except that it's classified as an escaped exotic species in the United States, but I've since read that this species is the ancestor of basically all breeds of domestic goose. It's native to Europe and Asia and was brought here to North America as a domestic. So yeah, farm goose honk.

[ID: A Greylag Goose walks in the snow near a river. The Goose is honking loudly, showing off the shaggy grey feathers on their neck. A pair of Canada Geese stand in the background. End ID]

Beside being much easier to identify, I also appreciate large, stationary birds for being easier to photograph. The Greylag and their Canada pals decided to wander over to forage right at the edge of the parking lot, allowing me to creep up behind my car and fill the frame with big grey goose. I had a nice long opportunity to watch the geese graze in the park before a pair of bulldogs and their owner came by and scared the whole flock into the sky.

[ID: A Greylag Goose forages in the exposed grass near a large tree. The Goose bends down to pick at the grass at the edge of the snow. It has bits of grass stuck to its bill, which is open and showing tiny serrated edges. A Canada Goose is standing just out of focus in the background. End ID]

Back in May of 2022, we were out at the UW Madison Arboretum looking for Warblers. We came across a couple of older folks with binoculars staring intently into the trees, so I thought for sure they found a good one. But no! Turns out they had spotted this little guy.

[ID: A juvenile Barred Owl sleeps in the shade of a tree. It's mostly brown and fuzzy, with grey marks throughout and a browner "mask" around the eyes and beak. It's sitting on a large branch with a pair of slanted tree trunks on either side, and a few young green leaves framing the scene. End ID]

This is a baby Barred Owl, having a little snooze in the shade. They woke up briefly to look around and check us out, but they seemed perfectly content to sit in full view from the path as people jogged by and stopped to peek at them.

Banded Stilts

Photo Credit: Georgina Steytler