15 March - 21 March 2022

Dear fellow flock of birders,

This past week birders have been seeing some new migrant arrivals in Dane County but not necessarily in the Arboretum. Eventually they will appear in the Arb too. 

Last Tuesday when I arrived at the Visitor Center parking lot at 6:55 am there was a bird standing motionless in the grass next to the parking lot. It had its back to me so I wasn’t sure what it was but I did have an idea. I slowly pulled out my camera and quietly opened the car door.  The bird still did not move. I started taking photos in the dim light of sunrise. Finally it turned toward me so that I could see the two black stripes on its neck. It was a Killdeer. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Killdeer in that location before. We do see them down by Pond 2 sometimes. It finally woke up and flew off calling its distinctive call.

On Thursday, March 17 the temps were in the 40s and it felt great. There was a black pickup truck at the far west end of the parking lot. It was shiny, clean and had a large silvery front bumper. A Wild Turkey walked over to it and began admiring its reflection in the bumper. It raised its feathers and began walking back and forth along the bumper occasionally giving the bumper a good peck. I took a couple photos of this activity as it continued for several minutes. Finally I got bored and left the turkey to its repetitive narcissistic behavior. A photo of this turkey is included.

I continued my walk out on Longenecker Gardens. I heard a couple American Crows calling. There were two in a tree. I looked at them with my binoculars and saw one break off a small branch. It then flew north and landed in one of the tall White Pines along Arboretum Drive. I then saw two other crows carrying similar sized sticks to the same pine. They were apparently building a nest near the top of the tree. That is about the same place they built a nest last year. I wanted to get a photo of a crow carrying a stick to the nest but the crows got wise to me and came around to the back side so I could not get my photo. They’re so smart.

I checked the Pinetum and then walked down the hill to the Big Spring. There were a few Mallards in the outflow. I did see a couple Green-winged Teal come around the corner at the end of the outflow. As soon as they saw me they turned around and disappeared to the back pool. I moved to the left side to look at the back pool and saw five Green-winged Teal there. We rarely see Green-winged Teal at Big Springs. I’ve included a photo of Green-winged Teal that I took at Lake Farm Park a few days before. They are such beautiful ducks. Besides the green speculum on its wings they have a curved green bar arching from the back of the neck to and including the eye. The rest of the head is dark brown. It has a white vertical bar at the shoulder and a tan and black tail. They often feed in soft mud.

I went back to the Pinetum and began to hear a kak-kak-kak call. It was the sound that a Cooper’s Hawk makes. I searched around the area and finally found the hawk perched in a deciduous tree near Gallistel Woods. It perched there for a bit and then walked along the branch before flying off. I’ve included a photo of the Cooper’s Hawk walking along the branch.

My last stop was visiting our family of Sandhill Cranes on Curtis Prairie. I refer to it as our family because the pair of adults seem to come back every year to Curtis Prairie, raise one or two young and leave in the fall. Last year they raised one and when they came back this spring the colt from last year came with, now as a one year old adult. I walked down the middle trail and I could hear the adults bugling ahead. I found them near the trail just past the Burr Oaks. They were feeding by probing their bill into the soil. I could hear another pair of cranes farther north. All of a sudden this northern pair came flying in and attacked our adult cranes. A fight ensued with a lot of jumping, wing flapping and calling. It did not last long and our family of adults were the victors. Following that the adults spent a lot of time bugling which let other cranes know that that is their territory. The year old came flying in shortly after the fight. I’ve included two photos of the cranes. One is the fight between two opposing males and the other is the two adults in the background bugling and the one year old offspring in the front walking across the trail.

On Friday, March 18, I walked out on Curtis Prairie and found that there were many Song Sparrows singing and the numbers had really climbed in the last few days so lots of new arrivals. Included is a photo of a singing Song Sparrow.

That day I also stopped in at the Visitor Center and met up with Jennifer Mitchell. She told me that when she walked home a couple days ago along the path in West Curtis Prairie she heard a rustle in the grass right next to the path. She looked down and there was an American Woodcock. She was able to get a photo of it. She sent it to me and it is included. Thank you Jennifer!

American Woodcocks are more often seen shortly after the sun goes down. They are heard first. They make a sound called “peenting”. It’s a very nasal sounding call. We most often hear it when walking on the trail oriented in an east/west direction just south of the Visitor Center parking lot. I like to walk east first rather quickly listening for the peenting. Then I walk slowly west looking toward a brighter western sky. The male woodcocks will fly into the sky making a completely different sound trying to attract females. I hope all of you will go to the Arb at dusk, park in the Visitor Center parking lot and go down to the east/west path of Curtis Prairie to try to hear and see the American Woodcocks.

Sunday, March 20, I walked through the Arb. I checked out the Red-tailed Hawk nest and could just see the tip of the tail of the female Red-tailed Hawk. The nest is deep so that’s all I could see. I think the female has laid her eggs and is now incubating them.

Also on Sunday when I walked through the Pinetum I found five Pine Siskins flying from one pine tree to another. This is the most I’ve seen all winter. Included is a photo of one of the Pine Siskins. The really pointy beak is so characteristic.

I did hear an Eastern Bluebird sing for a very short time on Longenecker Garden but try as I might I could not find it.

My last visual is not a photo but a video created by Cynthia Carlson. It is on YouTube and the video shows an actively feeding Wilson’s Snipe. Birders have begun to see them in Dane County. The Wilson’s Snipe has a long beak similar to that of the American Woodcock. It also bounced up and down as it fed. A great part of this video is that Cynthia matched the rhythm of the bouncing snipe to the rhythm of the added music. Here’s the link.

I think that video is really amazing. Thank you Cynthia!

That’s the Arboretum bird report for the past week.

I wish all of you good health and good birding too, 

Chuck