August Bird Walk - Zeloski Marsh

Our combined walk with the Madison Audubon Society brought a good sized birding group together at Zeloski Marsh on a beautiful but warm day. We may have caught a group of Green Herons passing through as we saw several, more than we would have expected. On the other hand, Red-winged Blackbirds were in short supply. They may have been mostly in nearby fields feeding. Large flocks of Great Egrets and Sandhill Cranes were special treats. All in all, a great walk with many interesting birding observations. Karen Etter Hale has provided us with a comprehensive field report for the walk, below.

If you couldn't be with us for this walk, we hope you will be able to join us for an upcoming field trip.

Lake Mills State Wildlife Area --Zeloski Marsh, Jefferson, US-WI

Aug 17, 2013 8:40 AM - 12:05 PM
Protocol: Traveling - 2.1 mile(s)
Comments: 60 up to high 70s; mostly sunny; calm to light wind. Jefferson-Dodge Birding Walk attended by 14 people from Madison, Milwaukee, Cottage Grove, Lake Mills, Watertown, E. Troy. Walk from London Rd. parking lot clockwise around Hunt Wetland and Schoenfeld Prairie. 1 Eastern chipmunk, 1 13-lined ground squirrel, 1 beaver, 4 bullfrogs (in Hawkins Wetland), and several leopard frogs.

40 species (+5 other taxa)

Wood Duck 35
Gadwall 3 Square white patch on inner trailing edge of upper wing.
Mallard 5
Blue-winged Teal
Hooded Merganser 2
duck sp. 30
Pied-billed Grebe 13
Great Blue Heron 12
Great Egret 32 Or more. Most were SW of the London Rd. parking lot in the Hale Wetland (west of the Hunt Wetland).
Green Heron 7
Turkey Vulture 3
Northern Harrier 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Common Gallinule 2
Sandhill Crane 160 At least this many. We counted at least 47 in a group north of the Artesian Dike in the Hawkins Wetland; then 20 or more flew in, a few at a time. Soon after that, another 69 flew into that area from the southeast side of the marsh. We saw several more small groups of cranes flying after that.
Killdeer 15
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Lesser Yellowlegs 10
peep sp. 5
Pectoral Sandpiper 1
Ring-billed Gull 1
Gull sp. 2
Black Tern 1
Mourning Dove 5
Belted Kingfisher 2
Peregrine Falcon 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
Empidonax sp 1
Eastern Phoebe 1 On wire, preening; very scruffy-looking.
Eastern Kingbird 1
American Crow 4
Tree Swallow 40
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 3
Barn Swallow 15
swallow sp. 50 At least this many. Most appeared to be Barn Swallows, with a few other species mixed in.
Black-capped Chickadee 2
American Robin 1
Cedar Waxwing 6 Four were well out over the marsh.
Common Yellowthroat 1
Song Sparrow 7
Northern Cardinal 1
Indigo Bunting 1
Red-winged Blackbird 15
Yellow-headed Blackbird 1
American Goldfinch 20

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S14947730

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org/wi)

Back to The Walkslist