Preceding the storm, last weekend saw the biggest migration event of the season thus far. As a result, sparrows are showing well now with song, fox, savannah, swamp, and the first chipping and white-throated sparrows in the south. Eastern towhees were also reported in good numbers there, as well as a few brown thrashers starting to move in. Purple finches became more prevalent in many areas, while many birders were excited to find their first yellow-rumped warblers of the year. Northern flickers, yellow-bellied sapsuckers, and golden-crowned kinglets were also especially common, with a few ruby-crowned kinglets and eastern phoebes now also. Common loons are stacking up a bit, including a nice count of 52 at Rice Lake, Barron County, and dozens on southern lakes such as those around Madison. Also showing well in some locations were American white pelicans. Thawing wetlands hosted the first American bitterns, Virginia rails, and soras, and the first black-necked stilts have returned to Horicon Marsh. Duck migration continues full tilt wherever open water allows, many wood ducks, hooded mergansers, and Canada geese already getting down the business of egg laying.
- Clear snow to expose bare ground and offer white millet, cracked corn, and sunflower seed for ground-feeding birds like these fox, white-throated, and song sparrows.Photo credit: Ryan Brady
The week's rarest find was a Eurasian wigeon in Chippewa county. Wondering when to get ready for the first Baltimore orioles and ruby-throated hummingbirds? The last week of April in the south and first week of May up north. Find out what others are seeing and report your finds to www.ebird.org/wi .