Could this be the Year of the Snowies?
Thanksgiving break is always filled with over-stuffed bellies, families and laziness for most people but birders view it as a chance to get out and do some birding. I visited my family in Wisconsin over the weekend and spent one day in the field. Of course, I checked the listservs to see what was being seen around the area and to my surprise there were a ton of reports of Snowy Owls throughout the state. So much in fact, I wonder if this will be a strong year for northern owls? There were at least 12 Snowies being seen in Wisconsin over Thanksgiving and I have no doubt there were many more than that. I saw a report of 2 Snowies being seen at the famous Horicon Marsh NWR in south-central Wisconsin. This was only an hour drive from our house so we jumped on the opportunity to see this keystone species.
Snowy Owls are never really hard to see, but rather hard to locate pending the area and habitat type. Naturally, once we got there about three dozen birders had beaten us so looking for the hoards of birders on Dike Rd. was really the easiest way to go about it. And this is what we ended up seeing from the car:
Snowy Owls are never really hard to see, but rather hard to locate pending the area and habitat type. Naturally, once we got there about three dozen birders had beaten us so looking for the hoards of birders on Dike Rd. was really the easiest way to go about it. And this is what we ended up seeing from the car:
Not the greatest ID challenge, right? Look how heavily vested this bird is. The amount of streaking tells me this is most certainly a female. Possible even a juvenile, but that is hard to differentiate since this could be a young female. Either way, this bird along with an adult male occupied the few mile stretch of Dike Rd. I took this shot with my Nikon EDG 85mm Fieldscope and a D3100 camera. Unfortunately, the whipping winds didn't help the digiscoping out, but I am always happy to get something on camera. Mom and Dad loved it too! That's one of the best things about birding is that most people can be cool with it even if they don't bird because you are in scenic places most of the time.
The above photo was also digiscoped as the female bird flew away from us. The marsh was completely open with water so there were plenty of birds like Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail and tons of Cackling and Canada Geese. Muskrats build these large houses out of the phragmites and cattails and the Snowies loved these perches to scan the field for potential food. This diurnal creature feeds mainly off of lemmings, but will take a host of other small prey items like hares and mice when the pickings are slim. The food up north must be scarce which usually forces these owls to seek greener pastures in the northern tier in the United States. Nevertheless, if these birds keep showing up in numbers people in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and nearby states should keep an eye out, because they have come that far south in the past.
The water birds are always the main attraction at Horicon Marsh is this is one of the most vital migration points in the United States. This marsh is over 34,000 acres large and holds claim to the largest of it's kind in this country. It takes forever to drive around it. I got so used to walking around most prairie potholes in Iowa within 15 minutes, but this marsh is a whole different animal.
The water birds are always the main attraction at Horicon Marsh is this is one of the most vital migration points in the United States. This marsh is over 34,000 acres large and holds claim to the largest of it's kind in this country. It takes forever to drive around it. I got so used to walking around most prairie potholes in Iowa within 15 minutes, but this marsh is a whole different animal.
The other main focus were the Tundra Swans being seen at the north end of the refuge. Trumpeter Swans would pose potential ID problems, but the shorter bill and neck of the Tundra Swan usually stands out, I think! The round crown and bent angle at the cere (forehead) are also diagnostic for these far northern breeders. Some of these swans even has the yellow teardrop at the base of the bill just below the eye. As long as open water remains these birds will stay. However, this being Wisconsin, they probably will be moving on soon. I hope all of your Thanksgiving bird outings were productive and good birding overall.
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