Common Waterfowl

Blue Winged Teal - Hen and Drake

Ruddy Duck

American Coot

Pie-Billed Grebe

Green Winged Teal

Mallard

Northern Shoveler

Sauk City Eagle Days

 Five year high numbers of Bald Eagles are in Sauk City and Prairie Du Sac this year.  As many as 120 have been reported in the area, so we decided to go there instead of the marsh.  This was my third pilgrimage to see the eagles in consecutive years.  The first two were disappointing not seeing more than 3 or 4 Eagles each year.  Not this year!  Eagles were everywhere and they were active. Got some sequences I am pretty happy with despite some lighting challenges and distance to cover.

Catching a fish - been trying to get this sequence for years.

This one wanted to sit in a tree right off the road and pose.

Coming in for a Landing

Birds in Flight

After an extreme act of stupidity of leaving my Cannon 7d on the hood of my car and driving off down the highway and $500 later, my camera is back and intact.  That, along with that my 100mm-400mm lens that spontaneously stopped working, I am back to full strength.  I haven't been out this week to the Marsh, but I wanted to post some of my favorite types of pictures - birds in flight.  I shot thousands of pictures, battling light angles and uncooperative subjects to get a very few good shots.

Immature Red-tail Hawk

White Pelicans

Kestrel Taking Flight

Herring Gull

Turkey Vulture - A face only a mother could love

Red-tail hawk

Immature Red-tail hawk taking flight

Forsters Tern

Sunny, exciting and frustrating

You know it's going to be a great day in the Horicon Marsh when the sun is shining without a cloud in the sky and first bird you see is a bald eagle.  What a great day for spotting raptors and a couple of firsts for me as well.  In an hour and half I saw about 8 Kestrels, a dozen Rough-legged Hawks, about 10 Red-tailed hawks, a Northern Harrier, my first Horicon Marsh Cooper's hawk and the afore mention Bald Eagle.  That's the good news, the bad news I didn't get a shot at the eagle and though the Northern Harrier was perched in a tree right off Point Road, I was unable to get my camera up fast enough to get the shot .

Cooper's Hawk taking Flight

Dark Morph Rough-Legged Hawk

No Snowy Owl - yet!

Two days of scouring the Marsh has not yet yielded any snowy owl sightings. I've also learned that the Short-Eared Owl resides in the marsh and it has moved to number two on the target list.  The rangers in the NWR side where helpful in providing me some more spots to look, but as of yet have not turned anything up.  I always love the stories like I heard yesterday mourning "Oh, if you are looking for Snowy Owls you should have been here two years ago, when I saw one every day, both to and from work, right on Hwy 49." Very helpful!  I continue to spot large numbers of rough-legged hawks (10-12) and a few Kestrels and Red-tailed hawks.  I even saw a Great Blue Heron still hanging around on old dike road by the open water.


For now I will continue to post pictures from this past year until I get something worthy of a 2011 posting.

Least Bittern on 3 mile loop.

Yellow Headed Black Bird on Old Marsh Road

Red-Headed Duck

White Pelican

I enjoy watching the white pelicans in the Marsh.  At certain times of the year they are there in great numbers on either side of Hwy 49.  One day I noticed something odd about one of them.  Looks like it got a fishing lure stuck in it's bill.  It didn't seem to slow it down, but it looked uncomfortable to me.

Snapping Turtle

I stumbled across this large snapping turtle  last sping out of the water.  They are pretty imposing when you get up close.

River Otter

I was fortunate enough two summers ago to see my first wild river otter, accually two playing together right on the south side of hwy 49. They certainly are very vocal creatures.  Tragically, a week later, one was killed on the highway.

LIfe to date list of birds photographed in the Marsh

There are over 260 different confirmed species sightings of birds that live in and pass through the Horicon Marsh.  Here is my list of 123 birds I have been able to photograph so far in the marsh.  I don't count them unless I get a clear picture.  Almost half-way there!

Wood Duck                                         Common Merganser

Mallard                                                Red-Breasted Merganser

American Black Duck                           Hooded Merganser

Blue-winged Teal                                  Buffflehead

Cinnamon Teal                                     Ruddy Duck

Northern Shoveler                                Canada Goose (tough to get that one!)

Gadwall                                                Snow Goose

Green-winged Teal                               Tundra Swan

American Wigeon                                 Mute Swan

Northern Pintail                                    Pie-billed Grebe

Canvasback                                         American White Pelican

Redhead                                               Double Crested Cormorant

Ring-necked Duck                                Ring-billed Gull

Greater Scaup                                      Herring Gull

Lesser Scaup                                        Black Tern

Common Goldeneye                             Forster's Tern

Great Blue Heron                                 Sandhill Crane

Whooping Crane                                  Great Egret

Green Heron                                        American Bittern

Least Bittern                                         Black-crowned Night-Heron

Sora                                                     Common Moorhen

American Coot                                    Wild Turkey

Turkey Vulture                                     Northern Harrier

Sharp-shinned Hawk                            Red-tailed Hawk

Rough-legged Hawk                             Bald Eagle

American Kestrel                                  Perigrine Falcon

Killdeer                                                Greater Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs                                 Solitary Sandpiper

Semipalmated Sandpiper                      Least Sandpiper

Wilson's Snipe                                      American Woodcock

American Avocet                                  Black-necked Stilt

Mourning Dove                                    Great Horned Owl

Belted Kingfisher                                  Hairy Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker                            Northern Flicker

Purple Martin                                       Barn Swallow

Tree Swallow                                       Ruby-throated Hummingbird    

Eastern Wood-Pewee                          Yellow-bellied Flycatcher

Least Flycatcher                                   Willow Flycatcher

Eastern Phoebe                                    Eastern Kingbird

Northern Shrike                                    Black-capped Chickadee

White-breasted Nuthatch                      House Wren

Sedge Wren                                         Marsh Wren

Ruby Crowned Kinglet                         Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Yellow Warbler                                    Common Yellowthroat

American Redstart                                Palm Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler                       Ovenbird

Eastern Bluebird                                   American Robin

Gray Catbird                                        Cedar Waxwing

European Starling                                 Blue Jay

American Crow                                    Brown-headed Cowbird

Common Grackle                                 Red-winged Blackbird (another tough one to get!)

Yellow-headed Blackbird                     Boblink

Eastern Meadowlark                            Baltimore Oriole

Indigo Bunting                                      Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Northern Cardinal                                 House Finch

Pine Sisken                                           American Goldfinch

Chipping Sparrow                                American Tree Sparrow

Field Sparrow                                      Dark-eyed junco

Grasshopper Sparrow                          White-crowed Sparrow

Song Sparrow                                      Snow Bunting

House Sparrow                                    Horned Lark

Ring-necked Pheasant

Red-tailed Hawk

They are very common throughout the marsh, but I can never seem to pass them by without trying to get a shot off.  This one posed nicely in good light.

Black Crowned Night Heron

Whooping Crane

This is a really rare sighting in the Horicon Marsh.  I know the Whooping Crane is seen regularly in Necedah NWR, but I have only seen one twice in Horicon.  I was told by a lady also watching this bird, that it is a female that  frequents the marsh and that she is banded number 7.  I have no way of knowing if that is true, but it was a good story.  What was amazing is that this bird was right on hwy 49 and that a red winged black bird was harassing it.  This caused the bird to open her wings as if annoyed.  It made for a very rare opportunity and a shot I really like.

Roughlegged Hawk.  They are fairly common this time of year, particularly on Hwy Z on the East side of the Marsh.

Immature Perigrine Falcon.  My First one. The birds legs were banded and I saw it twice in a week as it migrated through.

2010 Reflections

As we begin the 2011 year, I look back to a great 2010 that was full of new discoveries, first time sightings.  The bird life photography list continues to grow.  I love to spot, stalk and photograph birds, especially new birds, and above all birds of prey