Statewide Birding Report
It’s cold and it’s January, which means we are now in a mid-winter pattern for most birds in Wisconsin. Recent cold temperatures have severely reduced the amounts of remaining inland open water, but good numbers of waterfowl are still lingering due to lack of snow cover and a warm early start to the winter. The Madison area lakes still have some open water and a nice variety of ducks, geese and tundra swans. Birders found a Barrow’s goldeneye and red-necked grebe on Geneva Lake earlier in the month and Lake Michigan birders are seeing good duck numbers including some of each species of scoter. Mid-winter is also a good time to look for eagles and other hunting raptors. Cold temperatures have concentrated bald eagles along open stretches of rivers and lakes. Recent DNR eagle surveys found good numbers of eagles along the lower Wisconsin and upper Mississippi river systems with eagles scattered elsewhere statewide. The 9th annual golden eagle survey run by the National Eagle Center detected 140 golden eagles over the weekend in the blufflands of the driftless area. Birders wanting to see wintering golden eagles should pick sunny, warm days when eagles can be seen soaring throughout the driftless area and areas near Necedah National Wildlife Refuge. The winter finch invasion has tempered somewhat in January. Redpolls, including many hoary redpolls are being seen statewide. Pine grosbeaks and bohemian waxwings have seemingly dispersed now probably due to a lack of fruit production. Door County birders are still reporting good numbers of both species along with crossbills, redpolls and a lingering northern hawk owl. Last year proved to be an amazing year for birds and birding in Wisconsin. You can read more about the strange weather and the impact it had on birds at www.ebird.org/WI. As always, please report your bird sightings to Wisconsin eBird to better track Wisconsin’s migratory bird populations. - Andy Paulios, wildlife biologists and Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative coordinator