Spring Birding at the Convenience Store – May 1 2022

Photo Doris Dubielzig

Wow!  Thirty-five people arrived for a spring birding tour that began at 7:30am in a chilly mist overlooking the Class of 1918 Marsh. Roma Lenehan, a founder of the Friends and author of the Preserve’s breeding bird survey and Becky Abel, Madison Audubon’s Director of Philanthropy, led the three-hour tour that observed birds in the Class of 1918 Marsh, in University Bay from the Picnic Point trail, in the Marsh on the leeward side of the Point, in deciduous and pine woods, in the former orchard, and on Biocore Prairie.

And the birds cooperated.  Becky Abel explained to the group the importance of stopover sites, like the Preserve, for migratory birds.  On their journey north, birds stop to rest and refuel at three kinds of sites. Typically small, “fire escape” stopover sites, with limited resources, are infrequently used but vital in emergency situations. “Full-service hotel” stopover sites, like the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in northern Wisconsin, provide abundant food, water and shelter for migrants.Lying between those two extremes, the Lakeshore Nature Preserve serves as a ”convenience store” stopover site.  Located within the city of Madison, this Important Birding Area is a place where birds can rest for a few days and easily replenish some fat or muscle, or both, before continuing. The Preserve offers a variety of habitats, fresh water and a variety of food sources, including fruit and insects (although with our cool, slow spring, insects have been slow to emerge).

Both leaders are expert birders-by-ear. Roma Lenehan recorded observing 65 bird species, and that doesn’t include the accipiter and the gulls we couldn’t identify! Some of the highlights were sighting  sora in the Class of 1918 Marsh, 

• sora in class of 1918 marsh
• four great egrets flying overhead,
• an osprey perched in a tree along the shore of University Bay,
• a veery singing its downward spiraling song,
• SEVEN wood ducks and two belted kingfishers in the Picnic Point Marsh,
• a red-tailed hawk sitting in a pine tree near the site of the Edward and Alice Young farmhouse
• a flock of cedar waxwings in the old orchard field (aka East Savanna)​

The attendees were respectful and cooperative and very appreciative of the variety and number of birds they saw and heard with Abel and Lenehan. Report and photos by Friends host Doris Dubielzig.

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Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Redhead (9)
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Wild Turkey
Common Loon (very distant in lake)
Great Egret (4)
Osprey
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Sora (2 h)
American Coot
Mourning Dove (h)
Sandhill Crane (h)
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Ring-billed Gull
Mourning Dove
Barred Owl
Chimney Swift
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker

Northern Flicker (h)
Eastern Phoebe
Warbling Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow 
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-grey Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
Veery
Robin
Catbird
Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Palm Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch