Fingerprince Prints: Wisconsin (May 28

Every year we spend at least a week in Iowa, visiting family, but we rarely venture much beyond that. However, this year, we decided to spend a few days in Wisconsin. Our first stop was just over the border, at Wyalusing State Park. The park is located at the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers which makes for some pretty impressive topography. We were looking forward to getting out and hiking around, but our main goal was to find the cerulean warblers that are known to nest in the park. To our delight, Sentinel Ridge trail, just off the Mississippi River, yielded several singing males. We had to fight through the thousands of flies and mosquitoes, but it was quite worth the hike to see these beautiful birds.

Other highlights included two pileated woodpeckers foraging on stumps and downed trees. We saw several other warblers including American redstart, prothonotary warbler, Kentucky warbler, common yellowthroat, and a blue-winged warbler (a lifer for both of us!). The blue-winged warbler was quite unexpected, and I only found it because I had listened to the song a few weeks ago when we went to Bankhead National Forest in Alabama. Their song is rather distinctive and oddly cute. We had a total of 46 species in just a few hours (see full list below).

Next we continued East and stopped at Barneveld Prairie. With all of the recent rain the grass was really wet and our shoes and pants were quickly soaked, but this little prairie remnant proved quite diverse. We saw/heard 37 species in just a couple hours (see full list below). The highlights included Bell's vireo, willow flycatcher, yellow warbler, bobolink, and a brief glimpse of what I believe was a black-billed cuckoo (another one of our target species for the state). We also found a male rose-breasted grosbeak sitting on a nest!

We stayed in Madison for the night and the next morning we went to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum, hoping our birding luck would continue. Unfortunately, we didn't see or hear much at the Arboretum, with just 27 species (see list below) and nothing note worthy other than all of the wild turkeys feeding along the roadside - they are clearly used to people!

The next day we headed back to Iowa but made a quick stop at Spring Green Preserve along the way. This unique area is sometimes referred to as the "Wisconsin Desert" because of its sandy soils and a plethora of prickly pear. We had heard it could be a good place to find various Wisconsin reptiles, so we arrived hoping the rains would hold off just a little longer. Unfortunately, our herping skills were definitely lacking this trip and since we wanted to stay on trail as requested by The Nature Conservancy, we were rather restricted on our search. However, despite the strong winds, the birding was okay with several grasshopper sparrows singing in the grasses along the trail and a few lark sparrows as well. We saw 20 species before the rains finally caught up with us and we had to head back to the car (see list below).

Overall, a very fun and productive trip! We look forward to visiting the area again and spending more time exploring the many natural areas available in southern Wisconsin.

Wyalusing State Park (5-28-2013): 46 Species