Tag Archives: Lake Winnebago

2017 Birding Blog, Chasing Birds

Brothertown Cattle Egrets

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Last Wednesday while staying on the west side of Lake Winnebago, Derek and I decided  to take the half hour trip around the lower part of the lake to look for Cattle Egrets. Cattle Egrets technically are not considered rare for this part of the state but they can be tough to find some years.Fortunately, our girlfriends also agreed to join us in our search.

We turned onto lake shore drive where most of the sightings occur and almost immediately spotted a single Cattle Egret in a grassy field to the north of the road. It seemed to be content to sit by the small creek running through grass. We spent some time watching it and listening to a calling Eastern Wood-Peewee before moving on to see if we could find more.

Cattle Egret
Cattle Egret

We continued down the road in the direction of some large groups of cows hoping we could find egrets following close behind. We struck out on more egrets but we did find a field with about 200 Ring-billed Gulls and a weird looking hawk that was most likely a juvenile Red-tailed.

We were about to turn around and head back when my girlfriend Bri (aka the worlds greatest egret spotter) noticed some small white shapes in the distance way off to the south east. We immediately got excited when we noticed a crass street that could take us right next to where this group of egrets were. We became even more excited when we saw 12 of them all at close range associating with the cattle.

Cattle Egrets
Cattle Egrets

We had a great time watching them lurk around the cattle and pick insects and other items up from the weeds. Occasionally they would take flight and relocate further down the field, but they would always return to the cows.

Cattle Egret
Cattle Egret in tall grass

It’s always hard to rip yourself away from cool birds but we wanted to give them some space so we took off back to the house on the west side of the lake feeling great about our close up sighting.

2017 Birding Blog

Birds Of Lake Winnebago

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We took a family trip out to the western shores of Lake Winnebago in Fond Du Lac County. Of course, we were keeping an eye out for birds.

House Finch
House Finch

When we went out in the back yard of house we were staying at we immediately started seeing birds. In the trees near the water there House Finches and a single Warbling Vireo. Foraging along the ground were House Sparrows, Chipping Sparrows, Mourning Doves, and American Robins. For a few minutes a Spotted Sandpiper also made a brief appearance on the lawn.

Warbling Vireo
Warbling Vireo

Out over the water there were plenty of Ring-billed Gulls and Double-crested Cormorants. Every so often the majestic American White Pelicans flew over or sometimes even landed within 50 feet of the shore. The raspy call of the Forster’s Tern could also be heard from time to time as groups of them flew past.

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American White Pelicans

Some of the most interesting birds to watch were the many swallows swirling around our dock. To the south, Purple Martins could be heard and sometimes seen. From the north, Northern Roughed-winged Swallows flew threw, and just one dock away a colony of Barn Swallows gathered and dispersed every fifteen minutes or so. At the end of the day we were mesmerized by the swallows swooping just inches away from the water’s surface with the sunset colors in the background.

Barn Swallows
Barn Swallows

It was a decent birding day given the fact that we weren’t specifically trying to bird. We’ll see if we can find anything else interesting the rest of the week. Stay tuned.