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Lake Park | Birding Hotspot Review | Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Location

Milwaukee, Wisconsin
2975 N Lake Park Rd, Milwaukee, WI 53211

Notable Birds to See

Louisiana Waterthrush, Connecticut Warbler, Mourning Warbler, Red-headed Woodpeckers, Harris’s sparrows and other fall sparrows, other general migrants.

Badgerland Birding Searches for a Connecticut Warbler at Lake Park
Logistics

Lake Park is easily accessible as it has multiple parking lots serving as points of entry. One lot is on N Lincoln Memorial Dr and another farther south off of East Newberry Blvd. Both lots are technically on a street called N Lake Park Rd. However, these two streets are not connected so it can be a bit confusing.

Walking at Lake Park is easy as it has many roads and walking paths. Most of them are relatively flat. There are some areas of the park that are only accessible with stairs but overall, birding at the park is easy for everyone including those who are less mobile.

Note: There has been construction on one of the bridges at the park for over a year which restricts access to a small portion of the park. While the restricted area has traditionally been a good birding spot, the construction does not impede birders from accessing the majority of the park.

Habitat

What makes Lake Park an interesting place to go birding is the habitat that it offers. While it does have plenty of open space like most parks do, it also has ravines with walking trails going right through them in addition to a small creek. When birds are present, these ravines are extremely productive and useful for different types of viewing. Above the ravine, birders are able to get somewhat of an eye level view while the trails in the ravine contain many different ground dwelling species.

There are a few bird feeders spread out through the park that attract some migratory species as well as typical year round residents.

This park is accessible to birders with physical limitations as sidewalks and walking paths line the trees and ravines. However, there are stairs that go down into the actual ravines.

Seasonal Differences in Species

When birding at Lake Park, the time of the year is going to be quite relevant. In winter, birds like Dark-eyed Juncos and American Tree Sparrows are found near the bird feeders as well as species like Northern Cardinals, Black-capped Chickadees, and White-breasted Nuthatches.

In summer, there’s not much to see at Lake Park other than the regular summer birds such as Eastern Wood-peewees and Red-eyed Vireos.

The best times to go birding at Lake Park are in the fall and the spring. Spring can be absolutely crazy with almost every species of warbler that migrates through the state being found there. Some of these species include but are not limited to Cerulean Warbler, Hooded Warbler, Mourning Warbler, Connecticut Warbler, and Louisiana Waterthrush. Lake Park typically has records of Louisiana Waterthrush annually during the early parts of spring migration.

Many of the same warblers move through the park in fall with Cape May, Bay-breasted, and Blackpoll Warblers being some of the more common species to move through. In both fall and spring, migratory sparrows and other passerines come through as well including White-throated, White-crowned, and sometimes even rare species such as Harris’s Sparrows.

Badgerland Birding searches for warblers at Lake Park
Personal Experiences

Being a Wisconsin resident who lives within half an hour of Lake Park, it is one of my favorite places to go in the spring time. There have been days when the sheer numbers of warblers and other migratory birds is shocking and it’s honestly difficult to stay focused with how much is going on. The area is well known by local birders so if the birding is good, be prepared to share the space with others.

In a recent trip to Lake Park this fall the numbers of warblers were still quite pleasing with many Cape May, and Bay-breasted Warblers foraging in the trees in addition to a Mourning Warbler, a few Tennessee Warblers, and a single Magnolia Warbler.

I typically don’t go to Lake Park in winter or summer as without migrants there aren’t a ton of different species there that can’t simply be found in a backyard or deciduous forest. Red-headed Woodpeckers can still be found there in summer however.

Other Things to See and Do

Lake Park has a few interesting features to see even if the birds aren’t present. Springs and small creeks going through the ravines offer some nice serene views and sounds. There are also some historical statues to see and a lighthouse that people can walk up into for a small fee. One of the most fascinating things about the park is that any people believe that it contains a buried treasure. This treasure know as “The Secret” is part of a book that looked to give people an exciting quest as the author buried treasure boxes around major cities in the United States. Due to the clues in the book, treasure hunters believe that one of these treasure boxes was placed in Lake Park.

Palm Warbler
Review

Lake park is one of the most popular places to go birding in the Milwaukee area. It’s located just one street away from Lake Michigan so birding there during migration is typically quite good. For anyone visiting the Milwaukee area during peak migration in spring or fall, Lake Park is a must visit.

Other Nearby Hotspots

Veterans Park, Bradford Beach, McKinley Beach, Lakeshore State Park, Discovery World Harbor.

Birding The Milwaukee County Zoo

Last week, Derek and I went to one of the largest zoos in the Midwest: The Milwaukee County Zoo. The Milwaukee County Zoo has a wide range of animals from all across the globe, including a full aviary. On this day, in addition to the animals intended to be at the zoo, we were also focused on the birds that live in the more natural places in the zoo. These birds make their home in the wooded and open spaces between enclosures. 

As we walked into the building that serves as a threshold between the parking lot and the zoo, we heard our first bird of the day and one that is extremely common around humans: The House Sparrow. House Sparrows live in almost every corner of the zoo, feeding on scraps of food left behind by both people and animals. In the same area we also heard a House Finch and saw a Common Grackle. 

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Moving toward the aviary, there was a flock of Flamingoes near a small pond. This pond is a fascinating part of the zoo because it contains both native and non native species. Flamingoes use the area to feed along with many Koi and native fish that call the pond home. In addition to these animals, there are also wild birds that make an appearance from time to time. 

While looking at the Flamingoes I noticed a bird come in for a landing near the water’s edge. It was a Green Heron! This was the first wild bird we’d seen so far that is not known for living near people. Across the path from where the Green Heron was, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird was visiting a nectar feeder, and in a tree overhead, a Red-bellied Woodpecker scanned the branches for a potential meal.

Green Heron

Walking the paths around the various buildings and exhibits takes zoo goers past a lot of deciduous forest. These areas were very good for native bird species. Several American Robins could be seen moving around in the underbrush and occasionally perching up in the trees. Other birds that we found in these areas were Red-eyed Vireos, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and Eastern Wood Peewees. Since all three of these species have a habit of hanging out in the thick, leafy tree tops, we couldn’t get eyes on them nut heard their distinctive calls.

The last spot that proved to be good for wild birds was near Lake Evinrude close to the North American Animal enclosures. Hear, a small lake holds various native fish species, and water birds. On this day, we were able to find a Herring Gull, a Killdeer, several Ring-billed Gulls, and numerous Mallards. Around the corner there were bird feeders and a short board walk leading through the woods to the edge of the lake. Unfortunately, there were not any birds visiting the feeders. 

American Robin

Overall, I was able to tally 20 species of wild birds at the Milwaukee County Zoo .In my opinion, the best finds were Green Heron, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Eastern Wood Peewee, and Red-eyed Vireo. It was fun to be able to see native birds while also exploring the various other animal species at the zoo. It would be interesting to go bird the zoo again during peak migration to see how high of a total I could get. 

Birding Rainy Milwaukee

On a cold Thursday in May, a report came through of Willets and American Avocets at Lakeshore State Park in Milwaukee. In spite of the fact that the temperature was in the 40s and a steady rain poured over the entirety of southern Wisconsin, we decided to brave the weather and go see these annual, but still difficult to find birds.

When we arrived we could see numerous Herring Gulls dotting the grass and sand but couldn’t make out anything that looked like shorebirds. As we got closer, we noticed two dark shapes a few feet out from the beach. We were excited to see that these were American Avocets. We then noticed a group of five Willets that were tucked behind a large boulder and just now coming out. We stayed to enjoy these interesting birds for as long as we could until we were soaked to the point where we feared that our cameras would get too waterlogged.

We moved up the coast of Milwaukee to McKinley Beach. Here we found many Caspian Terns and two significantly smaller Common Terns. Also out over the water were hundreds of migrating Double-crested Cormorants.

Willet
Willet

Further north, we surveyed the area near Linwood treatment plant where we had a nice variety of sparrows including Swamp, Savannah, Song, and White-crowned. We also located Hermit Thrushes, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Bonaparte’s Gulls, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and our first of year Black and White Warbler. Perhaps the biggest surprise was a lone male Bobolink calling from a large tree. I have had them in this location before so perhaps its a more common area for them than I realize.

Our final stop of the afternoon was Lake Park. Here we found White-crowned Sparrows, Northern Flickers, more Hermit Thrushes, and a Brown Thrasher. In the trees was a large group of warblers but the persistent rain and dark sky made them appear to be nothing more but black shadows against gray. A few of them dropped low enough for us to start distinguishing some features. The only non yellow-rumped in the group was an Orange-crowned Warbler. At this location, the most interesting bird was a Wilson’s Snipe that was feeding in some of the puddles in the grass.

Overall, for such a nasty weather day, we had a pretty good time birding. Even so, we were happy to go back home and change into some dry clothes.

Milwaukee Lakefront Piping Plovers

After work, Derek was kind enough to bring my camera and meet my at the Milwaukee lakefront in search of some cool birds that had been reported recently. Our primary target was a Le Conte’s Sparrow that was found this morning near the small section of trees and bushes north of Bradford Beach known as “the magic hedge.”

Looking For A Le Conte’s

We arrived just at the magic hedge just after the rain stopped. Even without the precipitation, the conditions were less than ideal with dark gray skies and gusty winds coming off the lake. We quickly spotted several sparrows in the west side of the hedge. We took some time to identify the species and found them to be mixed. A White-Crowned Sparrow, White-Throated Sparrow, and Swamp Sparrow hopped around in the leaf litter while a Field Sparrow and American Tree Sparrow occupied the upper part of the bushes. The American Tree Sparrow was particularly surprising considering most of them should have headed back up north by now.

Further east, we found three Palm Warblers high up in the trees, and a chattering Common Yellowthroat lower in the thickets. There was also a very cooperative Veery foraging along the ground. This bird gave us excellent looks, and while not as rare as a Le Conte’s Sparrow, it was a nice consolation to get close looks at it.

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Veery

We continued east and walked along the lake going south hoping the le Conte’s had simply relocated nearby. We encountered at least six Savannah Sparrows around the large boulders that line the shores of Lake Michigan as well as extremely high numbers of migrating Double-Crested Cormorants and Red-Breasted Mergansers. A chorus of terse, raspy calls of Caspian Terns could be heard as the birds flew back and forth over the lake. The le Conte’s was nowhere to be found.

Birding The Beaches

After striking out of the Le Conte’s Sparrow we decided to head south to Bradford Beach to look for the Piping Plovers that had been reported earlier in the day. When we arrived, there was no sign of any birds on the beach. We began walking anyway just because it’s always fun to hang out on the beach. While we were aimlessly walking we came upon two tiny birds running up the coast along the tide. They were the Piping Plovers! We spent time watching the two birds searching for food and moving along the sand. Both birds were banded with one of them sporting more bands than the other. According to additional research, one of these birds was banded in South Carolina and nesting in the Apostle Islands in Wisconsin.

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Banded Piping Plover

After spending some time with the Piping Plovers we went to Mckinley Beach. Mckinley beach is a small and typically muddy beach surrounded on both sides by rocks. At this location there were nineteen Willets. These birds appeared to be a bit chilly as they were huddled together and rather puffy looking. Willets have a humorous high pitched, one-note call that groups of the species will perform in sequence as if talking to one another.

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Willets

Even though we missed the Le Conte’s Sparrow, we were rewarded by a few other Wisconsin rarities. Even on a cold and rainy day, it was definitely worth the trip.