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.

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.

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.

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.