Wisconsin Statewide Birding Report 4.30.13 Mornings are increasingly filled with the sounds of song birds including cardinals, chickadees, titmice, red-winged blackbirds and mourning doves joining the chorus. Waterfowl are beginning to move again after the recent cold snap. Birders are reporting goose movements including some white-fronted geese moving through south central Wisconsin. Birders should check Lake Michigan and inland open water spots in the next week for concentrated flocks of ducks and geese. Bald and golden eagles are also moving north to breeding areas as well as our first good movements of turkey vultures and some red-tailed hawks and kestrels. American woodcock have now started to trickle into southern Wisconsin. Look for the male?s sky dance in the evening at your local natural area that contains a mixture of grasslands and shrubby forested areas. This display can be seen throughout the month of April into early May statewide. Other returning birds over the next week include song sparrow, killdeer, blackbirds and purple finch. Rare birds reported this week include more boreal, northern hawk and great gray owls. Check the DNR press releases and eBird (
www.ebird.org/WI) for more information on these recent owl sightings. - Andy Paulios, wildlife biologists and Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative coordinator
