Kurt Goes to Homecoming

Little Kurty Wurty went to his first high school dance Saturday night - Homecoming at Tosa East. A group of about 30 met for photos before going to The Chancery for dinner. The parents stand around like papparazzi taking pictures. Here is a sampler...Kurt is the tall one in the back row with the white shirt and black tie.

Time Flies

Wow...where did the summer go? Haven't posted anything since June. The Bokerns had one of the best summers on record. Bill and Kurt took a one week canoe trip to Quetico with friends the Schaeffers and the Cockerhams. Then it was off to Camp Highlands for four weeks for Kurt. He went on another canoe trip to the Boundary Waters and earned an honor tripper award (so proud!).

There were lots of long weekends spent in Lk. Tom that provided the chance to see family on both sides. Labor Day weekend was a blast with the Schaeffers and Dues.

Went intentionally birding on Sept. 20 in Lk. Tom, binoculars ready, camera in hand. My first photo opp came when I spied an adult sapsucker and two immatures probing their chicklet-like holes for bugs. Great, I thought, I don't have any sapsucker photos! I lowered the binoculars and got the Cannon in position. Power on, uh try that again, power on. Power on, damnit! No power on. I checked the battery compartment to find one of the double A's missing. Kuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurt you're gonna get it! Kurt is 15 and a talented artist with a very creative eye. He likes to use my camera because of its superior zoom capabilities. He usually takes pretty good care of it but in a pinch he is not above "borrowing" a battery needed for his Wii-mote. Ugh...no photos on this birding excursion. In addtion to the photos of the sapsuckers I didn't get to take, I also didn't get to take any of the numerous Kinglets, Ovenbirds and Yellow-Rumped Warblers that I saw that day.

At the feeder now...just started seeing the White-crowned sparrows and white breasted nuthatches this week at the feeder in Wauwatosa. Have had lots of goldfinches and siskens, house sparrows and cardinals. Juncos showed up at the feeders in Lk. Tom after being away for the summer.

Fall colors are at their peak...a great time to turn off the TV, forget about politics and Wall Street for awhile and get outside.

Birding 9-1-1

Fathers Day weekend in Lake Tomahawk was one bird emergency after another! I discovered these two unfortunate red-eyed vireos laying on the front porch when I got up Friday morning. What happened? How could the same fate have befallen not one but two of these tree-top singers? Was it a case of lost love, like Romeo and Juliet? One flew into the house and the other decided it couldn't live without the other? I don't know but I felt terrible about it and carried them both off to the woods where they could rest in peace together.

Then on Saturday, I'm putzing around in the house while the guys are out fishing and I hear a tell-tale BAM! and knew something had hit a window. Sure enough, a belted kingfisher was sprawled out in the Adirondack chair on the deck...not looking so good. Thankfully in just a short time the bird righted itself and was sitting up. I thought this was a good sign but still wasn't sure what would happen. Would I be on my way to the wildlife rehabilitation center with a brain damaged kingfisher? After taking almost 20 minutes to regain its senses, it was able to fly up to the deck railing. It sat there for just a moment and then flew into a nearby tree where it took another minute to rest before heading off across the lake. A happy ending.

I hope this weekend at the lake provides only live bird watching opportunities!

Recipe For A Great Weekend

Ingredients:
Don Schaeffer, Jill Schaeffer, Max Schaeffer, Julie Ristow, Randy Ristow, Clayton Ristow, Joe Devereaux, Nola Devereaux, Max Devereaux, Brian Due, Jill Due, Chris Due, Jaime Due, Jaime's friend, Steve Fronk, Kay Fronk, Willie Rohrer and Eric Pintar.

Assemble all of the above for two days in Lake Tomahawk under (mostly) sunny skies and engage in a variety of activities including birding, biking, canoeing, boating, kayaking, fishing, eating, relaxing, game playing, campfire building, a little Guitar Hero, movie watching and more.

This was what we did over Memorial Day weekend. The Devereauxs and the Dues brought their campers, the Schaeffers and the Fronks put up tents, the kids completely took over the basement and it all worked out just great.

The birding was fantastic - we must have hit the peak of spring migration. As a club, EPBWC members participated in the Wisconsin Humane Society's Avian Odyssey count. During our 24 hour count period we observed 53 species in less than a one mile radius from the house. The list of birds, in the order we saw them is as follows:

• Blue Jay
• Goldfinch
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird
• Black-throated Green Warbler
• Warbling Vireo
• Least Flycatcher
• Oven Bird
• Phoebe
• Common Loon
• American Robin
• Hermit Thrush
• Canada Goose
• Willow Flycatcher
• Song Sparrow
• Whippoorwill
• Pileated Woodpecker
• Purple Finch
• American Crow
• Chestnut-sided Warbler
• Ruffed Grouse
• Swainson's Thrush
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• White-throated Sparrow
• Magnolia Warbler
• Black and White Warbler
• Yellow Rumped Warbler
• Chickadee
• Mourning Dove
• Chipping Sparrow
• Raven
• Northern Harrier
• Nashville Warbler
• Tree Sparrow
• Great Blue Heron
• Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker
• Blue-Headed Vireo
• Turkey Vulture
• Rose-Breasted Grosbeak
• Red-Breasted Nuthatch
• White-Breasted Nuthatch
• Bald Eagle
• Hairy Woodpecker
• Mallard
• Common Merganser
• Field Sparrow
• Swamp Sparrow
• Wood Thrush
• Downy Woodpecker
• Barred Owl
• Red-Winged Blackbird
• Yellow-shafted flicker
• Red-eyed Vireo
• Eastern Wood Pewee

In addition to this list, we saw several more species after our official count period including a Blackpoll Warbler, a Scarlet Tanager and what we are 90% sure was a Red-naped Sapsucker. These additions, and a few others, brought our total up to almost 60 different species.

Randy Ristow has bragging rights for catching the biggest fish - a 34 1/2" musky right off the end of the new pier that Bill and Kurt put in the weekend before when the temperature was 40 degrees and it was windy and sleeting.

Tammy accomplished two of her summer goals - biking into Lake Tom and trying kayaking. With those two already checked off the list, what is next?

When it was time to leave on Monday, we were already talking about the next time we would be up and we were wishing the same thing we always wish as we are heading down the driveway... that we had just one more day to spend at Muskellunge Lake.

Horicon Marsh Birding Festival

We were up early this past Saturday morning and on our way to Horicon at 7:00 a.m. to take in some of the activities associated with the Horicon Marsh Birding Club's annual festival. Spring migration is at its peak and the variety of birds that can be found at the marsh is amazing.

We arrived just after 8:00 am and checked in at the DNR office where some dedicated birders were holding a Big Sit. They began at midnight and had counted 59 species by 8:00 am.

A pontoon boat tour of the marsh was next on our agenda. We boarded at 9:00 am for a two hour birding adventure. The tour was a little disappointing in that there were way too many people on board and the boats had canopies overhead making it very difficult to see anything above. Still, we counted 44 species, some just by audible identification but most we got at least a glimpse of most. The highlight of the boat tour was the sighting of a Marsh Wren and a Swamp Sparrow - two new birds for my list. We heard the Sora Rail but it never came out to let us get a peek at it.

After the boat tour, we drove up the west side of the marsh to Hwy. 49 and hiked the floating boardwalk where we saw many yellow warblers, coots, geese, a blue grey gnatcatcher, blue-winged teal and, on our way out, Bobolink, who cooperated nicely while I took their photos.

Signs of Spring!

Spring must be right around the corner...the birds are coming back. This little hermit thrush was on our suet feeder Sunday in the midst of quite a snowfall. Haven't seen him since, maybe he decided to go south again for a couple of weeks. The weather man on channel 6 last night also reported seeing Red-Winged Blackbirds back in the area. Another good sign!

In other news, the Wauwatosa Red Raiders Boys Basketball team won the WIAA Division 1 State Basketball Championship Saturday night at the Kohl Center in Madison! All of Tosa is buzzing and so proud of our team! Kurt took one of seven student fan busses over to Madison last Thursday night for the quarter-final game. He and his buddies watched the semi-final game and the championship game on TV from their suite at the Wilderness Resort in the Wisconsin Dells on Friday and Saturday. Who has it harder than that kid?

We are really looking forward to our Spring Break trip to Florida next Saturday (3/22). Not sure what we will do with ourselves for five whole days without snow on the ground and crater-sized potholes to negotiate while driving around town. Hoping that most, if not all, of our snow is gone when we get back and we can turn our attention to the yard and the garden.


Hope you have had a meaningful Lenten season. I have enjoyed a book study at church on John Ortberg's The Life You've Always Wanted. Our last session is tonight and I hate to see it end. Palm Sunday this week already! Bill and some of the other men of our church will be up before the crack of dawn making fresh hot crossed buns for our coffee hour after the service. They are so delicious!


Happy Easter

Great Backyard Bird Count

Do you have 15 minutes this weekend to watch the birds at your feeder or in the park? Then think about participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count!

The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent. Anyone can participate, from beginning bird watchers to experts. It takes as little as 15 minutes. It’s free, fun, and easy—and it helps the birds.

How to Participate
It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3!

1. Plan to count birds for at least 15 minutes during February 15–18, 2008. Count birds at as many places and on as many days as you like—just keep a separate list of counts for each day and/or location.

2. Count the greatest number of individuals of each species that you see together at any one time, and write it down. (You can get regional checklists at http://gbbc.birdsource.org/gbbcApps/checklist).

3. Enter your results through the web site at http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/

Why Count Birds?
Scientists and bird enthusiasts can learn a lot by knowing where the birds are. Bird populations are dynamic; they are constantly in flux. No single scientist or team of scientists could hope to document the complex distribution and movements of so many species in such a short time.We need your help. Make sure the birds from your community are well represented in the count.
It doesn't matter whether you report the 5 species coming to your backyard feeder or the 75 species you see during a day's outing to a wildlife refuge.