Thursday, February 21, 2013

Milwaukee Coast Guard Inlet, January 28

I found the Coast Guard Inlet with some difficulty.  The GPS on Goggle Maps kept taking me around in circles until I asked a real person.  I found the female (dark) Snowy Owl on the dock at South Shore Park at the yacht basin.  I was looking for it when I looked to my left where I found a man looking intently at the dock.  I walked over and asked him what he was seeing and he pointed out the Snowy Owl.  It was low enough that it blended in with the posts and the jetty stones in the background and visibility depended entirely on the angle of viewing.  The picture shows the bird after it flew up onto a higher piling.

I also found Common Goldeneye.  I met a man who said that he had seen a Glaucous Gull north of this location and a very white Snowy Owl south of this location at the Texas Avenue overlook on the south end of the jetty which was snow covered.  I went to the Texas Avenue overlook but did not find the very white Snowy Owl, only a few promising snow bumps.  I checked out the few gulls for any of the rarities, but found only Herring and Ring-billed Gulls.   I went to the ferry slip to look for the reported Hoary Redpoll along the north fence line.  I met a photographer who found the dark Snowy Owl sitting on a light or sign post along the inlet.  By this time, the light was decreasing rapidly so I quite for the day, and went to a local Motel 6 near the airport.   The total is now 107.

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