Western Grebe Bird – Swimmers – 10/23/2016

The Western Grebe was photographed at Lakeshore State Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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The Western Grebe is a large slate and white Grebe with a long swanlike neck and a dull olive-yellow bill with a dark edge. It has a range of Western North America. It has a range of open water and marsh vegetation, sloughs, bays, and the ocean. It eats crustaceans, insects, worms, feathers, and mostly fish.

Select this link to see where the Western Grebe was photographed

 

 

Whimbrel Bird – Small Waders – 9/3/2014

The Whimbrel was photographed at Lakeshore State Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Lake Michigan

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The Whimbrel is a large gray-brown wader with a long decurved bill, striped head, and gray legs. It has a range of the Arctic circumpolar and can be found on the United States coasts in the winter. It has a habitat of shores, mud flats, marshes, prairies, and tundra. Its diet includes insects, crustaceans, and berries. It feeds more by picking, less by probing.

 

Rusty Blackbird Bird – Passerines – 10/1/2012

This male Rusty Blackbird was photographed at Lakeshore State Park on Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

A male Rusty Blackbird with a fall and winter coloring

This female Rusty Blackbird was photographed at Northpoint, north of Bradford Beach, on Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Select this link to see photos or a slideshow of the Rusty Blackbird

The male Rusty Blackbird is mainly black with a yellow eye and is about the size of a Robin. In the fall and winter the male Rusty Blackbird has a rusty coloring with black stripes on the wings and barring on the breast. The female has a tan color in the fall and winter or slate coloring in the spring with a clean breast. It has a winter range of Alaska and eastern Canada, a summer range of southeaster United States. In migration and winter it is usually found in swampy places or wading in very shallow water. In migration and winter it is usually found in swampy places or wading in very shallow water. Its diet is mostly insects and seeds. It was found and photographed migrating through Wisconsin during the fall.

 

 

 

Lapland Longspur Bird – Passerines – 10/1/2012

The Lapland Longspur was photographed at the Lakeshore State park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Lake Michigan

Select this link to see photos or a slideshow of the Lapland Longspur

The Lapland Lonspur has black streaks on rusty-gray back with a white breast and black streaks on the throat. The feet have long sharp noticeable spurs. It ranges in the Artic, circumpolar, and winters from Southern Canada to the center southern part of the United States. In the summer the Artic tundra has an abundance of Lapland Longspurs and in the winter the birds come south. It is a bird of the open country. Its habitat is in the tundra in the winter, and in prairies and fields in the summer. The diet is mostly seeds and insects.

 

Long Tailed Duck or Oldsquaw – Swimmers – 2/11/2012

This Long-Tailed Duck was seen and photographed at Lakeshore State Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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The only sea duck combining white on the body and unpatterned dark wings with a needle like tail. In winter his tale is shorter and his normal eye patch is fainter. This is the winter plumage. His diet is mollusks, crustaceans, insects, and small fish. His range is the Arctic and circumpolar. His habitat is ocean or large lakes. He became well known as he came from the Artic, was alone, and stayed by himself among other ducks at Lakeshore State park.

Select this link to see photos of his short time home at Lakeshore State Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin