Is this a good time to see migrating birds in Milwaukee? If so, where?
March 14, 2014 2:31 PM   Subscribe

I’m heading to the Milwaukee airport tomorrow, but my flight isn’t till the evening. Somewhere I read about a spot by Lake Michigan that was a good place to see migrating birds. Now I can’t find that article. Is this even the right time of year? If so, where should I go?
posted by Hoenikker to Science & Nature (5 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Were you perhaps thinking of Horicon Marsh?
posted by DrGail at 2:37 PM on March 14, 2014


Response by poster: I should add that I'm a beginner with this.
posted by Hoenikker at 2:41 PM on March 14, 2014


Hm, I've lived here all my life and I haven't heard of that, but I'm not a bird person. The Schlitz Audubon Nature Center is on the lake - maybe that's what you read about. If you just want to hang out at the lake, the best spots are (in order of distance from the airport) Grant Park, South Shore Park, McKinley Marina, Bradford Beach, Doctors Park. Here's a PDF version of the county parks map.
posted by desjardins at 2:46 PM on March 14, 2014


oh - and I had the same initial reaction as DrGail. That's the most well-known local place for migratory birds.
posted by desjardins at 2:47 PM on March 14, 2014


This website has a long list of "Wisconsin Birding Hotspots," with location, contact information, and a couple of sentences about each place. It was updated yesterday:

"Spring migration is off to a tempered start with arrival of small numbers of sandhill cranes, red-winged blackbirds, and American robins in the south. Horned larks are being reported in good numbers, occasionally mixing with migrant snow buntings and Lapland longspurs on their way north. Other arrivals include Eastern meadowlarks, killdeer, great blue herons, rusty blackbirds, northern flickers, and purple finches, though most are limited to the southern half of the state and are still in below-average numbers for this time of year. Waterfowl rank among the earliest migrants and a good diversity of birds are now on the move where open water can be found...."
posted by wryly at 3:22 PM on March 14, 2014


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