Finch Gang

What a great day we had! As mean as ever, but lean this year, the Finch Gang started out at 4:45 a.m. Three of us headed out onto the Glacial Drumlin Trail from Elm Point Rd. on the west side of Rock Lake, immediately encountering our first challenge: mosquitoes. After a few spritzes from our arsenal, we moved on to find singing Veeries, Willow Flycatchers, a Cedar Waxwing, and all three of the warblers that breed in the county (Yellow, American Redstart, and Common Yellowthroat), but no other warblers. We watched a Gray Catbird gathering nesting material, pulling small strips of bark off a dead tree. By the time we reached the trestle at the south end of Rock Lake, we’d tallied 40 species for the day.

May was a very wet and stormy month, but we chose the right day. How did we do that? Saturday was sunny with moderate temperatures and light winds, sandwiched between a stormy Friday and stormy Sunday, each inundated with more than an inch of rain. Yet, nice as it was, there wasn’t anyone out on the trail - no one we could hold up and accost - on a holiday weekend. Oh. Right. It was just 5:30 a.m.

As we were sauntering back across the trestle, we stopped short when a bird started singing a soft “coo-coo-coo”, nearly at our feet, but out of sight. Whoa! This was definitely the best bird of the day, one we’d been trying to find since we’d started the Gang 13 years ago. It was a Least Bittern!!, a diminutive, beautiful bittern, hard to find in Wisconsin, as they are as secretive as we are. This one, as is typical, stayed hidden in the cattails.

It wasn’t long before we were joined by two more Gang members. We moved on to nearby Korth Park, where we found a Blue-winged Teal and Northern Flicker and heard Field and Clay-colored sparrows. By then, at 8:45, our count stood at 51. We checked our log and found that two of our long-time donors had failed to pay up, so we paid each a visit. When they produced not only a couple of hummingbirds, but some bluebirds and a Great Crested Flycatcher, we let them off the hook. For now.

Expanding our usual territory to the south, we headed to Danielson Rd., a long, wooded stretch along Koshkonong Creek, north of Lake Koshkonong. It wasn’t long before we heard a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, another redstart, a couple of Indigo Buntings, and a Veery, among others. We then spotted a ratty looking (i.e. molting) immature Bald Eagle soaring high overhead. A few minutes later, we were badly startled when a huge Wild Turkey exploded from the undergrowth from a few feet away and flew off into the woods (they always look bigger when they’re that close!). Minutes later, a Red-headed Woodpecker flew over, a real surprise. Lastly, we heard a Black-billed Cuckoo singing, another species that gives a “coo-coo-coo” song.

Despite the lack of warblers and a few other May migrants, we were doing well and thought we’d check out a few flooded fields that should have been holding a good variety of shorebirds. We failed to find anything other than a couple of Killdeer and a single Spotted Sandpiper, though.

Three of the Gang headed home at 2:30, leaving two of us to cover our old haunt, London Marsh (aka Zeloski Marsh). It wasn’t long before we’d added several Wood Duck moms, one with a brood of 14 and a Hooded Merganser female with a brood of 11. We also tallied several Marsh Wrens, a Green Heron, two American White Pelicans, and not one, but two, Common Gallinules – swimming out in the middle of the south pool. Our scopes seemed to grow heavier after carrying them a couple of miles in the warm sun.

But our day didn’t end then. That evening, a crack team of two Gang members joined forces with a frog-counting crew at Zeloski Marsh. (Wisconsin has the longest running Frog and Toad Survey of any other state, 45 years and counting.) The team of four added Pied-billed Grebe, Sora and Virginia rails, Common Nighthawk, Trumpeter Swan on a nest, Ruddy Duck, and to end the day, a Great Horned Owl that was watching them.

Altogether, we tallied 87 species for the day, close to the 89 we found last year, when we also counted at the end of May. The warblers and other migrants had already passed through, shorebirds were hard to find, and as happens every year, we missed a few species. For a complete checklist of birds, please email me at chimneyswift1@icloud.com

This was our 13th annual Great Wisconsin Birdathon. Finch Gang members included Karen Etter Hale and Brad Webb (original members of the first statewide Birdathon in 2012), Eric Mosher and River Sandy (early members), Jeanne Scherer, and Nancy Stanford. Some of our long-time members had other obligations this year.

Thanks once again for donating to the Finch Gang to keep the birds flying! The Gang continues to be concerned about the low number of many of our bird species, why we do what we can to raise awareness and funds for the highest priority projects for Wisconsin’s birds. Every dollar helps #BringBirdsBack.

There's still time to donate, online by clicking "donate" above, or mail a check to: Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin, ATTN: Great Wisconsin Birdathon, 211 S. Paterson St., Suite 100, Madison, WI 53703 (be sure to include "Finch Gang" in the memo line!)

2024 Plea - GIVE - or else!

We’ll keep it short and sweet: Give - or else! We are the FINCH GANG, notorious for holding up anyone who has a dollar (or more) to give in support of our birds, who are in desperate straits (nearly 3 billion lost over the past 50 years).

History. The Finch family was real. They "rustled cattle and stole horses throughout Rock and Jefferson counties before the Civil War. The "Fighting Finches" terrorized south-central Wisconsin for three decades from their hideout in London swamp, just west of Lake Mills." Here's the link to information about them, detailed in a book produced during the Works Progress Administration in 1937: http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/search.asp?id=1734

After a long winter, the FINCH GANG is desperate. Your only hope to avoid a dreaded visit? Give, or else!

Thank you for your past donations and for whatever you can give this year. It’s all for the birds!