Wednesday, May 6, 2026

Day 19.116: New arrivals

Yesterday we saw what we assumed to be cedar waxwings in the trees at our neighbors across the street and today we saw some small warblerish birds from our back window. This is what they turned out to be:

Bohemian waxwing

Color under tail and white bar on wing are distinctive I believe

Chestnut-sided warbler

(Looking a little damp)

Northern parula

All are first sightings of the year. 

Tuesday, May 5, 2026

Day 19.115: Spring bird walk #3

We had a large number of people and a relatively modest number of birds for walk 3. Here are some of my sightings:

A very obliging hairy woodpecker

Northern flickers

Brown-headed cowbird

Eastern bluebird

Northern cardinal

Canada geese

Broad-winged hawk

American robin

White-breasted nuthatch

Red-bellied woodpecker

Chipping sparrow

Tulip tree

American robin


Monday, May 4, 2026

Day 19.114: Nature walk

Our nature group outing on Saturday was in two parts. Here are some more sightings from part two (before the porcupine)

Tree swallows

Chipping sparrow 

Osprey

Vesper sparrow 

Field sparrow

Eastern towhee

Eastern bluebird

Yellow-rumped warbler 

Sunday, May 3, 2026

Day 19.113: Exile #2's Sunday Column #551

Exile #2 writes...

As usual, we headed out early Saturday morning for a nature walk. We stayed pretty dry for the most part, considering the fact that showers had been predicted but just as we got in sight of the parking lot it really started to come down. That's when we spotted this little guy, who was doing his best to sleep through the whole thing.

North American porcupine

Saturday, May 2, 2026

Day 19.112: Madison

I didn’t have a lot of time to get out and about with my camera in Madison this week, but I did manage one short early morning outing. This is what I saw.

Rowers on the lake

The Wisconsin State Capitol 


Barn swallow (first of the year for me)

American coots (another year bird)

Common grackles

Lots of the mallards show hybridization features such as these white neck patches

House sparrow 

Red-winged blackbird

Close-up of the top of the Capitol

Friday, May 1, 2026

Day 19.111: Home

I’m home after another connection through Washington D.C.. Here’s a less iconic view as we left there this evening.


Thursday, April 30, 2026

Day 19.110: That’s capital!

I’m back in Madison, but I connected through a different city on the way here this time: