While visiting relatives in northern Wisconsin, we always travel out to some of the many lakes up there. One was Newman Lake in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. The lake was lower than we have ever seen, but there were four Common Loons hanging out. We also saw two Belted Kingfishers, and Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers.
Newman Lake
Along the road we spied two Ruffed Grouse and one actually allowed me to take a picture!
Ruffed Grouse
We also visited Smith Lake County Park in Park Falls, Wisconsin where we saw a Common Loon, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, a Chestnut-sided Warbler, a Yellow-rumped Warbler, a Swamp Sparrow, and two Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.
Another place we checked out was Round Lake. There is an old logging dam from the late 1800s there that was restored. This dam was one of around 100 that moved pines to sawmills in the Chippewa River Valley of Wisconsin. It is also the beginning of the north fork of the Flambeau River and where we spotted a Great Blue Heron fishing.
As we passed fields on our way up north we kept a Sandhill Crane count. Our final count was 10, two of them right in Park Falls, Wisconsin.
There are probably more lakes than people in northern Wisconsin, but we always seem to find plenty of birds. It is hard to leave.
looks like an awesome place to bird! I have not seen cranes since I was in michigan many moons ago! BTW: Also love the Sapsucker and Grouse photos! BRAVO
The Sandhill Crane is a bird that I tired to find folllowing a rare bird report in CT. but had no luck.-Ruffed Grouse photo-very cool! Looks like a nice area, and great photos too!