Wildlife Sightings
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Lake Koshkonong is a rich and diverse habitat for wildlife. Read the latest observations in and around the wetlands.
2008
| Feb 2 | A White-throated Sparrow was spotted in Janesville. |
| Feb 23 | Great Blue Heron just south of Fort Atkinson. |
| Mar 2 | A member reports hearing the first Sandhill cranes of the spring. An immature Bald Eagle sighted. The chickadees and titmice are singing their spring songs. The roadsides by the open fields are full of Horned Larks. Saw first bluebird on March 3. Lots of Goldeneyes and Common Mergansers at Newville. |
| Mar 25 | There are turkeys everywhere in large flocks. There are many sand hills calling and flying about. On March 13, the first wood ducks were spotted. Also seen were hooded mergansers, white pelicans, bluebills, ruddy ducks, gadwalls, ring-necked ducks, shovelers, bald eagles and snow geese. The latter spent about one week in the corn field nest to Snuffy's. |
| Mar 27 | A flock of cranes was observed over Blackhawk Island heading in the direction of Cambridge. There were 25 sand hill cranes in the flock and what appeared to be 2 whooping cranes. |
| Mar 31 | A raft of 200 ducks, including canvas-backs and redheads, was observed off of Newville. |
| Apr 6 | Lake ice breaks up and flows out of the lake. Lots of Blue Bills, in flocks of 10 to 50 birds, are seen. |
| Apr 11 | Several loons have been seen. Many white pellicans floating and flying around. |
2007
| Nov 6 | Two small flocks of Pintails. |
| Oct 28 | A pair of Tundra swans flew over the lake toward the northeast. |
| Oct 21-27 | Several sightings of Osprey, large numbers of Ruddy Ducks, two Loons, mature and immature Bald Eagles, and Grebes. A very rare sighting was a dark ibis, probably a Glossy Ibis. |
| Oct 22 | Major migration of both waterfowl and sandhill cranes today. Most waterfowl species observed were puddle ducks at very high altitude, appearing for their final exodus of Wisconsin. |
| Oct 20 | Migrating Accipiters, both Cooper’s and sharp-shinned hawks were seen flying over the wetlands south of the lake. A hawk flew over at least every 30 seconds for 15 minutes. |
| Oct 20 | At least two adult osprey were seen cruising the east end of the lake and adjacent wetland edges looking for food. The later perched in trees along the shoreline. |
| Oct 18 | Many hermit thrushes in the woods. |
| Oct 16-21 | Spring peepers and chorus frogs calling. The spring peepers are migrating into the woods where they spend the winter under the leaf litter. |
| July 28 | Osprey on Rock River near Camp Indian Trails. |
| June 16 | Redhead 1/4 mile downstream from Indianford Dam. I suspect some problem with flight capabilities. Bird seemed to be in good condition otherwise. Observed as close as 20 yards. |
| April 17 | Saw a flock of about 13 American White Pelicans flying from Edgerton towards Fort Atkison over Lake Koshkonong. How exciting to see them in their perfect "V" formation and what beauty they are over a perfectly blue sping sky! |
| March 13 | There are reports of red wing black birds and robins in the area. Large numbers of goldeneye are on the river south of the lake. |
| March 7 | Sandhill cranes have arrived at Lake Koshkonong. Also, wood ducks have been seen. There is still significant snow and ice covering land and water, but the forecast is for several days in the 40's and 50's, so we'll be seeing much of that disappear. |
2006
| 12-4-06 | The final significant migrating waterfowl left us as they passed thru Friday, 12/1, mostly mallards, after we receieved a 10" snowfall and temperatures plummetted. 12/2, the lake was mostly covered with ice, a bald eagle sighted on the SE portion of the lake. A beautiful new snowfall blankets the lake fringes. |
| 11-17-06 | Large flocks of migrating sandhill cranes were seen along with the arrival of some swans. Unfortunately, the numbers of migrating Ruddy ducks seem to be decreased. The usual large flocks of ruddies resting on the water were not seen on the north side of the lake. |
| 8-24-06 | White egrets are staging in many of our shallow wetland areas. I have noticed the importance of these areas to serve as an important feeding area for these beautiful birds. Purple loosestrife plants after introduction with the small beetles this year to consume the plants indicate a reduction in height. Next year should see a marked loss of these plants. Water quality has been good this summer apparently by the more stable opeating orders which are finally working after the dam has been repaired and operating to the correct DNR orders. |
| 6-1-06 | Roger Martin reported a Blanding's turtle wandering through his backyard on Vinne Haha Rd. |
| 5-10-06 | Heard 3 Virginia rails and caught a glimpse of one. Heard and saw marsh wrens, yellowthroats, yellow warblers, swamp sparrows, a Northern water thrush, wood ducks, tree swallows, green herons, great blue heron, sandhill cranes, great crested flycatchers, ruby-throated hummingbird, wood thrush. A wonderful afternoon! |
| 3-15-06 | Saw a great variety of ducks today including one Drake Red Breasted Merganser. Other species include: Canvasbacks, Redheads,American Mergansers, Buffelhead, Bluebills, Ringnecks, Mallards, Gadwall, Wood Ducks, Goldeneye,Hooded Mergansers, Sandhill Cranes, Eagles and one Blue Heron. |
| 3-14-06 | The lake is open and there are lots of ducks starting to pass through. |
| 3-12-06 | The lake has started to open up again. The Eagles have retuned and there are lots of waterfowl starting to move in. Sighted off Carcajou Point: Eagles (6), Canvasbacks (18), Bluebills (95 mostly drakes), Buffelhead (30), Goldeneye (42), Hooded Mergansers (27) American Mergansers(100+ mostly drakes). There are Mallards(400+), Widgeon (28) and Wood ducks(32) in the marshes as well as the lake. We saw many Sandhill Cranes (100 to 200) moving north along with hundreds of Geese. |
| 3-11-06 | Wood ducks and Robins have arrived today. |
| 2-28-06 | Saw 6 Sandhill Cranes Flying over Busseyville. |
| 2-17-06 | We still have open water on the lake and many Eagles. Sighted over 15 eagles this morning out in the center of the lake between Charlie Bluff and Carcajou point. We are also seeing American Mergansers or also known as the Common Merganser I think. These are large white birds with a dark green head almost black. When they fly they have a long profile and a white belly. Sighted 6 birds yesterday and today out in the open water. |
| 2-9-06 | Still open water on the lake. Counted 15 eagles this morning. |
| 2-8-06 | More reports of bald eagles: Eleven Bald Eagles are hanging around the lake this week. There are both mature and immature birds. Eagles don't get their adult plumage (with the white head and tail) until they are about 5 years of age. Also, there are many beautiful Common Goldeneye. These are diving ducks. Males have white bodies with a black head and a white patch in front of the eye. The females are grey with a brown head. |
| 2-6-06 | Rick Persson reported 11 eagles in the bay. Four are mature eagles. Three are sitting in the trees and the rest are flying over the ice or sitting out on the ice. |
| 2-5-06 | Rick Persson reported 7 eagles out on the lake, along with 5 Goldeneye out in front. The west end of the lake is open water with increasing numbers of Goldeneye out in the lake. There are approximately a hundred or so. There is also a lot of geese moving around today. |
| 2/1/06 | Rick and Laurie Persson saw 2 immature bald eagles out in the center of the lake. With the warm weather the ice is opening up and the eagles will look for food around these areas before they migrate farther north. Surprisingly the eagles will stay for quite a while. People should look for large dark birds on the ice. The younger ones will be a chocolate brown with white starting to show through. The mature ones about 5 years and older will have the traditional white head and tail. The eagles will increase in numbers as the spring approaches and if you can see one up close they are awesome. |
2005
| 9/27/05 | Pelicans are still seen all around the lake. No reports of nesting. At least six species of ducks were seen frequently this week: mallards, pintails, blue-winged teal, green-winged teal, wood ducks, and shovelers. The sandhill cranes are forming large groups. A large flight of monarch butterflies was seen. Also, flocks of bluebirds were seen. |
| 7/17/05 | About 4-5 PM well over one hundred white pelicans on Blackhawk Shoal were spotted, as well as a bald eagle and its nest in Crescent Bay. Also saw a cormorant. |
| 3/22/05 |
Rick Persson reports on variety of birds seen on trip between Carcjou and Fort Atkinson:
North of Mud lake in 4 separate farm fields: 138 sandhill cranes 215 sandhill cranes 97 sandhill cranes 6 sandhill cranes North of the river and north of Pattens Marine: 2000+ geese On the river west of Fort Atkinson and east of Pattens Marine: 8 red heads 19 American mergansers numerous mallards buffelheads coots 30+ canvasback small amounts of ruddy ducks small amounts of ringnecks small amounts of bluebills We also have good numbers of robins this last week. |
2004
| 1/3/04 | The Shacklfords participated in the Audubon Society 2003 Christmas Bird Count and identified 31 species of birds (see full list) in the southwest corner of the lake. |
| 3/13/04 | Four juvenile (no adult plumage) eagles seen fishing at the edge of the ice. Ravens and seagulls were attendance waiting for scraps of fish. |
| 3/14/04 | Ice mostly broken up. Due to high level of lake, large piles of ice had pushed up on shore. |
| 3/24/04 | In a shallow pond scrape in the wetlands south of Lautz Bay, we are seeing American wigeon, mallards, hooded mergansers, Northern gadwall, green-winged teal and wood ducks. Flocks of 5-8 great blue herons flying over March 23 and large flocks of tree sparrows and song sparrows in the grasses. The sandhill cranes have been back for several weeks. I heard the first chorus frogs yesterday (23rd). - Shackleford |
| 3/25/04 | We had over 10 species of waterfowl in our back bay on Sunday including about 40 canvasback. Heard there were lots of pintail and black ducks at Princess Point too. Woodies have also arrived and are visiting boxes. We had several eagles in the back yard as well. - Deusterbeck |
| 3/26/04 | Wanted to report seeing otters on at least two occasions this past week. Also had some meadowlarks in the field yesterday. |
| 5/1/04 | At Carcajou, we saw a yellow headed black bird. We have nesting wood ducks and hooded mergansers. The geese have been hatching eggs for about 2 weeks. We have goslings all over the lake. Great blue herons have been walking the shoreline in the afternoons. The white pelicans are still here and have been around for about 1 month. |
| Sept. 2004 | Groups of 3 to 14 Great Egrets were seen in Thiebeau marsh during the month. The were observed perching in dead trees near open water or feeding in shallow ponds. |
| 9/28/04 | The Ned Hollister Bird Club visited the Shackelford property and identified 49 bird species in 3 hours. There were mixed flocks of migrating warblers, thrushes and sparrows in addition to several hawk species. |
| 11/30/04 | Large flights of sandhill cranes were seen last weekend. Flocks of 30 or more tundra swans have been seen on the north side of the lake. 1000s of ruddy ducks have been on the lake for several weeks. |
2003
| 11/07/03 | River otter swimming around the shoreline. |
| 11/13/03 | With the strong northwest winds I have seen quite a few flocks of Sand hill cranes heading south. |
| 11/13/03 | A white deer was also sighted west of Fort Atkinson. |
| November 2003 | Nothern shrikes have been seen regularly along the south end of Thiebeau marsh in November. These birds are black, grey and white, about the size of a Jay. They capture small mammals and often impale them on thorns or hang them in the branches of shrubs until they are ready to feed. We found a vole hung in a small bush. While we were looking for the shrike, he flew around behind us and took his vole away. |
| 12/03/03 | Eagles have been spotted on the lake. A total of 7 Bald Eagles were seen. |
| 12/1/03 | Swans have been migrating as well as sandhill cranes. |
| 12/2/03 | The lake has iced up. |
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