Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch, Star of the East Bluff

The big story at Devil’s Lake State Park recently has been the sightings of a Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch on Devil’s Lake State Park’s East Bluff. The reason it’s capturing the attention of Wisconsin’s birders is because the little finch is native to the mountainous regions of America’s northwest. It’s a bit out of the normal range. We first saw the Rosy-Finch on the East Bluff back on November 21st, but it seems to just be hanging out.

About 10 years ago or so, another bird from about the same part of the county, the Townsend’s Solitaire, was also discovered in the park. The Solitaire has been seen since then most years and in fact, it seems the population may be growing. Interesting.

Today, we saw both, along with a host of birdwatchers who can also be seen in good numbers on the East Bluff recently. If you’re going out to find them over the Christmas holiday, good luck!

Of course, I was also just happy to watch the pigeons.

If you made it to the bottom of this page, I should reward you, right? So, to find both birds you want to hike the East Bluff Trail around and beyond Devil’s Doorway. There have been a good number of birders out most days and both birds seem fairly unbothered as long as everyone stays back. Good Luck and remember to treat each other and the birds with respect. 😉