Tuesday was my first day in La Crosse. It was a overcast and somewhat foggy in the morning, but still calm and warm. My grandparents' place is at the very South end of La Crosse, at the base of the bluffs. It's just a short walk to a tiny mixed forest at the base of the bluffs where I visit several times a day to see the local birds. Somebody put up a sign here that says "Holmberg Trails". It is merely 600 meters North-South along the base of the bluff, and perhaps 200 meters up the bluffs to the houses above.

I headed over there at dawn. It was very quiet at first, probably due to the overcast weather, and there were few birds in the neighborhoods and landscaping along the way. The forest was also quiet at first, but I hit my first pocket of birds soon enough. It was a mixed group of juncos, tufted titmouse, chickadees, white-breasted nuthatch and a downy woodopecker. I was particularly glad to see the tufted titmouse, which were completely absent during last year's trip.

After that the forest was quiet for another stretch. There is an old trout fishing pond near the South end, and the trees around it are often filled with flocks of birds in the morning. Nothing like last year's dawn flocks today. One tree had a small flock of house finch and American goldfinch, and there was a pocket of northern cardinal in the brush.

I ended up with all the woodpeckers except hairies, and white-breasted nuthatches but no read-breasteds. Around the South end of the trails there was a loudly trilling group of 3 of brown creepers. I scared off a small herd of deer who were hiding from hunting season. I was running out of time before my appointment with breakfast, and started hurrying back. However, I quickly ran into a large and loud mob of robins and cedar waxwings and was greatly delayed by trying to count all of them. A small hawk passed overhead, which I was unable to inspect. The clouds were just breaking up as I headed back.

Around noon I returned for a second visit. This time I started at the trout pond and went in the opposite direction. The house finches, goldfinches and cardinals were still around the pond, along with some juncos and a mourning dove. I didn't see the brown creepers this time, but the mob of cedar waxwings and robins was still there. Generally there were somewhat fewer birds than at dawn, which is normal.

I walked up highway 33 after that, to see if there were any new areas I could check. Unfortunately it's a busy road with no shoulder on one side. I did find a powerline corridor on one side where I could climb up the slope about 100 meters. Saw the most common birds there, and the mystery hawk again.

When I got home I discovered that with the mild weather the deer ticks are still active here!

Holmberg Trails:
0805-0930, 900m warm, overcast
7 WBNU, 30 HOFI, 8 DEJU, 29 BCCH, 19 AMGO, 28 AMRO, 7 NOCA, 6 TUTI, 2 PIWO, 4 DOWO, 5 BRCR, 1 RBWO, 65 CEDW

Holmberg Trails:
1205-1318, 700m warm, overcast, starting from pool end
9 NOCA, 15 AMGO, 5 WBNU, 28 HOFI, 1 MODO, 1 BLJA, 50 AMRO, 65 CEDW, 5 BCCH, 1 RBWO, 5 DEJU, 3 AMCR, 2 DOWO

Hwy 33 powerline
1355-1410, continued warm
10 BCCH, 2 DOWO, 1 RBWO, 3 WBNU, 1 BLJA,
unknown hawk, white under, grey elsewhere, red tail - RTHA?