11/27/09

Friday's weather was spectacular. 25F, clear and calm at dawn, and a warm Sun brought us above 40F in the afternoon. I would have spent more time outside, but had a football game to watch in the late afternoon. It was really sad to have to go in early on the best day of the trip. I paid a visit to the local coffee shop at dawn, and along the way found a number of starlings in the neighborhoods. Returning to the base of the bluffs as the Sun rose, I started the morning count at the trout pond where on frosty clear mornings last year I usually encountered large mixed flocks sunning in the isolated trees. I didn't see as much of that this year. The mob of cedar waxwings were gone, but a few of the robins that appeared with them are still around.

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The relatives did the usual trip to look at the swans on the Mississippi this year. There were fewer tundra swans than I remember in previous years. The usual canada geese and mallards were mixed in, but I didn't take much note of the ducks. I was busy looking for waders in the weeds, but never saw any. There was a mob of pelicans. The most interesting thing I saw was a flock of little brown and white birds that flew up from one of the sand bars and briefly swirled before settling again - by the color and behavior I wondered if they might be my first snow buntings. They were far too distant to see in any detail.

Holmberg Trails
0810-0925, 900m
8 WBNU, 9 NOCA, 2 RBWO, 21 BCCH, 18 AMGO, 5 AMRO, 7 DEJU, 3 HOFI, 8 AMCR, 1 BRCR, 1 PIWO, 1 DOWO

Holmberg Trails
1230-1345, 750m
7 AMRO, 6 NOCA, 2 DOWO, 11 BCCH, 7 WBNU, 8 AMGO, 1 BAEA, 1 RTHA, 4 AMCR, 1 HAWO, 3 RBWO, 1 BRCR, 5 DEJU, 1 MODO, 16 HOFI

11/28/09

Saturday morning was cold and clear. The afternoon was a bit less warm than Friday. Counts at the base of the bluffs continued to be fairly predictable. My ability to differentiate creeper, titmouse and junco by ear among the other birds has improved with experience. I would probably have had more titmouse earlier if I had realized how similar they sound to chickadees. I had one of the more interesting observations of my trip in the afternoon, when I saw a bird the shape and size of a warbler on a branch above me, with drab cream and tan-brown colors on the underside, giving a hard "chik"/"chek" call. Unfortunately it flew away before I could get a good look, and will remain a mystery. I continued to listen for this call later, but don't believe I heard its like at any other point in the trip.

Holmberg Trails
0900-1035, 900m
7 WBNU, 15 NOCA, 7 DEJU, 22 BCCH, 13 AMGO, 13 HOFI, 2 RBWO, 4 BLJA, 5 DOWO, 3 TUTI, 2 MODO, 5 AMCR, 1 AMRO, 2 BRCR

Holmberg Trails
1337-1512, 900m
12 BCCH, 9 NOCA, 4 TUTI, 7 WBNU, 3 DOWO, 1 BRCR, 3 RBWO, 4 DEJU, 3 AMGO, 13 AMRO, 1 HAWO, 1 RTHA, 9 HOFI, 1 ATSP

11/29/09

Sunday was the last day of my trip. The morning was cold and overcast, but not unpleasant. My morning count was similar to previous days, but I was unable to do an afternoon count because I was out on the town with the relatives. That was unfortunate because it was a very nice afternoon. During my sunset pass through the forest along the base of the bluff I saw just the second white-throated sparrow of my stay in La Crosse.

Holmberg Trails
0911-1040, 800m
17 BCCH, 13 NOCA, 4 WBNU, 6 DOWO, 3 BLJA, 13 AMGO, 12 AMRO, 50 HOFI, 3 BRCR, 1 TUTI, 1 RBWO, 1 BAEA, 2 HAWO

Trip Summary

My trip was a mixed bag. The weather was wonderful almost the entire trip. However, I didn't get to as many new places as I hoped, and missed out on at least a couple of birds I expected to see. Last year was exceptional for finding the boreal birds, but I didn't see any redpolls, crossbills or siskins this year. I hear that crossbills and a raven arrived in Sherburne NWR just a week after my departure. I did pick up my first purple finches there, which I missed on several previous trips, as well as barred owl on the Minnesota River. The lack of sharp-shinned and Cooper's hawks in La Crosse this year was also notable - I saw them frequently on my previous trips.

Since I wasn't visiting new areas I concentrated on trying to do good bird counts this time, which was quite successful and a learning experience. There were some minor confusions, but the counts were pretty good overall, and the good weather allowed me to repeat some regularly. This allowed me to work on recognizing calls and searching the flocks. I wouldn't be able to manage the wider number of species and greater activity during migrating seasons, though. Since I didn't see many new species and was concentrated on bird counts I didn't use the camera much, and actually never even carried it outside in Wisconsin. (backfired with the mystery bird mentioned above) The concentration on bird counts actually made the trip seem a lot shorter, since I was constantly occupied with listening and observing while I was out.

I did a lot of Minnesota reading before and after my trip. I read Helen Hoover's "A Place in the Woods" before my trip, which is about nature and living in northern Minnesota. On the way back I got a Minnesota Historical Society book, "Old Rail Fence Corners", which is an interesting collection of first-hand accounts of life in (primarily southeastern) Minnesota in the 1840's and 1850's. (collected around 1915) It's an excellent book, with a lot of interesting descriptions of various places I've lived, and the very places I visited over the last two weeks. The personal stories of life on the frontier are fun to read, with various details of everyday life and interactions with frontiersmen and indigenous peoples. There are some mentions of nature along the way, but not in much detail in any of the stories I've read so far.