During my visit to La Crosse I enjoyed fairly consistent weather with mornings 15-25F and afternoons 25-40F. Only one day was a bit breezy, and all were dry during my counts. In La Crosse I was unable to go anywhere except the Holmberg Trails area near my grandparents' house due to family activities at all hours of the day. This is an undeveloped area at the base of the low west-facing bluffs, surrounded by houses above and a school, nursing home and the Trane office building below the bluff. Most of this forest was once cleared and bulldozed, and then sparsely replanted with rows of pines. A powerline cut adds a bit of habitat variety to the otherwise barren area under the largest pine plantation block. The landscaping at the edge of the Trane plant includes a row of fruit trees, complemented by a number of fruiting shrubs in the adjacent forest, that together attract robins, waxwings and other fruit eaters like my 2008 varied thrush. The pines attract woodpeckers, nuthatches and creepers, and occasionally owls and hawks. The weedy edges of the trout pond and adjacent wetland attract finches and sparrows. Overall it is a decently varied bit of habitat, with a number of bird species and potential for a few modest rarities. I did consistent travelling counts of the birds through this area twice per day - once at dawn and again in the afternoon - following the same route starting at the edge of the schoolyard, following the main trail to the trout pond, and finishing with one orbit around the pond. This gave me 750 meters and close to 75 minutes per travelling count.

I usually find at least one odd or interesting species on my visit to La Crosse. In 2007 there was a red-breasted nuthatch, 2008 brought a varied thrush, pine siskins, and was capped by a great horned owl. 2009's only odd bird was one I never identified, so it was a bit disappointing. This year I saw a few bluebirds on the first day, but was disappointed by not finding any of the other oddities from previous years. I did at least see a few creepers and titmouse, which I had not located in Minnesota. Every year I have close encounters with the Cooper's hawks in this area - near the bluffs or around the birdfeeders in my grandparents' neighborhood. Otherwise the species are fairly similar from year to year. This year there were far more robins than I remember during previous visits, and no mourning doves.

Nov. 24, 2010 My first morning in La Crosse was overcast and about 20F, but warmed into the 30's by noon with the approaching storm. I only got to go out twice, but caught a lot of bird species in the first day. The most surprising was a trio of bluebirds among the goldfinches and juncos, which I believe are the first I've ever encountered during my La Crosse trips.

Nov 25, 2010 - My early outing on Thursday was very chilly. It was clear and about 20F, with gusty winds. I saw all the usual stuff, but this time I thought I heard a brown creeper's high thin trilling voice...but now I'm thinking it might have been a kinglet. There were a few purple finch among the waxwings and robins, finally given away by the light stripes on the females' faces. During my noontime outing I finally saw one of the much-anticipated creepers. Crows were also mobbing hawks soaring above the bluffs. I also saw the first flock of starlings of my trip, and fortunately in the sunlight where I could appreciate their wonderful iridescence.

Nov. 26, 2010 - The morning outing was clear, calm and 18F. The forest at the base of the bluff was shaded and very quiet just after dawn, with few woodpeckers and less birds in the robin/waxwing fruit tree area than previous days. I got to the trout pond as the sun was in the sunning trees, where the mob of robins was collecting. As the Sun illuminated more of the pond area a mob of junco, goldfinch and house finch appeared, and a big flock of starlings collected in the cemetary. There were also a number of downy woodpeckers and white-breasted nuthatch in the small trees and shrubs around the pond. One of the downies was picking into the galls of the weedy plants in the marsh, while another was on a stick in the ditch nearly at the water's surface. I flushed an accipiter on the way out, which seemed to be 16-18" with adult plumage, and relocated it on the return trip for grainy pix (yay ISO 800) and confirmation as a sharp-shinned hawk. I did not get any hit of creepers on the morning outing. The afternoon outing brought soaring hawks and eagles over the bluffs, and I found a new high count of 4 tufted titmouse among 20 chickadees.

Nov. 27, 2010 - The morning was clear and calm, 15F. I thought my writing thumb would fall off at one point in the count. There were few woodpeckers and nuthatches, but a healthy number of finches after the Sun hit the trout pond. I saw a group of 4 purple finch and 4 house finch hanging out together - never seen them together before. With clear skies it became a much warmer afternoon, and during my afternoon count there were actually large number of woodpeckers, nuthatches and creepers. During the count the flock of robins, starlings and waxwings was much diminished, but on the return trip they were very numerous again with about 50 robins, 25-35 starlings and 6-10 waxwings. I encountered a Cooper's hawk eating a robin, and looking closely at my photos it's the same bird I photographed in the same location yesterday, which nixes my original impression that it was a sharpie. (I'm actually starting to wonder if I've ever even seen a sharpie)There were 3 red-tailed hawks sparring above the bluffs.

Nov 28, 2010 My final day in La Crosse was a balmy 40F, clear and fairly calm - perfect autumn weather, and even with a touch of spring feeling to it. This actually didn't translate into a good bird search. There were fewer birds around in the morning outing, and by the late afternoon most areas aside from the big robin-waxwing-starling mob were very quiet. Mice were noisily rustling under the leaf litter here and there. The three red-tailed hawks that were together over holmberg trails yesterday were over the nearby bluff next to my grandparents' house today.

We went down the Mississippi to Lansing Iowa, but the backwaters of the Mississippi were frozen over so there are very few swans near the shore this year, and my relatives did not want to stop and look at them. Lots of ducks, few obvious geese. Fewer eagles than when the swans and geese are abundant. It was disappointing because I wanted to look for snow buntings on the sandbars.

Bird Counts: (Species Codes Here)

date	time	AMCR	BLJA	NOCA	AMRO	EABL	BCCH	TUTI	DOWO	HAWO	RBWO	PIWO	BRCR	WBNU	ATSP	DEJU	AMGO	HOFI	PUFI	CEWA	EUST	Other
11/24	0742-0854	6		7	34	3	27		2	1				6		8	22	1		3		1 RTHA
11/24	1135-1220	1		6	68		15	1	1	1	3			6		3	1	3		1		only 450m
11/25	0755-0905	1	1	8	98		23	1	2					5		5	8		4	5	1
11/25	1120-1245	5	3	9	35		16		1		2	1	1	3		7	5	5			1	1 RTHA, 1 COHA?
11/26	0742-0912	1	1	4	103		16		3			1		8		8	16	7		7	10	1 COHA
11/26	1145-1305			6	82		20	4	2		1		1	6		5	4	9		8	18	1 BAEA, 1 RTHA?
11/27	0816-0932		3	11	69		9	2	1		1		1	5	1	7	8	4	4	4	11	1 RTHA
11/27	1242-1400	5	2	6	40		19	1	6	1	1		2	8		3	3	8			1	1 COHA, 3 RTHA
11/28	0838-0928	1	3	9	98		12	1	2		1			5		3	16	1		19	9	1 COHA
11/28	1352-1506		1	6	40		17	3	5		2			8		1	5	1		31	3
date	time	AMCR	BLJA	NOCA	AMRO	EABL	BCCH	TUTI	DOWO	HAWO	RBWO	PIWO	BRCR	WBNU	ATSP	DEJU	AMGO	HOFI	PUFI	CEWA	EUST	Other