Wisconsin Trip: Day 1
Wednesday 2 July 2014
60 °F
Today I started a week-and-a-half long birding tour of Wisconsin. These first four nights I will spend with my Aunt Mary and Uncle Mory, who are also birders, at their home in La Crosse, which is in western Wisconsin along the Mississippi River. Then, I will stay with my mom while she teaches at a music camp for a week on the beautiful, secluded Madeline Island, which is part of the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior north of mainland Wisconsin.
This afternoon I took the crowded, loud, five-hour Amtrak ride to La Crosse, which involved shivering constantly because of the AC which resulted in the train car temperature being about 50 degrees, as well as listening to an extremely bratty young boy bicker with his at-her-wit's-end mother in the seat ahead of me.
Anyway, I saw a few good birds from the window of the train including a family of SANDHILL CRANES, a few BALTIMORE ORIOLES, and this female BREWER'S BLACKBIRD (rare for Wisconsin), which I managed to photograph from my seat while the train was parked at the Columbus, Wisconsin station stop.
Then, once I arrived at La Crosse, my Uncle Mory picked me up and we saw some interesting wildlife at various locations, including three odd GREAT BLUE HERONS that were perching at the top of a pine tree, as well as the Red Fox kit and the RED-TAILED HAWK pictured below.
Then, I had a gourmet chicken dinner with my aunt and uncle at their house and we spent a quiet rest of the evening together.
Tomorrow my aunt, uncle, their birding friend Bruce, and I will head to to Whitewater State Park and Bryce Prairie National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin to find awesome birds such as Louisiana Waterthrushes, Yellow-throated Warblers, and Dickcissels.
So stay tuned, and good birding as always!
Henry
World Life List: 672 Species (no life birds today)
