Coulee Region Audubon Society

Mississippi River Waterfowl Viewing Saturday March 19, 2011 On Saturday, March 19th, the Coulee Region Audubon Society will host a waterfowl viewing along the Mississippi River south of La Crosse. We will meet at 8:00 am at the entrance to Goose Island County Park near the Goose Sign. This location is south of La Crosse off of Hwy 35. The road into the park is called County Road GI and this intersects with Hwy 35 about 1 1/2 miles south of the intersections of Hwy 35 and Hwy 14/61 on the south edge of La Crosse. Migrant waterfowl congregate on Pool 8 of the Mississippi R., and are viewable from either side of the River. Our field trip will start at Goose Island and then proceed south along the river as far as Ferryville. We will make various stops along the way to look at migrating waterfowl, Peregrine Falcons at the Genoa Power Plant, and any other birds that we can find including a potential side trip into the hills near Rush Creek. This trip is a shortened version of t...

Golden Eagle Field Trip Saturday February 12, 2011 From Dan Jackson:Results of the Golden Eagle Survey are below. Also note that the National Eagle Center is running a Golden Eagle Seminar / Field Trip on Saturday, Feb 12 at 1:00 PM. Rather than running our own separately, it would make sense to join Scott Mehus on this trip. He is much more familiar with where the birds are hanging out and we will see MANY Golden Eagles by joining him. To take part in this event, I would suggest that we leave La Crosse at 11:30. This will allows us to get there in plenty of time for the program and field trip. I will find out from Scott when this field trip will end so that interested people can plan. Thanks, Dan Jackson, President Coulee Region Audubon Society La Crosse, Wisconsin DanJackson@LBWhite.com From: Eileen Hanson [mailto:eileen@nationaleaglecenter.org] Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2011 3:00 PM Subject: 2011 Golden Eagle Survey RESULTSGolden Eagle Spotters, This year’s...

Lake Michigan Field Trip Saturday January 8, 2011 From Dan Jackson:Matt Paulson and I are planning to join the WSO Lake Michigan field trip on Saturday, January 8, 2011. The event starts from the South Shore Yacht Club in Milwaukee at 8:00 and then heads north with stops at the Milwaukee River, North Point in Milwaukee, Doctors Park, Port Washington, Herrington Beach, 6 Mile Road, Kohler Andrae State Park, and North Point in Sheboygan. This field trip is a great way to start a new birding year and often results in sightings of Lake Michigan specialties including Scoters, Long-tailed Ducks, Harlequin Ducks, Barrow’s Goldeneye, Mute Swans, Snowy Owls, Snow Buntings, Lapland Longspurs, and as many as 7 species of gulls (including Thayer’s, Iceland, Glaucous, Great Black-back, Lesser Black-backed, as well as Herring and Ring-billed). We will leave the La Crosse area at 4:00 am in order to get to Milwaukee before the event begins and we will leave Sheboygan for the trip home ...

La Crosse 2010 Christmas Bird Count Results Summary of Saturday, December 18, 2010 Count From Dan Jackson:I am still waiting on a couple of reports from people who had indicated that they planned to help out with this year’s Christmas Bird Count. However, since it is newsletter deadline time and I haven’t heard from them,  this  will be the published version of the count report. At this point, we have reports of 11,244 birds of 51 species. These were counted by 86 participants who logged a total of 427.25 hours of counting time. Although the species count is somewhat low compared to prior years (due almost entirely to the lack of open water and therefore very few species of waterfowl and water birds), our count number is one of the highest in the last 20 years. If waterfowl were taken out of the previous counts with higher total numbers, this year’s count would be at least comparable with those counts. This is partially due to a very high level of participation...

Wyalusing State Park Trip Saturday May 15, 2010 On Saturday, May 15th, the Coulee Region Audubon Society will host a birding field trip to Wyalusing State Park. We will meet in the parking lot by the gate house at 6:30 AM and will bird until around noon. This is a very special birding location. Local specialties include: Cerulean, Yellow-Throated, Kentucky, and Prothonotary Warblers, Cuckoos, Henslow's Sparrow, Acadian Flycatcher, Scarlet Tanager, Wood Thrush, and many others. There is a strong probability that late migrants will still be coming through which means that we can and will seem many other species of sparrows, thrushes, warblers and other great birds.For those interested in carpooling, please  e-mail  Dan Jackson at DanJackson@LBWhite.com.

Lansing (Iowa) Loop Saturday March 13, 2010 Fred Lesher will lead two “Lansing Loop” field trips. March 13 is the Tristate trip with the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology and Coulee Region Audubon Society. Meet at 9 AM at the La Crescent Kwik Trip at the stoplight in La Crescent. March 27 is the same trip with Wisconsin Society of Ornithology, with the same meeting place and time. These trips take 5-6 hours with a stop for lunch in Lansing, Iowa.Early waterfowl migrants are expected, plus end of winter/early migrant Bald Eagles, often in numbers over 100. Early Eastern Bluebirds are possible, as well as the first Eastern Phoebes. Tundra Swans are possible, but their spring migration is often hard to see. They are in a big hurry on their 2500+/- miles migration from Chesapeake Bay to extreme NW Canada and are here and gone within 2-3 days.

La Crosse 2009 Christmas Bird Count - Summary Saturday, December 19, 2009 Final Results Check our CBC page for final results And this, from Dan Jackson: Despite the impression by many that birds were scarce, we counted 9,907 individual birds of 60 species on count day and had 1 count week addition for a total of 61 species. This is an increase of over 3,000 birds from last year (although the weather was much more conducive to counting this year).Thanks to everyone for all of your effort!! Dan Jackson, President Coulee Region Audubon Society La Crosse, WI

Lansing (Iowa) Loop Saturday November 7, 2009 Meet at 9AM at the LaCrescent, MINNESOTA, Kwik Trip across the downtown LaCrosse, Mississippi River Cass Street Bridge. If you take this downtown Cass St. Bridge into Minnesota from LaCrosse, you will see the Kwik Trip in LaCrescent at the only stoplight in LaCrescent. An alternate route is to take west bound I90 which passes between LaCrosse/Onalaska, WI across the Mississippi River into Minnesota and exit I90 IMMEDIATELY after you cross the main channel of the River. (Look for Lock & Dam 7 on your right as you cross the main channel of the Mississippi R.) Follow Hwy 35/61 south two miles from this exit to the LaCrescent Kwik Trip at the only stoplight in LaCrescent.Migrant waterfowl congregate on Pool 8 of the Mississippi R., and are viewable from either side of the River. Our trip may include a 10 mile sortie into Iowa for up close backwater waterfowl & Bald Eagle viewing, depending on weather conditions. At Lansing...

Wyalusing State Park Trip Sunday May 17, 2009 On Sunday, May 17th, the Coulee Region Audubon Society will host a birding field trip to Wyalusing State Park. We will meet in the parking lot by the gate house at 6:30 AM and will bird until around noon. This is a very special birding location. Local specialties include: Cerulean, Yellow-Throated, Kentucky, and Prothonotary Warblers, Cuckoos, Henslow's Sparrow, Acadian Flycatcher, Scarlet Tanager, Wood Thrush, and many others. There is a strong probability that late migrants will still be coming through which means that we can and will seem many other species of sparrows, thrushes, warblers and other great birds. For those interested in carpooling, please   e-mail   Dan Jackson at DanJackson@LBWhite.com.

Lansing Loop Trip Saturday March 14, 2009 Meet at the LaCrescent, MN Kwik Trip, located at the junction of Hwys 16, 61, & 35 in LaCrescent, MN at 9AM. This tour of the Mississippi River Pool 8 & bottomland hardwood forests between LaCrescent/LaCrosse and Lansing, Iowa will view many waterfowl, Bald Eagles & possibly their nests. South in Minnesota on Hwy 26 to Lansing, Iowa, cross into Wisconsin, north on Hwy 35/61 back to LaCrosse/LaCrescent.Lunch on your own in Lansing, Iowa or bring your own. Return to LaCrosse/LaCrescent about 3PM or leave as you wish. About a 75 mile round trip. We will visit Poole Slough bordering the MN/IA state line at New Albin, IA. Fred Lesher, LaCrosse, WI.

La Crosse 2008 Christmas Bird Count - Summary Saturday, December 20, 2008 Check our CBC page for final results And this, from an earlier report: At this point, due to the bad weather that kept people away from our potluck, I have only received about 1/3 of the reports for the count. However, I have already received reports of about 4000 birds of 51 species (plus 2 other count week species). Surprisingly, we did find 10 species of waterfowl despite the fact that the Mississippi has been so deeply frozen for the past couple of weeks. For comparison purposes, last year we saw about 7000 birds of 59 species with similar snow and temperature conditions but without the falling snow. My best guess is that the numbers will be a little lower for both total birds and species. Time will tell.In general, the participants complained that it was hard to find and see birds because of the inclement weather. With a couple of exceptions, large concentrations of birds were only f...

Watch Hawks near Genoa Saturday October 4, 2008 Fred Lesher will lead a hawk watch to Genoa Old Settler’s Park on Saturday, October 4, 2008. The park provides excellent viewing of Pool 8 of the Mississippi River from 150 feet above the river. Time will be 9 a.m. to at least 12 noon. Object will be watching migrant raptors such as Red-tailed Hawks, Cooper’s Hawks, Osprey, Harriers, American . Kestrels and Bald Eagles. These birds of prey and many other birds of prey species follow the Mississippi River enroute to the Texas Gulf, Central and South America to winter. Some songbirds should also be present along the bluff viewing site, and rafts of migrant waterfowl will be visible on Pool 8 of the Mississippi River.If birders don’t know where Genoa Old Settler’s Park is, meet at the entrance road to Goose Island off Hwy. 35 south of La Crosse at 8:30 AM and Fred will lead from there. If the park entrance road is closed to vehicles for the season, we will walk up the 1/4 mile ...