Wisconsin Interlude

I spent November 5-10 in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where I attended the 26th Annual Meeting of the Waterbird Society on behalf of my employer, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Birding highlights of the trip included repeated observations of a pair of adult Bald Eagles across the river from my hotel, an estimated 18,000-20,000 Tundra Swans on the Mississippi River, and huge mixed flocks of American Tree Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos. I'll provide more details of my bird sightings in a follow-up post.

This was my first visit to La Crosse, a city of about 57,000 people located on the Mississippi River near the intersection of Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. I was very favorably impressed. The first thing I noticed was a lack of parking meters in the downtown Historic District, which created a very visitor-friendly atmosphere. Also, an incredible number of very fine restaurants!