Birding over the last few days.

Here's a quick summary of all the birding I've done since Thurs. The pictures will have to wait:

Thurs: saw my FOY Killdeer. It was a beautiful day!

Fri: drove up to Green Bay to attend the WBCI conference field trip. That was a fun trip. I got to meet a few people, see some old friends, put faces to old names and names to old faces! lol. The highlight of the trip was easily two adult SNOWY OWLS! One pure white male and a rather barred adult female. LaSalle county park in Door County had numerous ducks but not the Pine Grosbeak I was hoping for. Kewaunee had many many ducks and, of all things, a Common Raven. I picked up one lifer (Greater Scaup) and about 14 year birds... as well as 5 State birds (Snowy Owl, Long-tailed Duck, Greater Scaup, Gr Black-backed Gull and Glaucous Gull)

Sat: after orchestra in Madison, I birded my way back home. A stop at Bakken's Pond was productive. There is some open water on the main pond so I was able to find a few things. I picked up the following year birds: B Kingfisher, Gadwall and Canvasback.
There were also two beautiful Tundra Swans present and 14 Sandhill Cranes.

Sun: I stopped at a friends' house where I added the following birds to my Bigby list:
Red-winged Blackbird, C Grackle and Br-headed Cowbird (also a "Big year" year bird)

I ended the weekend with 81 species on my year list.
Tomorrow, I'm headed over to Milwaukee to look for some Grebes and Red-throated Loons before catching the evening plane to Houston Texas! I'll be spending a week down there birding the High Island area (http://www.birdinghighisland.com/). While I'm down there, I'll be hanging out with Tropical Birding Tours and their staff. I'll be birding, helping spot birds and maybe even lead a trip myself!

I'll post as often as possible. When I return, I'll post this weekend's pictures and pictures from Texas.

Happy Birding!