Hello all,

Dedrick Benz and I went out around Winona and Houston counties as part of the annual Golden Eagle survey today. We found not only Golden Eagles, but other birds of interest:

The first was relocating a FOX SPARROW first found last week by Dedrick and Chris Hockema. This bird is in Wiscoy Valley on Winona County Rd 17. From Highway 76 head west on Co. 17 about 8/10th of a mile. You will come across a farm with the house and barn on either side of the road. Just past look for the sparrow feeding along the side of the road and hanging out in the brush.
About 1.2 miles further look for a stand of spruce on the south side of the road. Here we located a flock of c. 20 WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS feeding. The birds flew in as we approached, and later departed toward the west.
We located six GOLDEN EAGLES on the day, though two of these may actually have been the same bird seen a couple hours apart. Four of the birds were juveniles and two were adults. All were found in Wiscoy Valley along Co. Rd. 17 except one juvenile which was on Highway 76 about 3/4 of a mile south of the turnoff to 17. If anyone is interested in more specific locations on the birds, feel free to back-channel me.
Other birds of interest on the day included Snow Buntings, Horned Larks, Northern Shrike (1), Rough-legged Hawk (2), and Eastern Bluebird.
In all, a nice day of winter birding!

Dave Williams
Winona

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