Today I took part in the Cassville CBC in Grant County. My section of the count circle was the NE portion, which includes the area between Bloomington, Beetown, Flora Fountain, and North Andover. A large portion of this area is open fields, and although I was unable to find any Gray Partridge or Snow Buntings this year, I did find several good sized flocks of LAPLAND LONGSPURS totaling nearly 700 birds. Some of the highlights of the day were a EURASIAN COLLARED DOVE and a RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET on the SE edge of Bloomington, and 2 WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS and 2 FIELD SPARROWS in a large flock of Am. Tree Sparrows along Sugar Cane Road (a few miles SE of Bloomington). All four of these species were firsts for me on any Wisconsin CBC, which is pretty good since this was my 76th CBC (going back 25 years). With the warm weather today I found SONG SPARROWS in several locations totaling 9 birds, a couple of which were singing like it was springtime. A few other nice birds included 9 PINE SISKINS, 5 EASTERN BLUEBIRDS, 4 TUFTED TITMICE, 2 COOPERS HAWKS, a NORTHERN HARRIER, and a NORTHERN SHRIKE. Even though there were some interesting birds today I ended up with only 31 species due to some birds that I missed including Hairy, Rough-legged Hawk, and any kind of water bird (even though all streams in this area were ice-free). Aaron Holschbach Arena Iowa County #################### You received this email because you are subscribed to the Wisconsin Birding Network (Wisbirdn). To UNSUBSCRIBE or SUBSCRIBE, use the Wisbirdn web interface at: //www.freelists.org/list/wisbirdn To set DIGEST or VACATION modes, use the Wisbirdn web interface at: //www.freelists.org/list/wisbirdn Visit Wisbirdn ARCHIVES at: //www.freelists.org/archives/wisbirdn