Myles Hurlburt and I went birding up to the Nicolet National Forest today, and we saw some good to report on. We started first in Hiles, WI where we checked out a few feeders along N. Main Street, with the feeders located across the street from the Hiles Museum producing the best birds. These included about 10 Evening Grosbeaks, 30+ Common Redpolls with one Hoary Redpoll mixed in, and one female Red Crossbill. The home owner even came out to talk to us while we were looking at his feeders. He was very friendly and invited us into his driveway to get better views of the birds at his feeders. Next we headed into the national forest and stopped at Shelp Lake. After several minutes of quietly waiting along the roadside, we could hear a woodpecker tapping on a nearby tree. After several minutes of looking for it, we found it, and it turned out to be a female Black-backed Woodpecker! The only other sighting of interest was seeing a Northern Shrike chasing a crossbill over the tree tops. We continued to bird along Giant Pine Road, making our way to Pine River Road and headed east of here to Divide Road. We stopped at several spots along the way, but all of these roads were very slow for bird activity. We went south on Divide Road a few miles to where there is a nice boggy area that the road passes by. We stopped here and walked the road for awhile, and shortly after we started walking, we came upon two Boreal Chickadees working their way through the trees. We finished our day with looking for crossbills east of Argonne along Hwy O. We found the small group of mixed crossbills (Red and White-winged) at one of our stops and had great views of them. Dan Belter Village of Weston Marathon Co, WI #################### 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