Birding southern Dane Cty

Tom Prestby and I spent the afternoon searching for open water along the Yahara River in Dane County. We ended the day at the UW Arboretum in search of redpolls (no luck on them surprisingly). We did have a Northern Shrike pop up right over us when we were near Teal Pond. Since it was the only bird I attempted to digi-bin in the freezing cold yesterday, here's the best I managed. I was frustrated in my attempts to keep my hands from shaking and the quality of the image suffered as a result... Here's Tom's summary of the day:

Sean Fitzgerald and I birded some areas south of Madison yesterday and found a
few fairly early arrivals. We started at Mud Lake where all three species of
swans are still present plus the Greater White-fronted Goose and her four
hybrid kin. 2 "textbook" Cackling Geese were also in with the Canadas. 5
Ring-necked Ducks, 4 Canvasback, and 9 Lesser Scaup joined the large numbers of
Goldeneye and Common Mergansers. We also heard White-winged Crossbills and
Siskins as we scanned the waterfowl. There was a flock of blackbirds including
30 Red-wingeds and 5 Cowbirds on Hwy 51 just south of Mud Lake and a Sandhill
Crane in the marshy area where Dyreson road bends. Most of the water on Hwy B
east of Stoughton is frozen but there was a Pied-billed Grebe in the river
itself.

We couldn't find any Redpolls in the UW-Arboretum but we found a Northern
Shrike near Teal Pond and heard White-winged Crossbills in the Longenecker
Gardens.