Maybe somedays I am not the most observant person, focused on some thing in particular and excluding other sights that should also command my attention. I have ventured out in a limited fashion this year in Siouxland looking for critters and migratory birds but to me it seems that the migration passed me by or is not following a pattern of what I have observed in years past, which could easily be the case.
I have ventured already to some familiar places looking for migratory birds in December and January but have not found much of any thing. Even local wildlife that hangs out at such places. And my birding skills are vastly inferior to others I know, not seeing flying geese or other birds isn’t the same as finding certain species of song birds that pass through the area and are no larger than say a house sparrow.
I never mind getting out and taking a look, but am ever hopeful that my interest my at least afford me an opportunity to pull my camera out of its bag and make a couple of photographs. Of course, in the kind of weather as we have been having, I fault no feathered visitor in finding a warmer, more user friendly place to shelter in and hang out until conditions are better for its journey. I bitch and moan a bit about getting out in sub degree weather to look for these guys, and am not the “one on the road” traveling to a destination looking for fair winds and smooth sailing.
Jerry Mennenga
Sioux City, Iowa
lostinsiouxland 
I do think there seems to be less migration taking place – I know around here, the snowy owls, long-tailed ducks and scoters are really scarce. Did see a lot of birds still in Texas waiting for the coming spring migration – haven’t checked out the winter conditions to our north to see if it is simply warmer this year (and thus not being pushed down as far) or maybe see the fallout from the avian flu outbreak.
So maybe I am not missing something. It seems an odd year in seeing birds migrate. Didn’t really remember seeing flocks of geese overhead in the fall. Beginning to see some now but still not. Early as many as in previous years.