Winter Visitor Center Hours
Weekdays from 8:00 am-4:30 pm
Weekends CLOSED
Featured photo by Heidi Sawyer
Spring is in the air- finally! Temperatures have been on the rise the past couple of weeks, with some highs close to the 60’s! In the upcoming forecast, we expect there will be many warmer days mixed in with more typical temperatures for this time of the year.
Snow is melting quickly, with most of it gone from our last 8-inch snowstorm. We are also seeing patches of open water pop up around our properties- including Refuge Extension Flowage and Phantom Lake.
Because things are thawing, it also means that our roads are getting a bit muddy. Kylingstad Road is almost impassable, and the far east end of Main Dike Road is also not good for travel at this time.
We are seeing a few of our earlier migrating birds coming back to the area, including high numbers of Trumpeter Swans, Canada Geese, Mallards, and our first reports of Sandhill Cranes also came in this week!
We can expect to see many more ducks showing up within the next few weeks and will likely lose our winter residents soon as well.
Highlights this week include: Common Merganser, Golden Eagle, Mallard, Northern Harrier, Northern Shrike, Red-headed Woodpecker and Sandhill Crane.
Mammals seen in the area within the last week:
| Beaver | Grey Wolf | Red Fox |
| Cottontail Rabbit | Muskrat | Red Squirrel |
| Fisher | Porcupine | River Otter |
| Grey Squirrel | Raccoon | Striped Skunk |
| White-tailed Deer |
Bird sightings within the last week on Crex Meadows, Fish Lake, Amsterdam Sloughs, and surrounding area:
| American Crow | European Starling | Red-bellied Woodpecker |
| American Goldfinch | Golden Eagle | Red-breasted Nuthatch |
| American Robin | Great Horned Owl | Red-headed Woodpecker |
| American Tree Sparrow | Greater White-fronted Goose | Red-tailed Hawk |
| Bald Eagle | Hairy Woodpecker | Ring-necked Pheasant |
| Barred Owl | House Finch | Rock Pigeon |
| Black-capped Chickadee | Mallard | Rough-legged Hawk |
| Blue Jay | Mourning Dove | Ruffed Grouse |
| Canada Goose | Northern Cardinal | Sandhill Crane |
| Common Mergansers | Northern Harrier | Sharp-tailed Grouse |
| Common Raven | Northern Shrike | Snow Bunting |
| Common Redpoll | Pileated Woodpecker | Snow Goose |
| Dark-eyed Junco | Pine Siskin | Trumpeter Swan |
| Downy Woodpecker | Purple Finch | White-breasted Nuthatch |
| Wild Turkey |