Spring Visitor Center Hours
Weekdays: 8:00 am- 4:30 pm; Weekends: 10:00 am-4:00 pm.
The weather has been lovely in the Grantsburg area this past week! We have had most days in the high 60’s and 70’s, but even had one day in the high 80’s. We have also had a couple days of rain, keeping our water levels quite high in many of the flowages. We are also seeing some of our wildflowers beginning to bloom, and many more should follow within the next couple of weeks!
More migrating birds have been showing up each day the past week, including various shorebirds (lower numbers than normal with the higher water levels), herons and heron-like birds, and a wide variety of songbirds. Migration activity is wonderful now, but will begin to decrease quickly within the next week- and then we enter “baby animals season”!
One major highlight from this past couple of weeks is that we already have had several reports of new fawns on our properties, and have also had numerous broods of goslings hatching. We should be extremely close to our first sightings of Sandhill Crane colts and Trumpeter Swan cygnets, so visitors should keep their eyes peeled!
Bird highlights from this past week include: American Redstart, Bay-breasted Warbler, Black Tern, Blackburnian Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Blue-winged Warbler, Bobolink, Cape May Warbler, Dunlin, Golden-winged Warbler, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Indigo Bunting, Least Bittern, Magnolia Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, Short-billed Dowitcher, and Virginia Rail.
Recent bird sightings in Burnett County (focused on areas around Crex Meadows, Fish Lake, and Amsterdam Sloughs Wildlife Areas):
| American Bittern | Eastern Bluebird | Pied-billed Grebe |
| American Coot | Eastern Kingbird | Pileated Woodpecker |
| American Crow | Eastern Phoebe | Pine Siskin |
| American Goldfinch | Eastern Towhee | Pine Warbler |
| American Kestrel | Eastern Whip-poor-will | Purple Finch |
| American Redstart | Eastern Wood-pewee | Purple Martin |
| American Robin | European Starling | Red-bellied Woodpecker |
| American Tree Sparrow | Field Sparrow | Red-breasted Nuthatch |
| American White Pelican | Gadwall | Red-eyed Vireo |
| American Woodcock | Golden-crowned Kinglet | Red-headed Woodpecker |
| Bald Eagle | Golden-winged Warbler | Red-necked Grebe |
| Baltimore Oriole | Grasshopper Sparrow | Red-tailed Hawk |
| Bank Swallow | Gray Catbird | Red-winged Blackbird |
| Barn Swallow | Gray-cheeked Thrush | Ring-billed Gull |
| Barred Owl | Great Blue Heron | Ring-necked Duck |
| Bay-breasted Warbler | Great Crested Flycatcher | Ring-necked Pheasant |
| Belted Kingfisher | Great Horned Owl | Rock Pigeon |
| Black Tern | Greater White-fronted Goose | Rose-breasted Grosbeak |
| Black-and-white Warbler | Green Heron | Ruby-crowned Kinglet |
| Blackburnian Warbler | Green-winged Teal | Ruby-throated Hummingbird |
| Black-capped Chickadee | Hairy Woodpecker | Ruffed Grouse |
| Black-billed Cuckoo | Harris’s Sparrow | Sandhill Crane |
| Blackpoll Warbler | Hermit Thrush | Savannah Sparrow |
| Black-throated Green Warbler | Hooded Merganser | Scarlet Tanager |
| Blue Jay | House Finch | Sedge Wren |
| Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | House Sparrow | Semipalmated Plover |
| Blue-headed Vireo | House Wren | Sharp-shinned Hawk |
| Blue-winged Teal | Indigo Bunting | Short-billed Dowitcher |
| Blue-winged Warbler | Killdeer | Solitary Sandpiper |
| Bobolink | Lark Sparrow | Song Sparrow |
| Broad-winged Hawk | Least Bittern | Sora |
| Brown Creeper | Least Flycatcher | Spotted Sandpiper |
| Brown Thrasher | Least Sandpiper | Swainson’s Thrush |
| Brown-headed Cowbird | Lesser Scaup | Swamp Sparrow |
| Canada Goose | Lesser Yellowlegs | Tennessee Warbler |
| Cape May Warbler | Magnolia Warbler | Tree Swallow |
| Cedar Waxwing | Mallard | Trumpeter Swan |
| Chestnut-sided Warbler | Marsh Wren | Turkey Vulture |
| Chimney Swift | Merlin | Veery |
| Chipping Sparrow | Mourning Dove | Vesper Sparrow |
| Clay-colored Sparrow | Nashville Warbler | Virginia Rail |
| Cliff Swallow | Northern Cardinal | Warbling Vireo |
| Common Goldeneye | Northern Flicker | White-breasted Nuthatch |
| Common Grackle | Northern Harrier | White-crowned Sparrow |
| Common Loon | Northern Parula | White-throated Sparrow |
| Common Merganser | Northern Rough-winged Swallow | Wild Turkey |
| Common Nighthawk | Northern Shoveler | Wilson’s Snipe |
| Common Raven | Northern Waterthrush | Wilson’s Warbler |
| Common Yellowthroat | Olive-sided Flycatcher | Wood Duck |
| Cooper’s Hawk | Orange-crowned Warbler | Wood Thrush |
| Dark-eyed Junco | Osprey | Yellow Warbler |
| Double-crested Cormorant | Ovenbird | Yellow-bellied Sapsucker |
| Downy Woodpecker | Palm Warbler | Yellow-headed Blackbird |
| Dunlin | Pectoral Sandpiper | Yellow-rumped Warbler |
| Peregrine Falcon | Yellow-throated Vireo |
Recent mammal sightings in Burnett County (focused on areas around Crex Meadows, Fish Lake, and Amsterdam Sloughs Wildlife Areas):
| Beaver | Muskrat | River Otter |
| Black Bear | Pocket Gopher | Striped Skunk |
| Coyote | Porcupine | White-tailed Deer |
| Grey Squirrel | Red Fox | 13 Lined Ground Squirrel |
| Grey Wolf | Red Squirrel |