Featured Image by Elizabeth Miller
After a couple weeks of uncharacteristically hot weather for fall in Wisconsin, weather has finally cooled down. We are experiencing many days with highs in the 60’s and some in the low 70’s. We’ve had just a bit of rain over the past 10 days, with only low chances of rain and storms in the next 10 days.
Now is the time of the year where we are within our fall migration. Keep a lookout for a variety of ducks, some remaining songbirds and shorebirds, geese, Sandhill Cranes and more.
The Sandhill Crane migration is in its early stages, but viewing has already been spectacular within the past couple of days, with a noticeable increase in numbers. The Crex Meadows refuge is a great place to watch the morning and evening fly in/out. Try parking along Main Dike Road on the south end of the refuge, either for a couple of hours after first light, or the hour before last light!
Crane numbers are estimated to already be at a few thousand birds in the area, but this will increase the further we get into October. We typically expect our peak numbers to be present sometime within the last week of October and continuing into early November. This is also the time of year where there are hunting seasons open. Here are the seasons that are open in October for our area:
| Large Game | |
| Black Bear | CLOSED October 7 |
| Deer (Archery & Crossbow) | September 13- January 4 |
| Deer (Disabled Hunt) | October 4-12 |
| Deer (Youth Hunt) | October 11-12 |
| Migratory Birds | |
| Goose | September 1- December 16 |
| Rails, Snipe | September 1- November 9 |
| Mourning Dove | September 1- November 29 |
| Woodcock | September 20- November 3 |
| Waterfowl/Coot | September 27- November 25 |
| Other Game Birds | |
| Turkey | September 13- January 4 |
| Ruffed Grouse | September 13- January 4 |
| Pheasant | October 18- January 4 |
| Sharp-tailed Grouse | October 18- November 9 |
| Small Game | |
| Cottontail Rabbit/Squirrels | September 13- February 28 |
Mammals seen in the area within the last week:
| Beaver | Muskrat | Striped Skunk |
| Black Bear | Raccoon | White-tailed Deer |
| Grey Squirrel | Red Squirrel |
Bird sightings within the last week on Crex Meadows, Fish Lake, Amsterdam Sloughs, and surrounding area:
| American Bittern | Downy Woodpecker | Red-breasted Nuthatch |
| American Coot | Eastern Bluebird | Red-tailed Hawk |
| American Crow | Eastern Phoebe | Red-winged Blackbird |
| American Goldfinch | Golden-crowned Kinglet | Ring-billed Gull |
| American Kestrel | Great Blue Heron | Ring-necked Duck |
| American Pipit | Great Egret | Ring-necked Pheasant |
| American Robin | Great Horned Owl | Ruby-crowned Kinglet |
| American White Pelican | Greater Yellowlegs | Ruffed Grouse |
| American Wigeon | Green-winged Teal | Rusty Blackbird |
| American Woodcock | Hairy Woodpecker | Sandhill Crane |
| Bald Eagle | Harris’s Sparrow | Savannah Sparrow |
| Barred Owl | Hermit Thrush | Sharp-tailed Grouse |
| Belted Kingfisher | Hooded Merganser | Song Sparrow |
| Black-capped Chickadee | Horned Grebe | Spotted Sandpiper |
| Blue Jay | Horned Lark | Swamp Saprrow |
| Blue-winged Teal | House Finch | Trumpeter Swan |
| Brown Creeper | Lesser Scaup | Turkey Vulture |
| Cackling Goose | Lincoln’s Sparrow | Vesper Sparrow |
| Canada Goose | Mallard | White-breasted Nuthatch |
| Cedar Waxwing | Mourning Dove | White-crowned Sparrow |
| Chipping Sparrow | Northern Flicker | White-throated Sparrow |
| Common Loon | Northern Harrier | Wild Turkey |
| Common Merganser | Northern Shoveler | Wood Duck |
| Common Raven | Palm Warbler | Yellow-bellied Sapsucker |
| Common Yellowthroat | Pied-billed Grebe | Yellow-rumped Warbler |
| Dark-eyed Junco | Pileated Woodpecker | |
| Double-crested Cormorant | Red-bellied Woodpecker |