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January - mid March:
 Winter
Migrants (e.g. rough-legged hawks, snow buntings, etc.) present if snow isn't too
deep
Sharp-tailed
grouse feeding along roadsides and in birch and aspen
Good
time to look for tracks
Mid March -early April:
Flowages
begin to open
Otters
and muskrat using ice adjacent to open water
First
ducks arrive
Concentrations
of eagles and gulls on the ice eating winter killed fish
Sharp-tailed
grouse begin displaying
Early-mid April:
Eagles
being nesting
Heavy
use of refuge fields by deer
Spring
peepers, chorus frogs, and wood frogs calling
Geese
begin nesting
American
bitterns calling from the marshes
Sandhill
cranes arrive
Mid April - early May:
Osprey
return and begin nesting
Trumpeter
swans return
Peak
numbers of waterfowl
Great
blue herons begin nesting
Peak
of sharp-tailed grouse display
First
prairie flowers
First
goose broods hatch
Leopard
frogs, toads, and tree frogs calling
Loons
return and begin nesting
Mid May - early June:
First fawns appear
All resident birds have returned
Peak display of prairie flowers
Goose broods everywhere
Blandings and painted turtles
nesting
June - July:
Eagle and osprey raising young
Male ducks forming large flocks
Non-breeding flocks of sandhill
cranes using sedge marshes
Occasional pelicans and Caspian
terns using the larger flowages
Big bluestem grass beginning to
dominate the prairies
Many duck and goose broods
August -early September:
Young birds fledging
Concentrations of great blue
herons and great egrets feeding in shallow bays
Early migrating shorebirds
feeding on mudflats
Young eagles fledging
Early-mid September:
Peak numbers of blue-winged teal
and wood ducks
Duck population increasing
Sandhill crane and goose
populations building
Peak of hawk and warbler
migration
Many shore birds present
First eagle concentrations
Fall prairie plants still in
bloom
Early -mid October:
First snow geese arrive
Peak numbers of diving ducks
(e.g. scaup, ringnecks, bufflehead, hooded mergansers)
Sandhill cranes and Canada geese
in refuge fields
Peak number of bald eagles on
Refuge Extension and Phantom Lake
First hard frost turns prairie
golden brown
Mid-late October:
Peak numbers of snow geese,
Canada geese and sandhill cranes
Overall duck numbers decreasing
but still many diving ducks
Eagles still present
Peak fall colors
Early-mid November:
Ducks leave after first hard
freeze
Sandhills and Canada geese still
at peak numbers (weather dependent)
Winter migrants arrive
Mid November - December:
All flowages frozen
Some geese and eagles may
over-winter if water is available.
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