Wildlife Viewing Calendar


SCHEDULING CALENDAR AT VISITOR CENTER 

February 2010
March 2010
April 2010
May 2010
June 2010
July 2010
August 2010
September 2010
October 2010
November 2010
December 2010

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January - mid-March:

Winter migrants (e.g. rough-legged hawks and snow buntings) 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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