Spring Migration is Aways Exciting

Probably the most surprising news this spring was that some staff members scared up an American Woodcock with three youngsters. This is the first documentation that this species successfully breeds on our property. Also, a Sprague’s Pipit that was detected on our Motus tower was found in northern Montana some time later. It’s evidence that our prairie can be considered a vital stopover for this and other grassland species on their migration north. Finally, a Say’s Phoebe was observed by the visitor center. This is a western species of flycatcher that rarely makes it this far east.

Other types of birds seem to arrive daily. Among those we have been seeing include Yellow-rumped and Yellow Warblers, Eastern Towhees, swallows (barn, rough-legged, tree, bank), sparrows (white-crowned, Lincoln’s, clay-colored, lark, field, grasshopper, Harris’s), Wood Ducks (two families with ducklings!), Killdeer, Baltimore and Orchard Orioles, and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.