Hoping everyone had a Hoppy Easter! We spend our Easter Saturday at Trempealeau national wildlife refuge. It was an early start leaving the house at 4AM. We arrived at the refuge around 7:30AM. Almost instantly we saw lots of ducks, mostly Northern Shovelers and Coots. We also got to spend some quality time with the cutest little pied-billed grebe.
The weather wasn't great, cold and extremely windy. Nothing new for Minnesota this year, but at least it wasn't raining. We headed out on the auto tour first, hoping it would warm up some before we started hiking. There we saw oodles of Coots, Northern Shovlers, American White Pelicans, Buffelheads, Mallards, Canadian Geese, and of course the majestic Bald Eagle.
Our first hike of the day was out on Pine Creek Dike. There we saw lots of young eagles. They didn't have their bald heads yet so identifying them in the field was a bit tricky. It wasn't until we looked through the pictures were we able to confirm the identity of these beautiful birds.
Next we drove to the boat landing and walked along the Kiep's Island Dike. When we got out there were American Coots along the shore and an adult Bald Eagle sitting in a tree. In the distance we could see many eagles flying and sitting amongst the trees. It was so windy there that we ended up turning around and walking back. Not much was visible at this time, I guess even the birds are sick of the wind.
We took a break from hiking at this time to complete the auto tour. After a quick snack, we restarted the auto tour and this time it was warm enough to see turtles in the pond. First turtles of the year for us so dare I say spring has sprung? Then we walked along the Prairie Trail. Here we heard Field Sparrows singing and even saw our first wild flower, a pretty little yellow thing yet to be identified. We also saw a female Ruby-crowned Kinglet.
Continuing on the auto tour we saw a Song Sparrow along the side of the road. Then we went to the Dike Road. The hiking here took us into the woods where we saw a Yellow-Rumped Warbler. Further down the trail we came upon some Turkey Vultures soaring above our heads. They seemed to be circling us, must have been after the dead fish in the water. There were also Great Blue Herons, Egrets, White Pelicans, and more Eagles out here. On the return trip we saw a Hermit Thrush. We had never seen one before, and this year we've seen 2 in the wild and even had one visit our backyard. Before leaving the area, we also saw more Painted turtles, American Coots, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, and a Belted Kingfisher.
At this time we left the main refuge and headed to the Marshlands. Here we hiked along the Marshland Road. At first we didn't see much, just a pair of Buffleheads, a female Northern Flicker, and a Muskrat. We were just about to give up, when we heard Sandhill Cranes in the distance. We decided to walk down the Delta Road. This is where the wildlife was hiding out. Back here in this remote area we saw Sandhill Cranes, Egrets, Mallards, a Bald Eagle on a nest, American Coots, Northern Shovlers, Blue-winged Teals, and lots of Red-winged Blackbirds. Last year's cattails were tall providing good hiding spots for the Sandhill Cranes. We could hear their calls trumpeting loudly when we entered their territory. We looked and looked for them not able to spot them. But they were loud and they were close. All of a sudden they took off and flew a short distance away. It was a wildlife encounter I will not soon forget.