After obtaining my driver’s license once I turned 16, my access to good birding areas increased dramatically. And while interstate driving was still a bit intimidating to a new driver, I was fortunate enough to live relatively close to one of these good birding areas: Carver Park Reserve. In fact, I remember that I drove …
Category Archive: Birding
Swan Lake Wildlife Management Area, Nicollet County
Swan Lake in central Nicollet County is one of the largest prairie potholes in the contiguous United States, formed over 10,000 years ago as the glaciers retreated and left their melt waters in a series of glacial depressions. Once twice the size it is now, Swan Lake was Minnesota’s largest marsh-wetland ecosystem before being drained …
Linnaeus Arboretum, Nicollet County
The Linnaeus Arboretum, located on the campus of Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, might not be on many birders’ radar in terms of a Minnesota birding hotspot. True, it’s a public garden space surrounded on all sides by human development, from large academic buildings to suburban houses and apartments to agricultural fields. I would …
Rush River County Park, Sibley County
As the Rush River cuts its way toward the Minnesota River southwest of Henderson, it enters a nice stretch of deciduous woods characteristic of elsewhere along the Minnesota River Valley in southern Minnesota. Under half a square mile, Rush River County Park (formerly Rush River State Wayside) isn’t comparable in size to some of the …
Seven-Mile Creek County Park, Nicollet County
Located along U.S. Highway 169 between St. Peter and North Mankato, Seven-Mile Creek County Park comprises close to one square mile of deep wooded ravines tucked away into the western side of the Minnesota River valley. Such ravines are fairly common on both sides of the valley in this part of the state; Seven-Mile however …
Red Rock Prairie, Cottonwood County
One of the Nature Conservancy’s gems in southwestern Minnesota, Red Rock Prairie is another one of those grassland oases surrounded for miles around by farmland. Just under one square mile in total size, this prairie tract is situated along the Red Rock Ridge, an outcropping of Sioux quartzite spanning 23 miles east to west. Walking …
Blue Mounds State Park, Rock County
I was first introduced to Blue Mounds when I was 6 or 7 years old; the family had stopped here en route to visit more family in Omaha, NE. This was probably the first time that I had seen real, live buffalo (the park is home to a fenced-off herd that grazes a large portion …
Inaugural Gustavus Birding Big Day Report
On May 15, 2010, sixty-three Gusties went birding. Many of these adventurers were located right here in Minnesota, but others were spread out throughout the country and still others were situated on different continents. Wherever they were, they compiled a list of the birds they saw on the first annual Gustavus Birding Big Day. A …