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WINGS Birding Tours – Photo Gallery

Minnesota and North Dakota

North Woods to Prairies

We begin in the verdant river valleys south of the Twin Cities…
…home to southern breeders like Cerulean, Blue-winged, and this Hooded Warbler…
…and sometimes, in prairie remnants, Henslow’s Sparrow.
But we spend most of our time in the North Woods…
…home to dozens of warblers including Blackburnian….
…Magnolia…
…and Cape May.
This is a land of enchanting bogs, boreal forest, streams, and lakes, some of which…
…have breeding Common Loon, the spirit of the North Woods.
At this time of year adult Gray Jays are followed by…
…their inquisitive sooty youngsters.
The forest floor holds glorious flowers, like these Yellow Ladyslippers…
… and amphibians such as Wood Frogs…
…and more warblers, like this Ovenbird.
We’ll search carefully for less common species like Black-backed Woodpecker…
…and, of course, the Great Gray Owl.
From here we move westward to the vast prairies of western Minnesota and North Dakota where…
…wet swales hold Le Conte’s Sparrow and…
…Nelson’s Sparrow.
Marbled Godwits are a frequent sight overhead…
…and marshes teem with Yellow-headed Blackbirds…
…and a profusion of grebes and ducks, including the dapper male Ruddy Duck.
Upland prairies hold skylarking Chestnut-collared Longspurs…
…a handful of Baird’s Sparrows…
…and, with luck, Short-eared Owl.

 

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