Minnesota Valley Wildlife Refuge; Bald Eagle, Birding, Waterfowl & Wildflower Tours

Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden & Bird Sanctuary

Cannon River Valley & Sogn Valley; Bald Eagle Nesting, Birding, Fossil & Birding Tours

Winter Bald Eagle, Tundra Swan & Waterfowl Tours

Winter Trumpeter Swan Tours

Wildflower Tours

Weaver Bottom Birding Tours

Elk Bugling Tours

Fossil Tours

Jeffers Petroglyphs State Historic Site; Rock Carving & Wildflower Tours

Pipestone National Monument

Blue Mounds State Park

Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge; Bald Eagle, Waterfowl, Wading Birds, Songbird & Wildflower Tours

Lake Superior North Shore; Split Rock Lighthouse, Goosberry Falls, Birding & Wildflower Tours

Gunflint Trail; Wildlife, Birding & Wildflower Tours

St. Louis River Valley; Fall Color & Birding Tours

Crex Meadows; Wolf Howling, Sandhill Crane, Praire Chicken, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Waterfowl, Wading Bird, Shorebird, Song Bird & Wildflower Tours

   Birding Links

We offer elk bugling and viewing tours to the elk preserve in southern MN, and to Custer State Park, SD; Rocky Mountain National Park CO; and Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, WY. The best time to listen to the bulls bugling, and see them in hard antler is from early September through the middle of October, during the elk breeding season, or "rut" as it is called.

Spring is the time when you can watch the mating dances of the Sandhill Cranes, and fall is when you can see them staging in large flocks in preparation for their journey south for the winter. We also regularly see great blue herons, great egrets, little green herons, numerous species of shorebirds, and several species of ducks and Canada geese on these tours; along with bald eagles, northern harriers, short-eared owls and ospreys.

Listen to the guttural calls of these magnificent birds as they fly to the feeding fields, and feed in flocks of up to 300 strong.

Late November, 2007 Many Tundra Swans are on the Mississippi River area of southern Minnesota and central Wisconsin because many of the rivers and lakes froze over. .

Late November, 2007 There were four adult and one 5 immature bald eagles, plus 300-400 common merganser drakes on Black Dog Lake and the Minnesota River in Burnsville, MN.

November, 2007 There was one adult bald eagle soaring low over Hwy. 61 just south of Red Wing, about 50 bald eagles on the ice and soaring over Lake Pepin at Lake City, and another 5 eagles from Reed's Landing south to Wabasha, MN. There were 300-500 common mergansers on the lake.

12/19/2006 There were about 300 trumpeter swans on the Mississippi River north of Minneapolis/St. Paul.

12/30/2006 There were seven adult bald eagles and two 3-year-olds along the Minnesota River near the Black Dog Power Plant in Bloomington, MN.

T.R. Michels

There were about 300 trumpeter swans on the Mississippi River in Monticello, MN.

During the week of December 24-31, 2006 Great Gray and Northern Hawk Owl, Black-Backed and American Three-Toed Woodpecker, Gray Jay, Pine Grosbeak, Hoary & Common Redpoll, White-winged & Red Crossbill, Gray-Crowned Rosy-Finch, Townsend's Solitaire and Snow Bunting were sighted near Duluth.

A Snowy Owl was seen and photographed in Redwood County in southwestern Minnesota.

The best time to see migrating tundra swans on the Mississippi River in southern Minnesota and central Wisconsin is usually from early October through November, after the northern lakes and rivers freeze up. There are always some bald eagles around at this time too.

The tundra swans will leave this area for the east coast when the back waters of the Mississippi River or the Mississippi River itself, freezes over.

In the spring they may be seen on the Mississippi again from late February through March, as they follow the opening up of the rivers and lakes on their way back to Hudson Bay and the Arctic coast.

December through February is usually the best time to see the growing population of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Quebec trumpeter swans. You can find them just north of Minneapolis/St. Paul on the Mississippi river at Monticello, Minnesota.

You can combine this trumpeter swan tour with a bald eagle tour from mid-December through February, when there may also be mergansers and divers ducks in the area.

We regularly see bald eagles throughout the year on our western Wisconsin and southern Minnesota tours. We have access to at least three sites where you may be able to view and photograph nesting bald eagles, including seeing the downy white chicks in the spring and summer.

We often visit the National Eagle Center and the Wildlife Science Center on our tours, where you can see captive eagles, hawks, owls, bears and fox, and see and listen to howling gray wolves.

Turkey Gobbling Tours

Peak daily turkey gobbling is within an hour of sunrise, most gobbling occurs from late March through early June, with peaks during the first and second weeks of April and May. During the spring you will be able to locate turkeys by calling to them on their roosts in the morning, and hear them gobble in return to your calls. If you get up before sunrise you may get to watch them fly down from their roosts, and watch and listen to them as the toms display for the hens by spreading their tails, turning their heads red, white and blue, and hear them "spit" and "drum" while they are on the feeding and strutting areas. You can even learn to use a turkey call.

Prairie Chicken & Sharp-tailed Grouse Mating Dance Tours

Listen to the calling and watch the mating dances of these birds on their spring mating grounds called "leks" in northwestern Minnesota and west central Wisconsin. April - May