April 2006 Crex Meadows

IOU-sponsored field trip April 29/30 2006
Participants: Bo and Sonnie Dunne , Richard and Nancy Lynch, Jim and Sharon Scheib

We traveled separately to Crex Meadows near Granstburg, Wisconsin to see the mating display of Sharp-tailed Grouse along with other northern nesting species such as Trumpeter Swan, Common Loon, Bald Eagles, and a variety of egrets, ducks, grebes and migrants. All of the above were seen. A surprise find was a Peregrine Falcon.

We met Saturday at 5AM at the coffee stop on the edge of town. The weather was wet mostly the whole day. The Sharp-tailed Grouse have been very reliable the last few years and we found several at the Murphy Road Lek.

On the afternoon of the first day we toured Jim's brother's reindeer farm near Milltown.

Because of the rain on the first day most of the group covered the same ground on the second morning seeing essentially the same birds.

On the way home Dick and Nancy Lynch toured the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, WI.

--- Jim Scheib