Photo Courtesy of T. R. Michels

In mid September my wife Diane, daughter Tawnya and I drove from Minneapolis / St. Paul, MN to Grantsburg, Wisdonsin, to visit the famed Crex Meadows Wildlife Area. From downtown Minneapolis it took us about an hour and a half to get to Grantsburg, because we stopped at the Marshland Visitor Center on the Minnesota side of the St. Croix River, where you can view purple fringed orchids, sphagnum moss and skunk cabbage.

We drove north out of the Twin Cities on I 35 to MN Highway 70 and headed east to Grantsburg. Once we were in Grantsburg we followed the painted yellow geese on the road to Crex Meadows, about two miles outside of town. At the Visitor Center I picked up a map, and talked to one of the volunteers, who pointed out where the sandhill cranes, one bald eagle nest, four osprey nests, and the resident timber wolf pack could be found.

The Crex Meadows Wildlife Areas consists of 30,000 acres of wetlands (many of them created by dikes), brush prairies, and oak and jack pine forests. The American Bird Conservancy includes Crex Meadows as one of the 500 Globally Important Bird Areas in the United States. It is home to over 270 species of birds, nearly every mammal found in Wisconsin, and a wide variety of reptiles, amphibians and insects. In the fall visitors may see as many as 50 bald eagles, 8,000 sandhill ranes, 12,000 Canada and snow geese, 20,000 coots and thousands of ducks. It has breeding populations of timber wolves, ospreys, bald eagles, trumpeter swans, Karner blue butterflies, Blanding turtles, and red-necked grebes. In addition it contains several varieties of wildflowers and important native grasses.

As we headed down the dirt road into the wildlife area we saw a doe white-tailed deer. And then, about a half mile further down the road my wife Diane spotted a family of three sandhill cranes near a small pond right next to the road. My daughter Tawnya grabbed the Canon Rebel camera with the 200mm AF lens and took several pictures of the magnificent birds as they fed within 50 yards of our vehicle.

As we drove away from the sandhills we saw a Cooper's hawk fly overhead. We also saw several great blue herons, great egrets, more sandhill cranes, Canada geese, and several family groups of trumpeter swans as we continued our slow drive. In order to see the birds better I grabbed a pair of binoculars, and put on a pair of Walker's Game Ears, from Affinity Medical Technology, which manufactures and recently began marketing the Game Ears.

Photo Courtesy of T. R. Michels

The binoculars helped me see the birds better, and, with the Game Ears I could hear the guttural calls of the cranes, the honking of the geese, and the whoo-whoo of the swans even though they were from 50-200 yards away. Because it was windy I turned the volume up, and then with another dial I turned the Frequency Adjusting Control to block out the sound of the wind and blowing vegetation, which allowed me to hear the birds more clearly.

I've used amplified earphone for hunting before, but had never thought about using them for birding until this trip. Listening to the far off calls of all those birds made me realize what an asset the Game Ears would be in all of my birding endeavors. By using them I would be able to hear birds much better when they were far away, when I was in a deep woods, and when other sounds blocked out the sounds of the birds. They would become part of my birding paraphernalia, or "toys", as my wife calls them.

As we drove down the road we saw several different types of habitat, from small ponds, large cattail, bulrush and phragmites marshes, to sandy prairies of native grasses, and jack pine and oak savanna. In several areas the ground was covered in a riot of colors from the late summer wildflowers.

We saw several species of wildflower, including yellow-gold sunflowers, blue and purple asters (there are five different species here), purple rough blazing star, silvery sage, and several species of white composite flowers. I took pictures of any "new" species to add to my growing archive of flower photos, so I could identify them later.

Suddenly I spotted a flock of about 20 great egrets flying overhead. As I stopped the car the birds swung lower, looking as if they wanted to land. I quickly grabbed the Canon Rebel, and took a coupe of shots as they came closer. Then, to our surprise the birds landed in the pond about fifty yards from the vehicle. I got several shots of the birds as they landed, and will post them on our web site as soon as they are developed.

Next we came to a several food plots of sunflowers and corn, where we saw several small and large flocks of sandhill cranes (1000+ in all) and several flocks of Canada geese. We watched and listened in wonder as the sandhill cranes landed and fed, all the while making their guttural croaking sounds. As it always does, the sounds of wild animals always brings to me a sense of peace, a dormant memory of a less complicated, less stressful time in human history; which is why I enjoy nature so much. It fulfills some inner need within me to commune with nature.

We continued down the road, until we got to a location where the volunteer at the nature center said there was an osprey nest. The nest was clearly visible, from even a quarter of a mile away. And when we looked at it through our binoculars we could clearly see an osprey sitting in the nest. As I again put on my Game Ears I could hear the distant sounds of sandhill cranes, Canada geese and trumpeter swans. Then Tawnya notices a large bird soaring overhead, which turned out to be a bald eagle, that stayed overhead for several minutes as we drove down the road.

Photo Courtesy of T. R. Michels

Our next stop was near the area where the volunteer said the Crex Meadow wolf pack had a burrow. Since it was early afternoon I did not expect to see or here the wolves, but I wanted to mark the location and look it over in the daylight, so we could come back in February or early March, during the breeding season, when we were most likely to hear the wolves howling.

We left the scenic parking area overlooking the wolves home grounds, and headed toward one of the dikes that created a large marsh, hoping to see more waterfowl, and wading birds and shorebirds. And, we were not disappointed. As we drove slowly up to the shore of the marsh we saw a family of sandhill cranes, two pairs of trumpeter swans, several families of Canada geese, and several shorebirds. When I got out my binoculars I could clearly see both greater and lesser yellowlegs, dowitchers, solitary and spotted sandpipers, and a Wilson's phalarope.

Several other birds were too far off to determine what they were, so I intend to get a pair of higher powered binoculars; probably the Stokes DLS 10x42 Birding Series from Eagle Optics, and possibly one of their Raven Straight Scopes with 78mm lens and 20-60 power eyepieces. Good optics are a must for the serious birder, even if my wife does think of them as my "toys".

If you are interested in birding or wildflowers, this is a great destination for a family trip, only a couple of hours drive from Minneapolis and St. Paul. Or you are more than welcome to join us on one of our tours of this area from spring through fall for birds and wildflowers, or in February or March for wolf tours.

T.R. Michels is a nationally recognized game researcher and naturalist. For information on Natural History Eco-Tours for game animal, birding, wildflower and scenic photography trips contact: Website Trinity Mountain Outdoor Adventures- Natural History Eco-Tours at www.TRMichels.com, E-mail T.R. Michels@yahoo.com.