Flock to Winona: Your Ultimate Spring Birding Guide
When the ice breaks on the Mississippi and the bluffs above Winona start to green, something magical happens — the skies fill with wings. Situated in the heart of the Mississippi Valley Flyway, Winona sits at a natural crossroads for birds and bird watchers, with over 300 species identified across its bluffs, valleys, and backwaters. Spring is the undisputed prime time to visit: the season unfolds in waves, with waterfowl arriving first, followed by sparrows, warblers, and a wide array of songbirds — each wave more spectacular than the last. Whether you’re a seasoned lister chasing life birds or a curious newcomer who just bought their first pair of binoculars, the Winona region offers some of the most breathtaking birding in the upper Midwest. So pack your field guide, grab the binoculars, and let’s explore!
Aghaming Park and Preserve, Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife & Fish Refuge
- Prothonotary Trail – Named for North America’s only cavity-nesting warblers. Dike trail in floodplain forest bordered by backwater marshes. Abundant migrants mid-April & May. Warblers, orioles, songbirds, long-legged waders, waterfowl etc.
Prothonotary Trail – forested path to the right
Prothonotary Warbler – Photo by Colleen Koll
- Flyway Trail/Cape May Boulevard – Old cement road for bicycles & pedestrians. Prothonotary and other warblers, Cape Mays in trailside oaks. Great-crested and other flycatchers, migrant songbirds in edge of upland forest, mid-April & May. Bordered by sloughs and a backwater marsh with wood ducks, teal, other waterfowl, waders, trumpeter swans, green herons. Raptors ride thermals above Wisconsin bluffs. Eagles, ospreys, sometimes terns overhead. Hummingbirds on wires.
Flyway Trail
Cape May Warbler – Photo by Bill Drazkowski
Wood Duck – Photo by Andy Nyhus
- Hunter’s Lake – Pull-off beside Prairie Island Road. March to May. Migratory waterfowl, especially dabblers—northern shovelers, blue-winged and green-winged teal, wood ducks, northern pintails etc. Harriers above marsh, American kestrels on wires, bluebirds and swallows in boxes. Ring-billed and other gulls, concentrations of blackbirds, waders, Trumpeter swans, mergansers and other diving ducks. Black terns and fledglings possible later in summer.
Hunter’s Lake
Canvasback – Photo by Cathy Richardson
Greater Yellowlegs – Photo by Cathy Richardson
American Kestrel – Photo by Rich Smith
American White Pelicans – Photo by Colleen Koll
- Crooked Slough Nature Trail – Popular destination for warblers and other spring migrants, mid-April to May. Rose-breasted grosbeaks, scarlet tanagers, great-crested and other flycatchers, fox and song sparrows, bluebirds, prothonotary warblers may be seen along trail beside a slough.
Eastern Bluebirds – Photo by Cathy Richardson
Great Crested Flycatcher – Photo by Cathy Richardson
Scarlet Tanager – Photo by Colleen Koll
- McNally Landing – Mid-March to early May, American woodcocks launch sky-dances from landing’s prairie and USFWS-managed prairie across Prairie Island Road, where grassland sparrows also occur. American redstarts, other warblers, vireos, orioles in bottomland woods. Thousands of canvasbacks and other diving ducks viewable from Mississippi shore and Prairie Island Road, especially April. Solitary and other shorebirds during low water conditions.
McNally Landing entrance
McNally Landing river trail
Baltimore Oriole – Photo by Colleen Koll
Lesser Scaup Photo by Eric Nelson
- Bartlet Lake/Riley’s Lake – Pools next to the Winona airport, follow Bartlet Lake Rd to the Bartlet Lake fishing pier. Yellow-headed blackbirds and marsh wrens in the reeds. Migratory waterfowl, especially dabblers—northern shovelers, blue-winged and green-winged teal, wood ducks, northern pintails etc. Diving ducks and shorebirds. Osprey pair nests on a nearby light post, returns yearly.
Bartlet Lake
Blue-winged Teal – Photo by Cathy Richardson
Spotted Sandpiper – Photo by Cathy Richardson
Marsh Wren – Photo by Colleen Koll
Yellow-headed Blackbird – Photo by Colleen Koll
- Prairie Island Road from McNally Landing to Verchota Landing – Thousands and thousands of migrating waterfowl can be seen from the roadside, including canvasbacks, common goldeneye, hooded and other mergansers, lesser scaup, wood ducks, blue-wing and green-wing teals. Sandhill cranes, American white pelicans, ring-billed and other gulls, great blue and green herons etc. visible on the Mississippi. Shorebirds possible during low-water conditions. Water birds flush in great numbers from boat traffic. Bald eagles, orioles, other songbirds use cottonwoods and silver maples beside the road. Some years, a great-horned owl has a roadside nest in a cottonwood.
Prairie Island Road
Waterfowl – Photo by Kathy Carlyle
Verchota Landing
American White Pelicans – Photo by Colleen Koll
- Hotspot for gulls, egrets, herons, and migrating waterfowl. Ospreys and bald eagles overhead, swans and geese nesting.
Boller’s Lake
Trumpeter Swans – Photo by Colleen Koll
- Cerulean warblers breed regularly in picnic area, mid-May through June. Peregrine falcons breed historically on cliffs. Gulls, American white pelicans, terns and waterfowl on Mississippi River. Pasque flowers bloom on bluffs in April.
Cerulean Warbler – Photo by Andy Nyhus
Peregrine Falcon – Photo by Kathy Carlyle
*Check out this live Peregrine Falcon nest cam on Castle Rock Cliff, just across the river in Bluff Siding, WI! This live cam is brought to you by the Raptor Resource Project and Winona State University.
- Henslow’s sparrows (state endangered) breed regularly in the park’s grasslands. Overlooks provide spacious views of the Mississippi that include bald eagles, American white pelicans, double-crested cormorants, tundra and trumpeter swans and other spring migrants. Kettles of broad-winged hawks occur at rare moments in April. Red-tailed hawks and other raptors ride thermals above the bluffs. The King’s and Queen’s Bluff Scientific and Natural Areas can be accessed by foot.
Savannah Sparrow – Photo by Cathy Richardson
Red-tailed Hawk – Photo by Rich Smith
Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge
- Main Entrance Road – Great concentrations of waterfowl, waders, rusty and other blackbirds can occur in backwaters on both sides of the road, spring migration. Shorebirds stage in the same backwaters during low-water conditions. Least bitterns breed some years in marsh vegetation. Willow flycatchers, prothonotary warblers, red-headed woodpeckers breed near the Trempealeau River bridge.
Trumpeter Swans – Photo by Kathy Carlyle
Red-headed Woodpeckers – Photo by Rich Smith
Rusty Blackbird – Photo by Eric Nelson
- Wildlife Drive – April through summer, grassland species such as lark, vesper’s, Henslow’s, grasshopper sparrows and eastern meadowlarks occur in the savanna beside the roadway, along with scarlet tanagers, orchard orioles and other songbirds in oaks. Harriers, red-tailed and Cooper and sharp-shinned hawks and other raptors hunt the savanna. Bell’s vireos breed regularly along the first 200 yards of Wildlife Drive. Brown thrashers sing virtuoso songs from oaks, April-May. Wild turkeys, American woodcocks etc. present. Red-headed woodpeckers, eastern kingbirds, great-crested flycatchers occur at interface of floodplain-forest vegetation of Trempealeau River and savanna. Bald eagle nests can seen from Wildlife Drive.
Red-headed Woodpecker – Photo by Eric Nelson
Eastern Kingbird – Photo by Colleen Koll
Eastern Meadowlark – Photo by Rich Smith
Bald Eagle – Photo by Rich Smith
- Observation Platform, Pine Creek Dike, Nature Trail – The observation platform is handicapped accessible and located at the refuge headquarters. State-endangered black terns, northern pintails, wood ducks, other dabbling ducks, tundra and trumpeter swans, canvasbacks, common golden-eye and other diving ducks forage in the immense wetlands north of the observation platform. Caspian and Forster’s terns, bald eagles, ring-billed and Bonaparte’s and Franklin’s and other gulls and all the area’s raptors and shorebirds also forage these wetlands, which support water lilies, arrowhead, American water lotus, pickerelweed etc. Sandhill cranes, great egrets, great blue herons, green herons and other wading birds also use the marshes, which can also be viewed from Pine Creek Dike and the Nature Trail, which support songbirds, woodpeckers etc. Like Pine Creek Dike, the foot trail at Kiep’s Island also hosts landbirds and waterbirds.
Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge observation platform
Common Goldeneye – Photo by Cathy Richardson
Sandhill Cranes – Photo by Colleen Koll
For more birding highlights along the Mississippi River, check out these hotspots!
- Weaver Bottoms – swans and waterfowl
- Whitewater Wildlife Management Area – trumpeter swans and sandhill cranes nest in Dorer Pools, easy access from parking lot
- La Crosse District Visitor Center (Brice Prairie) – dickcissels, clay-colored sparrows breed regularly late May through June amid beautiful restored prairie
- Brownsville Wildlife Overlook – great concentrations of tundra swans and migrating waterfowl mid-October through freeze-up in November. Also used heavily by migrating waterfowl in spring.
- Beaver Creek Valley State Park – Louisiana waterthrush and Acadian flycatchers, May-June
Please, enjoy but do not disturb the birds. They are disappearing at unprecedented rates and need all the space and help that people can give them.
Winona Bird Club walk
Thanks to Richie Swanson and members of the Winona Bird Club for assistance with this post. For more birding information, live updates on local bird sightings, and Bird Club membership information, visit the Winona Bird Club Facebook page. Also, be sure to download the Merlin Bird ID app and sign up for an eBird account to search for and document your own sightings in the Winona area and beyond!