"We have a volunteer who puts together a list every week of the birds and flowers he sees. We post his list in the visitors center, and visitors can add to it if they see something. A new one this week is the bufflehead — that's a duck, a diving bird. Other species include the American coot, sandhill crane, ring-necked ducks, wood ducks. The great egret is another new one this week. Common goldeneye, pied-billed grebe, red-shouldered hawk, great blue heron, belted kingfisher, golden-crowned kinglet, both the common and hooded mergansers. Someone saw a couple of loons on the river. Even though it doesn't seem very springlike here in Minnesota, the migration marches on nonetheless."

Kris Backlund, assistant manager, Wild River State Park, where 49 bird species were spotted last week