djoles@startribune.com Crex Meadows Wildlife Area is a 30,000 acre wildlife area wetlands located near the St. Croix River and Grantsburg, WI. Crex is home to more than 700 plant species and 270 species of birds use Crex, including around 10,000 sandhill cranes during their annual fall migration south.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/GTCWLRTIMRC76SMQ7OFBSDKGHI.jpg?&w=1080)
Birds of every sort are on the move, and it's a wondrous thing. The Cornell (University) Lab of Ornithology helps bring the spring migration indoors with some fascinating tools like its BirdCast. For a migration-follower, the forecast pulls the action together in real-time. Cornell breaks down the migration into four U.S. regions, and the BirdCast sorts which species are arriving, rapidly increasing in numbers, and peaking — all by date. In Minnesota:
• About now, purple martins are rapidly increasing in number.
• Song sparrows, pied-billed grebes, American kestrels and Eastern phoebes, some of which began to arrive in early to mid-March, are beginning to peak.
• New arrivals include broad-winged hawks, yellow-rumped warblers and soras.
Dig in online at bit.ly/MNbirds.
