Nature Conservancy Site of the Week #2
Located in South Central Wisconsin, Baxter’s Hollow, near Baraboo, provides for excellent birding in a hidden away place. The preserve is just shy of 5,000 acres and has some 40 species of breeding forest birds. The most sought after birds at Baxter’s Hollow are the rare (for Wisconsin) Worm-eating Warbler and the Hooded Warbler.
The last time I visited (also the first time) we did not see either rare warbler but were delighted by a gang of Blue-winged Warblers that nearly danced on our heads with warbler delight. We walked up a large portion of the narrow road leading into the actual trail and were inundated with birdsong the entire time.
The best time to visit would be early morning in spring to find nesting and migrating birds. An afternoon at the International Crane Foundation north of Baraboo would make for a wonderfully complete day. I plan on returning to Baxter’s Hollow in spring of ’07.
Worm-eating Warbler – courtesy of Flickr photo sharing
Hooded Warbler – from Flickr photo sharing
((Side note – a few pictures I was linking in from Cornell but thought better of it…so I put them on my site and kept copyright and all that. The more I thought about it, I figured I shouldn’t do that either so I got a couple of photos from Flickr. I don’t sell anything on this site but just want to show viewers the beauty of birds.))
Interesting place! I love those bird pictures!