Horicon Marsh – Wisconsin, USA

About

The Horicon Marsh is located within the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge, and it is a federally maintained undisturbed sanctuary for many migratory birds. Located in the Dodge and Fon du Lac counties of Southern Wisconsin, the marsh attracts more than 300 species of birds, both local and migratory. This area is abundant with wildlife; there are over 350,000 ducks and geese alone! You can observe common marshland birds and songbirds, as well as more rare and less commonly seen birds.

The Horicon Marsh was formed when Ice Age meltwater created many moraines (a mass of rocks deposited by a glacier) and drumlins (a small, oval-shaped hill made from compacted clay or glacier movement), which are now the many islands that make up the Horicon Marsh today. The marsh is considered to have the highest concentration of drumlins in the world. Horicon Marsh is now part of the Ice Age National Scientific Reserve, serving as an example of an extinct glacial lake.

There are over 10 miles of hiking trails and a 3-mile driving loop, both of which offer many unique landscapes to view wildlife. It is full of many wetland plants, including cattails, smartweed, barnyard grass, and nutsedge. In addition to the many bird species found here, visitors can also spot river otters, white-tailed deer, muskrats, painted turtles, and frogs, as well as many other wonderful sights.

Owen visited this site on a birding trip in July of 2024 with his bird guide Steve Huggins. They focused on the 3-mile driving loop in the Dodge and Fon du Lac counties, as well as the Kettle Moraine State Forest Jersey Flats and the beaches of Lake Michigan located in Sheboygan. They spotted 107 species of birds, totaling well over 3,000 birds over the course of their 3-day trip. Of the 107 species, they spotted 13 species that are rare or uncommon for the area during the summer. Those birds are the Trumpeter Swan, Wild Turkey, Black-necked Stilt, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Caspian Tern, Common Tern, Yellow-throated Vireo, Ovenbird, American Redstart, Clay-colored Sparrow, Henslow’s Sparrow, and the Blue-winged Warbler.