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Mississippi kites race the winds in pursuit of flying insects, while roadrunners speed along the ground hunting lizards. Some 5,000 white pelicans wing into the refuge in April and again in September. The pelicans glide in swirling clouds, riding columns of rising warm air.
Warblers trill from the woodlands. Dickcissels stake out fence posts. Painted and indigo bruntings rival the prairie wildflowers for breathtaking color. Great blue herons and egrets stalk the shallows. Least bitterns freeze like marsh statues. Shorebird migrations in late July and August can be spectacular.
Birds aren’t the only attraction. Watch for bounding white-tail deer, bobcats with young in the summer, mink, armadillos, and beaver. Listen for the coyote chorus at day’s end.