"Bird at Hamden Slough National wildlife Refuge." Minnesota Things to Do Tip by no1birdlady

Hamden Slough NWR is a 3,200 acre refuge which features a series of sloughs or wetland areas surrounded by prairie and grasslands. It's in what is called the prairie-hardwood transition zone. A refuge manager explained to us that this is the line where the deciduous woods of the east meets the plains. The line goes roughly through Detroit Lakes, MN; and Chicaco, Ill; Demoines, Iowa; Kansas City and Houston,Tx. Another unique thing is that the northern hardwood forests meets the other 2 areas here also. Tamarac Refuge is in the deciduous forest part and Hamden Slough is in the prairie part which reaches all the way from here to eastern Colorado. This is where we saw Yellow-headed Blackbirds which we hadn't seen farther east. We also saw several duck species not seen at other refuges in Minn. such as Canvasback, Ruddy and Redhead Duck. There was a Bald Eagle hunting over the sloughs. One which had the water drawn down had a lot of migrating shorebirds on the mudflats such as Marbled Godwit, Dunlin, Semi-palmated Plover, and a Caspian Tern. Visitor center and hdqs. is in a farmhouse.

Directions: From Detroit Lakes go NE on Hwy 10 to Audubon, MN, then take hwy 13 north. There are several county roads that go across the refuge area.
Phone: 218-439-6319