Birds of Prairie Creek
Click on an image to find out more about the bird.
For current lists of birds observed at Prairie Creek WMA, see the postings on eBird. This website is a wonderful resource created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society. We appreciate the expert birders who share their findings with all!
If visitors have photos of animals or plants taken at Prairie Creek WMA, please share them with Craig Koester.
The Red-winged Blackbird is a dominant bird species on the east side of Prairie Creek. Huge flocks landed by the stream regularly to drink and plume their feathers with stream water. Widely known as a road-side bird, the Red-winged Blackbird flocks flourish by the side of the unpaved road that cut through the middle of Prairie Creek as the roadside ditches serve as a great habitat.
Photo taken by Gerry Hoekstra.
Photo taken by Gerry Hoekstra
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Bluebird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Bobolink
American Crow
Northern Flicker
American Goldfinch
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
American Goldfinch
Eastern Kingbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Eastern Meadowlark Eggs
Northern Mockingbird
Northern Mockingbird
Northern Mockingbird
Orchard Oriole
American Robin
Wilson's Snipe
American Robin
Clay Colored Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow
Henslow Sparrow
Clay Colored Sparrow Nest
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
European Starling
Wild Turkey
A wild turkey wandering in the Oak Savanna. Wild Turkeys are not easily found at Prairie Creek, as they are relatively rare and take advantage of the tall grasses as a cover for themselves (as is shown in the picture). The existence of these large popular game birds suggests that Prairie Creek has the potential of developing into an attractive hunting site.
The Common Yellowthroat is small warbler that an be seen on both the savanna and prairie. It has a long tail that often twitches. Its distinctive call is a bright, repeated witchity, witchity, witchity. It resembles the more familiar Goldfinch, which also appears on the site, but it lacks the black crown and wing bars.