Marais des Cygnes NWR Birding

Birding at Marais des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge is especially good in late spring when over 30 species of warblers migrate through the area and in early summer when breeding birds are defending territories. The large diversity of plant communities including large tracts of forest, grassland, brushland, open and wooded wetlands, and river and streams provide for an equally diverse bird population. Some breeding species found on the refuge include Kentucky warbler, northern parula warbler, red shouldered hawk, turkey vulture, scissor-tailed flycather, and painted bunting.

There currently are no hiking trails available, however there are several service roads which are available for hiking but are not available for public vehicle use and are therefore sparsely used by vehicles. These roads traverse a wide variety of habitats and vary in length from 1/4 mile to 1 1/4 miles long and are marked as a dashed line on the refuge map.