Spring Watch, Vultures Return

Each year our Turkey Vultures spend their winters in the south, then return to the Baraboo Hills and Devil’s Lake State Park on warm weather fronts in the spring. Well, they’re back!

On Saturday evening (March 7th) we were following up on a report that a few vultures had been seen at Devil’s Lake. Usually, they seem to dribble in, (A few one day, and a few another, etc,.) so when we saw 3 soaring over the west bluff we were pretty excited. Then, suddenly a huge number of birds rose up from behind the bluff. WOW! Somewhere between 30 and 50 birds were suddenly filling the sky! How cool is that?

The best part is, now everyone can start saying they saw big black eagles at Devil’s Lake again. (They’re not though, they’re Turkey Vultures… 😁)

So if you’re following along, sandhill cranes, redwing blackbirds, robins and a variety of ducks are back as well. Now we’re just waiting on our resident Great Blue Herons.

Derrick Mayoleth

For nearly 2 decades the Skillet Creek blog has focused on 3 main goals; To inspire you to visit and explore the Devil’s Lake region, to help you get the most your visit by sharing tips, events, and other helpful information. Lastly to advocate for our environment & wildlife and talk about how we can keep our natural areas amazing now and into the future! That last goal can sometimes cause controversy, but it’s the only way we can accomplish the first two. – Derrick Mayoleth, Owner.