Pelicans and Great Blue Herons Visible at Union Slough

Motorists will soon be able to enter the Union Slough National Wildlife Refuge in northern Iowa. Manager Ed Meendering says the annual auto tour route opens this time of year when the primary nesting season for birds has ended.

Sandhill cranes are native to Iowa, but disappeared from the Iowa landscape in the late 19th century. They slowly began reappearing in the 1990s and it is still rare to see young sandhill cranes, which are called colts. Meendering says despite the current hot and dry conditions, water levels in the refuge have been stable and there’s plenty of visible wildlife.

Great blue herons are generally four feet tall when standing and the largest species of heron in North America. Visitors to the refuge in Kossuth County, near Bancroft, are likely to see Ring-necked Pheasants and white tailed deer. Meendering says there are some river otters in the refuge, too, but a sighting from a vehicle will be rare. The refuge opens twice a year to motorists.

The route through the refuge will be open to vehicles from sunrise to sunsett, starting this Saturday, August 1st through September 21st. The Union Slough National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1938 and its mix of marshes, native prairie and river bottomland covers 33-hundred acres.