Thousands of ducks and geese frequent the refuge area during their semi-annual migrations. Water birds such as ring-billed and Franklin's gulls, common and least terns, double-crested cormorants and white pelicans rest and feed along the wide Missouri.
Both whitetail and mule deer slip secretly through the dense woodlands, sometimes shadowed by coyotes or a bobcat. Wild turkeys roost in towering cottonwoods, while raccoons, mink, skunks, foxes, and cottontails meander through the underbrush.
Along the woodland margins, scattered coveys of bobwhites scratch for seeds, while red-tailed hawks watch from above, waiting for a chance to strike.
Dozens of species of songbirds native to the cottonwood-willow-dogwood habitat zone can be found on the refuge. During the spring migration and nesting season, the woods seem ablaze with striking colors as warblers, orioles, cardinals, grosbeaks, and bluejays dart through the treetops. Each spring, well-known songsters such as brown thrashers, mockingbirds, meadowlarks and song sparrows fill the wood with nature's harmony.
MANAGEMENT FOR DIVERSITY
In early times the wild Missouri River created silt-laden sandbars that cottonwoods needed for seedling establishment and survival. Old trees were replaced by young ones. Damming of the river eliminated the spring floods and silt deposition that cottonwoods had evolved with. Now cottonwoods must be planted by the hand of man to insure habitat for bald eagles will be available in the future.
Over two-hundred acres of native grasslands are burned, hayed or grazed periodically to maintain the vigor of the grass and to add diversity to the river-breaks ecosystem. These mixed grass prairies contain a diversity of plant life, and attract waterfowl and resident wildlife which serve as an alternate food source for nesting and wintering eagles..
