This small bird, measuring around 7 inches in length, teeters or bobs as it walks along the shorelines of streams, rivers, ponds and lakes.  No one knows why the spotted sandpiper teeters, but the young inherently imitate the action practically as soon as they hatch!  The spotted sandpiper feeds on a variety of prey including insects, snails, crayfish, small fish - almost anything they can find in the mud, on plants or flying nearby.

The red-shouldered hawk inhabits mature forests along water, which makes the Great River National Wildlife Refuge a perfect place for them to raise their young.  They feed on small mammals, frogs, snakes, crayfish and the occasional small bird.  Their reddish underside and the black and white barring of their tail help to identify them from other hawks.

The sora is included in the group of birds which are called secretive marshbirds.  These birds inhabit shallow wetlands where they quietly and stealthily maneuver through the emergent vegetation.  Their vocals include a variety of calls, but their most distinctive call is the two-noted "sor-AH, sor-AH".

The Fox Island Division is the northernmost unit of the refuge, near the Iowa border. Most of this unit is not protected by levees and is subject to the fluctuations of the Mississippi River.  Habitat on the refuge include a mix of scrub-shrub, bottomland forest and wet-meadow communties.  Song birds, shorebirds, waterfowl, muskrats, coyote, deer and many other species seek refuge in these habitats.

Long Island Division includes a complex of islands dominated with a bottomland forest community. These areas are important for a variety of migratory forest bird species such as the cerulean warbler, prothonotary warbler, woodpeckers, eagles, and red-shouldered hawk. White-tailed deer, river otter, snakes, turtles, turkey and other more common species consider the wet forest habitat home as well.

The Delair Division has ample seep marshes which provide a continuous flow of water through the refuge year round. The seeps are a result of the underlying sandy soils providing a direct ground connection to the Mississippi River. As a result, sedge marshes are interspersed throughout the refuge offering sora rails, sandhill cranes, salamanders, frogs, and snakes with important cover and food. Waterfowl such as ducks, geese and swans find refuge in the pooled wetlands during migration.