Curtis-Herschberger WMA

The Curtis-Herschberger Wildlife Management Area is the perfect example of how prairie pothole restoration can work. This moderately sized WMA complex offers scattered patches of dense scrub in a rolling prairie grass covered hill setting between two diverse wetlands. Throw in a sizeable grove of mature trees and you’ve got on-stop birding in almost any season.

DIRECTIONS: North on US 75 for 4 miles from the City of Lake Benton to Lincoln County Road 15, Turn West on County 15 for one mile, then turn North on the gravel road for .75 miles to the access of the Curtis-Herschberger Wildlife Management Area on the West side of the gravel road.

This recently reclaimed area has a little bit of everything for those who want to explore. Two basins, Herschberger Slough and Curtis Lake seem inappropriately named by today’s standards though with Herschberger Slough looking more like a lake, and Curtis Lake choked with cattails. Between them is an area of rolling grassland with a dense planting of deciduous trees along the slough and a smattering of the ever popular Eastern Red Cedar. Right next to the road is a roughly 20 acre plot of mature deciduous trees that are a usual stop for warblers in spring and fall, or a solid nest site for a Swainson’s Hawk.

When water level are low in the slough several species of shorebirds can be observed; both Godwits, Willet, and both Black-bellied and American Golden Plover have been seen here along with the more common species. Curtis Lake, with its dense vegetation seems a likely place for a Least Bittern, and certainly is host to a variety of migrating waterbirds such as Virginal Rail, American Bittern, and Black Tern. Cattle Egret has been seen here in recent years as well. Baltimore and Orchard Orioles nest in the trees while Dickcissel, Clay-colored and Field Sparrows abound in the scrub and grasses.

 

Chen Bay WMA

Located to the North of Lake Benton is the Chen Bay Wildlife Management Area

After leaving Norwegian Creek County Park, go back to US Highway 75 and turn North for 1 mile, turn East and follow the curving Lincoln County Road for about 3 miles. The basin to the North is a great place to check for migrating Bald Eagle or Osprey. Turn North on the unmarked gravel road that splits between the large basin to the Northwest, and the smaller basin on the East. This gravel runs through an area where Cattle Egret and Black-crowned Night-Heron are almost annually seen in spring, and a sizeable planting of conifers that may hold a Townsend’s Solitaire in late fall.

Ash Lake WMA

Ash Lake Wildlife Management Area is as bit difficult to reach, but worth a quick stop.

DIRECTIONS: Traveling north to Lincoln County Road 16, then turn west and travel 1 mile to County Road 104. Travel North for one more mile, then go East again for 1.3 mile. All this back-tracking will get you to the Ash Lake Wildlife Management Area.

At the top of the hill looking East is an unnamed lake basin. If you turn South on the access road to the shore of Ash Lake be cautions; this road is often hazardous when wet. If passable, you can drive down to the lakeshore and mill about in the dense tree cover or stroll through the grasses that line the North and West shoreline.

You can walk the entire Western shoreline through Wildlife Management land past the inlet along the South shore. This WMA differs only slightly from other areas in that it borders a lake that is well used by diving ducks in the early spring. Warblers are also plentiful here in spring and fall. A probable Pine Warbler was observed along the Northern shore woodland, and a Bay-breasted, and Black-throated Green have also shown up here.