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Horicon Marsh in Wisconsin is one of the nation’s best birding spots
The national treasure is the largest cattail marsh in the U.S.
While marshes lack the visual drama of mountains or seacoasts, these often underappreciated landscapes play an indispensable role in the health of the planet. Marshes support a diverse array of plant and animal life, purify water, provide flood control, and sequester carbon. And as any birder knows, they’re also wonderful places to bring your binoculars.
On a spring trip to Wisconsin, my husband and I got the chance to experience one of the nation’s most important wetlands. About 14 miles long and 5 miles across at its widest, Horicon Marsh is located an hour northeast of Madison. Designated as a Wetland of International Importance by the United Nations, it’s the largest cattail marsh in the United States. The federal government manages the northern 22,000 acres as the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge, while the remaining 11,000 acres are part of the Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area, which is overseen by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
If you go
What: Horicon National Wildlife Refuge; Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area
Where: N7725 Highway 28 in Horicon, Wisconsin; located one hour northeast of Madison, Wisconsin
When: While bird life is always plentiful, the best times to see migrating species are mid-April through mid-May and mid-September through October. Both the federal and Wisconsin portions of Horicon Marsh are open during daylight hours. The Wisconsin visitor center is open daily and the federal visitor center is open Thursday through Sunday.
For more information: fws.gov/refuge/horicon and horiconmarsh.org; The Horicon Marsh Bird Club’s Facebook page lists current migrations and special events
We began our tour in the beautifully designed visitor center in the Wisconsin portion of the marsh. The Horicon Marsh Education and Visitor Center was easy to spot because of the 7,000-pound woolly mammoth outside its front door, a metal sculpture created by Curt Walker. Scientists know that the huge creatures once walked this land because of the teeth, bones and tusks they left behind.
Inside the center, we enjoyed the views from large windows that overlook the southern portion of the marsh. We learned that more than 300 bird species have been spotted at Horicon Marsh, which is particularly rich in ducks, geese, pelicans, herons, egrets and cormorants. The biggest avian show comes during the spring and fall migrations, when the marsh serves as a way station for hundreds of thousands of Canada geese, sandhill cranes and duck species ranging from mallard and green-winged teal to northern pintail and gadwall. Songbirds also are plentiful here from spring through fall.
In the center’s lower-level Explorium, we toured exhibits on the history and ecological significance of Horicon Marsh. The wetlands occupy a shallow, peat-filled lakebed that was gouged out by glaciers 12,000 years ago. Today the marsh is fed by branches of the Rock River, small and intermittent streams and groundwater.
For many centuries, Native American tribes that included the Ho-Chunk and Potawatomi fished, hunted and gathered plants in the marsh. In the early years of European settlement, a dam was installed to power a sawmill. After the dam was removed as part of a lawsuit filed by local farmers, the marshlands were drained, but the peat-filled soil never produced good crops. In 1921, local conservationist Louis “Curly” Radke led an effort to restore the marsh. Water levels were raised and gradually vegetation began to return, which in turn attracted many of the animal and bird species that had once made their home here. These efforts were so successful that in 1927 Wisconsin established the Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area, followed in 1941 by the creation of the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge.
One of the Explorium’s most interesting exhibits is on the importance of muskrats to marshes. The rodents eat cattails and also use them to build their huts, which open up small ponds that are used by ducks and geese for landing areas and nesting. Research has found that a marsh flourishes best when half its area is covered by water and the other half by cattails and other vegetation.
To keep the muskrat population at an optimum level, wildlife managers at Horicon Marsh adjust the number of trapping permits sold each season. These permits are highly prized because Horicon Marsh muskrats are larger than typical muskrats, with silky, dark brown fur that make them highly prized on the international fur market.
We next headed into the marsh itself, taking a walking trail that leads from the visitor center. Along the way we were serenaded by the loud calls of red-winged blackbirds, while overhead we could often hear the soft whoosh of the wings of Canada geese as they came in for a landing. In all, fifteen miles of hiking trails wind through Horicon Marsh’s patchwork of open water, cattail marsh, upland prairie and wooded wetlands.
After our walk, a short drive took us to Green Head boat landing, where we launched our kayaks on a paddling trail that runs for about seven miles through the core of the marsh. After starting in a narrow segment of the Rock River, we entered open wetlands where the broad channel was bordered by cattails and grasses. With hardly any current, and virtually no human-made noises other than the sounds of our paddles, our voyage was peaceful and easy.
That evening we camped at nearby Ledge County Park, whose 83 acres lie along the Niagara Escarpment, a natural rock ledge that’s part of the same ancient rock formation over which Niagara Falls flows. The wooded hilltop on which the park sits is lined with scenic bluffs. After dinner we took a hike along the escarpment and enjoyed expansive views of Horicon Marsh below us.
The next morning we set out by car on the loop road that leads through the federally managed portion of the marsh. At its Marsh Haven Nature Center we learned more about the animals that make their home here. The marsh's rich biodiversity creates a complex food web that supports a multitude of insects, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.
Finally, we ended our visit with a walk on the Egret Trail, which has a floating boardwalk that extends across the wetlands. Enjoying the sounds, smells and sights all around us, we were grateful that Horicon Marsh is preserved as a living testament to the power of nature to regenerate and heal.
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