Flyway migration webcams

Screenshot of a Bald eagle surveying a frozen landscape on the Upper Mississippi River thanks to the Raptor Resource webcam.

When your flyway is now frozen, there are others open with plenty to watch thanks to webcams. With camera technology and streaming getting better every year, there are now many opportunities to observe nature on one’s computer. Here in Minnesota, a recent hard freeze pushed the remaining waterfowl migrants south from the frozen lakes of Canada.

Screenshot taken last week with the arrival of Tundra Swans, Sandhill Cranes and Bufflehead ducks (Raptor Resource webcam).

Tundra Swans (4 cygnets in gray) moved through this area very quickly due to the very cold temperatures last week. The backwaters froze making it difficult to access the shallow water so the swans did not linger.

What has shown up on the frozen surface are coyotes taking advantage of the new hunting grounds that have appeared.

The coyotes seem to know what they are doing navigating the ice. Bald eagles hang around to see if they can get some scraps from a kill.

Leaving the dark, frozen, quiet landscape of the upper Mississippi and heading out west to California, there is a refuge just north of Sacramento that is in active migration.

Hundreds of thousands of ducks and geese will travel through or winter in this land complex managed by the federal Wildlife Refuge System.

Flock of Snow Geese in the foreground - screenshot from Sacramento Nat’l Wildlife Refuge Webcam.

Snow Geese eating grass with Greater White-fronted Geese in the foreground.

Snow and White-fronted Geese with Pintail and Northern Shoveler ducks

Snow Geese in the fog

If you are wanting to see a mass migration of waterfowl right now, be sure to check out the Sacramento webcam. The sunrises and sunsets are pretty nice too.

Sunset on December 5th