Happy Dancing Blog

Looking for something to keep you busy? Birding is the perfect activity to enjoy while social distancing and your observations can help scientists and conservation efforts across the world! While spring may not be the easiest time to become a birder, it certainly is the most exciting! New birds arrive daily from warmer southern locations, birds are singing loudly to find mates and defend territories, and they’re busy snatching up insects and gathering materials for their nest

During the summer, Happy Dancing Turtle offers four weeks of Eco Camp, week-long environmental day camps, for Pre-K through 6th grade students. The theme of Eco Camp changes each year, which offers continued excitement and learning to our long-returning campers. For the past few years, it has become a tradition that we spend part of the first day tie-dying our camp t-shirts, which depict the current year’s theme. A few years ago, we thought, “Hey, why not have the kids draw t

The Trempealeau Hotel, a quintessential restaurant of the Driftless Region located in a historic building from the 1880s. It is one of many restaurants featuring sustainably-sourced, locally grown ingredients on the menu. It also highlights the variety of live music events in the area, complete with an outdoor porch, beautiful gardens, and a bandstand overlooking the Mississippi and riverside bluffs. On Friday, after touring around Winona, Minnesota (including the  historic d

I spent the first “spring heat wave” of March exploring the backwaters of the Mississippi River in the Trempealeau Wildlife Refuge. Down here in bluff country, the Mississippi flows between the breathtaking bluffs of Minnesota and Wisconsin. The marshland and backwaters provide critical habitat for many animals, especially migrating birds. Temps soared to 53 degrees on Sunday, March 4th (before crashing back down and bringing 6 inches of snow on Monday). The river was a welco

Last weekend I took a road trip to south-central Nebraska to try to catch a glimpse of the migrating Sandhill cranes, a task I thought would be much more challenging than it proved to be.  Once you’re there, they’re extremely hard to miss! I’ve always been fascinated by migration events, and I could have died happy last year after taking a once in a lifetime trip to Africa and witnessing the wonders of the Wildebeest Migration. But I have good news! You don’t have to travel t

As winter approaches, we are seeing many changes in our bird populations. Some birds, like robins, have formed large flocks and are slowly moving south. Others, like our juncos, have just recently arrived but are only passing through on their journey from northern Canada to southern Minnesota and beyond. Others who will remain here all winter are busily visiting our feeders. Birds essentially have two options when it comes to winter: they can migrate or they can stay. If they

Click here to view the full size. This month, many of the Happy Dancing Turtle staff have agreed to participate in the 30×30 Workplace Challenge!  The 30×30 Challenge was started by the David Suzuki Foundation as a way to encourage people to spend more time outside. The goal is to spend 30 minutes outdoors for 30 days in a row (the month of May). Why? Because it’s good for you! The EPA estimates that Americans spend approximately 93% of their lives indoors (87% inside a build

March, in the minds of many, marks the arrival of spring. Locations all across the US have shattered record highs this week, with the warmth scheduled to continue this weekend. Spring has sprung – fast and furiously. But spring isn’t the only thing arriving in March. As our days continue to lengthen and temps continue to rise, our landscape undergoes a magical transformation, with more and more wildlife returning to the area each day. Of course most of this is due to increase