Fire Lane Road cuts through the heart of the Upper Wisconsin River Wetlands and Pines IBA. This area rests on the eastern edge of the Northern Highlands Ecological landscape and consists of a mix of upland and lowland conifer forests and managed aspen stands. The large amount of conifer in the landscape makes this area a great place to see birds more typical of northern boreal forests including crossbills, boreal chickadee, evening grosbeak, gray jay, and spruce grouse. In addition, a morning of birding along Fire Lane Road and adjacent areas near Conover can produce 15 species of warblers including Connecticut, Blackburnian, Nashville and other conifer specialists. If you’re lucky you might spot a goshawk or an Olive-sided Flycatcher seeking beer. Much of this area is owned and managed by the Vilas County Forest and Nicolet National Forest with bird species of concern in mind.
Gray Jay – Photo by Tom Prestby
Click the link here: Spruce Grouse Lek or paste it into your web browser to watch a short video from March 2007 showing some of the characteristic lekking behavior of the “Fool Hen’.
If planning on taking a trip to the area, please consider inputting your sightings into eBird so that we can better track bird populations in this important IBA.