McGregor Marsh SNA 

About

To drivers passing by on busy Highway 65, this landscape may seem more remote than inviting. But McGregor Marsh and its surrounding environs are well-known: at least to the state's avid birders. Together with the Rice Lake National Wildlife Refuge and Kimberly Wildlife Management Area, the SNA is recognized as an Important Bird Area (IBA) designated by the Audubon Society.
The SNA is not without its signs of human development, divided north/south by a power line corridor and east/west by a drainage ditch. The raised bed of the old Soo Line railway—now the Soo Line North ATV Trail— also crosses the site's southwest corner. For visitors, this trail has the benefit of offering some "dry foot" access to the site: a place to peer out across this landscape of water and sky. Even when there is no one to hear the "ticking" of the Yellow Rails or the "wheezy, gaspy sputtering" songs of the Nelson's sparrow, the SNA fulfills its purpose by their presence here from spring through fall.