The Emma Lee Shantyboat and Backwater Explorer

12/05/2025

The incredible turtle!

04/23/2023

Nature’s “Clean up on Aisle 3” crew!

The Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)

02/22/2023

See this quite often out on the river islands - good stuff to learn and identify!

It is Invasive Species Awareness Week, so we wanted to answer one of the questions we get the most often: "How can I identify ?"

This handy illustration shows 4 of the key ID points to look out for. Namely:

1) The short thorn found between the twig tips.
2) Flaky or bumpy bark with orange inner tissue.
3) Glossy, egg-shaped leaves with toothed edges.
4) Dark, round berries that appear from summer into fall.

To learn more about why buckthorn is so harmful to Minnesota's native plants, wildlife and ecosystems: https://fmr.org/updates/conservation/buckthorn-how-can-shrub-be-so-harmful

02/11/2023

European buckthorn is a tall understory shrub brought to North America in the early 1800s as an ornamental shrub. But this woody plant escaped from yards and landscaped areas long ago, spreading rapidly in forests and other natural areas ever since.

11/18/2022

Interesting!

11/01/2022

The mighty Mississippi!

09/21/2022

08/15/2022

The North American river otter (Lontra canadensis) is one of the great recovery success stories in the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area. The river otter population had been severely reduced due to overhunting and water pollution starting in the early 1800s, however, coordinated efforts to reduce pollution, manage hunting, and restore habit starting in the 1980s has helped the otters to recover spectacularly.

These days, we're fortunate to have numerous groups of these playful mammals living year-round in our park. Like their neighbors the beaver (Castor canadensis), otters are avid civil engineers and shape their environment to make their homes and help harvest their preferred prey of fish and marine invertebrates. Although they prefer fish and invertebrates, river otters aren't picky predators and will also hunt birds, reptiles, insects, amphibians, or other mammals like muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus).

River otters are very social creatures and usually live in matriarchal family groups of a dozen or more individuals. They are active all year, hunt in coordinated groups, share dens, and perform grooming of other group members. Otters communicate using scent-marking and an extensive vocabulary of chitters, chirps, and whistles.

You can learn more about the otters in our park and how we study them here:

https://www.nps.gov/miss/learn/nature/otters.htm

Have you seen or heard river otters in the park? Tell us about it in the comments!



Photo Credit: Adams, Keenan, USFWS

07/29/2022

Lots of mayflies this year so far!

The life cycle of a mayfly starts out as a larva that resides on river or lake bottoms.  After 3 months to 2 years, depending on the species, they emerge as winged adults and fly in swarms to mate. Once they emerge, they only live for a few minutes to a few days (again, species dependent).