The best time to bird the battlefield is just after a rain, when Great Blue and Little Blue herons, Great, Snowy, and Cattle egrets, and White Ibis flock to feed on insects and other small animals flushed from the turf by pooling rain water. The site’s boat dock on the nearby Mississippi River is a good viewing platform for gulls, terns, and specialties such as Double-crested Cormorant, Lesser Scaup, Osprey, and Red-tailed Hawk, especially during the fall, winter, and spring months. The narrow bands of bottomland hardwood can be active with Mississippi Kite, Red-shouldered Hawk, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Red-bellied and Downy woodpeckers, White-eyed Vireo, and Carolina Chickadee during the summer months. Fall and winter bring nearctic woodland species such as American Robin, House Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Cedar Waxwing, Orange-crowned and Yellow-rumped warblers, and American Goldfinch.