Spring Birding Hikes... and Beer

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Spring is in the air, at least for the lower two-thirds of the Mississippi Valley. Birds are on the move already, and early spring flowers are popping up in my part of the river. With migration season just getting going, it’s a good time to talk about a few places where it’s relatively easy to appreciate all those birds on the move.

In this episode, I describe five day trips that’ll get you outside and close to the birds. Each day trip includes two or three places to hike and ends with a recommendation about where you can rest and refuel with beer (or another beverage of your choice) and food. The day trips in this episode are based around New Orleans, Memphis, St. Louis, the Quad Cities of Iowa and Illinois, and Galena, Illinois. In the Mississippi Minute, the spring rises along the river remind me of flood walls and the creative ways some river cities have tried to decorate them with art.