Surrounding the prairie loops on multiple sides are forested lands (see the North Alabama Bend Trail page for an overview of the area, and the location of the forested lands). When walking the southern prairie loop trail, you'll have forested land on one side of you for the majority of the loop. The river itself is separated from the prairie loops by a strip of riparian forest land as well.
As noted above, the nature of that forest varies from open woodland savannah (widely spaced trees with grassland and herbaceous cover below) to more dense deciduous forest. There are some HUGE cottonwood trees scattered throughout the riparian forest area, including one that houses a rather massive Bald Eagle nest. With the forested land adjacent to open land, species that prefer that edge habitat are abundant. Red-headed Woodpeckers are pretty common here, as as Northern Flickers. Yellow Warblers are common, as are both Orchard Orioles and Baltimore Orioles. Song Sparrows and Eastern Bluebirds are also commonly encountered. Bell's Vireo, a species sometimes hard to find in eastern South Dakota, can be found in some of the thickets here.
You'll also see and hear birds commonly encountered in eastern deciduous forests of the US. Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Warbling Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Gray Catbird, Eastern Wood-Pewee, and Red-bellied Woodpecker are all found here.
The entire western third of North Alabama Bend is forest. It's also an area I have yet to explore much, largely due to a lack of well-defined trails, and my own (very rational!) disgust of ticks (they're abundant here).
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SOUTH DAKOTA BIRDS AND BIRDING - LOCATIONS OF WEBSITE VISITORS
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Please mail any comments/suggestions/additional links for this page to: Terry L. Sohl