More than a dozen people stand, hushed, gazing at the trees along a wooded trail in Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge.
Suddenly, a song lilts from the upper branches. Someone whispers and points. Shoulders swivel.
A scarlet tanager lands on a branch, and everyone scrambles to focus their telephoto camera lenses or binoculars on the vibrant red bird. A few minutes later, there’s an indigo bunting, followed by a parade of warbler sightings.
“A lot of what we do is birding by ear,” says Wayne Brininger, a biologist at the refuge north of Detroit Lakes, Minn. Brininger helps spot and point out the small birds flitting about.

This is the 28th year that Detroit Lakes has hosted guided tours and talks for its Festival of Birds (coming May 15-17). The northwestern Minnesota region is a rare convergence of three biomes — tallgrass prairie, northern hardwoods and conifer forest — where people can see hundreds of species over two days.
And while it’s been common to see birders relishing quiet moments on remote roads or trails, “The DL” is now drawing a broader range of nature lovers with two new parks and expanding art in the outdoors.
Trolls and new nature art
Last summer, the Detroit Lakes area mounted the world’s largest installation of giant trolls by Danish recycling artist Thomas Dambo. The organizer of Project 412 estimated that 100,000 visitors came to see the gigantic characters made mostly from old wood pallets with twiggy hair and barky eyebrows.
Collectively called “Alexa’s Elixir,” the troll installation also made Time magazine’s 2025 list of the World’s Greatest Places, which may draw a fresh flow of tourists this summer.