Review of Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary:
The Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary is a 600-acre municipal urban wildlife refuge. It is the largest park in the Green Bay, Wisconsin Park system and home to the second largest wildlife rehabilitation program in Wisconsin. Facilities include a nature education center, observation building, hiking trails, woodland building and numerous animal habitats.
Observation Building- This is where you enter and purchase the duck feed ($1 per bag) Just outside the building is the feeding area with wild mallard ducks that are quite friendly. Not all of the ducks want to fed as there were 100+ ducks out on the frozen lake. There is an enclosed outdoor-walkthrough aviary with different species of ducks from North America, although I do not recall all of the species. A little bit farther up the path away from the lake, there are several average birds of prey aviaries. Most of them are outdoor aviaries but a few (American kestrel and saw-whet owl) are smaller indoor aviaries. All of the aviaries are decent, nothing special but certainly nothing bad about them. My only complaint about the raptor aviaries is that the golden eagle exhibit looked a little too small for a golden eagle, but overall a decent collection with decent exhibits.
Resch Conservation Wing- The birds of prey pathway wraps back to the building. Down a hall on the right, there is a small common boa and a few pet shop-like vivariums with; one for a ball python, one for a California king snake, and one for a California Mountain King snake. Just passed the snakes is a bat exhibit (I only saw 1 bat) and 3 bird exhibits that are decent in size. There is a woodland exhibit, a grassland/prairie exhibit, and a wetland exhibit. They hold average bird species (you could see them in your backyards) such as cardinals, bluebirds, grosbeaks, doves ect. The only exception is the wetland exhibit which holds a green heron, a killdeer, and a plover (can't remember the species). The grassland exhibit also has several turtles including eastern box turtles, as well as another species.
Back outside the building there is a path that you have to take to cross a large lake. (There are more ducks here that ask for food, even though you technically are not allowed to feed them outside the feeding area) There is a Nature Center building but I did not get a chance to go inside, not sure if there are more animals inside of it.
Wildlife Habi-Trek- This is the part of the sanctuary I was not expecting. Along a pathway there are adequate exhibits for River Otters, Bobcats, Red Foxes, and a Cougar. The exhibit looked a little small for a cougar, but it had room and hight to climb. Behind those exhibits is the Woodland Building.
Woodland Building- There is a lot of information about Wisconsin forests and the history of the Wisconsin landscape with agriculture and nature reserves. To the right you can see the otters underwater. There is a row of average exhibits for turtles (including a large snapping turtle) a screech owl, a mink, a groundhog (VERY small exhibit) rabbits, and flying squirrels. Out of those, the mink exhibit is the coolest; it has an open are for the mink but also a tunnel area with 2 small glass windows so guests can see part of the tunnel. At the end of the building there are several glass panels where guests can view the wolves from inside.
Wildlife Habit-Trek (cont.)- Just outside the Woodland Building there is a huge exhibit for a pack of 5 timber wolves. This exhibit is among the best 3 wolf exhibits I've seen, it has hills, a small pond, countless trees and it is probably about 1 acre-1.5 acres in size. Across from the wolves is a small child play area. The path that leads to the coyote and deer exhibits is sprinkled with a couple basic exhibits similar to the birds of prey exhibits. One of these exhibits holds and porcupine and crows. Another exhibit holds ravens. At the end of the path there is a large exhibit for (I saw 2) coyotes. It is a very natural exhibit with a few dens and several trees. There is a boardwalk where you can see the coyotes without a chain-link fence in your way. Across from the coyotes is a very large exhibit for white-tailed deer with another boardwalk where you can see them without a fence in your way. There are feeding machines by the deer however, I wouldn't think deer would ever come close enough to be fed while people are there.
Overall- I was pleasantly surprised by the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary and its collection. Most of the exhibits are basic and do not seem to have a lot for the animals to do, but the animals don't seem bored, there was no pacing or nervous behavior from what I could see. I would defiantly recommend a visit because it is a very fun and unique experience. I would suggest not going in winter though, it is probably best to visit in summer. There are also nature trails on the grounds but I did not walk any of them.
