10,000 Birds

MARCH 5, 2024

These lands support countless birds, either year-round, as migratory stopovers, or as breeding grounds. Many refuges are strategically located along major flyways, allowing ducks and geese to hopscotch their way up the continent to northern breeding grounds and back down again. But what else should birders know?

Virgin Islands 219

Virgin Islands Alaska United States Endangered Species 219

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2021

Each of the dark marks in this photo from August, 2018 was a duck. But such a shallow water depth doesn’t work for our many duck species, and these, along with most gulls, terns, grebes, and larger shorebirds, were nowhere to be seen after the first two weeks of January. But mostly, there was just lots and lots of water.

San Francisco 264

San Francisco 2018 Mexico Ducks 264

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2020

Splits were once a much more subjective determination, based on differences in appearance, vocalizations, habits, and breeding preferences. I have seen Mallards in places as distant as San Francisco and Munich. But you pretty much must come to Mexico to see the Mexican Duck , which I see every time I go to our nearest lake.

San Diego 181

San Diego San Francisco Mexico Baltimore 181

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2016

Farallon NWR , a group of islands near San Francisco, hosts the largest colonies of breeding seabirds south of Alaska. These refuges support huge numbers of swans, geese, ducks, cranes, and shorebirds as they hopscotch their way to breeding grounds in the north.

Wildlife 189

Wildlife Grizzly Bear Puerto Rico United States 189