Field Notes
Birding Species
Where to see a particular bird — the sites that hold it, the season, and the access.
Nationwide
Where to See Trumpeter Swans, and the 69 Birds They Came From
In 1932 the entire known trumpeter swan population of the lower 48 was 69 birds, most of them in one Montana valley. A refuge was created for them in 1935. There are now more than 63,000 in North America, and you can watch them from a road in several states.
Port Townsend, WA
Where to See Tufted Puffins in Washington, and Why It Is Getting Harder
Tufted Puffins are state-endangered in Washington and the two best colonies are on islands closed to landing, with a 200-yard buffer enforced around one of them. Seeing one takes a boat, a headland, or a good deal of luck, and the window is about four months long.
HI
Hawaiian Honeycreepers: Where They Survive, Island by Island
More than fifty species of Hawaiian honeycreeper are known from the fossil and historical record. Around seventeen survive, almost all of them confined to high forest above the mosquito line. Here is where you can still see them, which islands are best, and how much time is left.
Nationwide
Where to See Bald Eagles in Winter: Follow the Fish, Not the Map
Bald Eagles concentrate in winter wherever open water, dead salmon and a sheltered roost occur together. That combination happens in a small number of predictable places, from a Washington salmon river to a Maryland dam, and knowing why makes finding them easy.
Nationwide
Sandhill Crane Migration: Where the Staging Grounds Are and When to Be There
Half a million Sandhill Cranes compress onto eighty miles of the Platte River each March. Several other staging grounds hold tens of thousands. All of them run on the same daily rhythm, and if you understand that rhythm the trip plans itself.