Up to date February 2026. Initially revealed within the Winter 2019 concern of Dwelling Hen journal. Subscribe now.
Birdwatching in January and February can carry tears to birders’ eyes—actually, as birders battle bracing winds and snow-blinding solar whereas wincing resolutely into scopes. Eyebrows might start to crust over with ice and extremities might lose sensation, but it surely’s all price it for the possibility to see large flocks of waterfowl out on rivers, lakes, and coastal waters.
Winter is the time when geese and geese are susceptible to communal conduct. Open water—which many waterfowl have to feed, and which affords security from land predators—is in brief provide, so prime areas appeal to birds by the hundreds and sometimes the tens of millions.
“These birds are getting collectively for cover in the beginning,” says waterfowl subject information writer Kevin McGowan. “There’s security in numbers.” The result’s considerable congregations of open-water-loving species from teal to Tundra Swans.
Due to hundreds of devoted birders who flip their observations into citizen science by means of eBird, it’s simpler than ever to determine the place and when to courageous the weather looking for a winter waterfowl wonderland. The eBird Hotspot Explorer lets birders zero in on one of the best birding locales, and the Excessive Rely software permits birders to see the most important variety of birds recorded in a single eBird guidelines. Listed below are just some of the eBird Hotspots for waterfowl which have produced legendary concentrations of birds on the water in winter.
Sacramento Nationwide Wildlife Refuge, California
On the northern finish of the Central Valley of California sits the Sacramento Nationwide Wildlife Refuge, greater than 10,000 acres of federally protected habitat that helps migrating birds all through the autumn, spring, and winter. In accordance with eBird, excessive counts for the state of California have been recorded on this refuge for each Snow Geese (250,000 on January 30, 2004) and Better White-fronted Geese (200,000 on October 18, 2014). Different notable winter counts embody 20,000 Northern Shovelers on January 23, 2010, and a few eye-popping historic counts from the Seventies: 20,000 American Wigeon and 80,000 Northern Pintail in January, 1975.
Montauk Level State Park, New York
The easternmost level in New York state, Montauk Level lies on the jap tip of the south fork of Lengthy Island. It’s probably the greatest locations within the Northeast to see massive congregations of sea geese. In January and February of 2011, birders recorded New York state all-time excessive counts of Black Scoters (105,000), White-winged Scoters (100,000), Surf Scoters (100,000), and Widespread Eiders (15,000). East Coast rarities additionally present up at Montauk Level in the course of the winter. In accordance with eBird checklists, King Eiders, Harlequin Geese, and Pacific Loons are all guests to this hotspot from December to February.
Laguna Atascosa Nationwide Wildlife Refuge, Texas
For winter waterfowl watching in a T-shirt and shorts, contemplate Laguna Atascosa Nationwide Wildlife Refuge in south Texas. The refuge was created in 1946 to guard massive wintering populations of Redheads, that are nonetheless present in abundance right here. An astounding depend of 150,000 Redheads on October 31, 2023 stands as the very best single depend of the species in North America. Different waterfowl species usually present up at Laguna Atascosa by the tens of hundreds each winter, together with almost 20,000 American Coots in January 2015 and 24,000 Ruddy Geese in February 2015.
Pine Grove Park, Michigan
Throughout a extreme chilly snap in January and February of 2014, most of Lake Huron froze over, and waterfowl from throughout this Nice Lake headed south looking for open water. Birder Jerry Jourdan heard a rumor about a number of thousand geese close to Port Huron and headed to a bridge throughout the St. Clair River, the place he was astonished to see large clouds of Lengthy-tailed Geese. After some cautious counting, he submitted an eBird depend of fifty,000 Lengthy-tailed Geese on the river that day, the very best whole ever recorded in Michigan. Jourdan says his greatest vantage level was from Pine Grove Park, a small riverside metropolis park in Port Huron.
Center Creek Wildlife, Pennsylvania
Whereas a lot of the contemporary water in Pennsylvania is locked underneath a sheet of ice in mid-February, Center Creek Wildlife Administration Space typically has open water in the midst of its largest lake, the Center Creek Reservoir. Such was the case in 2018, when an eBird observer counted 40,000 Tundra Swans and 135,000 Snow Geese on February 21. As a result of such massive numbers of those two species go by means of Center Creek every year, the positioning was designated as a Globally Vital Essential Hen Space by the Nationwide Audubon Society in 2010.
Loess Bluffs Nationwide Wildlife Refuge, Missouri
Loess Bluffs, positioned within the northwest nook of Missouri close to the borders with Kansas and Iowa, is a significant stopover for a lot of waterfowl in late winter and early spring, together with Snow, Ross’s, and Better White-fronted Geese. Over 1 million Snow Geese are sometimes noticed on the refuge in February and March. On the morning of March 5, 2016, eBirder Joseph Mosley counted 1,350,000 Snow Geese, and on February 17, 2024, eBirder Alex Marine made a tough depend of 1.8 million Snow Geese, whereas eBirder Sean McLaughlin estimated 8,000 Ross’s Geese on the identical morning, each excessive counts for the state.
eBird Tip: Use Hotspot Explorer to search out winter waterfowl hotspots
- Explore Hotspots permits you to zoom in on an information map and see color-coded pins for well-liked birding places. Filter by month to see what spots are the most popular throughout winter, and click on on the pins to see an inventory of all of the birds seen at that location, with the newest sightings on the prime.
- Searching for excessive concentrations of birds however don’t know which hotspots to decide on? Use Explore Regions to seek for a state, province, county, or nation. Then click on the Excessive Counts tab to see the place the most important numbers of a species have been recorded on a single eBird guidelines. For instance, looking excessive counts for Michigan between the months of January and March led us to find the superb Lengthy-tailed Duck remark featured within the above slideshow.
