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Checklist of the Birds of Cold Springs National Wildlife Refuge

   

 

 Compiled by Aaron Skirvin and Neal Hinds
 

Current Number of Species Sighted: 190

Last Updated: 28 December 2008

                              

Cold Springs NWR is one of the premier birding sites in Umatilla County. Encompassing Cold Springs Reservoir and the lands immediately surrounding the reservoir, the 3,112-acre refuge is located in northwestern Umatilla County approximately 4 miles east of Hermiston and 20 miles northwest of Pendleton. The Bureau of Reclamation manages the dam and reservoir, while the US Fish and Wildlife Service manages the wildlife and wildlife habitat. A brochure describing the refuge and containing a map is available at the refuge entrance. Visitors should pickup a brochure to find out the areas of the refuge that are open and closed to public access. 

Birding is especially good in the the fall, but spring birding is very good, too. Mudflats on the southeast side and southwest corner of the reservoir usually attract many shorebirds during the fall migration. Waterfowl concentrate on the reservoir by the thousands in the fall. Many species of songbirds use the refuge for breeding and during spring and fall migration. Habitats on the refuge include dry grassland, riparian woodland, marsh, lake, and mudflats. The wide variety of habitats, situated in the arid landscape of western Umatilla County, attracts numerous species of birds over the course of a year. The following list contains a total of 189 species of birds that have been reported from Cold Springs NWR.  

  
 
 

Greater White-fronted Goose

 Semipalmated Plover American Crow
Snow Goose Killdeer Common Raven
Ross’s Goose Black-necked Stilt Tree Swallow
Cackling Goose American Avocet Violet-green Swallow
Canada Goose Greater Yellowlegs Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Trumpeter Swan Lesser Yellowlegs Bank Swallow
Tundra Swan Solitary Sandpiper Cliff Swallow
Wood Duck Spotted Sandpiper Barn Swallow
Gadwall Whimbrel Black-capped Chickadee
Eurasian Wigeon Long-billed Curlew Mountain Chickadee
American Wigeon Marbled Godwit Red-breasted Nuthatch
Mallard Red Knot Brown Creeper
Blue-winged Teal Sanderling Rock Wren
Cinnamon Teal Semipalmated Sandpiper Bewick’s Wren
Northern Shoveler Western Sandpiper House Wren
Northern Pintail Least Sandpiper Winter Wren
Green-winged Teal Baird’s Sandpiper Marsh Wren
Canvasback Pectoral Sandpiper Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Redhead Dunlin Townsend’s Solitaire
Ring-necked Duck Stilt Sandpiper Hermit Thrush
Lesser Scaup Short-billed Dowitcher American Robin
Bufflehead Long-billed Dowitcher Varied Thrush
Common Goldeneye Wilson's Snipe Sage Thrasher
Common Merganser Wilson’s Phalarope European Starling
Ruddy Duck Red-necked Phalarope American Pipit
Ring-necked Pheasant Franklin’s Gull Cedar Waxwing
California Quail Bonaparte’s Gull Orange-crowned Warbler
Common Loon Mew Gull Nashville Warbler
Pied-billed Grebe Ring-billed Gull Yellow Warbler
 Horned Grebe California Gull Magnolia Warbler
Eared Grebe Herring Gull Yellow-rumped Warbler
Western Grebe Glaucous-winged Gull Black-throated Gray Warbler
Clark’s Grebe Sabine’s Gull Townsend’s Warbler
American White Pelican Caspian Tern Black-and-white Warbler
Double-crested Cormorant Common Tern MacGillivray’s Warbler
American Bittern Forster’s Tern Wilson's Warbler
Great Blue Heron Black Tern Yellow-breasted Chat
Great Egret Rock Pigeon Western Tanager
Green Heron Mourning Dove Spotted Towhee
Black-crowned Night-Heron Barn Owl American Tree Sparrow
White-faced Ibis Western Screech-Owl Savannah Sparrow
Turkey Vulture Great Horned Owl Fox Sparrow
Osprey Long-eared Owl Song Sparrow
Bald Eagle Short-eared Owl Lincoln’s Sparrow
Northern Harrier Northern Saw-whet Owl White-throated Sparrow
Sharp-shinned Hawk Common Nighthawk Harris’s Sparrow
Cooper’s Hawk Rufous Hummingbird White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Goshawk Belted Kingfisher Golden-crowned Sparrow
Swainson’s Hawk Williamson’s Sapsucker Dark-eyed Junco
Red-tailed Hawk Red-naped Sapsucker Black-headed Grosbeak
Rough-legged Hawk Downy Woodpecker Lazuli Bunting
Golden Eagle Hairy Woodpecker Red-winged Blackbird
American Kestrel Northern Flicker Western Meadowlark
Merlin Olive-sided Flycatcher Brewer’s Blackbird
Peregrine Falcon Western Wood-Pewee Yellow-headed Blackbird
Prairie Falcon Least Flycatcher Great-tailed Grackle
Virginia Rail Hammond’s Flycatcher Brown-headed Cowbird
Sora Western Kingbird Bullock's Oriole
American Coot Eastern Kingbird House Finch
Sandhill Crane Northern Shrike  Red Crossbill
Black-bellied Plover Cassin’s Vireo Pine Siskin
American Golden-Plover Warbling Vireo American Goldfinch
Pacific Golden-Plover Clark’s Nutcracker House Sparrow
  Black-billed Magpie