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(Clockwise from top) Calliope Hummingbird, Wilson's Warbler,
Western Tanager, Yellow Warbler, Rufous Hummingbird, Hermit
Thrush
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North Cascades Nomads
If winter started to blow its chill or competition for food strained
your patience, would you fly elsewhere for tasty grub if you could?
Many birds seek out better fortune during seasonal migrations,
but not without difficulty. Some species fly thousands of miles
above deserts and barren landscapes and high above open oceans in
the relentless search for easy pickings.
Protecting habitat for these birds is not as simple as protecting
only their summer feeding grounds nor just their wintering lands,
but all their stop over locations must be protected as well. Protecting
a habitat across international borders is not an easy task.
The first step to protecting any species is to know what kind of
habitat it uses. For years researchers and visitors have been collecting
bird data at North Cascades, but in 2001 scientists and researchers
embarked on a full inventory of the
landbird species found at the park and of the habitat on which they
each depend.
One of the most important steps in protecting birds is doing what
you can in your own backyard: 1) learning about them, 2) point them
out to others, and 3) making a 'bird
friendly' backyard. Your backyard could, in fact, be visited
by birds that come from North Cascades. Get out your bird book and
discover which species
from North Cascades may stop over at your home during their
spring and fall migration.
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Critical
Thinking: 