(images: migratory flyway over moreno valley, california 2016)

For birds migrating up the Pacific Flyway, California is a major stop. During spring, more than a billion birds make their way over the state. While every location along the flyway is vital to the success of migratory birds, California stands out because so many of these birds pass through the key habitat areas.

Here are some of the birds you can spot. 

Point Loma, San Diego: Western Grebes, Clark’s Grebes, Pied-billed Grebes, Cormorants, Snowy Egret, ducks (Northern Pintail, Blue-winged Teal, American Wigeon, Ruddy Duck), American Coot, American Avocet, gulls, Northern Mockingbird, Yellow-rumped Warbler, White-crowned Sparrow. Point Pinos, Monterey: Loons and shearwaters. Sacramento NWR: Pintails, White-fronted Geese, Snow Geese, Grebes, White pelicans, Egrets, Herons, and Bitterns. Pt. Reyes, Marin County: Black-throated Blue Warblers, Least Flycatcher, Red-eyed Vireo, Peregrine Falcon, Surf Scoter, Loons. Butterbredt Springs, Kern County: Wilson’s Warblers, Orange Crown Warblers, Yellow-rumped Warbler, rare vagrants like Virginia Warblers, Ovenbird, Northern Water Thrush, Kentucky Warbler. Piedras Blancas, Central Coast: Bald Eagles, Brown Pelicans, terns, Snowy Plovers, Sandpipers, Black Oystercatchers, Woodpeckers, Hawks, Shearwaters. Morro Bay: huge numbers of shorebirds. Angeles Crest Forest, Los Angeles: occasional rarity, warbler, flycatchers, important stopover songbirds, wood peewee, western peewee, empid flycatchers, western warblers, tanagers, thrushes. Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area: Green-winged Teal, Northern Pintail, Long-billed Curlew, Mountain Plover, Northern Shoveler, Long-billed and Short-billed Dowitcher. Owens Lake, Eastern Sierra: White-faced Ibis, Black-necked Stilts, American Avocets, Western and Least Sandpipers, California Gull, Wilson’s and Red-necked Phalaropes. Mono Lake, Eastern Sierra: Phaleropes, Ruddy Duck, Cinnamon Teal, Green-winged Teal, Gadwall, American Wigeon. Humboldt Bay: state’s largest concentration of Brant, Breeding heron, Marbled Murrelet, Bald Eagle. Elkhorn Slough, Monterey: shorebirds, up to 30,000 at a time. Savannah Sparrow, nesting ducks (incl. Gadwall, Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler), Northern Harrier and American Bittern (scarce). Terns (Caspian, Forster’s, Black Skimmer). Salton Sea, Imperial County: White Pelicans, Yuma Clapper Rail, Snowy Plover, Waterfowl and Shorebirds. Lower LA River (Willow Street): Sandpipers, Pectoral Sandpipers. Bolsa Chica Wetlands, Orange County/Los Angeles: Least Tern, Savannah Sparrow, Shorebirds, Hawks.