Birds

Shorebirds at Sunset Beach

Andrew Cier

The park has a high number of resident and migratory birds due to its diversity of habitats and its location on the Pacific flyway within the Columbia River Estuary International Bird Area. This region supports migrating birds breeding, wintering, and stopovers as well as supports diverse resident bird populations. The rich, diverse intertidal habitat is used by shorebirds year-round but is particularly important during shorebird migration. Each spring, on their migration northward, 20,000 shorebirds stop to rest and feed. Caspian terns (Hydroprogne caspia) are the largest terns in the world. The colony of terns on East Sand Island off of the coast of Cape Disappointment is the largest colony in North America. In the past two decades, that colony has been home to about 12,000 – 20,000 Caspian terns.

Endangered brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis californicus) may be seen flying in formation over the offshore waters of the park's coastal units in late summer. Bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) can often be seen in flight or perching along the Lewis and Clark River. Osprey (Pandion haliaetus), hawks, herons, migrating shorebirds, wintering waterfowl, and numerous songbirds also frequent the park's wetlands. Band-tailed pigeons (Patagioenas fasciata) and olive-sided flycatchers (Contopus borealis), two federal species of concern, seasonally inhabit the park's coniferous forests along with resident pileated woodpeckers (Dryocopus pileatus), and several owl species.

The North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN) Inventory & Monitoring Program has been monitoring landbird populations at Lewis and Clark National Historical Park since 2008. Learn more about this program and read about our findings on the NCCN Bird Monitoring Website.

For a complete bird list, see NPSpecies.