Midwest Birds of Concern

About 500 species of birds breed or winter in, and/or migrate through, the Upper Midwest (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Region 3) during their annual cycle.  Most of these birds receive legal protection under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.  The 85 species listed below are of conservation or management concern to the USFWS because they are rare or declining, Federally-listed as  threatened or endangered,  migratory game birds, or superabundant species that are causing conflicts.  Click on the icons below to view a list of species in each of these categories.  We have developed conservation and management plans for some of the species listed and hot links will take you to those documents.

RARE OR DECLINING

FEDERALLY THREATENED OR ENDANGERED

MIGRATORY GAME BIRDS

SUPERABUNDANT

RARE OR DECLINING - Species identified by the USFWS as Birds of Conservation Concern due to low numbers and/or declining population trends.

Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
American Bittern
Least Bittern
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Bald Eagle
Swainson's Hawk
Peregrine Falcon
Yellow Rail
Black Rail
King Rail * (Focal Species)
Solitary Sandpiper
Lesser Yellowlegs
Upland Sandpiper
Whimbrel
Hudsonian Godwit
Marbled Godwit
Red Knot
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Black Tern
Common Tern
Black-billed Cuckoo
Short-eared Owl
Eastern Whip-poor-will
Red-headed Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Acadian Flycatcher
Willow Flycatcher
Loggerhead Shrike
Bell's Vireo
Bewick's Wren
Sedge Wren
Marsh Wren
Wood Thrush
Brown Thrasher
Sprague's Pipit
Chestnut-collared Longspur
Smith's Longspur
Blue-winged Warbler
Golden-winged Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Prothonotary Warbler
Worm-eating Warbler
Swainson's Warbler
Louisiana Waterthrush
Kentucky Warbler
Canada Warbler
Bachman's Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow
Baird's Sparrow
Henslow's Sparrow * (Focal Species)
Le Conte's Sparrow
Nelson's Sparrow
Painted Bunting
Dickcissel
Bobolink
Rusty Blackbird
Orchard Oriole

FEDERALLY THREATENED OR ENDANGERED - Listed under the Endangered Species Act

Whooping Crane
Piping Plover
Least Tern (interior population)
Kirtland's Warbler

MIGRATORY GAME BIRDS - Hunted species that occur regularly in USFWS Region 3 and are of management concern due to their population status and/or recreational/socioeconomic value.

Canada Goose
Trumpeter Swan
Tundra Swan
Wood Duck
American Black Duck
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Pintail
Canvasback
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Sandhill Crane
Wilson’s Snipe
American Woodcock
Mourning Dove

SUPERABUNDANT - Species whose abundance can sometimes cause conflicts with natural resources or human interests.

Snow Goose
Canada Goose (resident Mississippi Flyway Giant)
Double-crested Cormorant