Phone: 618-883-2524 V/TTY: 800-526-0844 Address: HC 82, Box 107 Brussels, IL 62013 |
Bird List
Each spring and fall for thousands of years, the Mississippi River corridor has served as an important migration route for millions of birds. Waterfowl provide spectacular seasonal flights with thousands of mallards, pintail, wigeon, blue-winged and green winged teal, scaup, shoveler, gadwall, canvasback, Canada geese, and snow geese commonly seen on Two Rivers NWR, Great River/Clarence Cannon NWR, Port Louisa NWR and Middle Mississippi NWR. Refuge wetlands provide important mudflat and shallow water habitat where herons, egrets, and shorebirds can feed and rest. Marshy areas provide habitat for species such as rails and bitterns.
Refuge forests and grasslands are home to many songbirds that spend the winter in Central and South America and then migrate north for the summer breeding season. Some of these "neotropical migrants" use refuge lands as stopover areas for resting and feeding during their journeys north and south. Others stay to nest and raise their young.
Some of the largest wintering concentrations of bald eagles in the contiguous 48 states are found along the river. Over 500 of these majestic birds have been counted near the Illinois - Mississippi Rivers confluence as they gather to feed in open water areas. The eagles usually begin to arrive in October and stay until early spring. Several adult eagle pairs remain throughout the year to nest and raise young near the river.
The bird list contains more than 290 species that have been observed on the Two Rivers NWR. Those species marked with an asterisk (*) have nested on them. Birds found on one refuge and not on others are identified by the first letter of the refuge following the bird name.
