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Quillayute Needles
National Wildlife Refuge
Along 100 miles of Washington's Pacific coast
from Flattery Rocks south to Copalis Beach in
Jefferson County, WA   
E-mail: Kevin_Ryan@fws.gov
Phone Number: 360-457-8451
Visit the Refuge's Web Site:
http://www.fws.gov/washingtonmaritime/Quillayute_Needles/
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  Wildlife and Habitat
Continued . . .

Many nonbreeeding seabirds and waterbirds also use the area during fall and spring migration. These include red-throuated loons, Pacific loons, common loons, western grebes, brown pelicans, sooty shearwaters, white-winged scoters, surf scoters, black scoters, Caspian terns, common terns, parasitic jaegers, heermann's gulls, and california gulls. During migration, the total seabird count can exceed 1 million birds.

Shorebirds observed using Washington Islands refuge rocks and islands include black-bellied plovers, semipalmated plovers, surfbirds, black oystercatchers, wandering tattlers, whimbrils, ruddy turnstones, black turnstones, sanderlings, least sandpipers, western sandpipers, and rock sandpipers. These birds forage on invertebrates in rocky and sandy tidal and splash zones.

A few landbirds also breed on Washington Islands refuge islands and rocks. Raptors include osprey, bald eagles, and peregrine falcons. Songbirds include northern rough-winged swallows, barn swallows, northwestern crows, European starlings, savannah sparrows, fox sparrows, song sparrows, American goldfinches, winter wrens, and bank swallows.

Marine mammals using the Washington Islands Refuges' area directly include endangered sea otters and Steller sea lions, harbor seals, California sea lions, northern elephant seals, and, rarely, northern fur seals. Other marine mammals documented in the waters around the refuges include many whale and dolphin species, especially gray whales and Pacific harbor porpoises. Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, all marine mammals are federally protected.

 
 
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