Yellowstone birds in focus for Migratory Bird Day events in park, West Yellowstone

Great blue herons are among the many migratory Yellowstone birds visible in the park each year. (photo ©Rob Koelling — click to enlarge)

From Staff Reports

MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, WYO. — A National Park Service ranger will lead a bird-watching caravan in Yellowstone Park to view Yellowstone birds in celebration of International Migratory Bird Day. Participants will watch migrating Yellowstone birds as enthusiasts across the continent take part in an annual tally migratory birds in North America.

Staff members from Yellowstone National Park and the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center staff will celebrate International Migratory Bird Day on Saturday, May 19, with free programs about Yellowstone birds and a field trip that are open to the public.

A ranger-led car caravan to view Yellowstone birds inside the park is scheduled from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday. Participants should meet at the Madison Junction picnic area.

A pelican spreads its wings during a landing along the Yellowstone River. (photo © Rob Koelling - click to enlarge)

Saturday afternoon, the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, Mont. will host programs, games and crafts. Children can play a bird migration game, create bird masks and origami or participate in a variety of other programs and activities.

Yellowstone birds

Raptors are among the Yellowstone birds of prey that visitors most often look for when touring the park. But other species of Yellowstone birds include: sandhill cranes, warblers, fox sparrows, yellowthroats, mountain bluebirds, western meadowlarks, harlequin ducks, trumpeter swans, and pelicans.

“Connecting People to Bird Conservation” serves as the theme for the 2012 International Migratory Bird Day observance. This declaration highlights the event’s 20th anniversary and focuses on 20 ways people can help preserve Yellowstone birds as well as those found throughout their communities.

Observed each year in May to celebrate and support bird conservation, International Migratory Bird Day serves as the hallmark outreach event for Partners in Flight—an international conservation program whose goal is to reverse declining populations of migratory birds by bringing attention to factors that may contribute to worldwide declines.

For additional information on Yellowstone birds and events around the park on International Migratory Bird Day, call 307-344-2296.

Contact Yellowstone Gate at 307-213-9818 or info@yellowstonegate.com.