Birds at Sherwood Island

Checklist: Birds of Sherwood Island State Park
A list of 284 species was compiled in the mid-1990s by Robert Winkler, with contributions from Richard Soffer, Frank Mantlik and Charles Barnard Jr. The list published in 1996 is available here in Acrobat pdf format.
Our web version of the list, sorted by Family, with updates, is available here.
Additions since 1996: Ross’s Goose, Yellow Rail, Marbled Godwit, Black Skimmer, Cave Swallow, Dicksissel, Clay-colored Sparrow, Smith’s Longspur, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Boat-tailed Grackle, Western Meadowlark and Yellow-throated Warbler – all Very Rare. And also: Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow, common in Fall.

Note: Robert Winkler's birding experiences at Sherwood Island are recorded in his book Going Wild and in essays available at his website.


Photo by Phyllis Groner	Photographs by A.J. Hand Our collection of A.J. Hand's annotated photographs is arranged on three separate pages: Water Birds, Land Birds and Birds of Prey. Click the links to see the thumbnails and notes, click the thumbnails to see large photos. All of the birds, with one special exception (the Barred Owl), were photographed in Sherwood Island State Park. Shown at left, A.J. Hand and the wall of his photographs in the Sherwood Island Nature Center. At an evening lecture on The Basics of Bird Photography, he told about the techniques he uses to capture photos of sometimes-elusive birds in the wild.

Richard Soffer's Sherwood Island Birding Diaries
     On the occasion of its opening, Dr. Richard L. Soffer presented a gift to the new Sherwood Island Nature Center: a collection of documents that represent 14 years (1994-2007) of ornithological observations at Sherwood Island State Park. The collection includes daily narrative diaries as well as charts that detail daily sightings and conditions.
     Click here for the collection.
     In 2002-2003, during the fall and spring migrations, Richard Soffer posted a daily journal in our online register.
Fall 2002 - Spring 2003

Note: The Nature Center mentioned in the Hand and Soffer reports was torn down in 2003.

Endangered and Threatened Birds
Species seen in the park, with links to sightings reports and photos.