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Throughout the Gulf Coast, over sixty Important Bird Areas have been identified in the greater impact area of the Deep Horizon Oil Spill. These sites are significant for supporting species of conservation concern as well as high concentrations of particular species or groups in breeding, migration, and wintering. The list below represents key bird species which depend on these Important Bird Areas in the Gulf region. Some of these have been listed as globally threatened species on International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species or have been categorized as species of concern on the Audubon WatchList, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Endangered or Threatened species list, or the Birds of Conservation Concern list. Click links below for particular species profiles on the Audubon WatchList and BirdLife International's datazone. For more information on all Important Bird Areas supporting these species, search here. In photo above: Black Skimmer, Rebecca Field.

Key Species at Important Bird Areas along the Gulf Coast Common Name Audubon WatchList USFWS IUCN Gadwall Mottled Duck Red Northern Pintail Canvasback Redhead Ring-necked Duck Lesser Scaup Northern Bobwhite (e) NT Common Loon Masked Booby Yellow (Declining) American White Pelican Brown Pelican (e) Anhinga Magnificent Frigatebird Red Great Egret Snowy Egret Little Blue Heron Tricolored Heron Reddish Egret Red BCC Black-crowned Night-Heron White Ibis Glossy Ibis White-faced Ibis Roseate Spoonbill Wood Stork E Osprey Swallow-tailed Kite Yellow (Declining) BCC Bald Eagle (t)/BCC Northern Harrier Short-tailed Hawk Merlin Peregrine Falcon BCC Yellow Rail Red BCC Black Rail Red BCC NT Clapper Rail Yellow (Rare) (e) American Coot Sandhill Crane (e) Whooping Crane Red E EN Black-bellied Plover Snowy Plover Yellow (Declining) (t)(BCC) Wilson's Plover Yellow (Declining) BCC Piping Plover Red T(e) NT American Oystercatcher BCC Black-necked Stilt American Avocet Willet Marbled Godwit Yellow (Declining) BCC Red Knot Yellow (Declining) (BCC) Dunlin (BCC) Short-billed Dowitcher BCC Long-billed Dowitcher Laughing Gull Brown Noddy Sooty Tern Least Tern Red (e) (BCC) Gull-billed Tern Yellow (Declining) BCC Caspian Tern Common Tern Forster's Tern Royal Tern Sandwich Tern Black Skimmer Yellow (Declining) BCC White-crowned Pigeon Red BCC NT Yellow-billed Cuckoo (BCC) Mangrove Cuckoo Yellow (Declining) BCC Common Nighthawk Ruby-throated Hummingbird Red-headed Woodpecker Yellow (Declining) BCC NT Red-cockaded Woodpecker Red E VU Gray Kingbird Loggerhead Shrike (e)/BCC Red-eyed Vireo Black-whiskered Vireo Florida Scrub-Jay Red T VU Purple Martin Brown-headed Nuthatch BCC Marsh Wren Ruby-crowned Kinglet Veery Swainson's Thrush Hermit Thrush Gray Catbird Chestnut-sided Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Prairie Warbler Yellow (Declining) BCC Blackpoll Warbler Black-and-white Warbler American Redstart Ovenbird Northern Waterthrush Kentucky Warbler Yellow (Declining) BCC Connecticut Warbler Hooded Warbler Bachman's Sparrow Red BCC NT Grasshopper Sparrow (e) Henslow's Sparrow Red BCC NT Le Conte's Sparrow Yellow (Declining) Nelson's Sparrow Yellow (Rare) BCC Seaside Sparrow Red (e)/ (BCC) White-throated Sparrow Painted Bunting Yellow (Declining) BCC NT Rusty Blackbird Yellow (Declining) BCC VU Orchard Oriole   Brown Booby   Yellow-rumped Warbler   IUCN Codes: NT=Near-threatened, V=Vulnerable, as of 2008; Audubon WatchList: status as of 2007; USFWS Codes: T=Threatened, E=Endangered, BCC=Birds of Conservation Concern. T/E as of April 2009. BCC as of 2008. Parentheses indicate that only certain subspecies/populations are listed.   Gulf Important Bird Areas Home

Last updated June 2010