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Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge
Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge is located within Grays Harbor, at the mouth of the Chehalis River, which makes up the second largest watershed in Washington. It is one of four major staging areas for migrating shorebirds in the Pacific Flyway. Up to one million shorebirds gather here in spring and fall to feed and rest. Grays Harbor is designated as a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network Site, recognizing this internationally significant shorebird habitat. Although the refuge occupies only two percent of the intertidal habitat of Grays Harbor, it hosts up to 50 percent of the shorebirds that stage in the estuary. As many as 24 species of shorebirds use Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge, with the most abundant species being western sandpiper and dunlin. Semipalmated plover, least sandpiper, red knot, and black-bellied plover are also common during migration. The refuge is also used by peregrine falcon, bald eagle, northern harrier, Caspian tern, great blue h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salt Marsh
A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated by dense stands of salt-tolerant plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt marsh in trapping and binding sediments. Salt marshes play a large role in the aquatic food web and the delivery of nutrients to coastal waters. They also support terrestrial animals and provide coastal protection. Salt marshes have historically been endangered by poorly implemented coastal management practices, with land reclaimed for human uses or polluted by upstream agriculture or other industrial coastal uses. Additionally, sea level rise caused by climate change is endangering other marshes, through erosion and submersion of otherwise tidal marshes. However, recent ackn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red Knot
The red knot or just knot (''Calidris canutus'') is a medium-sized shorebird which breeds in tundra and the Arctic Cordillera in the far north of Canada, Europe, and Russia. It is a large member of the ''Calidris'' sandpipers, second only to the great knot. Six subspecies are recognised. Their diet varies according to season; arthropods and larvae are the preferred food items at the breeding grounds, while various hard-shelled molluscs are consumed at other feeding sites at other times. North American breeders migrate to coastal areas in Europe and South America, while the Eurasian populations winter in Africa, Papua New Guinea, Australia, and New Zealand. This species forms enormous flocks when not breeding. Taxonomy, systematics, and evolution The red knot was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'' as ''Tringa canutus''. One theory is that it gets its name and species epithet from King Cnut; the name would refer to the kn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wetlands Of Washington (state)
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The primary factor that distinguishes wetlands from terrestrial land forms or Body of water, water bodies is the characteristic vegetation of aquatic plants, adapted to the unique anoxic hydric soils. Wetlands are considered among the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems, serving as home to a wide range of plant and animal species. Methods for assessing wetland functions, wetland ecological health, and general wetland condition have been developed for many regions of the world. These methods have contributed to wetland conservation partly by raising public awareness of the functions some wetlands provide. Wetlands occur naturally on every continent. The water in wetlands is either freshwater, brackish or saltwater. The main wetland typ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protected Areas Of Grays Harbor County, Washington
Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although the mechanisms for providing protection vary widely, the basic meaning of the term remains the same. This is illustrated by an explanation found in a manual on electrical wiring: Some kind of protection is a characteristic of all life, as living things have evolved at least some protective mechanisms to counter damaging environmental phenomena, such as ultraviolet light. Biological membranes such as bark on trees and skin on animals offer protection from various threats, with skin playing a key role in protecting organisms against pathogens and excessive water loss. Additional structures like scales and hair offer further protection from the elements and from predators, with some animals having features such as spines or camouflage s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Wildlife Refuges In Washington (state)
As of 2022, there are 588 National Wildlife Refuges in the United States, with the addition of the Green River National Wildlife Refuge. Refuges that have boundaries in multiple states are listed only in the state where the main visitor entrance is located. The newest refuge replaces the Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Pennsylvania. Refuges are listed whether or not they are open to the public. Many are not. The United States is divided into eight regions for administrative purposes: __NOTOC__ Alabama Alaska American Samoa Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia * None Florida Georgia * (*) - Refuge is part of the Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex. Guam Hawaiʻi Idaho * (*) - Refuge is part of the Southeast Idaho National Wildlife Refuge Complex. Illinois * See also: Mark Twain National Wildlife Refuge Complex Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olympic Peninsula
The Olympic Peninsula is a large arm of land in western Washington that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, and contains Olympic National Park. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the east by Hood Canal. Cape Alava, the westernmost point in the contiguous United States, and Cape Flattery, the northwesternmost point, are on the peninsula. Comprising about , the Olympic Peninsula contained many of the last unexplored places in the contiguous United States. It remained largely unmapped until Arthur Dodwell and Theodore Rixon mapped most of its topography and timber resources between 1898 and 1900. Geography Clallam and Jefferson Counties, as well as the northern parts of Grays Harbor and Mason Counties, are on the peninsula. The Kitsap Peninsula, bounded by the Hood Canal and Puget Sound, is an entirely separate peninsula and is not connected to the Olympic Peninsula. From Olympia, the state capital, U.S. Route 101 r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boardwalk
A boardwalk (alternatively board walk, boarded path, or promenade) is an elevated footpath, walkway, or causeway built with wooden planks that enables pedestrians to cross wet, fragile, or marshy land. They are also in effect a low type of bridge. Such timber trackways have existed since at least Neolithic times. Some wooden boardwalks have had sections replaced by concrete and even "a type of recycled plastic that looks like wood." History An early example is the Sweet Track that Neolithic people built in the Somerset levels, England, around 6000 years ago. This track consisted mainly of planks of oak laid end-to-end, supported by crossed pegs of ash, oak, and lime, driven into the underlying peat. The Wittmoor bog trackway is the name given to each of two prehistoric plank roads, or boardwalks, trackway No. I being discovered in 1898 and trackway No. II in 1904 in the ''Wittmoor'' bog in northern Hamburg, Germany. The trackways date to the 4th and 7th century AD, both linked ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waterfowl
Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which includes over 170 species of waterfowl, among them the ducks, geese, and swans. Most modern species in the order are highly adapted for an aquatic existence at the water surface. With the exception of screamers, males have penises, a trait that has been lost in the Neoaves. Due to their aquatic nature, most species are web-footed. Evolution Anseriformes are one of only two types of modern bird to be confirmed present during the Mesozoic alongside the other dinosaurs, and in fact were among the very few birds to survive their extinction, along with their cousins the galliformes. These two groups only occupied two ecological niches during the Mesozoic, living in water and on the ground, while the toothed enantiornithes were the dominant bird ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Songbird
A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 5000 or so speciesEdwards, Scott V. and John Harshman. 2013. Passeriformes. Perching Birds, Passerine Birds. Version 06 February 2013 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Passeriformes/15868/2013.02.06 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/ ccessed 2017/12/11 found all over the world, in which the vocal organ typically is developed in such a way as to produce a diverse and elaborate bird song. Songbirds form one of the two major lineages of extant perching birds (~4000 species), the other being the Tyranni (~1000 species), which are most diverse in the Neotropics and absent from many parts of the world. The Tyranni have a simpler syrinx musculature, and while their vocalizations are often just as complex and striking as thos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Blue Heron
The great blue heron (''Ardea herodias'') is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North America and Central America, as well as the Caribbean and the Galápagos Islands. It is a rare vagrant to coastal Spain, the Azores, and areas of far southern Europe. An all-white population found in south Florida and the Florida Keys is known as the great white heron. Debate exists about whether this represents a white color morph of the great blue heron, a subspecies of it, or an entirely separate species. The status of white individuals known to occur elsewhere in the Caribbean, and their existence is rarely found elsewhere besides in eastern North America. Taxonomy The great blue heron was one of the many species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his 18th-century work, '' Systema Naturae''. The scientific name comes from Latin ''ardea'', and Ancient Greek (), both meaning "heron". The great blue ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caspian Tern
The Caspian tern (''Hydroprogne caspia'') is a species of tern, with a subcosmopolitan but scattered distribution. Despite its extensive range, it is monotypic of its genus, and has no accepted subspecies. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''hudros'', "water", and Latin ''progne'', "swallow". The specific ''caspia'' is from Latin and, like the English name, refers to the Caspian Sea. Description It is the world's largest tern with a length of , a wingspan of and a weight of . Adult birds have black legs, and a long thick red-orange bill with a small black tip. They have a white head with a black cap and white neck, belly, and tail. The upper wings and back are pale grey; the underwings are pale with dark primary feathers. In-flight, the tail is less forked than other terns, and wingtips are black on the underside. In winter, the black cap is still present (unlike many other terns), but with some white streaking on the forehead. The call is a loud heron-like croak. Distribu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Harrier
The northern harrier (''Circus hudsonius''), or ring-tailed hawk, is a bird of prey. It breeds throughout the northern parts of the northern hemisphere in Canada and the northernmost USA. The northern harrier migrates to more southerly areas in winter, with breeding birds in more northern areas moving to the southernmost USA, Mexico, and Central America. In milder regions in the southern US, they may be present all year, but the higher ground is largely deserted in winter. This bird inhabits prairies, open areas, and marshes. The northern harrier was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the Eurasian hen harrier. Taxonomy In 1750 the English naturalist George Edwards included an illustration and a description of the northern harrier in the third volume of his ''A Natural History of Uncommon Birds''. He used the English name "The Ring-tail'd Hawk". Edwards based his hand-coloured etching on a bird collected near the Hudson Bay in Canada and brought to London by James Ish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
