___Eared Grebe ___Wilson’s Phalarope ___Blue-headed Vireo ___Northern Waterthrush ___Blue Grosbeak ___Brown-headed Cowbird* ___Warbling Vireo* ___Golden-winged Warbler ___Indigo Bunting* ___Orchard Oriole* ___American White Pelican ___Ring-billed Gull ___Philadelphia Vireo ___Blue-winged Warbler* ___Dickcissel* ___Baltimore Oriole* Boone Forks ___Caspian Tern ___Red-eyed Vireo* ___Black-and-white Warbler* ___Double-crested Cormorant ___Black Tern ___Prothonotary Warbler ___Bobolink* ___Purple Finch ___Common Tern ___Blue Jay* ___Tennessee Warbler ___Red-winged Blackbird* ___House Finch* Woodland ___American Bittern* ___Forster’s Tern ___American Crow* ___Orange-crowned Warbler ___Eastern Meadowlark* ___Red Crossbill ___Least Bittern* ___Nashville Warbler ___Western Meadowlark* ___Common Redpoll ___Great Blue Heron* ___Rock Pigeon* ___Horned Lark* ___Connecticut Warbler ___Yellow-headed Blackbird* ___Pine Siskin ___Great Egret ___Eurasian Collared-Dove* ___Mourning Warbler ___Rusty Blackbird ___American Goldfinch* Bird Conservation Area ___Little Blue Heron ___Mourning Dove* ___Kentucky Warbler* ___Brewer’s Blackbird ___Green Heron* ___Purple Martin* ___Common Yellowthroat* ___Common Grackle* ___House Sparrow* ___Black-crowned Night-heron ___Yellow-billed Cuckoo* ___Tree Swallow* ___Hooded Warbler* ___Great-tailed Grackle* ___Black-billed Cuckoo* ___N. Rough-winged Swallow* ___American Redstart* ___White-faced Ibis ___Bank Swallow* ___Cape May Warbler ___Eastern Screech-Owl* ___Cliff Swallow* ___Cerulean Warbler* ___Turkey Vulture* ___Great Horned Owl* ___Barn Swallow* ___Northern Parula* ___Snowy Owl ___Magnolia Warbler ___Osprey ___Barred Owl* ___Black-capped Chickadee* ___Bay-breasted Warbler Tufted Titmouse ___Bald Eagle* ___Long-eared Owl* ___Tufted Titmouse* ___Blackburnian Warbler Doug Harr ___Northern Harrier ___Short-eared Owl ___Yellow Warbler* ___Sharp-shinned Hawk ___Northern Saw-whet Owl ___Red-breasted Nuthatch ___Chestnut-sided Warbler* ___Cooper’s Hawk* ___White-breasted Nuthatch* ___Blackpoll Warbler ___Northern Goshawk ___Common Nighthawk* ___Black-throated Blue Warbler ___Red-shouldered Hawk* ___Eastern Whip-poor-will* ___Brown Creeper* ___Palm Warbler ___Broad-winged Hawk* ___Pine Warbler ___Swainson’s Hawk ___Chimney Swift* ___Carolina Wren* ___Yellow-rumped Warbler ___Red-tailed Hawk* ___House Wren* ___Yellow-throated Warbler* ___Rough-legged Hawk ___Ruby-throated Hummingbird* ___Winter Wren ___Prairie Warbler ___Golden Eagle ___Sedge Wren* ___Black-throated Green Warbler ___Belted Kingfisher* ___Marsh Wren* ___Canada Warbler ___Virginia Rail* ___Wilson’s Warbler ___Sora* ___Red-headed Woodpecker* ___Blue-gray Gnatcatcher* ___Yellow-breasted Chat* ___American Coot* ___Red-bellied Woodpecker* ___Sandhill Crane ___Yellow-bellied Sapsucker ___Golden-crowned Kinglet ___Spotted Towhee ___Downy Woodpecker* ___Ruby-crowned Kinglet ___Eastern Towhee* ___Black-bellied Plover ___Hairy Woodpecker* ___American Tree Sparrow ___American Golden Plover ___Northern Flicker* ___Eastern Bluebird* ___Chipping Sparrow* ___Semi-palmated Plover ___Pileated Woodpecker* ___Veery* ___Clay-colored Sparrow ___Killdeer* ___Gray-cheeked Thrush ___Field Sparrow* Iowa Department of Natural Resources ___American Kestrel* ___Swainson’s Thrush ___Vesper Sparrow* 1436 255th St. ___American Avocet ___Merlin ___Hermit Thrush ___Lark Sparrow* Boone, IA 50036 ___Peregrine Falcon ___Wood Thrush* ___Savannah Sparrow* ___Spotted Sandpiper* ___Olive-sided Flycatcher ___American Robin* ___Grasshopper Sparrow* Phone: (515) 432-2823 ___Solitary Sandpiper ___Eastern Wood-Pewee* ___Henslow’s Sparrow* Fax: (515) 432-2835 ___Greater Yellowlegs ___Acadian Flycatcher* ___Gray Catbird* ___Le Conte’s Sparrow ___Willet ___Alder Flycatcher ___Northern Mockingbird* ___Fox Sparrow Federal and State law prohibits employment and/or public ac- ___Lesser Yellowlegs ___Willow Flycatcher* ___Brown Thrasher* ___Song Sparrow* commodation (such as access to services or physical facilities) ___Upland Sandpiper* ___Least Flycatcher* ___Lincoln’s Sparrow discrimination on the basis of age, color, creed, disability (mental ___Hudsonian Godwit ___Eastern Phoebe* ___European Starling* ___Swamp Sparrow* and/or physical), gender identity, national origin, pregnancy, ___Marbled Godwit ___Great Crested Flycatcher* ___White-throated Sparrow race, religion, sex or sexual orientation. If you believe you have ___Semi-palmated Sandpiper ___Eastern Kingbird* ___Cedar Waxwing* ___Harris’s Sparrow been discriminated against in any program, activity or facility as ___Least Sandpiper ___White-crowned Sparrow described above, or if you desire further information, contact the ___White-rumped Sandpiper ___Loggerhead Shrike* ___Lapland Longspur ___Dark-eyed Junco Iowa Civil Rights Commission at 1-800-457-4416, or write to: ___Baird’s Sandpiper ___Northern Shrike ___Snow Bunting Director, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Wallace State ___Pectoral Sandpiper ___Summer Tanager Office Building, 502 E. 9th, Des Moines, Iowa 50319-0034. ___Dunlin ___White-eyed Vireo ___Ovenbird* ___Scarlet Tanager* Hamilton & Webster ___Short-billed Dowitcher ___Bell’s Vireo* ___Worm-eating Warbler* ___Northern Cardinal* ___Wilson’s Snipe* ___Yellow-throated Vireo* ___Louisiana Waterthrush* ___Rose-breasted Grosbeak* Created by Jenni Dyar, 2009 ___American Woodcock* Updated by Natalie Randall, 2012 and Julia Dale, AmeriCorps, 2014 Counties initiative and in an effort to protect dwindling PLANTS PARTNERSHIPS populations of many Iowa birds, the Bird Oak-hickory woodlands dominate the uplands of this Conservation Area (BCA) program was established by area with a maple-basswood component in wetter areas, The Boone Forks Woodland Bird Conservation Area the Iowa DNR Wildlife Bureau in 2001. The present particularly along the rivers and streams. Several Was created thanks to a partnership between the Iowa model BCA encompasses at least 10,000 acres of public hundred species of prairie forbs (like Prairie Blazing Star) Natural Heritage Foundation, the Natural Resources Boone Forks and/or private lands and grasses (like Little Bluestem) can be seen in prairie Conservation Service, National Wild Turkey Federation, with approximately remnants, as well as in upland areas and roadsides where Iowa Audubon, Hamilton and Webster County 25 percent of the area prairie is being restored. Cattails, bulrushes, sedges, Conservation Boards, and the Iowa Department of established as key bird Natural Resources. CORE arrowhead and a variety of other wetland plants exist in habitat. This concept marshes and wet meadows that still exist or have been is backed by research restored. that suggests viable bird populations ANIMALS require conservation Topeka Shiner A BCA Model: Shaded areas efforts at a landscape- The Boone Forks region, where the Boone River joins depict public habitat protected for birds; With nesting the Des Moines River in Hamilton and Webster white is private land. oriented level. Each evidence for counties, is special. With its wooded bluffs, scenic BCA also includes a more than sandstone cliffs, and abundance of wildlife, it is large “core” area of protected high-quality habitat. 1 3 0 b i r d appreciated by a large number of outdoor enthusiasts Surrounding this core are private lands, plus additional species in the each year. It is one of public tracts, all managed to provide good bird habitat. Boone Forks the richest areas in the IMPORTANT BIRD AREAS W o o d l a n d state for woodland Audubon’s Important Bird Areas (IBA) Program is a BCA and at nesting birds such as global effort to identify and conserve areas that are vital least 115 additional bird species using the area during the American to birds and other biodiversity. Designated IBAs include migration, this is an area of especially high bird diversity. Woodcock, Cerulean sites for breeding, wintering, and/or migrating birds. All Because it contains a variety of habitats, this area also Warbler, Wood Iowa Bird Conservation Areas are also Important Bird sustains a large diversity of other animals, including Thrush, and Eastern Areas. Bobcat, River Otter, Badger, and Southern Flying Bird Checklist for Boone Forks BCA Whip-poor-will. This BOONE FORKS DIVERSITY Squirrel. The Boone Eastern Whip-poor-will area also supports River, with some of the * = confirmed or likely area breeder The rich woodland and riparian habitats contained in the Carol Vinzant crucial habitat for birds state’s highest quality Iowa Wildlife Action Plan Migratory Species of Greatest Boone Forks Bird Conservation area play host to a wide Conservation Need during migration, stream segments, holds Iowa Wildlife Action Plan Nesting Species of Greatest variety of plant and animal species throughout the year. providing both feeding and roosting areas and helping to rare fish like Western Conservation Need The river bluffs and rolling, wooded hills of the BCA sustain migrants as they move between winter and Silvery Minnow and make it ideal for a variety of woodland and wetland summer habitats, making it a clear choice for Iowa’s 16th Topeka Shiner, and it is ___Greater White-fronted Goose ___Greater Scaup species. Scattered prairie habitat and the unique species ___Snow Goose ___Lesser Scaup Bird Conservation Area (BCA). one of few interior that depend on grasslands can also be found in the BCA. ___Cackling Goose ___Black Scoter streams where a ___Canada Goose* ___Bufflehead All four seasons provide new and stunning wildlife BIRD CONSERVATION AREAS number of mussel ___Trumpeter Swan* ___Common Goldeneye viewing opportunities ___Wood Duck* ___Hooded Merganser* species can still be Within the last two decades, alarming declines in a large along the Boone and American Woodcock ___Gadwall* ___Common Merganser AJ Hands found. Native ___American Wigeon ___Ruddy Duck number of species of North American birds have led to Des Moines river the emergence of national and international programs butterflies can be ___Mallard* valleys, so visitors can ___Blue-winged Teal* ___Northern Bobwhite* dedicated to the conservation of game and non-game discovered in the ___Northern Shoveler* ___Gray Partridge* take advantage of the Southern Flying Squirrel woodlands and prairies, ___Northern Pintail ___Ring-necked Pheasant* birds. Since 1999, bird conservation organizations and beauty of Boone Forks Jack Shaffer enthusiasts have worked together under an umbrella while the wetlands and ___Green-winged Teal ___Ruffed Grouse year-round. ___Canvasback ___Wild Turkey* called the North American Bird Conservation Initiative rivers are ideal places to spot dragonflies and damselflies. ___Redhead to “conserve all birds in all habitats.” As part of this ___Ring-necked Duck ___Pied-billed Grebe*