Valentine National Wildlife Refuge

Two national wildlife refuges near the Byway are dedicated to protecting and preserving the Sandhills wildlife with particular interest in migratory water fowl—Valentine National Wildlife Refuge and Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge. At these refuges the nesting water and marsh birds include American bittern, blackcrowned night heron, upland sandpiper, long-billed curlew, American avocet, Wilson’s phalarope, grebes (eared, Western, Clark’s and pied-billed), American coot, black and Forster’s terns, Canada goose and nearly a dozen species of ducks. There are also burrowing and short-eared owls, Bell’s and warbling vireos, and red-winged and yellow headed blackbirds.

For a listing of area birds, please visit NebraskaBirdingTrails.com.