In addition to waterfowl (ducks, geese, and swans), many other birds have benefited directly from stamp revenues. Among them are waterbirds (like western grebe, least bittern, yellow rail, and black tern), shorebirds (black-necked stilt, American avocet, whimbrel, red knot, and Wilson’s phalarope), raptors (swallow-tailed kite, Swainson’s hawk, and golden eagle), and wetland-associated songbirds (vermilion flycatcher, sedge wren, prothonotary warbler, LeConte’s sparrow, and tricolored blackbird).
In fact, the birds you may see coming through your yard or your local park in spring or fall may have depended on a stamp-supported national wildlife refuge for nesting or stopover protection.
Moreover, many spectacular refuges for bird watching have been bought using mostly stamp dollars. Such fine birding refuges as Santa Ana (Texas) Horicon (Wisconsin), Bombay Hook (Delaware), Bosque del Apache (New Mexico), and Parker River (Massachusetts) owe most of their existence to the stamp.
WHAT PERCENTAGE?
The figures below reflect the acquisition-percentages from the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund (MBCF) where Duck Stamp dollars are the major, but not the only, contributor. (A large portion also comes from excise/import fees and other some sources.) These 25 sample national wildlife refuges are also Important Bird Areas (IBAs) and excellent bird-watching areas:
National Wildlife Refuge
MBFC Stamp Acquisition %
- Sacramento in California – 99.6%
- Bosque del Apache in New Mexico – 99.4%
- Parker River in Massachusetts – 99.2%
- Pea Island in North Carolina – 99.2%
- Quivira in Kansas – 99.0%
- Muskatatuk in Indiana – 98.8%
- Horicon in Wisconsin – 98.7%
- Monomoy in Massachusetts – 97.8%
- Bombay Hook in Delaware – 95.1%
- Santa Ana in Texas – 94.9%
- DeSoto in Iowa and Nebraska – 90.8%
- Laguna Atascosa in Texas – 89.1%
- Ottawa in Ohio – 89.0%
- Okefenokee in Georgia – 88.2%
- Anahuac in Texas – 87.5%
- Edwin B. Forsythe (Brigantine) in New Jersey – 85.0%
- Blackwater in Maryland – 75.8%
- Chassahowitzka in Florida – 73.1%
- Chincoteague in Virginia – 69.9%
- Seney in Michigan – 46.4%
- Aransas in Texas – 43.0%
- Cape May in New Jersey – 40.3%
- J. Clark Salyer in North Dakota – 36.5%
- Bear River in Utah – 35.0%
- Malheur in Oregon – 25.6%
