Here is a great shot of an endangered California Condor in flight. Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge provides an essential habitat for California condors. The Refuge hosts a variety of habitats which support diverse groups of plant and animal species: 900 acres of grassland which is part of historic condor foraging range, 1049 acres of chaparral and coastal sage scrub, 350 acres of oak and walnut woodland, 110 acres of riparian habitat and 3 acres of fresh water marsh.

Photo: Kim Valverde, USFWS 

The Kirtland’s warbler, an endangered species, is a songbird that nests in young jack pine stands. Until 1995 Kirtland’s warblers had only been known to nest in the northern part of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. Today, they also nest in the Upper Peninsula, and since 2007, have nested in Wisconsin and Canada. They migrate from their nesting grounds to the southeastern coast of the United States on their way to wintering grounds in the Bahamas.

Photo: Joel Trick, USFWS 

Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1985 to protect and manage endangered Hawaiian forest birds (like the I’iwi pictured above) and their rain forest habitat. Located on the windward slope of Mauna Kea, Island of Hawai‘i, the 32,733-acre Hakalau Forest Unit supports a diversity of native birds and plants equaled by only one or two other areas in the State of Hawai‘i.

Eight of the 14 native bird species occurring at Hakalau are endangered. Thirteen migratory bird species and 20 introduced species, including eight game birds, as well as the endangered ‘ope‘ape‘a (Hawaiian hoary bat) also frequent the refuge. Twenty-nine rare plant species are known from the refuge and adjacent lands. Twelve are currently listed as endangered. Two endangered lobelias have fewer than five plants known to exist in the wild.

Photo: Donald Metzner, UFWS