Bird Enthusiasts

Do you enjoy bird watching, photography, and nature recreation? Do you want to help birds?

You are not alone! More than 46 million Americans count themselves as birdwatchers, and 2.6 million hunt migratory birds, according to the  2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation. Birds add life, sound, and color to our lives. Watching wild birds is often a diversion from the pressures of our daily lives. Watching birds and experiencing nature can be comforting and uplifting; just knowing that our world includes birds can offer joy in our lives.

Birds provide intangible aesthetic enjoyment and enrich our lives with their presence. In addition to the joys they bring to people's lives, birds are also valuable for economic reasons. Birds have ecological value as important elements of natural systems and are recognized as among the most important indicators of the state of the environment. Birds provide insect and rodent control, plant pollination, and seed dispersal, which result in tangible benefits to people.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is the primary federal agency responsible for maintaining healthy populations of migratory birds. We have many resources for anyone who appreciates birds or wants to learn more about them. We can help you find places to watch birds and provide links to bird identification tools. Whether you hunt or are a bird watcher, we have information Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamps (Duck Stamps). If you need a permit to legally capture or raise birds, refer to our Permits section.

You can also learn about threats to birds and how the Fish and Wildlife Service and our partners are working to reduce those threats. And you can explore opportunities to be a "citizen scientist" and participate in bird conservation efforts, or take every day actions to help birds fly safely.