United States Ramsar wetland
Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge
35 bird species recorded; the most in November.
USFWS - Pacific Region · Public domain
This month here
16 species in January.22 species in February.19 species in March.19 species in April.17 species in May.19 species in June.14 species in July.14 species in August.13 species in September.24 species in October.27 species in November.20 species in December.
The birds you are most likely to see in the month you choose, those that come for the season first. It opens on today's month.
NT
NT
NT
NT
NTNT
VU
NTNTVUNT
NTNTNTVUNTNTNTNTNTNTNTNTNTNTNTNTVU- Resident all year
- Summer visitor comes to breed
- Winter visitor comes for the winter
- Passage migrant in spring and autumn
In numbers
35 species, counted.
Our own rating, from the records only: species (50 points), threatened species (20), migrants (20) and protected status — Ramsar, IBA, SPA, observatory (10).
- 35Speciesrecorded more than once
- 8Migrantssummer, winter or passage visitors
- 3ThreatenedVulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered (IUCN)
- 1,315Recordsopen records within 6 km
- 15Waders
- 15Gulls & seabirds
- 5Ducks & geese
From open records (eBird and others, through GBIF, licensed for any use). More birdwatchers mean more records: a quiet place may have more birds than it shows.
The checklist
All 35 species.
By group, with the year in twelve cells: the darker the cell, the more often the bird is recorded that month.
Waders15 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Bristle-thighed CurlewNumenius tahitiensisNT
- Pacific Golden PloverPluvialis fulva
- Wandering (Alaskan) TattlerTringa incana
- Ruddy TurnstoneArenaria interpresNT
- SanderlingCalidris alba
- Pectoral SandpiperCalidris melanotos
- Grey PloverPluvialis squatarolaVU
- Sharp-tailed SandpiperCalidris acuminataVU
- Eurasian WhimbrelNumenius phaeopus
- Semipalmated PloverCharadrius semipalmatus
- Lesser yellowlegsTringa flavipesVU
- Gray-tailed TattlerTringa brevipes
- DunlinCalidris alpinaNT
- Bar-tailed godwitLimosa lapponicaNT
- Least SandpiperCalidris minutillaNT
Gulls & seabirds15 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Red-footed BoobySula sula
- Angel TernGygis alba
- Anous stolidusAnous stolidus
- Great FrigatebirdFregata minor
- Sooty TernOnychoprion fuscatus
- Brown BoobySula leucogaster
- Anous minutusAnous minutus
- Masked BoobySula dactylatra
- Red-tailed TropicbirdPhaethon rubricauda
- White-tailed TropicbirdPhaethon lepturus
- Lesser FrigatebirdFregata ariel
- Spectacled TernOnychoprion lunatus
- Franklin's GullLeucophaeus pipixcan
- Laughing GullLeucophaeus atricilla
- Bulwer’s petrelBulweria bulwerii
Ducks & geese5 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Northern PintailAnas acuta
- Northern ShovelerSpatula clypeata
- American WigeonMareca americana
- Eurasian TealAnas crecca
- Greater ScaupAythya marila
Monthly presence relative to all bird records that month, so a busy month does not inflate every species.
When to go
The most species in November.
Species recorded in each month, with the usual temperature and rain.
- Jan28°/27°164 mm
- Feb27°/27°132 mm
- Mar28°/27°188 mm
- Apr28°/27°213 mm
- May28°/27°248 mm
- Jun28°/27°280 mm
- Jul28°/27°244 mm
- Aug28°/27°220 mm
- Sep28°/27°184 mm
- Oct28°/27°217 mm
- Nov28°/27°238 mm
- Dec28°/27°245 mm
- Bar: species recorded that month.
- Temperature: average maximum / minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
- Rain: monthly total.
The place
Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.
Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge is a wetland of international importance (Ramsar) in United States.
35 bird species have been recorded here more than once, in 1,315 open records.
The most recorded are the Red-footed Booby, the Angel Tern and the Anous stolidus.
3 species come for the summer, 5 for the winter and 0 only pass through.
3 are threatened worldwide, including Grey Plover, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper and Lesser yellowlegs.
The most species are recorded in November.
Get there and watch
- Official informationAccess, hours and rules from those who manage the place.Official site↗
Plan the visit
A guided walk, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
From above
The place and its surroundings.
The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the place, with the bird hides, towers and trails that OpenStreetMap shows.
Around, in OpenStreetMap
- bird hides within 6 km
- observation towers within 6 km
- marked trails within 4 km
- visitor centres within 6 km
- viewpoints within 5 km
- car parks within 3 km
- restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- campsites within 10 km
- places to stay within 10 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
In our other atlases
Around Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.
The lakes, beaches, islands, rivers and mountains around this place, and its night sky, in the family's atlases.
Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q15052635) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Birds | 1,315 open bird records within 6 km (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY 4.0 only; mostly eBird, Cornell Lab of Ornithology) |
| See these records | gbif.org |
| Species | GBIF Backbone Taxonomy · CC BY 4.0; Wikidata (CC0); Wikimedia Commons |
| Altitude | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Temperature and rain | NASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2) |
| What is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Sister atlases | Darkskyas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit 
mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit 
caves
Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit 
dark skies
Where the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit 
viewpoints
Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit 
birdwatching
Every bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.You are here
forests
Every forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Coming soonVisit