Joining local Audubon Society bird trips is an excellent way to learn about birds in your area, or beyond. Destinations can be a short ride up the road or an outing to British Columbia or Eastern Washington.
Leaders are expert birders familiar with an area, and groups often have at least one birder with a scope. It’s an opportunity for social interaction, a chance to see birds that you otherwise would not see, and a time to ask questions in a supportive atmosphere.
Beginning birdwatchers are welcome.
But sometimes a solo birder or a few friends want to explore an area with a decent chance of spotting birds. On 58-mile-long Whidbey Island, bird watchers can look for birds on and near beaches, hills and farmland.
Whidbey Island Audubon Society offers a list of 15 hot spots on the island that includes brief directions, type of terrain and possible sightings (migration willing) of specific species.
The list includes Deception Pass State Park, Dugualla Bay and Lake, Fort Ebey State Park, the Port Townsend ferry and Greenbank Farms.
For more information, go to www.whidbeyaudubon.org.
Skagit Audubon Society has a similar list with a dozen entries. One difference is that each has a GPS location, sometimes more than one for an area such as Deception Pass State Park, plus a few tips, such as “brushy areas are good for finding migrants.”
While Whidbey Island is a contained area, Skagit Audubon sites range from Anacortes to Rainy Pass, offering a chance to see, in season, migrating hawks from Mount Erie, snowy owls on the Samish Flats, lazuli buntings on nearby hillsides on Butler Flats, and County Line Ponds along Highway 20, late spring to fall, for flycatchers, yellowthroats and marsh wrens.
Another approach is to click the link to eBird for the location and species of birds that you would like to see. Click on each birding location and a map will open in the same window.
Find more about birding in Skagit Valley at www.skagitaudubon.org.
Pilchuck Audubon Society’s website (www.pilchuckaudubon.org) has a section of links that may lead to a birdwatching experience, including birding the Great Washington State Birding Trail by apps for iPhones, Riverview Wildlife Refuge, Snohomish County Tourism Bureau, and a survey of birds of Everett’s Forest Park.
Another approach is to go to www.birdweb.org. Click on Birding Sites and Ecoregions, click on the region you want to visit, say the Pacific Northwest coast, and up pops several options, all with links. Click on the map and get the location of those sites, such as Bottle Beach State Park, Chehalis River Valley or Hurricane Ridge.
Each location details the site in terms of habitat, some of the species and a season, and detailed directions.
No matter where you go, don’t forget that is should be fun whether you see a new-to-you species or just the “same old birds.” You’re outdoors. How bad can that be?
Nothing constant but change. It will be awhile before trail guides catch up to this change. The Iron Horse State Park Trail (a portion known as the John Wayne Pioneer Trail) is now the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail, so named by the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission.
The trail connects the western part of the state with Eastern Washington.
The new name of the 285-mile trail now is consistent with state park’s guidelines and reflects the geography through which the trail passes, from North Bend to Tekoa. Also, it is a rejection of Wayne’s documented racist remarks.
School days. Many of the North Cascades Institute classes are sold out. Here are some options: in July and August, Northwest Digital Photography; in September, Night Photography to Artist Point and Sit, Walk, Write; in October, Mushrooms of the North Cascades.
For more information, go to www.ncascades.org.
Columnist Sharon Wootton can be reached at 360-468-3964 or songandword@rockisland.com.
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