10 replies to this topic

[Darrell Lawson]

My family and I are in the process of planning a two week trip to Washington, Oregon, and Northern California sometime in 2013. We are from Michigan so western species will be awesome to sight! While our trip will not be totally centered around birding, I was wondering if anyone can give me advice about what would be the best (a best) time of the year to come and if there are any hot spots we absolutely should not miss. Also, we are interested in doing a pelagic trip, so does anybody have experience with these? Is there a location or particular guide that you would recommend? Thank you very much for your help.

Darrell

[Desertthorn]

While its late for migratory, I believe the Nisqually NWR would be a good place to stop, it is just north of Olympia on I-5. but it really depends on your route. If you know where your going to be let me know and I'll send you a dozen nearby sights, I think I have some great ones.

http://audubonportla...irding/hotspots This is good for Oregon

[Desertthorn]

Oh, I misread your post. Early spring is wonderful at the Nisqually and May they have a shorebird festival at Ocean Shores Wa and will even tell you the dates the birds are most abundant. There are some wonderful places on the East side of Washington also and I think if you contact the Audubon Society of Washington, they have tour maps for each just about the whole state.

[horseface]

I myself am going to be in the pacific NW area in a few weeks. It's not a birding trip and I think I just might be going there at the absolute worst time to see birds! Especially the Varied Thrush!! Fun!! But that won't stop me from trying, damn it. Don't even know how much time I'll have to bird but if I see one and I mean one new thing it'll be a success. Lesser Goldfinch, Lazuli Bunting, anything. Maybe I'll try the Nasqually place if I can, if that's worth it in mid-late june lol. I guess for an east coast person who doesn't often get out west you don't really have to worry so much about the "best" times since everything is amazing. I still freak out over steller's jay

[horseface]

Pulled a red crossbill and lazuli bunting out of it and also saw a bunch of others including a lesser goldfinch which bothered me to have not seen for some reason. wish I could have had more bird time but found a nice little enclave near where we stayed which gave me the crossbills among others. Also saw a scrub jay on the coast of oregon which is really uncommon or something according to ebird reports lol. Figures i see a rarity and it's a god damn scrub jay. I don't want no scrubs.

[spookyjimjams]

Where in Northern CA are you going to?

[Darrell Lawson]

Sorry, I haven't checked on this in a while. As far as where we are going, well, we're kind of open to suggestions. I haven't looked myself yet, but we tend toward national and state parks, etc... We're just trying to get ideas on where to go and when for a couple of bird outings and then we'll try to fit in everything we can. I think we are leaning toward fall because we kind of want to stick around Michigan (and a trip to Ohio) in the spring for the warbler migration (we're all beginning birders and haven't had to chance to experience MaGee Marsh yet). Although I'm sure I'll have to agree with horseface, I'll probably be seeing a lot of new birds to me, not to mention scenery, so it'll be exciting no matter what!

[Sgtmac1]

You mentioned wanting to do a pelagic trip while you're in the Northwest. Here is the link for one out of Westport Washington. I went for the first time this April and really enjoyed it. Mac

http://www.westportseabirds.com/

[Darrell Lawson]

Thank you. That is the pelagic trip I've been looking at, so I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[spookyjimjams]

The Sacramento NWR is a great place to see hundreds of thousands of birds in the November-March time period. They even have a great driving loop that takes about 2 hours if you are like me. It's right on I-5 about 1.5 hours north of Sacramento.

[rkitt]

I really enjoyed the Klamath Basin NWR. http://www.fws.gov/k...thbasinrefuges/

I didn't realize until after I'd left the PNW that I wasn't going to be seeing any Tri-colored Blackbirds elsewhere in the country!