Birding Oregon

Full Itinerary

April 27 — Arrive in Boise, Idaho: We’ll pick up everyone from the Boise airport as flights arrive, and convene at our hotel in the evening to head into town for a welcome dinner. For those interested in arriving in town a day early, the World Center for Birds of Prey and the Intermountain Bird Observatory are great local places to visit to learn about bird conservation in the intermountain West. We will provide flight recommendations 3-4 months before the trip.

April 28 — To Malheur! Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is about a half-day’s drive (with stops) from Boise. We’ll travel west from Boise through the Snake River Plain, a vast sagebrush steppe bounded by the dramatic Sawtooth Mountains to the east and the Cascades to the west. We will arrive in Malheur by early afternoon, where our first stop will be the Malheur Visitor Center. Here, we can have great looks at Western Tanager, Great Horned Owl, many warbler species, Black-chinned Hummingbird, American Avocet, Willet, and much more. From there, we’ll bird our way through the refuge towards the Malheur Field Station, an outpost in the heart of the refuge where we will be settling in for the next several nights.

The Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is a key piece of the Pacific Flyway, and arguably the best birding to be found in Oregon. Nearly 300 species have been reported in the area. Huge flocks of migrating birds can be found, as well as rare visitors. The habitat and terrain varies dramatically – we will be near wetlands, cliffs, forests, salt flats, ponds, lakes, and sagebrush desert. This habitat diversity yields the abundance of wildlife for which Malheur NWR was established.

April 29-30 — Malheur National Wildlife Refuge: The next two full days will be spent exploring much of Malheur’s 187,000 acres. Though we have some must-see destinations within the refuge, your guides will be keeping a close eye on eBird and local chat groups for updates on where the most exciting activity is taking place. Besides the Visitor Center where we are likely to spend additional time, there are 36 other established eBird hotspots within the refuge around which we will orient our explorations. By basing ourselves out of the Malheur Field Station, we will be immersed all day in these ecosystems and birdlife.

Highlights in the refuge during this time of year may include Trumpeter Swan, Sandhill Crane, Red-necked Phalarope, Black-crowned Night Heron, White-faced Ibis, Swainson’s Hawk, Ferruginous Hawk, Western Screech-Owl, Burrowing Owl, Lewis’s Woodpecker, Prairie Falcon, Willow Flycatcher, Say’s Phoebe, Loggerhead Shrike, Rock Wren, Canyon Wren, Sage Thrasher, Mountain Bluebird, Townsend’s Solitaire, Brewer’s Sparrow, Black-throated Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Sagebrush Sparrow, Western Meadowlark, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Townsend’s Warbler, and Lazuli Bunting.

May 1 — Through the Cascades: We will depart Malheur in the morning and drive a few hours out of the sagebrush desert and into the Cascade Mountains. This drive will bring us in proximity of several eBird hotspots where we can explore wetlands and foothill forests for species we did not have the chance to observe in Malheur. We will continue our journey west, stopping in Sisters, OR, where we will have lunch, with the possibility of seeing White-headed Woodpecker, Pygmy Nuthatch, Mountain Chickadee, and Pinyon Jay right from town.

We’ll then leave the desert behind and travel west towards Eugene, taking much of the afternoon to enjoy Oregon’s temperate rainforests. The high, dry desert of Eastern Oregon is the result of the “rain shadow” of the Cascade Mountains. Prevailing weather moving east off the ocean collides with the mountains here, creating lush, temperate rainforests iconic of the Pacific Northwest. We will visit Sahalie Falls, one of the most beautiful falls in Oregon, only a short walk from the parking lot. Here we can search for wrens, America Dipper, Varied Thrush, and Hermit Warbler. We will arrive in Eugene late afternoon for a walk along the river through a beautiful park during the peak bloom of the park’s ornamental trees.

May 2 — Fern Ridge National Wildlife Refuge: We will start our day bright and early by traveling about 20 minutes west of town to one of the best birding spots in Western Oregon. This area features 5,000 acres of varied wetland and grassland habitat. We will walk 3-4 miles on old grass paths over the course of the morning, encountering almost every freshwater duck species in North America along the way: Blue-winged, Cinnamon, and Green-winged Teals, Canvasback, Redhead, Ruddy Duck, and more. The refuge is home to a tremendous amount of other western birdlife, too: California Quail, Western Grebe, Virginia Rail, Sora, American Bittern, Black-necked Stilt, Long-billed Dowitcher, a few Tern species, large groups of American White Pelican, Northern Harrier, California Scrub-Jay, Western Wood-Pewee, Western Kingbird, Violet-green Swallow, Spotted Towhee, Western Bluebird, Yellow-breasted Chat, Acorn Woodpecker, and much more.

In the afternoon, we will continue on to the picturesque seaside town of Florence, with several must-see hotspots as well as a very cute and walkable downtown area. Hotspots include the South Jetty and several spots along the road to it, and the Port of Siuslaw Marina. Exploring these hotspots can bring us Cackling Goose, Western Grebe, Vaux’s Swift, Anna’s and Rufous Hummingbirds, Semipalmated Plover, Whimbrel, Short-billed Dowitcher, Wandering Tattler, Red Knot, Black Turnstone, Surfbird, Western Sandpiper, Rhinoceros Auklet, Marbled Murrelet, Pigeon Guillemot, and many more. Overnight at Driftwood Shores, a 3 star hotel right on the seaside, where each room has a private patio or porch that overlooks the beach.

May 3 Pacific Seacoast Birding: We will base out of Florence today and visit some beautiful and birdy destinations north of town along coastal Highway 101, including North Jetty, Heceta Head (home to the most photographed lighthouse in Oregon), and the Darlingtonia forested bog.  The Oregon coast is full of dramatic views of rocky cliffs and famous sand dunes. We will take our time, stopping along the way to explore for species like Rufous Hummingbird, Western Gull, Violet-Green Swallow, Wrentit, Pacific Wren, Western Grebe, Black Oystercatcher, Whimbrel, and many more shorebirds and seabirds. Overnight at Driftwood Shores.

May 4 Seacoast Birding towards Cannon Beach: We will head several hours north towards Cannon Beach today, leapfrogging yesterday’s explorations yesterday in order to access more northern hotspots with plenty of time and good tides. We’ll look for Black Turnstones along the craggy coast and American Dippers nesting along the streams emptying into the ocean. Sites like Depoe Bay and Yaquina Head offer some of the most reliable locations for spotting whales in Oregon. The entire seacoast highway has beautiful, dramatic, and birdy stops all along the way. We will let the birds, the weather, and our interests, guide the day. We will end the day at Cannon Beach, where we’ll seek out the Tufted Puffins nesting on the iconic Haystack Rock. Overnight at The Wayside Inn, Cannon Beach.

May 5 — Cannon Beach to Portland and flights home. There are many evening flights out of Portland, so we will take our time birding on the way into Portland today, arriving in the city in the early afternoon in time for evening departures. There are many hotspots to explore near Portland, including the Bird Alliance of Oregon (Anna’s Hummingbird, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Stellar’s Jay, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Black-headed Grosbeak), the Portland Japanese Botanical Gardens, and plenty of sightseeing opportunities. Portland is a large, bustling city with a rich variety of birds and people, and a great place to spend a couple extra days after our birding adventure!