Birding in the West: VIA Articles

the west

Best Bird-Watching Places in the West [2]

Nine top spots in the National Wildlife Refuge system provide great viewing in autumn.

Flight of Passage: The Pacific Flyway [3]

Head to the Northwest for nine places to view migratory birds in the fall.

Alaska

Alaska’s Bald Eagle Festival [4]

From October through February, as many as 3,500 bald eagles descend on the Chilkat River Valley near Haines, Alaska.

california

Mono Lake Bird Watching [5]

In summer, you can spot shorebirds at a salty inland destination 20 minutes east of Yosemite National Park.

The Sandhill Cranes of Lodi, Calif. [6]

An estimated 7,000 cranes make this Central Valley wine region their seasonal home.

idaho

Birdman of Idaho [7]
Kent Clegg helps save trumpeter swans by relocating them from Harriman Park in Idaho to Bear River on the Utah border.

Duck Watching in Idaho [8]

Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge, an 11,860-acre desert oasis near Nampa, welcomes 250 species of birds in autumn.

Idaho’s Hawks and Eagles [9]

At the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, the prime time to see 24 species of raptors runs from early spring through June.

montana

Montana Museum’s Bird Room [10]

At the Beaverhead County Museum in Dillon, an exhibit spotlights some 150 bird pairs.

Montana’s Geese Spectacle [11]

As many as 100,000 lesser snow geese—along with Ross’s geese, blue geese, and tundra swans—come to Freezeout Lake to fatten up before heading north.

Rocky Mountain Raptors [12]

The Bridger Raptor Festival celebrates 17 species of migrating raptors that ride the thermals over the 9,000-foot Bridger Mountains each fall.

Oregon

Bald Eagles in the Klamath Basin [13]

Hundreds of bird species—from tundra swans and bald eagles to American wigeons—flock to the 174,279-acre Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex during the winter months.

Klamath Falls Weekend Getaway [14]

With six national wildlife refuges that shelter more than 250 avian species, many of them migratory, Klamath sits in the center of one of the best birding spots in the West.

Photography courtesy of U.S. Fish and WildlifeService/Susan Rachlin

This article was first published in September 2011. Some facts may have aged gracelessly. Please call ahead to verify information.