ALL-DAY TRIPS

Each day trip will cost $30 per passenger; fee includes transportation, morning and afternoon snacks, and a box lunch. Each trip is limited to 12 passengers and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Because of limited availability, please email the conference coordinator before signing up for a trip.

All of the all-day field trips will depart from the Burke Museum drive at 7:00 a.m. The Burke Museum is on the northwest corner of the University of Washington campus, near the 17th Ave NE entrance (at NE 45th St).

Coffee and donuts will be available there at 6:30 am. If you need a full breakfast, IHOP (4301 Brooklyn Ave. NE) and Denny's (4231 University Way NE) are no more than a 10 minute walk from the Museum and open 24 hours.

GRAYS HARBOR (August 13) FULL

This long all-day trip features a large estuarine area with mudflats, salt marshes, rock jetties, and sand beaches. The area is excellent for shorebirds, gulls, terns, and alcids. Among the many common shorebirds are Black Turnstone, Surfbird, Western Sandpiper, Marbled Godwit, and Whimbrel. Sooty Shearwaters, Common Murres, Heermann's Gulls, and Rhinoceros Auklets often feed in the harbor in large numbers.

Heermann's Gulls and Glaucous-winged Gull

A few individuals of some of the common wintering seabirds may be present. The surrounding uplands are forested, and the group will stop at a few wooded sites for typical land birds of coastal forest such as Chestnut-backed Chickadee and Hutton's Vireo.


Black Oystercatcher
 WHIDBEY ISLAND (August 13) FULL
NEW DATE! Tues August 14 -- FULL
Whidbey Island, northwest of Seattle, is one of the largest islands in North America and furnishes a great variety of habitats for birds. The group will visit coniferous and mixed forest, rocky headlands, beaches, protected bays, and a large brackish lake with mudflats. Shorebirds are at a peak at this time of year and should include Black Oystercatchers as well as a few other species not found at Grays Harbor. This all-day trip will include a brief ferry ride.
MOUNT RAINIER (August 14) FULL
NEW DATE! Mon August 13 -- 3 spaces left
This highest peak in Washington is encompassed by a national park and a vast wilderness. We will spend the day visiting lowland and highland conifer forests and subalpine and alpine meadows, the last on a moderately strenuous hike at 6,000 feet. These habitats do not support a profusion of breeding birds, but many migrant passerines move through the mountains in fall, sometimes in numbers. Species of the high mountains such as Clark's Nutcracker and American Pipit will be present, and Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch and White-tailed Ptarmigan are possible. Numerous small mammals such as marmots and pikas will be seen, possibly Mountain Goat. Many wildflowers will still be in bloom, and the scenery is spectacular.

Hoary Marmot

Black-tailed Deer
 MOUNT ST. HELENS (August 14) FULL
This most famous of North America's volcanoes provides spectacular views and the awesome story of an eruption as well as revegetating ash deposits, many wildflowers, and a fair variety of birds that have moved into the area since the 1980 cataclysm. Birds that nest in snags are especially common, including woodpeckers, nuthatches, Mountain Bluebirds, and Vaux's Swifts. The interesting plumages of molting adults and juveniles will be apparent at this season. Elk and Black-tailed Deer are common in this area, along with numerous small mammals. This all-day trip will include one or more short hikes.
WENATCHEE MOUNTAINS (August 14) FULL
This range of mountains is east of the Cascades and therefore drier. It holds a great variety of breeding birds in its varied forested habitats (which feature the highest diversity of conifers in the world). We will make stops in habitats between 2,000 feet and 4,500 feet in elevation. Although the breeding season will be over, most of those bird species should still be present, including Western Tanager, Williamson's Sapsucker, Townsend's Warbler, and Cassin's Finch. Resident species include Mountain Chickadee, White-headed Woodpecker, and Northern Pygmy-Owl. This all-day trip will feature birding along back roads.

Red-naped Sapsucker