American Dipper—Photo: Mick Thompson
OPAS Field Trip: Elwha Through the Seasons—End of Fall
Leaders: Ben Hannah & Kathy McCoy
Sunday, December 13, 2026, 9 a.m. to noon
Limited to 15 participants. Registration required—register below.
Free to attend.
Meeting Place: Meet at the Madison Falls parking area on the Elwha River.
Directions from Port Angeles (approx. 20 min drive from downtown): Follow Highway 101 west from town and turn left onto Olympic Hot Springs Road shortly before crossing the Elwha River. Continue on this road until you reach the gravel parking area on the left, just past the Olympic National Park boundary. For directions, search for Madison Falls Trailhead on Google Maps or your preferred maps app, or use this link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/MdUDuNDXLrTpXwgu8
Features: This will be the LAST of four planned trips this year to the Elwha valley, one in each season. As before, we will start at the Madison Falls parking lot and check the river for American Dippers, Canada Geese, and other waterfowl. We will once again check the bigleaf maple grove just across the parking lot for woodpeckers and songbirds (although so far this year, this area has been pretty quiet when we’ve visited). Then we will walk approximately 1 mile south along Olympic Hot Springs Rd. to the end of the road, where it washed out during a flood event in 2017. Habitats include river, riparian forest, deciduous forest, coniferous forest, and open fields.
All of our summer residents will have left, and we’ll be left with the birds that can handle a winter on the Peninsula.
As before this year, this area remains fairly under-birded overall, so eBird data is somewhat lacking. We will continue to incrementally add to the body of citizen science knowledge!
What to bring: Binoculars (and/or other optics you may have) and weather-appropriate clothing. As we are getting closer to the winter, rain and snow may become more likely. Please wear layers for your comfort.
If you don’t have binoculars, please come anyway—there will be spotting scopes available for everyone to use. And if you have a spotting scope and would like to share, they’re always a welcome addition.
Liability Form: The OPAS field trip liability release form will now be included in the Eventbrite registration. It will require a check mark that indicates you have read and agree to the liability form language before registration continues. Important! Please provide your first and last name and other participants’ names, if applicable, during registration. This requirement will free up your time and the field trip leader’s time to collect signatures.
Further information: contact Ben Hannah at OlympicTransplant@gmail.com.
Note: A waitlist has been enabled for this trip. If you need to cancel your reservation, please use Eventbrite or email michelle@olybird.org.