Sooty Grouse, immature female — Scott Pearson/Audubon Photography Awards
OPAS Field Trip: Hurricane Ridge
Leader: Kathy McCoy
Date and time: Friday, September 19, 8:30 a.m to noon
Number of participants: 12—Registration required. Register below at the “REGISTER” button.
Cost: Free
Meeting place: https://maps.app.goo.gl/mnwXWG76ojyTWdKW6 . We will meet at the old Hurricane Ridge Visitors Center on Hurricane Ridge.
Directions: Follow signs for the Olympic National Park south onto Race Street from Front or First Street (Highway 101). The National Park Visitor Center is about 1 mile south of First Street. Continue south past the visitor’s center, and follow Hurricane Ridge Road left at the Y. Continue south about 17.7 miles (according to Google) to the parking lot for the Hurricane Ridge Ski Area and the old Hurricane Ridge Visitors Center (now burned down). Look for the silver Honda CRV and the woman with a bird hat, binoculars, and a clipboard (that’s me, Kathy McCoy).
Features: This is a chance to enjoy the high elevation forest before the fall storms begin in earnest. We will explore the meadow trails and enjoy the vistas. On the return, as we drive back down we will stop at some of the pull-off points to look for grouse and what-have-you.
We expect to see forest birds such as woodpeckers, grouse, corvids, kinglets, nuthatches, thrushes, sparrows, finches, warblers and maybe a pipit.
The birds I’m looking for (but may not find; no promises) include fall migrants, higher elevation species, and things that like denser forests than I find closer to home. So, things like American Pipit, Vaux’s Swift, Western Bluebird, Sooty and Ruffed Grouse, Horned Lark, Band-tailed Pigeon and Canada Jays. We will likely encounter some of our Olympic Peninsula usual suspects: the Red-tailed Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk, flicker, raven, chickadee, kinglet, robin, Pacific Wren, siskin, junco, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and Townsend’s Warblers.
Just so you know, I always try to check out all the natural history in the area; we may see chipmunks and marmots, squirrels and other critters, not to mention the plant life. So we will stop for any interesting or unusual observations, not just birds.
If you’d like to see a full list of the birds we may see, visit the eBird website and check out the bar charts for September, 2020-2024 at this link.
Special Requirements: These are hiking trails so hiking boots are recommended. Dress for the weather, bring a raincoat, a fleece, water to drink, and a hiking stick if that helps you. I would highly recommend that you download wBird, Merlin, and Seek apps to your phone. If you have never used these apps, I will be at the meeting place at 8 am and will be happy to show you how.
Equipment Required: Bring your binoculars. I may bring my scope but will probably not use it much away from the car.
Contact information: Kathy McCoy (208) 921-1340. Text or call if you have questions!
Liability Form: We ask field trip participants to sign a liability release form on or before the day of the trip. This signed form will be good for future field trips. You can review, download, and print the form in advance by visiting the OPAS website or clicking here. It’s preferred that you eSign the liability release form by clicking here.
Note: A waitlist has been enabled for this trip. If you need to cancel your reservation, please email webmaster@olympicpeninsulaaudubon.org.