Hood River, Oregon

[stitch58]

I'll be attending a wedding in June in Hood River, Oregon outside of Portland. Wish I could stay longer but we'll only be there long enough to have one day of sightseeing & it's my first trip to the West coast. I'll be with 3 other people, none of them birders. Was hoping someone could recommend some place to go that I can do a bit of stealth birding while sightseeing with the others. I was hoping to at least pick up a few lifers & since I've never been out West even the common stuff would qualify. Was thinking of the Multnomah Falls area since that would keep the other people with me happy but I'm not sure of the birding prospects there. Also, due to health concerns the terrain can't be to rugged. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks!! - Greg

[IKLland]

@Colton V

[Connor Cochrane]

Any specific targets? Multnomah falls wouldn't be horrible as you could get American Dipper and probably some of the more common western forest species. 

Edited April 29, 2022 by Connor Cochrane

[stitch58]

22 hours ago, Connor Cochrane said:

Any specific targets? Multnomah falls wouldn't be horrible as you could get American Dipper and probably some of the more common western forest species. 

Thanks! No nothing specific & Dipper would be great! As I mentioned just about anything that doesn't occur in NJ, NY, Pa or Conn would be new for me. Checked eBird to see what's been reported there the past couple months & there were 11 species that would be new. I'd be happy if I could get most of them. Not expecting miracles in the limited time I'll have. Was hoping for any variety of Grouse though if you have a suggestion for them. Ruffed does occur in NJ but is rare & I've only heard them so any species including Ruffed would be great. Thanks again!!

[SirVive]

I don't usually browse this section of the forum but I'm glad I did and stumbled across your question. First off let me say that even if you don't see a single bird you will not regret doing a sightseeing tour. If you have the slight additional time I would highly suggest making a loop trip roughly along one of the routes I highlighted. I would take the loop heading south from Hood River through the orchards and on around Mt Hood (maybe take the short detour up to Timberline Lodge even if just to loop around the parking lot - it gets you right up to the snow line even in summer and is well maintained and kept plowed) 

... kids are down so it's bedtime - I'll finish tomorrow 

[SirVive]

Taking the loop in this direction will let you drive the gorge with the sun to your back - it can be pretty hard to see anything including the road driving directly into the afternoon sun heading West. Hop off of I-84 at some point  (or maybe don't get on at all until further East) and drive the Scenic Highway that parallels it - that is where all the waterfalls are, many visible right from the road. Multnomah Falls is famous for a reason - which also means it can be hard to get to. Make sure you look up information about it before hand - parking is always an issue and sometimes you have to take a bus from in town. You can see it just driving past from the Historic Highway and there are lots of other really nice waterfalls along the same stretch of road so if it's not a must see for you it may not be worth the extra effort to actually park and get out there. Don't pass up the Crown Point viewpoint.

From there if you haven't burned all your time you can hop across to WA via the Bridge of the Gods and take SR14 the rest of the way back to Hood River. It isn't any farther but it's a 50mph 2 lane instead of the interstate and goes through some small old towns along the way. There are also lots of small parks and just gravel turnouts along both sides of the road, many by small lakes or the river bank, that can be good 10 min birding stops. I drove this route home last month and pulled off in a gravel turnout (Dog Creek) along the highway just for a spot to give the kids some lunch - and ended up finding a beautiful waterfall oasis and a lifer 200' out of sight off the road (see pictures). 

You will get a huge variety of habitat on this loop, from orchards, to mature evergreen forest, to sub-alpine at Timberline, to riparian, to large river, to grasslands, to dry rocky almost sagebrush country. 

Any sort of edge habitat and especially by water in the summer and in the dryer areas should be good spots.

I'm no help on the grouse front but ebird should be able to help you there. Most of all enjoy! 

Obviously all of my routes listed travel times one way so double it plus time for slower roads and stops but still easily doable in a day.

[Colton V]

I think the State Parks department is implementing a new ticket system for the Columbia River Gorge this summer, such as Multnomah Falls. You might want to double check that and reserve tickets if you need to. See this link: https://www.recreation.gov/timed-entry/10089144 
 

[stitch58]

On 5/15/2022 at 1:02 PM, SirVive said:

Taking the loop in this direction will let you drive the gorge with the sun to your back - it can be pretty hard to see anything including the road driving directly into the afternoon sun heading West. Hop off of I-84 at some point  (or maybe don't get on at all until further East) and drive the Scenic Highway that parallels it - that is where all the waterfalls are, many visible right from the road. Multnomah Falls is famous for a reason - which also means it can be hard to get to. Make sure you look up information about it before hand - parking is always an issue and sometimes you have to take a bus from in town. You can see it just driving past from the Historic Highway and there are lots of other really nice waterfalls along the same stretch of road so if it's not a must see for you it may not be worth the extra effort to actually park and get out there. Don't pass up the Crown Point viewpoint.

From there if you haven't burned all your time you can hop across to WA via the Bridge of the Gods and take SR14 the rest of the way back to Hood River. It isn't any farther but it's a 50mph 2 lane instead of the interstate and goes through some small old towns along the way. There are also lots of small parks and just gravel turnouts along both sides of the road, many by small lakes or the river bank, that can be good 10 min birding stops. I drove this route home last month and pulled off in a gravel turnout (Dog Creek) along the highway just for a spot to give the kids some lunch - and ended up finding a beautiful waterfall oasis and a lifer 200' out of sight off the road (see pictures). 

You will get a huge variety of habitat on this loop, from orchards, to mature evergreen forest, to sub-alpine at Timberline, to riparian, to large river, to grasslands, to dry rocky almost sagebrush country. 

Any sort of edge habitat and especially by water in the summer and in the dryer areas should be good spots.

I'm no help on the grouse front but ebird should be able to help you there. Most of all enjoy! 

Obviously all of my routes listed travel times one way so double it plus time for slower roads and stops but still easily doable in a day.

 

On 5/31/2022 at 3:35 AM, Colton V said:

I think the State Parks department is implementing a new ticket system for the Columbia River Gorge this summer, such as Multnomah Falls. You might want to double check that and reserve tickets if you need to. See this link: https://www.recreation.gov/timed-entry/10089144 
 

Thanks very much to both of you!! I'll be sure to print this all out & bring it with me!

[SirVive]

And don't forget to let us know how it goes. My wife was surprised I didn't offer to guide you - just for the fun of it.?

[stitch58]

On 6/3/2022 at 12:07 AM, SirVive said:

And don't forget to let us know how it goes. My wife was surprised I didn't offer to guide you - just for the fun of it.?

?Thanks again!

[stitch58]

On 6/3/2022 at 12:07 AM, SirVive said:

And don't forget to let us know how it goes. My wife was surprised I didn't offer to guide you - just for the fun of it.?

Thanks again, the trip went pretty well. We ended up having some friends of the family show us around in the limited time we had. We went along the Columbia to Multnomah Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, etc. and ended up at Vista House. Also did parts of the "Fruit Loop" around Mount Hood. We also crossed over the river into Washington & explored around Mt. Adams. I'm completely envious of you living in the area, it is TOTALLY GORGEOUS out there & wish we could have stayed longer!! Sadly didn't get much birding done though. We had been told the temperature was going to be in the 70's & packed accordingly. Turned out to be unseasonably cold, low 50's & windy, so basically stuck to the car since we were in t-shirts & freezing (pretty stupid on our part). Still managed to pick up a few lifers though. Easiest one was Steller's Jay. I walked out of my hotel room & one was sitting on a garbage pail 20 feet away ?. Thanks again for the suggestions! Really hope to get out there again & spend a decent amount of time.