Resurrection Bay (MP)

Location: Southcentral Alaska
Why Special: Long days for birding, incredible scenery, salmon bakes.
Habitat: Open water surrounded by mountains, glaciers, and coniferous forests
When To Go: Summer
Birds to Look For: Ancient, Marbled, and Kittlitz’s murrelets, Arctic Tern, Horned and Tufted puffins, Rhinoceros Auklet, Red-faced Cormorant, Spruce Grouse

Gambell (JF)

Location: St. Lawrence Island, Alaska
Why Special: one million+ birds in view (and in motion) 24-hours a day during June; Native American village, bowhead whale and seal economy; remote access, with full exposure to the awesome biological richness of the Bering Sea
Habitat: Rocky tundra, pebble beaches, cliffs
When To Go: June
Birds to Look For: All 4 species of eiders, Yellow-billed Loon, Emperor Goose, Parakeet, Crested and Least auklets, Horned Puffin, numerous shorebirds on breeding grounds, Siberian vagrants in late May and early June.

Volcanos NP (JG)

Location: Hawai'i, Hawai'i
Why Special: Where else can you see a tropical rainforest, volcanic scrub, a tropical ocean and a live volcano in the US? (along with their associated birds)
Habitat: Rain forest, dry forest, scrub, grassland, beach and ocean
When To Go: Anytime
Birds to Look For: Nene, Akiapolaau, Elepaio, Omao, Palila, Apapane, I'iwi, and more.

Ellensburg, Washington area (WH)

Location: East of Seattle, Washington on Interstate 90
Why Special: This isn’t a single site, but a general area that packs a range of habitats into a small area, with a variety of species present that have fairly restricted ranges or habitat preferences. You can travel quickly from lowland sagebrush (Sage Thrasher) up to Ponderosa Pine forest (White-headed Woodpecker), see American Dippers in snow-fed streams, and scan cliff faces for nesting Prairie Falcons and other raptors.
Habitat: grassland, sage-brush, coniferous forests, aspen poplar woodland
When To Go: May, June
Birds to Look For: White-headed Woodpecker, Sage Thrasher, Prairie Falcon

Olympic Peninsula (JG)

Location: Washington
Why Special: Western birds and if the birds aren't there, the landscape more then makes up for it.
Habitat: Ocean, coniferous and deciduous forest, tundra
When To Go: Spring and summer
Birds to Look For: Can't narrow it down!

Hoh Rainforest (BC)

Location: Hoh River Valley, Olympic National Park, WA
Why Special: Amazing temperate rainforest
Habitat: Temperate rainforest
When To Go: Summer
Birds to Look For: Rufous Hummingbird, Gray Jay, Chestnut-backed Chickadee and the beautiful ethereal tones of Varied Thrush singing from the tops of enormous Sitka Spruce

Willapa Bay (JE)

Location: south coast of Washington State
Why Special: Huge tidal mudflats attract a large number of shorebirds, and support a thriving and tasty oyster industry.
Habitat: Mudflat, mudflat, mudflat (also open beach at Leadbetter State Park)
When To Go: late April through May, and late August to September
Birds to Look For: Large flocks of Short-billed Dowitchers, Whimbrel and Black-bellied Plover can be seen near Bay Center, WA. Also throughout the bay are large flocks of peeps (perhaps best seen from Leadbetter State Park, WA); almost any species of shore-bird expected in the area could be found here. Parasitic Jaegers sometimes harass the Caspian Terns that are common; peregrines go for shorebirds; Wilson's Warbler and Rufous Hummingbird nest in the thickets along the bay; and huge flocks of Sanderling can be found on the open beach on the west side of the state park.

Malheur Natl Wildlife Refuge (JE)

Location: Malheur Co, Oregon
Why Special: A huge wetland in the middle of dry Great Basin country, this site attracts both migrants and breeders that are not easily found in other areas of the state.
Habitat: Large marshes, sage-brush, and some riparian woodland.
When To Go: Go in mid-spring and fall for migrants, and all summer for breeding wetland and sagebrush birds.
Birds to Look For: Several oases, such as the Refuge Headquarters, attract huge concentrations of migrating passerine birds when conditions are right, including western rarities such as Black-and-White Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, and many others. At times the trees drip with 100s of Western Tanagers, Bullock's Orioles and Lazuli Buntings. Many shorebird species pass through, as well as hawks. Long-billed Curlew, Wilson's Phalarope and Avocets breed. Ferruginous and Swainson's hawks, as well as Golden Eagle, are also resident. Riparian habitat attracts Ash-throated Flycatcher, Great-Horned Owl, and others.

Waldo Lake (JE)

Location: Lane County, Oregon
Why Special: Amazing Scenery, good potential for boreal birds
Habitat: Mountain forest, on the wetter side of the Cascade Mountains, often including burned areas. The lake itself is one of the clearest in the world.
When To Go: Go in the breeding season, when the passes are open and the birds are active
Birds to Look For: Red Crossbill, Townsend's Warbler, Townsend's Solitaire, Black-backed Woodpecker, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Black Swift (at nearby Salt Creek Falls)

Steens Mountain (JE)

Location: Malheur Co. Oregon
Why Special: A huge, tipped block of stone towering over the Alvord Desert at approx. 9700 feet, with sagebrush habitat on its slopes and stunning scenery.
Habitat: Sagebrush, alpine habitat
When To Go: Any time in the spring, fall or summer, when there's not too much snow.
Birds to Look For: Greater Sage-Grouse, Black Rosy-Finch, Prairie Falcon, Golden Eagle, other migrating raptors.

South Jetty of the Columbia River (JE)

Location: Clatsop Co, Oregon
Why Special: A great place both for shorebirds and seabirds, as well as a great migrant trap for anything.
Habitat: Open Coast, Tidal estuary, and coastal shore pine woodland.
When To Go: Almost any time of year. Bad weather sometimes means good birds!
Birds to Look For: During migration, this is a great place for shorebirds. The estuary attracts large flocks of peeps including Baird's and the rarer Semipalmated Sandpiper, while the rocky jetty hosts Black Turnstone and Wandering Tattler. Migrating alcids and loons, grebes and shearwaters fly by in sometimes mind-boggling numbers, and the river itself, as well as the shore, can host a wide variety of gulls. Wrentits and sometimes rare wandering passerines can be found in the woods, and the jetty was one of the spots to host a Bristle-thighed Curlew in Oregon in 1996.

Panoche Valley (MP)

Location: Central California
Why Special: Easily birded area for birds with limited ranges
Habitat: Semi-arid grasslands, oak-juniper woodlands.
When To Go: Spring
Birds to Look For:
Yellow-billed Magpie, Tricolored Blackbird, Nuttall’s Woodpecker, Lawrence’s Goldfinch, Chukar.

San Gabriel Mountains (AW)

Location: Outside Los Angeles, California
Why Special: The drive through the mountains leads through a great variety of habitat, yet it’s very close to an urban area.
Habitat: Desert, riparian, upper-elevation coniferous forest
When To Go: The birding here is good year-round, but in winter, many higher-elevation roads are inaccessible due to snow.
Birds to Look For: White-headed Woodpecker, Mountain Quail, Pygmy Nuthatch, Clark’s Nutcracker, Long-eared Owl

Sequoia/Kings Canyon NP (JG)

Location: California
Why Special: Birds and TREES
Habitat: Coniferous and deciduous forest
When To Go: Spring
Birds to Look For: White-headed Woodpecker: wow, what a bird, especially when seen on a giant sequoia!

Monterey Bay (WH)

Location: Coastal California southwest of San Francisco
Why Special: Imagine having to avert your gaze from a swarm of ocean-going birds visiting the northern hemisphere from their Austral nesting grounds in order see a blue whale or sea turtle. For a typically land-locked bird watcher the richness of life on the open ocean can be surprising. On the west coast of North America oceanic birds are most accessible on pelagic birding trips on Monterey Bay, most of which leave from the city of Monterey. The on-shore birding isn’t bad either, with birds like Wrentit and Yellow-billed Magpie present in appropriate habitats.
Habitat: open ocean, coastal California scrub
When To Go: August to October (the bird species present vary dramatically through the year)
Birds to Look For: Black-footed Albatross, shearwaters, storm-petrels

Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve (TG)

Location: Near Huntington Beach, California
Habitat: Coastal wetland
Birds to Look For: Numerous shorebirds, terns, waterfowl, Black-necked Stilt, Brown Pelicans, etc. Also has Peregrine Falcon.

Back Bay Newport (also called Upper Newport Bay) (TG)

Location: Southern California
Habitat: tidal estuary
When To Go: autumn through spring
Birds to Look For: attracts a wide range of waterfowl, shorebirds, rails, raptors, songbirds.

Point Reyes (TG)

Location: California (north of San Francisco)
Why Special: A great place with a wide range of habitats; Point Reyes Bird Observatory has a major trapping and banding operation there.
Habitat: coastal cliffs, beaches, woodlands
When To Go: migration

Bear River National Wildlife Refuge (WH)

Location: west of Brigham City, Utah
Why Special: Imagine standing on one spot and slowing turning around, seeing literally dozens of American Avocet nests, while flocks of White-faced Ibis fly against a backdrop of rugged mountains. Western and Clark’s Grebes can be watched in their courtship dashes across the water surface. The concentration of waterfowl, shorebirds and larger waders in the right seasons is amazing, especially in contrast to the more arid habitats typical of the Great Basin.
Habitat: freshwater marsh, wet grassland, desert scrub
When To Go: spring, summer, fall
Birds to Look For: Snowy Plover, Western Grebe, Clark’s Grebe, Long-billed Curlew

Rocky Mountain National Park, (MP) (TG)

Location: Estes Park, CO
Why Special: There’s nothing like compiling your day’s checklist of birds at the Estes Park Brewery. (MP) I love to spend time in the high country here, above the treeline in an area of alpine tundra; can see herds of elk (TG)
Habitat: Tundra, Ponderosa Pine and Quaking Aspen, riparian areas
When To Go: Spring
Birds to Look For: Rosy-finches, White-tailed Ptarmigan, Blue Grouse, Black-backed and Three-toed woodpeckers, Clark's Nutcracker; Prairie Falcon, and on the rivers are American Dippers