This is the third installment of the “Field Guide”.  It is an introduction to the selected birding sites in the County.

This guide will be published in a series of installments:
Overview of Columbia County (5/9/14 post)
Habitats of Columbia County (5/9/14 post)
Birds of Columbia County – Overview (5/9/14 post)
Birding Sites of Columbia County – Individual installments, and associated Bird Lists of the Sites in Columbia County:
Introduction (5/12/14 post)

(A link to a downloadable copy of this guide is found in the first installment of this sereis)

Birding Sites for Columbia County:

This section is divided into three parts: 1) sites along the Columbia River; 2) sites in the Coast Range; followed by 3) a Site Specific listing of the birds seen at each site. Where eBird has a “Hotspot” listing for a site I have used that data. Where no “Hotspot” has been designated I have used my own personal patch lists – where available.

The vast majority of these sites are located along the Columbia River and adjacent bottom lands. In the Coast Range access is limited as most land is in private timber lands. Walk in access is widely available but that puts limits on the territory which can be covered. A third site category should be included; urban and suburban residential habitats. This is partly covered in some sites but could use a more thorough accounting.

Some of the sites listed have not been thoroughly explored and no site species listing has been included. They are mentioned because of their perceived potential to harbor decent habitat for a diversity of wildlife. Here is a map of all the locations mentioned in this guide.

Where Oregon Birding Trails has a guide for a particular location I have added (OBT) to the site name to indicate this.

For this on-line version of the Guide i will cover at least one site per future update and add the site species list with each site to keep things together.  There are a number of sites that do not have lists yet.  But i’m working on that.