NWBirding Columbia National Wildlife Refuge

Columbia National Wildlife Refuge, Othello, WA

Synopsis

    In 2001, we first went over to the Potholes/Columbia NWR area to see the Sandhill Cranes. Despite camping and hiking in the usual rain and wind combos, we’ve gone each year since then to see the cranes migrate through. And each time we manage to have a good time. We started by camping at Potholes State Park – back before it became popular or crowded. We’ve since moved on to camping at Upper Goose Lake on the refuge. We enjoy this better – hardly any people (sometimes none) and we see (and hear) the Sandhill Cranes flying out to feed in the mornings and returning to the refuge at dusk to roost.
    The part of the refuge we camp on is open to hiking. So we often hike around the mesas and open sage. We’ve hiked along the Upper Goose Lake down and around the Lower Goose Lake. Animal paths and trails make hiking fairly easy, and the small dams on the lake are crossable.
    Other popular birding spots in the area include the O'Sullivan Dam, Potholes State Park, the "Para Ponds" on Hwy-26 just west of Othello, Dodson Road, the Potholes Reservoir, and Lower Crab Creek.

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Pictures

	Goose Lake - a beautiful place to camp.

	Sandhill Cranes fly over Goose Lake at dawn and dusk.
	Yellow-bellied Marmots live among the mesas

Yellow Bells

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Bird List

Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
American Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Canada Goose
Trumpeter Swan
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Common Goldeneye
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Northern Pintail
American Wigeon
Eurasian Wigeon
Gadwall
Redhead
Green-winged Teal
Common Merganser
Hooded Merganser
American Kestrel
Red-tailed Hawk
Northern Harrier
Prairie Falcon
California Quail
Ring-necked Pheasant
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Wilson's Snipe
Long-billed Curlew
Killdeer
Ring-billed Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Great Horned Owl
Barred Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Flicker
Say's Phoebe
Loggerhead Shrike
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Horned Lark
Violet-green Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Rock Wren
Canyon Wren
Marsh Wren
American Robin
Hermit Thrush
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Spotted Towhee
Red-winged Blackbird
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Western Meadowlark

Other Critter List

Mule Deer
Coyote
Muskrat
Mountain Cottontail
Yellow-bellied Marmot
Porcupine
Bat sp.
Gopher Snake
Pacific Treefrog

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Information

Located: Othello, WA
Directions: Off of I-90 (where the freeway crosses the Columbia River) take hwy-26 east to Royal City/Othello, go north on to hwy-262 (toward Potholes State Park), follow hwy-262 across the O'Sullivan Dam to the north entrance of Columbia NWR or turn east onto McManamon Road to enter the refuge from the south.
Columbia National Wildlife Refuge

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