|
Columbia National Wildlife Refuge, Othello 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. Top
Top
Bird List 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 Teal) Common Merganser Red-breasted Merganser Hooded Merganser California Quail Ring-necked Pheasant Common Loon Pied-billed Grebe Double-crested Cormorant American Bittern Great Blue Heron American Kestrel Red-tailed Hawk Northern Harrier Cooper's Hawk Prairie Falcon American Coot Sandhill Crane (Greater & Lesser/Canadian race) Wilson's Snipe Long-billed Curlew Killdeer Ring-billed Gull Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Great Horned 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 House Finch Other Critter List Mule Deer Coyote Beaver Muskrat Mountain Cottontail Yellow-bellied Marmot Porcupine Bat sp. Gopher Snake Pacific Treefrog Black Widow Spider March 2006 & Para Ponds/Lower Crab Creek March 2010 & Para Ponds/Lower Crab Creek March 2011 Top 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 Top
|