Oregon Birding Trails

Oregon Birding Trails are your guide to viewing nearly 500 species of birds in spectacular landscapes ranging from sandy beaches to verdant forests, from desert playas to alpine meadows. Visit www.oregonbirdingtrails.org
for more information, including downloadable guides for the four completed trails, or to learn more about plans for expanding the Oregon Birding Trail network.

Route planning for the Willamette Valley Birding Trail is now in progress, with more than 100 sites nominated by Oregon birders. If your favorite birding spot was missed visit the Willamette Valley Birding Trail site today to make sure that it will be considered.

We invite you to help design Oregon's newest birding trail by nominating your favorite birding site for inclusion. The Willamette Valley Birding Trail will be the fifth of nine trails that are envisioned for Oregon, and the first to feature bicycling loops as well as auto tour routes. Each birding trail will utilize existing highways and byways to link individual birding sites into routes featuring the diversity of bird species and habitats in the state. Nominations will be solicited separately for each trail.  

The Willamette Valley Birding Trail's route committee may select up to 150 nominated sites to be included in the trail. The group is now evaluating and rating the nominated sites according to criteria including access, safety, and birding interest, and contacting property owners and managing agencies to confirm that the sites can be included in the birding trail. Following this review, each site will be visited to confirm directions, accessibility, and other key information.

Over 100 sites have been nominated for the birding trail to this point. A draft map is also available for viewing the status of planning for the Willamette Valley Birding Trail Routes.

If you have any questions regarding the form, the Willamette Valley Birding Trail, or Oregon Birding Trails in general, please contact the route committee chair, Joel Geier at 541-745-5821 or e-mail joel.geier@peak.org. If we have any questions regarding your submission, you may be contacted for clarification. Thank you for your assistance in creating the Willamette Valley Birding Trail!

"Site Visitors" Needed!

During August and September, we need to "groundtruth" the sites that have been accepted for the birding trail. This means visiting each of the sites, and checking the most essential information:

Are the directions easy to follow?
Are the descriptions of the habitat (for birds) and the amenities (for birders) correct?

Besides birds, we'll also be on the lookout for other unique aspects of each site (history, geology, etc.), that will add to the experience of visitors. At the end
of each site visit, we'll write a site description, usually a single paragraph. This will serve as the first draft of the text for the Trail Brochure. We hope that volunteers can do most of these site visits. WVBT plans to reimburse volunteers for driving expenses (at a rate to be decided, but at least enough to cover gas expenses). We'll provide a checklist of things to look for at each site, and examples of site descriptions.

Site visits can be fun ways to learn about interesting spots that you might not have been aware of – or an excuse to go birding at a favorite spot! You don't need to be an expert at bird identification, since the goal isn't to find birds at these sites: It's to make sure that birders can find the sites! If you're interested in volunteering as a "site visitor," please contact Joel Geier for a list of available sites near you.