Birding Dungeness Spit and Adjacent Forests
Trip 1: Friday, April 17, 2026 8:30 AM – 11:30 AM
Trip 2: Saturday, April 18, 2026 8:30 AM – 11:30 AM
Trip 3: Sunday, April 19, 2026 8:30 AM – 11:30 AM
Location: Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge parking lot
Price: $40.00
Trips leader: Dow Lambert
Limit: 20
The longest natural sand spit in the United States, Dungeness Spit juts over five miles into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Part of the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge, the Spit offers viewing of birds in the Strait with those of an inshore bay. We will walk through forested uplands to find song birds, then emerge onto viewing sites to scope inshore and offshore waters for loons, grebes, sea ducks, auklets, murrelets, and more. We’ll descend a paved trail onto the Spit and walk a sandy portion of the shoreline. Later we’ll walk several trails in the Dungeness Recreation Area to see birds of upland rain shadow habitats, mixing thickets of forest with open grasslands and marshes. Where else can you see Black Scoters and Red-throated Loons in the same morning as Northern Harriers and Golden-crowned Sparrows? The trip includes walking approximately 2 miles over both paved and graveled trails.