Wildlife Viewing
A Wealth of Natural Habitats
Birdwatching
The Great Washington State Birding Trail, published by Audubon Washington in 2005, pinpoints the best places for bird watching in the Evergreen State.
Hundreds of thousands of birds of the Pacific Flyway depend on Washington’s wealth of natural habitats. Vast numbers of shorebirds stop here in spring to rest and eat before continuing northward, while many neo-tropical migrants, raptors, and others stay to nest and raise the next generation.
The Southwest Washington Loop features 270 of Washington’s 365 bird species. Many can be found at five sites in Cowlitz County.
Coal Creek Slough: Bullock’s orioles; willow, olive-sided, and Pacific-slope flycatchers; osprey; swallows; and kingfishers.
Lake Sacagawea: Green heron; American coot; pie-billed grebe; rock dove; cormorant; osprey; and bufflehead, canvasback, mallard, widgeon, golden-eye, and wood ducks.
Seaquest State Park/Mount St. Helens Visitor Center: Native and migratory birds.
Hummocks Trail: Horned larks, Western meadowlarks, rock wrens, rosy finches, goldeneyes, buffleheads, cinnamon teal, Canada geese, coots, sora, marsh wren, red-winged and yellow-headed blackbirds, yellowthroat, yellow warbler, Wilson's warbler, yellow-rumped warblers, MacGillivray's warbler, willow flycatcher, sparrows, kingfishers, swifts, kestrels, rufous hummingbirds, harriers, short-eared owls, Townsend's solitaire, and barn, cliff, tree, violet-green, northern rough-winged and Vaux's swallows.
Johnston Ridge Observatory: Many of the same species found on the Hummocks Trail.
Elk Viewing
Hundreds of Roosevelt elk inhabit the broad Toutle River Valley. The best viewpoints are at Hoffstadt Bluffs Visitors Center at Milepost 27 on State Route 504 and at the Mount St. Helens Forest Learning Center at Milepost 33.5. Helicopter tours leaving from Hoffstadt Bluffs also provide excellent elk viewing.