Yesterday morning we fled the current heat wave in the Willamette Valley, with expected temperatures in the mid 90's, to the cooler conditions of the coastal forest. Our destination was the birding oasis of the Alder Island Trail in the Siletz Bay National Wildlife Refuge. In route, just before Otis Junction, we took a detour route on Forest Service Road 17 up over Cougar Mountain, stopping at the Drift Creek Trailhead before descending on down to the Siletz Bay. It was a marvelous route of lush green forest with very few cars. A winding road mandated a slow enough speed to allow driving with the windows down and to enjoying the serenading songs of many Pacific Wrens and Swainson's Thrushes. We arrived at the Refuge, parked the van, opened up the back doors, set up our table and chairs and enjoyed our lunch at a perfect 70 degrees. Our last trip here was in March, so the amount of green foliage was now almost shocking, and most of our bird identification had to be based on sound not sight. Check out our Observation List with photos.
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