Three Days - Two Nights at The Coast

Dinner at Three Rivers Casino

We have sort of perfected a package that works out well for us to escape for a few days from Dallas Retirement Village where we live and get in some exploring and birding in a very economical way.  That is to say, a way to not spend any money on over-night accommodations or food. Our food is prepaid in our monthly fee, so the day before we leave, Jeanette orders and picks up the meals we will need for our trip.  These are loaded into the van along with the clothing we will need and our birding gear. Our night-time parking spots are places we know that we can park for free.

 We left late afternoon Friday the 10th on this trip, taking the Kings Valley Highway south. Our first stop was at Ritner Bridge for a quick bird walk and lunch.  

We continued on down Kings Valley Highway, joining up with Highway 20 to our next stop at Toledo to bird on the Depot Slough Path, one of our favorite birding locations.  You can see our bird list here. From there we returned to Highway 20 into Newport, and then down Highway 101 to the town of Yachats to check out the Yachats Commons Park and walk the Wetland Park Trail. You can see our bird list here.  Back on Highway 101 we drove over the scenic Heceta Headlands to Florence and to our overnight parking spot at Three Rivers Casino where we enjoyed our dinner as shown in the top photo. RVers are allowed one night of parking for free.

Saturday morning after breakfast we drove on south to Tahkenitch Landing Campground to pick-up our friend Glenn Reubon who volunteers there as Host.  Together we traveled on to our first bird stop for the day at the Stables Rd. eBird Hotspot. Here is that list.  Next was on to Winchester Bay to bird at the Salmon Harbor Marina and an exciting find of a Yellow-billed Loon.

Yellow-billed Loon

Glenn made our whole trip an outstanding event by putting us onto this rare, Yellow-billed Loon.  This is an artic species that is only occasionally seen along the Oregon Coast.  This was a first for us, so another Life Bird to add to our Life List. Here is our list for this stop. 

Glenn bought us lunch in Reedsport, and after dropping him of at his trailer we continued back north over Heceta Head to our quiet parking spot for the night at Yachats Commons.

On our route home on Sunday, we made stops to bird in Waldport at Eckman Lake, Campbell Park and Mill Creek Park along the Alsea River, and Jackson-Frazier Wetland in Corvallis.