Maiden Voyage

Salmon River Estuary - Fraser Rd 

This weekend was our first overnight trip in our new 2026 Coachmen Pixel 1.8 camper van. It was a loop to the Oregon Coast and back. Our first stop on Saturday morning was on Fraser Rd at the Salmon River Estuary to bird. Here is our bird list. 

Siletz River NWR - Siletz Keys

Continuing south through Lincoln City, our next stop was the Siletz Keys at the Siletz River National Wildlife Refuge. This turned out to be our best birding location of the trip with 35 different bird species. Here is our list.  This was also our lunch stop which we enjoyed sitting in the van with the sliding door open and watching and listening to the birds

Paddle Park - Yaquina Bay

Our afternoon stop was at Paddle Park along Yaquina River Rd., after a stop along the way for a short nap. For some reason it was an exceptionally quiet time for birds. Here us our bird list.

Depot Slough Path - Toledo

Our last stop of the day was at the park at the Depot Slough Path. This is a favorite spot for us to bird, and in the lingering light the best birding sighting was an Osprey on a nest eating a fish. Here is our bird list. Our night was not the best, still learning about the bed set-up, the temperature controls, and the battery endurance. 

Sunday, we completed our loop back to home to Dallas via Corvallis. Made a stop at Philomath Safeway for a snack and then on to lunch at Burgerville in Monmouth and a check on the Osprey nest in Independence, where despite reports of sightings, we saw nothing.