Birds
Fern Ridge is located 10 miles west of Eugene, in Oregon’s southern Willamette Valley. The extensive wetlands provide unique habitats for a variety of wildlife, including an unusual array of breeding birds. The reservoir is managed by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. While winter waterfowl are a primary management species, the wildlife area provides thousands of acres of habitat for raptors, upland birds, shorebirds, passerines and woodpeckers. Other wildlife include deer, river otter, western pond turtle and red-legged frogs.
Fern Ridge offers a large variety of birding opportunities from advanced shorebird identification to enjoying the many species of ducks. As always, timing makes a big difference but spring is a fun and exciting time at Fern Ridge, when you may see a wonderful mixture of north bound neotropical migrants and early breeders. By April, many geese already have nests or chicks and Stilts have usually arrived. Come May, the breeders are in full force and include Stilts, Phalaropes, Yellow-headed Blackbird, American Bittern, Redhead, and the list goes on.
Click here (Excel) to download and print a complete checklist of Fern Ridge birds
Click here (pdf) for a complete bird checklist
Where to Bird Fern Ridge in Spring
Royal Avenue:
Parking is available at the western end of Royal Ave where there is a restroom. From the gate, walk west towards the reservoir and turn south into the dike system. From this intersection a viewing platform should be visible. Lighting can be tricky at times, but you are sure to get incredible panoramic views of the reservoir in the mornings and one must catch a Fern Ridge sunset in the evenings, truly spectacular.
From the platform in spring, scan the mudflats and marshes for all sorts of breeding birds such as Osprey, Red-winged Blackbird, American Bittern, Black-necked Stilt, Pied-billed Grebe, and American Coot, etc. Don’t forget to listen for calling Virginia Rail and Sora, especially near dawn or dusk. Scan the large cottonwoods in all directions for Bald Eagle and look for the Purple Martin boxes mounted to old snags or installed poles. If you’re lucky, Martins sometimes flyby quite close in mixed swallow flocks.
Kirk Park:
Located on the north side of the reservoir, Kirk Park is an excellent place to stop and have lunch. Ample picnic tables are available and nesting songbirds are plentiful. Listen for singing Brown Creeper, White-breasted Nuthatch, and Black-capped Chickadees in the park. Cliff swallows nest on the dam face and hunt over Kirk Pond with other swallows and there is usually a resident Kingfisher around. Exploring the forest edges could produce various other songbird breeders; look and listen for Spotted Towhee, Orange-crowned Warbler, Hutton’s Vireo and Black-headed Grosbeak.
Perkin’s/Zumwalt Parks:
Perkin’s is on the south side of the reservoir and Zumwalt is just northwest of it. Both of theses peninsula act as spring migrant traps, funneling and concentrating migrant birds to their northern shores. Timing is everything with neotropical migrants. Mornings are usually better, but numbers can vary dramatically from day to day. If you show up on a good morning, prepare for warblers, vireos, flycatchers, orioles and others to be dripping from the trees and shrubs.
On a good day you’ll find Orange-crowned, Black-throated Gray and Townsends Warbler. Warbling and Cassin’s Vireo are both likely. Look for Western Wood Pewee, and try to sort through the various other flycatchers. Orioles are often present as well as Western Tanagers and Black-headed Grosbeak. Hummingbirds whirl by and Yellow Warblers breed near the boardwalk.