Bush Pioneer Park and Palix River

Location: The town of Bay Center on Willapa Bay in Pacific County

Habitat: 40-acre county park on forested bluff above saltwater mud flats, intertidal river estuary and freshwater wetlands.

Best seasons for birding: Year-round. Best during migration, especially fall.

Birds commonly seen: Shorebird visitors — hunted by peregrine falcons and merlins — include short-billed dowitchers, black-bellied plovers, Western and least sandpipers, greater yellowlegs and dunlins. Common loons are present April-May and return for winter. In winter, see horned and Western grebes, American wigeons, occasional Eurasian wigeons, green-winged teal and Northern pintails.

Viewing: Open year-round for birding, camping May-September. Search evergreens on south side of playfield year-round for brown creepers, red-breasted sapsuckers, Northern flickers; and downy, hairy and pileated woodpeckers; and possible red crossbills in summer. Bald eagles and Cooper's hawks roost in conifers.

Getting there: From Highway 101 at Milepost 42.4, turn west onto Bay Center Dike Road. Drive 2.6 miles (through town of Bay Center) to Bush Pioneer Park. Park just inside entrance on left.

More birding: Drive 0.9 mile on Bay Center Dike Road. Park on south side of road for meadow view to south, river views to north. Early spring, check riparian brush and trees for kinglets; later in spring for common yellowthroats; and orange-crowned, Townsend's, Wilson's, yellow and MacGillivray's warblers. At 1.4 miles along dike road, park on south roadside, walk west to pond. Green herons and four species of swallow come in summer, great egrets in fall, and snow geese and possible greater white-fronted geese in winter.

Source: Audubon Washington, Great Washington State Birding Trail maps. To order maps (Cascade Loop, Coulee Corridor, Olympic Loop or Southwest Loop), go online to www.wa.audubon.org. Call toll-free, 866-922-4737, for more information.