Methow's Beaver Pond is a great bet for birds

Beaver Pond, Site 32 from "Cascade Loop" route of Audubon Washington's Great Washington State Birding Trail.

Location: Near Sun Mountain Lodge, outside Winthrop, Methow Valley.

Habitat: 5-acre U.S. Forest Service wetland surrounded by alders, maples, cottonwoods; hillsides of grassland, ponderosa pines, firs.

Best seasons for birding: Spring through fall.

Birds commonly seen: Blue-chip birding! Check pond for migrating blue-winged teal, northern pintails, Barrow's goldeneyes, redheads and ruddy ducks. Watch water's edge for Virginia rails, soras, and spotted sandpipers. Find veeries, house wrens, orange-crowned warblers in deciduous forest. Lucky birders spy white-headed woodpeckers plus common delights: pileated and downy woodpeckers, red-naped sapsuckers, Cassin's finches, ruffed grouse. Owls, including rare flammulated owl, frequent woods.

Viewing tip: Walk 0.1-mile back down parking access road to Beaver Pond Trail. Path loops through forest where pygmy nuthatches nest in pines, then over ridge and around pond.

Getting there: From Highway 20 between Winthrop and Twisp, at Milepost 196, turn west onto Twin Lakes Road. Drive 1.8 miles. Turn left onto Patterson Lake Road. Drive 5.2 miles. Turn left into Chickadee Trail Parking/Forest Service Road 4410.

Source: Audubon Washington, Great Washington State Birding Trail maps. See maps online (or order hard copies, $4.95 apiece), at wa.audubon.org.