Take a Drive to Vancouver Lake

South end of the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge, great place to visit anytime

Every once in awhile we take a break and drive out past Vancouver Lake (WA) and do a little bird watching. Now, we have family members that are true bird watchers, members of Audubon Society. What we do is drive around sight seeing and look for birds, usually from the car. Vancouver Lake is just west of downtown Vancouver and lies south of the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge.

I don't remember why we drove out there the first time, maybe because it made for a quick lunch spot when our office was downtown. But I do remember spotting Bald Eagles, which look cool even from a distance, without binoculars.

About a month ago we drove out there, again without binoculars, we saw dozens of white egrets. But on our last drive there, we brought the binoculars and saw 1 egret and 1 turkey vulture. 

Not a lot of birds, but the weather was perfect, sunny and cool. There are a couple of recreation areas and a dead end full of paint balls. There is Vancouver Lake Regional Park  & Frenchman's Bar Park which sits on the Columbia River west of the lake. Both now have parking  fees year round, a $3.00 honor system. But it's a beautiful place, and a free parking area is located between the two if you want to get some walking in. Here's a link to a pdf of the trail : http://www.cityofvancouver.us/parks-recreation/parks_trails/trails/pdfs/Frenchmans_VanLake.pdf

For some reason there are endless fields of corn, felt like driving in the mid-west.

The Columbia River, access to the Port of Vancouver