Day One. We will go to one of the region's most important bird areas, Grays Bay. Here the waters of the Columbia begin to turn salty in a broad shallow bay that attracts both freshwater and saltwater species of birds. Grays Bay in April may have thousands of ducks of many different species, from teal to all three species of scoter. Tundra Swans should be present. Common, Red-throated and Pacific Loons all can be seen in their beautiful breeding plumage. We should see several Bald Eagles, including one nest visible from the water. Greater Yellowlegs, Great Egrets, and Great Blue Herons can be seen hunting along the shoreline. Rough-winged Swallows nest in the sandstone bluffs. Grays Bay is a beautiful area mostly inaccessible except by water, with many species that can be seen well from the kayaks.

Day Two. An optional early morning walk from Skamokawa Center into the Julia Butler Hansen National Wildlife Refuge will offer an opportunity to find songbirds that are hard to see from the water. While some migrants will be present by the early April tour, by late April the migration of neotropical warblers, vireos, tanagers and flycatchers will be in full swing. Our kayak trip will begin in Cathlamet and paddle one way with the outgoing tide to Skamokawa through the Sitka spruce swamps of the refuge. Along the slough are active Osprey nests and colonies of Purple Martins. At our lunch site, a beach on the main channel of the Columbia, a sand spit attracts migratory shorebirds as well as Caspian Terns and gulls. To the north, the meadows managed by the refuge have White-tailed Kites and Harriers hunting for rodents. We will  return to Skamokawa via Steamboat Slough.

The Lower Columbia River is one of the most important areas in the Pacific Flyway for migrating songbirds with counts reaching almost 150,000. Wintering waterfowl reach peaks of more than 200,000 birds. Of the 800 regularly occurring North American birds, over 200 species use the food and habitat of the Lower Columbia and estuary.

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