Sauvie Island

Habitat and Birds

Note only the south half of Sauvie Island is in Multnomah County; the north half is in Columbia County.  Also note there is no gas station on the island.

Sauvie Island offers good birding year round, but is outstanding in winter when the refuge is filled with ducks, geese (including thousands of Snow Geese), swans (Tundra and Trumpeter) and Sandhill Cranes.   A daily or annual pass is required to park at most designated sites including Oak Island and Raccoon Point.  They can be purchased at the store just past the bridge as you enter the island.

Wapato Access Greenway State Park is a popular trail shaped like a lollipop measuring about 2.5 miles that goes around a lake that can dry up in summer.  In winter there is a good variety of ducks and geese present and is good for a variety of sparrows.  It is open year round and a parking permit is not required there.

Raccoon Point offers somewhat distant views of Sturgeon Lake that can hold large numbers of ducks, geese (Canada, Cackling, Snow, sometimes Greater White-fronted and rarely Ross’s) and both Tundra and Trumpeter Swans, and it is also a very good place to look for wintering raptors.  It is open year round; a parking permit is required.

Oak Island has a nature trail that is a loop with the northern half being in Columbia county.  It is limited to hunters Oct 1-April 15; a parking permit is required.  This is best in spring and early summer and is a good place to find nesting Bullock’s Orioles, White-breasted Nuthatch, House Wren, and Rufous Hummingbird.  Acorn Woodpeckers have shown the past few years in spring.   There are two spots that offer views of Sturgeon Lake.  In September these can be good spots for shorebirds and local rarities such as Franklin’s Gull, Sabine’s Gull, Common Tern, and Parasitic Jaeger.

Click HERE for a checklist of the Sauvie Island Birds