Enjoy easy birding around lake for Ruddy, Ring-necked and Wood Ducks, scaups and gulls. Or get adventuresome and hike steep trail to scenic plateau for Golden Eagles and White-throated Swifts. See Cascade Loop of the Great Washington State Birding Trail.

Area Birding

Habitat: 180-acre Lakeside park in dry pine forest between towering rock cliffs.

Birding: On the lake, look for Ruddy, Ring-necked, and Wood Ducks; Greater and Lesser Scaups; and Bonaparte’s, California, and Glaucous-winged Gulls. Spring species include Dusky and Hammond’s Flycatcher, Western Wood-Pewee, Say’s Phoebe, Eastern and Western Kingbird, Calliope and Rufous Hummingbird, Cassin’s Finch, Pygmy Nuthatch, House Wren, Cedar Waxwing, California Quail, Hairy and Lewis’s Woodpecker, Golden Eagle, and White-throated Swift. On summer evenings, Common Poorwills call from the cliffs.

Viewing: Go birding around lake and campground. There’s excellent birding along steep 1.2-mile trail that climbs 900 feet up the rocky eastern slope to scenic plateau w/ views of middle Columbia Valley.

Access: From Hwy 153 at milepost 1.5, turn west onto Alta Lake Rd. Drive 2.2 miles to parking lot.