Dungeness Refuge is a day-use area open only to foot traffic and horseback riding. Take a half-mile walk to an interpretive overlook above the spit and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The trail continues down a steep hill to the spit. Best viewing (and the least disturbing to wildlife) is within the first mile of Dungeness Spit. Dungeness Recreation Area, adjacent to the refuge, offers camping and hunting for waterfowl and pheasant during fall.

Six-mile sand spit takes walkers by Black Oystercatchers, Caspian Terns, Brants, scoters and Long-tailed Ducks to lighthouse. Campers hear Great-horned and Western Screech Owls. Important Bird Area. See Olympic Loop of the Great Washington State Birding Trail.

Area Birding

HABITAT: USFWS 641 acres w/sand spit in Strait of Juan de Fuca, mudflats, forest; adjacent 216-acre Dungeness County Recreation Area.

BIRDING: Nesters include Black Oystercatchers, Caspian, some Arctic Terns. Fall-spring, see Brants; Black, Surf, and White-winged Scoters and Long-tailed Ducks. Offshore, find Marbled Murrelets in summer. Listen at night for Great-horned, Western Screech Owls. Some winters, Gyrfalcons and Snowy Owls visit.

VIEWING: Take trail 0.5 mile to observation deck, continue 0.2 mile to Dungeness Spit; beach goes 6.0 miles to lighthouse.

ACCESS: From Hwy 101 at milepost 260.0, turn north onto Kitchen-Dick Rd. Drive 3.1 miles. Road turns right (east) becoming Lotzgesell Rd. Drive 0.1 mile. Turn left (north) onto Voice of America Rd. Drive 1.0 mile through recreation area/campground to refuge parking.

MORE BIRDING: From southwest end of refuge parking, walk 1.0-mile bluff trail to recreation area; or drive back to campground entrance, continue south 0.2 miles on Voice of America Rd, park in pullouts on either side. Spring-summer, follow trails to wetlands for Virginia Rails, Common Yellowthroats, American Bitterns, American Coots. Short-eared Owls and Northern Harriers hunt meadows. Check winter sparrow flocks for Lincoln’s and White-throated.