Location: Anacortes.
Habitat: A 200-acre, family-friendly municipal park with cedar, fir and madrona forest, grassy bluffs and boulder-strewn coastline.
Best seasons for birding: Good birding year-round.
Birds commonly seen: Home to more than 100 species, the park offers especially good winter birding. In saltwater, look for marbled murrelets, pigeon guillemots, common loons, red-necked and western grebes, double-crested and pelagic cormorants, brant, surf scoters, hooded mergansers and harlequin ducks. Rhinoceros auklets are abundant in spring and summer. Black oystercatchers and bald eagles frequent the shoreline. Look in trees for brown creepers, red-breasted nuthatches, golden-crowned kinglets and bushtits; downy, hairy and pileated woodpeckers; and possibly migrant warblers.
Viewing tips: Park has numerous trails, including a 2.3-mile scenic loop. Watch for orcas and harbor seals.
Access: From Interstate 5 at Burlington, Skagit County, take Exit 230 to westbound Highway 20. At the Whidbey Island turnoff, take the Highway 20 Spur to Anacortes and follow signs toward the ferry landing. Just before turning downhill to the ferry dock, keep left and proceed onto Sunset Ave. Drive 0.8 mile to Loop Road parking. Loop Road is reserved for foot traffic from 6 to 10 a.m. daily.
More information: 360-293-1918 or www.cityofanacortes.org [1]
Source: Audubon Washington. For free maps of Washington birding sites, call 866-922-4737 and ask for Great Washington State Birding Trail maps ("Cascade Loop" and/or "Coulee Corridor"), or request online at www.wa.audubon.org [2].
THE SEATTLE TIMES 
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