Your Passport to Nature in Tualatin Valley: Our favorite bird watching spots

The vastness of Tualatin Valley offers innumerable options for getting in touch with nature. Many of the valley’s 727 square miles are devoted to pristine wetlands, nature parks, wildlife refuges and preserves, verdant forests, and tranquil waters. Tualatin Valley is an ideal destination for hiking, cycling, paddling, fishing, wildlife watching, nature and wildflower walks and other outdoor pursuits.

Bring your binoculars, scopes and cameras, here are 3 of our favorite wildlife locations in the Tualatin Valley.

1. Banks-Vernonia State Trail: The Banks-Vernonia State Trail, Oregon’s first rails-to-trails park, is a 21-mile (one way), multi-use, car-free trail. Amenities and attractions along the route include trailhead parking areas, trestle/bridge crossings and day use areas. The trail may be accessed at any of six points, including trailheads at Manning, Buxton, Tophill and Beaver Creek, as well as the cities of Banks and Vernonia.
2. Cooper Mountain Nature Park: Overlooking the Tualatin Valley, the 230-acre Cooper Mountain Nature Park offers visitors grand views of the Chehalem Mountains and features 3½ miles of trails of varying difficulty) that traverse the park and pass through a mosaic of distinct habitats: oak and madrone woodlands, native prairies, and conifer forests.
3. Tualatin Hills Nature Park: Tualatin Hills Nature Park offers 222 ecologically diverse acres, which is a unique habitat including ponds, creeks, marshes and forests. The park can be explored via 1.5 miles of paved trails and 3.5 miles of soft-surface trails. The park is home to a variety of birds, mammals, reptiles and insects.

To read about all 16 of our favorite locations to bird watch, visit tualatinvalley.org/activities/activities-attractions-outdoors/nature-passport/