Home / Events / Audubon Birding Day: Hiking and Sunset at Mount St. Helens with Gina Roberti & Erin Law

Audubon Birding Day: Hiking and Sunset at Mount St. Helens with Gina Roberti & Erin Law

Join us as we tour the habitats created by the 1980 eruption and learn about Mount St. Helen’s birds and where to see them. We will visit some of the best and most accessible birding sites on the north side of Mount St. Helens including the Hummocks Trail, Coldwater Lake, and the Boundary Trail. Our trip will focus on habitat type and distribution, as well as birds!

This trip will include a substantial amount of hiking on uneven terrain (up to 3.5 miles). We will (we hope) enjoy a beautiful sunset and dusk bird activity. 

Meeting Location: Coldwater Lake Picnic Area

Limited to 10 participants

Masks are optional on this outdoor program.

Background Information on Mount St. Helens

On May 18, 1980, a cataclysmic event occurred at Mount St. Helens as the north flank of the volcano slid off in one of the largest landslides in recorded history, unleashing a powerful eruption. This eruption buried 230 square miles of existing old-growth forest with hundreds of feet of volcanic debris. In some places closest to the crater of the volcano, almost no living organisms survived. Ash from the eruption blew across the United States and megatons of logs and volcanic debris clogged up rivers, lakes, and streams. The eruption dramatically reshaped the landscape, creating a mosaic of habitat types that are now home to a diverse suite of birds. 

In 1982, the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument was designated to protect the land closest to the volcano as a place for research, recreation, and education. Today, home to more than 80 species of nesting birds, the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument offers unique birding opportunities.

Summer blooms at Mount St. Helens, D.T. Strouse

Sunsets and birds at Mt. St Helens!

Join Gina and Erin to hike, learn about the habitats created by the eruption, and enjoy the dusk bird activity on the north side of Mount St. Helens.

Learn More

Audubon Birding Day Details

  • Date: July 8, 3:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
  • Class fee: $65 members / $85 non-members
Trip Leader

Gina Roberti

Gina Roberti is a geologist, naturalist and educator who grew up digging quahogs and exploring the shorelines of the Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island (the state with the largest coastline per capita!) amidst ancient metamorphic rocks of the Appalachian Mountains. Since graduating from Brown University with a degree in Geology-Biology, Gina spent several years working as a geoscience educator in various geologic regions in the western U.S., including the Colorado Plateau, Snake River Plain, Klamath-Siskiyou, North Cascades, and presently the active Cascade volcanic range. In each of these places she taught thousands of youth and adults about earth science in a variety of field-based and classroom settings.

Gina currently works with the Mount St. Helens Institute. She strongly believes in the power of education to inspire awareness, appreciation and stewardship for the natural world. When Gina is not working she can be found on long walks or cross country skis, often in the company of birds.

Go Birding!
Trip Leader

Erin Law

Erin fell in love with birding while working at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. After college, she studied Red-throated Loons, Common Loons and shorebird migration at Grays Harbor, Washington. Erin is passionate about the natural histories of birds, conservation, and advocating for environmental and social justice. She has traveled throughout Latin America and East Africa and loves nothing more than sharing her knowledge and enthusiasm for birds and the natural world, and for all cultures around the world.

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Details

Date:
July 8
Time:
3:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Event Categories:
,

Venue

OR United States
Cost:
$85 – $115

Venue

OR United States
Cost:
$85 – $115

Organizer

Tara Lemezis
Email:
tlemezis@audubonportland.org

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