• 15 thing to do while you're here
• Beautiful Black Butte Ranch • Birding: Sisters is for the birds • Camping in the Sisters Country • Cycling: Put your skinny tires on the road • Day Trips in Central Oregon • Equestrian: Get out and horse around! • Family fun in Sisters • Fishing: Sisters is a fisherman's dream • Golf: Paradise on the greens of Sisters • Hiking: Sisters Country on foot • Lakes: Playing in Sisters Country lakes • Mountain Biking: Hit the trails on a mountain bike • Rafting in Central Oregon: Get your feet wet! • Running: Sisters Country is a runner's paradise • Wildlife: Going wild in Sisters • Wildflower abudance in Sisters • Winter fun abounds near Sisters |
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Birding the Sisters Country No matter how you get to Sisters, you can have a wonderful time birding. Take flying in. When you tie down your aircraft in the visitor parking area in summer, all you have to do is listen for a moment and you will hear Oregon’s State Bird, the Western meadowlark. They nest in the open areas near the runway and in adjacent fields, and the mountain bluebirds flitting about will knock your eyes out! You might also use caution and keep an eye out for eagles, hawks and turkey vultures soaring near the east end of the runway. When you drive into the Sisters Country via the McKenzie Pass route, over Highway 242 in the summer (it’s closed in winter), you’re driving through blue grouse and pygmy owl country. You can walk up to the grouse and take close-up photos. The little pygmy owl, on the other hand, is a spook, and often kills and eats animals much larger than it is. Passing down the east side of the McKenzie toward Sisters, you will pass Cold Springs Campground. Take the time to turn in and walk the short nature trail adjacent to the parking area. It will be well worth it. White-headed woodpeckers nest in the aspens, along with hairy, downy woodpeckers and sapsuckers, and spotted towhees scoot along under your feet. Leave plenty of time to arrive in Sisters while crossing the Cascades on Highway 22. The birding is exceptional, and the burned forest is a woodpecker wonderland! Spotted sandpipers are visible on most of the lake shores, waterfowl and osprey are always busy around and in Suttle Lake. If you turn off at Cache Lake, you may even see a northern spotted owl. A stop at Indian Ford Campground will open the door to warblers and an accipiter or two, like a Cooper’s hawk intent on a warbler for lunch. Watch for bald eagles perched in the tops of towering fir and pines alongside the highway. They are watching for trophy fish in Suttle Lake. Coming into Sisters from Bend, you’ll be in Western meadowlark country, with three or four active red-tailed hawk nesting pairs hunting the hay fields across from ODOT’s scenic pullouts. If you’re watching, it will be almost impossible to drive from Bend to Sisters without seeing our smallest falcon, the American kestrel, perched on powerlines adjacent to Highway 20 — just one more of Sisters' avian wonders.
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