Butte Valley National Grassland
Macdoel / Dorris (north of Mt Shasta) · near Dorris · Shasta Cascade
Wildlife Watching
At a glance
- Best season
- Winter (Dec-Feb) for raptors; spring/fall for waterfowl & cranes at Meiss Lake
- Open year round
- Yes
What is here
- Wildlife
- birds
- Species
- Rough-legged, ferruginous & red-tailed hawks, northern harriers, golden & bald eagles, prairie falcons, wintering gyrfalcon & merlin; waterfowl & cranes at Meiss Lake
- Amenities
- Grid of drivable country roads · Meiss Lake waterfowl · Mount Shasta backdrop · Annual winter raptor tour
- Best for
- Exceptional winter raptor variety on an open-country drive
- Features
- Premier raptor destination of the region · Wintering gyrfalcon a local specialty · Slow-drive fence-post scanning · Mount Shasta looming north face
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- Snow-covered or muddy winter roads · Birds spread across open country - need optics & patience · Remote; cold
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Wildlife Watching detail
- Viewing
- drive
- Effort
- easy
- Habitat
- plains
- Sighting
- 3
- Viewing notes
- The region's premier open-country raptor theater - a winter drive through sagebrush flats beneath Mount Shasta turns up rough-legged and ferruginous hawks, eagles, and rarities like gyrfalcon
- Intl tip
- Drive the county roads slowly with binoculars on a clear, cold winter morning, scanning every fence post and haystack. The wintering gyrfalcon is the prize. Roads can be snowy or muddy - go prepared.
The guide
The open sagebrush-and-farmland flats of Butte Valley, spread beneath the north face of Mount Shasta, become a raptor theater e…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Butte Valley National Grassland — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 41.83, -121.93