Enjoyment of the island's natural beauty is enhanced by the variety and numbers of birds found on the island.

Washington Island is found on one of the main north/south migration routes making it an excellent place for bird watching. In the summer, birds from South and Central America are seen and in the winter birds from the Arctic and Canada await discovery. The month of May is an exceptional month for birding on Washington Island, but there are opportunities all year-round. A printable checklist of the 218 species of birds that have been recorded on the island is included on this website. Enjoy the discovery of these species on your next birding adventure.

Click here for directions and maps

Set off on a birding adventure on Washington Island

Most of the land on the island is privately owned, but all of the birds can be easily observed from the shoulder of the roads and in our public areas.

Please be careful not to trespass on private land, and please do not collect any natural materials such as wildflowers, fossils, driftwood, stones, etc.

Thank you for your cooperation.

1. Look for waterfowl from the ferry dock on Detroit Harbor. Welcome Center is nearby with information and restrooms.

2. Park on Henning Road off of Lobdells Point Road and walk our Heritage Nature Trail to see woodland birds and wildflowers. A field guide for the trail and birding checklists are available in the nearby Welcome Center (restrooms available).

3. On Town Line Road you can hike on the Door County Land Trust property. Also, you may walk the meditation trail to the replica of a medieval Norwegian Stavkirke.

4. The Art and Nature Center has exhibits on our island's many natural habitats, and an exhibit of the art work of the island’s many artists. A naturalist is available to answer questions and lead hikes. Amenities: hand water pump, restrooms.

5. Look for herons at Little Lake Park and visit the Jacobsen Museum. Amenities: latrines.

6. Peoples Park has a scenic overlook of Green Bay. Amenities: picnic tables

Getting Here Is Half The Fun!
Washington Island is located just seven miles off the tip of the Door Peninsula. Ferries depart the mainland from Northport Pier at the end of State Highway 42 for the 30-minute ferry ride across Death's Door to Washington Island.

Drive time from Sturgeon Bay – about 1 hour
Drive time from Green Bay – about 2 hours

TIP: Try to allow extra time for slower traffic on weekends and holidays.

The Washington Island Ferry Line operates frequent ferry trips, and loading is by a first-come, first-serve basis. Ferry waiting lines may be longer at mid-day, weekends, and holidays.

Aboard a Washington Island Ferry, on a clear day, or night, see three navigational lights on nearby Door islands. Two lights comprise the range lights of Plum Island, directly across from Northport Pier. The third light, on Pilot Island at the lake's edge and passage's beginning, guides ships to Green Bay waters.

Pilot Island – Pilot Island has two structures: one, the keeper's home with light tower on top, the second, a generator and machinery storage building. The light structure was built in 1858; it became the scene of a multiple shipwreck in October 1892 when the Forest, A.P. Nichols, and J.E. Gilmore each were blown ashore during a terrific storm over a two-week period.

Once covered with lush, green cedars, Pilot Island's trees have been destroyed by the population of cormorants. Their high-powered guano killed most of the vegetation.

Plum Island – Plum Island (Plumb in the middle of the Door) has an abandoned Coast Guard facility on the island's northeast side, an abandoned lightkeeper's home near the range lights, and an abandoned structure on the SW corner that once housed the equipment for the Plum Island fog horn.

The main light on Plum Island, built in 1897, burns a steady red atop a 65-foot tower made of bolted iron sections. Its location is adjacent to the former keeper's home, also built in the 1890's. This house, now with holes in the roof and rotting wooden trim, was home to lightkeepers and their families until the light was
automated in the late 1950's.

With the exception of Coast Guard personnel and their families, members of the former U.S. Lighthouse Service or Life Saving Station, Plum Island has had no long-term inhabitants. Like Pilot, the island is federally owned. Neither island is accessible.

Look for gulls, cormorants, swans and other waterfowl, and bald eagles in the Plum Island-Northport Pier area. A bald eagle is often perched atop one of the tall poles near the old fog signal building (northwest corner of the island).

Further Ferry Advice – If you've not made the trip before, try for a morning or mid-day ferry connection. This will give you plenty of time to explore Washington Island's highlights: museums, shops and restaurants before returning to the mainland later that afternoon. Rates and Schedule.

Frequently Asked Questions
1. I'd love to visit Washington Island, but how do I get there? Our ferries leave the mainland from our Northport dock which is at the end of Highway 42. Take State Highway 42 or 57 to Sister Bay, then continue north on Highway 42 to the very end, where the highway meets Port des Morts, or Death's Door Passage (about 2 miles east of Gills Rock).

2. What is the best time of year for birding? The month of May is an exceptional month, but opportunities for birding are year-round. In May, the island is decked out with spring wildflowers at the time of the arrival of the migratory birds, some here to nest, others transient and only resting and feeding on their way to northern breeding grounds. Some trees have so many warblers they look like Christmas trees.

3, Are there places for public shore access? Yes – where roads end at the water, and at several island parks: Percy Johnson County Park, Jackson Harbor Ridges, Rock Island State Park, Schoolhouse Beach, Jacobsen's Museum at Little Lake and Sand Dunes Beach.