.
............Since Sunday was such a gorgeous day, I decided to pedal my
bike by Vancouver Lake, and up Lower River R. along the Columbia River
to the south part of Ridgefield Nat'l Wildlife Refuge north of
Vancouver, Wash.
.............At a pond just north of Vanaco I counted 22 Great Egrets,
18 Blue Herons, 4 Lesser Yellowlegs, and about a dozen Mallards.
.............By Frenchmans Bar, I saw:
Greater Yellowlegs(5)
Cinnamon Teals
Eared Grebes(6)
Pied-billed Grebes
Am. Coots
..............Further on I viewed:
Double-crested Commorants(3)
Marsh Wrens
Cliff Swallows(many)
Tree Swallows
Kestral(1)
Long-billed Dowitchers
Short-billed Dowitchers(both species---some in grey winter plummage, and
some still in more lt. orangish summer-wear)
Northern Harrier Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk.
Band-tailed Pidgeons(5)
Stellers Jay
Scrub Jays
Many Mallards.
Purple Martins(3)
................On my way back home at 5:30 p.m., I went by the same
pond and counted 34 Great Egrets, 58 Blue Herons, and *no*
Yellowlegs!!!!(I wonder why???). A birding friend reported to me by
e-mail that on Monday he saw as many as 64 Great Egrets at this pond and
about 18 Blue Herons, so it looks like the population keeps changing!!!


-----------------------......I apparently got a real bad case of
'birding fever', as I went to the south unit of RNWR on Monday, and met
some real wonderful fellow birders, along with a real treat in bird
sightings. Here's the tally:

Band-tailed Pidgeons(4)
White-fronted Geese(18)(I would have to conjecture that these geese were
part of a resting migratory flock....or possible an unusual early
arrival of winter residents).
Long-billed Dowitchers(many)
Lesser Yellowlegs
Greater Yellowlegs(many)
Willets(about 16)
Western Sandpipers
Turkey Vulture(1)
Killdeer
Ring-necked Pheasant(1)..A truly gorgeous bird!!!!
Rough-legged Hawk(1)
Red-tailed hAWK
Green Herons(2)
Sora(1)
Tree Swallows
Belted Kingfisher(1)
Red-winged Blackbirds
......and 3 large deer!!!!!!!!
a Nuthatch

.....Not a bad birding day for a lazy, hazy day in late summer!!!!!!

Gerald Hamilton
Brush Prairie, Wash.
gerald at e-z.net