........................On my way to the beach, passed through and spend
some time at Columbian White-tail Deer Refuge at Cathlamet, Wash. on the
Columbia River. More notable birds observed this last Sat. under sunny,
cool skies( were along mostly the Elochoman River).
Red-throated Loons
Lesser Scaup (numerous)
Greater Scaup (only 2)
Horned Grebe (several)
Buffleheads
Common Mergansers
Common Goldeneyes( both sexes)
Barrow's Goldeneyes ( a few male and females swimming with the Common
Golds.)
Gadwalls
.........along with several commons species of hawks and dipping
wintering ducks. Fields pretty well flooded in places. Oh yes........1
White-tailed Deer ambled up close to me to investigate me out!!!
............................Along the Naselle River and Willapa Bay:
Common Loon (1)
Belted Kingfisher
Black Turnstones(scavaging the piles of oyster shells)
Fox Sparrows ( 2 rapidly digging in the leaf litter next to parking lot
at Leadbetter Point).
Black-capped Chickadees( common enough, but these had rust colored
flanks. Seems like that the Black-caps observed along the coast
have the more reddish flanks than the pale buff or white I see here at
home in Brush Prairie. Was a bit confused at first, but Thayers Birds of
No. Am. CD showed *both* color variations, so I was not
hallucinating!!!).
......................Oh, by the way, Thayers birding software *can* be
used with a Mac. computer--the new 2.5 version on both ....No. Am. and
Diary.(there was some questions about this a time back). You need to
install Softwindows to operate Thayers. ( See their website at
www.birding.com for further info. on this).
.......................Tide was very high, with again the more common
wintering shorebirds seen on the beach. The sunsets both Sat. and Sun.
evenings were spectacular, and the clear views of snowy Olympic Mts. and
Mt. Rainier over the waters of Willapa Bay were breathtaking for this
time of year. Enjoying this and also visiting some friends there,
prevented me from more extensive birding. I'm sure some interesting
species alluded me because of my other doings!!!!!

Cheers!!!!!!

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