Did a warm 2 hour spin around the loop at Ridgefield NWR this evening from
4:30-6:30pm. Saw and/or heard 64 species. Mosquitos every where! Stopped
3 times in the wooded ravine dropping down into the refuge. Had a couple of
Western Wood-Pewees, 1 Brown Creeper, 1 Bewick's Wren, 1 Winter Wren, and a
few Chestnut-backed Chickadees.

The northern half of the loop to the blind was quite dry. No ducks here
just Pied-billed Grebes and American Coots. Birds of note were 1 Turkey
Vulture, 1 Great Horned Owl, 2 Downy Woodpeckers, 1 White-breasted Nuthatch,
1 House Wren, 1-2 Bullock's Orioles.

The southern end of the loop is where the deepest water holes are and of
course the most water type birds. They were: 1 American Bittern, 2
American Wigeon, 1 Bufflehead which has been there all summer, 2 Greater
Yellowlegs, 2 Lesser Yellowlegs, 1 Spotted Sandpiper, 2 Western Sandpipers,
77 Long-billed Dowitchers, 1 Wilson's Phalarope, 2 Black Terns, lots of
Vaux's Swifts feeding over the dry fields, and 1 juv. Brown-headed Cowbird
mixed in with a Starling flock. Could it be that the Brown-headed Cowbird
was raised by a Starling?

Species wise this is about the same as in the spring for total seen, but
just fewer ducks. Another odd miss is all this year I have yet to see a
Western Meadowlark at the refuge. Habitat looks good just hard to say why
they aren't there.

Ken Knittle, Vancouver, WA
washingtonbirder at hotmail.com



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