Hi Everyone--

Today 4/7, Ian Horn of Kentucky, Marcia Marvin, and I drove the River "S"
auto tour route at Ridgefield NWR (Clark Co.). Signs of spring are
everywhere. Swallows are back in numbers, with 5 species noted: TREE,
VIOLET-GREEN, NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED, CLIFF, and BARN. An OSPREY ate its fish
from a snag near the end of the loop in plain view. We saw one LESSER
YELLOWLEGS in the mud just past the first left turn of the auto tour, and a
GREATER YELLOWLEGS at the end of the route. A WILSON'S SNIPE was winnowing
over the observation blind and adjacent meadow. AYELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD
sang its unforgettable song from the reeds at the observation blind and gave
us nice scope views. A SAVANNAH SPARROW sang from the meadow just a few feet
from the road, yet invisible except when it chose to jump from one clump of
grass to another. We also stopped at Vanport Wetlands in Portland, where we
found a lingering (migrant?) male EURASIAN WIGEON in the lake, and about 200
MEW GULLS slurping up earthworms from the adjacent off-leash dog area. We
ended up with 62 species; as Marv Breece would say, it was a good day.

Mark Miller
Vancouver, WA
snowyowl98683 at msn.com
snowyowl98683 at comcast.net





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