Saturday my husband and I made a quick trip to the Juliet Butler Hanson
refuge, Ridgefield WLR S unit and Dike Access Rd (Cowlitz County). Although
numbers and species were typical for this time of year, there were a few
sightings of note:

JBH Refuge- near Cathlamet (At times, heavy showers, some clearing)
of note-
BLACK PHOEBE- first seen along the canal bank by the culvert on our third
trip back to the refuge headquarters. We watched the phoebe fly back and
forth between the canal and the pumphouse for about 10 minutes, which had
always been the places to watch it. This time, however, it flew to a large
fir tree near the road entrance to the refuge and didn't come back while we
were there.

RED-SHOULDERED HAWK- Watched from the picnic table for several minutes as it
sat on one of the wooden fence posts along the northern end of the western
field.

Two WHITE-TAIL KITES hunting in the most westerly field along the river road
through the refuge.

Ridgefield WLR "S" Unit 1-2:30pm Partial clearing, some showers.
Numbers and species were typical for this time of year, but of note-

Lots of YR Warblers along the canal at the western end

No luck on the Black Phoebe

1 flock of about 20 SANDHILL CRANE flew by the blind

1 adult SNOW GOOSE sat very close to the road in the tall grass by the large
ponds along the south eastern portion of the refuge. It sat well away from
other birds, and only barely moved its head horizontally. As I took
pictures, a red tail hawk flew down within a few feet, and the goose barely
moved. I don't know if the bird was sick or injured, but it made no attempt
to leave.

Dike Access Road area (Cowlitz Co) 3-4:30pm
cloudy/drizzle with some patches of blue
of note-

Along the river, in a two mile stretch beginning at the RR bridge-
400-500 SHANDHILL CRANE in three flocks. At least 1/2 of them landed in the
corn stubble fields and stayed for several minutes before flying north.

18 GREAT EGRETS not feeding, and all standing within a couple of feet of
each other

At least 26 BALD EAGLES feeding along the river

-Jan Watson
Rochester, WA