Greetings All

Never did get around to putting this stuff on BirdBox, not that these birds
are so noteworthy.

Bill Tweit and I birded the River S Loop of Ridgefield NWR and also birded
around the Shillappoo Bottoms area between Vancouver and Post Office Lake. We
wanted to go chase some of Oregon's recent finds in the pm, so spent
relatively little time poking around the Shillappoo area (an area that truly
deserves much attention).

The River S Loop had good number of dabblers and Tundra Swans, but little
else. Really surprised by the number of shovellers and gadwall. No RS Hawks,
No Black Phoebe, No uncommon species of hawks. The Shillappoo Bottoms area
yielded a couple WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS, but overall zonotrichia numbers
seemed low. Also, near Post Office Lake, we had an odd goose that may well
have been a WFXCAN GOOSE, but it moved off behind some cattails before we
could get potentially definitive looks. We had a single BARN SWALLOW over
Post Office Lake (are we going to get a replica of last year's invasion?). I
would heartily recommend going to these areas and some on the outer coast to
whet your teeth on Canada Goose races. Use a good source (such as Ogilvie and
Young's photographic guide to waterfowl, or some of the short guides put out
by USFW) to study before you go, and then spend some time headbanging among
the geese. The more you learn, the less you know. Much like life, eh? But it
is a treat to try to bend one's mind around the variaton and complexity of
this richly diverse species. It is also quite humbling.

Bill Tweit and I finished our day looking at the sparkling male VERMILLION
FLY at Woodburn and the MCCOWN'S LONGSPUR in N Portland. The longspur is with
a lovely flock of 75 or so apparent Streaked Horned Larks. Given how
threatened that race is, this is quite a find even without the McCown's.

Best Wishes and Good Cheer
Steven Mlodinow
SGMlod at aol.com
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