Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I ventured south into Oregon beginning in Portland where the MCCOWN'S LONGSPUR was found at the previously listed location near Marine Drive in Portland's Industrial area. The bird was briefly found soon after our arrival to the location at 8am amongst a flock of 30 Horned Larks,then the the entire flock were flushed from a single pass made by an adult Peregrine Falcon. The entire flock flew east high into the air beyond Columbia Slough. We drove to the presumed location,but upon further searching we were only able to locate a flock of 40+ Horned Larks. We returned back to the original location where the bird was being observed by a group of birders,including Ken Knittle and Mike and MerryLynn Denny along with several Oregon birders. The bird was viewed for approxiatmetly 30 minutes during our second visit after 10am until te bird again flew east towards Columbia Slough into another sparsely vegetated field. During our entire visit to the location we enjoyed the balmy weather that remained throughout the entire day with fairly cold southerly winds in the afternoon as we where birding the Ridgefield-Vancouver Lake area. The McCown's Longspur was well observed in spotting scopes as it foraged low on the sandy ground in a Horned Lark flock,but due to the wariness of the nearby Horned Larks closenss to the bird was limited. Other species that were observed at this location included:

1 Great Egret(flying over)
1 Am.Kestrel
5 Western Meadowlarks

During the mid afternoon Ken Knittle joined us as we birded the Ridgefield NWR complex with a visit to the Shillapoo Wildlife Area near Vancouver Lake. Our best highlights were encountered along the River S Unit of Ridgefield NWR with several highlights that were noted including the following:

1 immature Trumpeter Swan(at Carty Lake at the Carty Unit of Ridgefield NWR)
2 Snow Geese
3 male Canvasback
1 female Greater Scaup
1 immature Red-shouldered Hawk
15 Sandhill Cranes
1 Red-breasted Sapsucker
2 Tree Swallows
3 Violet-green Swallows
30+ Barn Swallows
12+ Yellow-rumped Warblers
2 SWAMP SPARROWS
1 Western Meadowlark

Continuing towards Vancouver Lake 2 Great Egrets were observed along Seward Rd. north of the community of Felida and 6 additional birds were observed at the Shillapoo Wildlife Area north of Vancouver Lake. 8 Western Grebes were noted at the south end of Vancouver Lake.


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
godwit at worldnet.att.net









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