My wife and I saw 3 black terns at the Ridgefield River S unit yesterday around 7:30 p.m. They were flying low over one of the ponds, occasionally skimming the surface to pluck something. They were 100-150 feet away, had distinct black heads and bodies and looked and flew like terns, so I don't think they could have been anything else. I have never seen them at Ridgefield before. When we did another loop of the auto route we couldn't locate them again.

We also saw 2 blue-winged teal. Could not re-locate the short-eared owl I found on Saturday. A pied-billed grebe nest full of eggs that had been visible next to the road in a slough was destroyed and I suspect a predator got to it. It seemed a rather exposed and dangerous place to have a nest.

Roger Chou
Portland, OR
chour at ohsu.edu