This report was mailed for John Williams by http://birdnotes.net

Date: April 29, 2004
Location: Washington


My apologies for the lateness of the post, but Thursday afternoon I
took advantage of Daylight Savings Time to bird the River S Unit at
Ridgefield after work. In addition to several new (for me) arrivals
and migrants were two male Blue-winged Teal in the ponds just before
the photo blind, and a Semipalmated Sandpiper was across from the
Kiwa Trail parking lot.

Most interesting were two American Bittern strolling around in the
open next to the first pond on your left. At one point one of the
birds (attempting to avoid the other) walked within 10 feet of the
car. The second bird called and displayed, again completely out in
the open, about 20 feet from the car. I've never seen them so
brazen. They were too close to digiscope the whole bird(s), so
instead I photographed closeups (see the middle picture of the bottom
row at:

http://www.featherphotography.com/gallery/new

)

Complete list below.

Birds seen (in taxonomic order):

Pied-billed Grebe
American Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Gadwall
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-Winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Unknown Scaup
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Virginia Rail
American Coot
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Long-billed Dowitcher
Unidentified Dowitcher
Steller's Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Tree Swallow
Bewick's Wren
House Wren
Marsh Wren
American Robin
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Yellow-headed Blackbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch

Total number of species seen: 48