.......Sunday.........Took my bike and pedaled north from Vancouver,
Wash......past Vancouver Lake........past Frenchman's Bar park
.........to the end of Lower River Rd at Ridgefield NWR --old Ridgeport
diary. Beautiful day for this.
..........Almost 200 SANDHILL CRANES in the field just east of road on
Wash. Dept. of Fish & Wildlife land--Shillapoo--north unit.. Futher
north te road is blocked to auto traffic at the first gravel parking lot
area south of the gate. ( 2 sections of the road are fenced of f
because the river has washed part of the road away). They say it will be
repaired, but when????? However you can hike or pedal your bike around
the barricades and continue uo to road's end. Further up there was
another group of 35-40 SANDHILL CRANES very close to the road till the
sight of me and the bike spooked then all off!!!!
.........Many flocks of CANADA GEESE flying overhead(perhaps migrating
or just arriving)---along with 7 WHITE-FRONTED GEESE heading south
OVERHEAD.. Along with all the cranes was a RED-TAILED HAWK and several
GREAT BLUE HERONS..
.........Post Office Lake by the diary house , though green and scummy,
was loaded with ducks---mostly WIDGEONS and PINTAILS, AND some
SHOVELERS, but without a spotting scope was not able to identify
everything on the lake. 3 GREAT EGRETS present also. However......I was
able to identified a coyote ambling along the east shore of lake,
looking wistfully at the ducks he couldn't reach!!!..
.........SPARROWS; numerous GOLDFINCHES (in drab winter garb...); SCRUB
JAYS; a HERMIT THRUSH; RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS; and....RUBY-CROWNED
KINGLETS(reported by others, but not seen by me personally).
.........Lots of bicycle riders up and down the road----such a gorgeous
day!!!!!!!

..........Cheers
Gerald Hamilton
Brush Prairie, Wash.
gerald at e-z.net