Subject: [Tweeters] Ridgefield NWR
Date: Aug 8 18:09:20 2005
From: Paul Webster - paul.webster at comcast.net


Hi Tweets,



Georgia Conti, Barbara, and I left Seattle Sunday morning at 6:30 in a light overcast that turned into a mild drizzle at points as we drove south to Ridgefield NWR, located just north of Vancouver at Exit 14 from Interstate 5. We started in the Carty Unit about 9:30, first walking across the field by Carty Lake, then going north on the Oaks to Wetlands Trail. The temps started in the mid 60s early, then in the mid-to-upper 80s by mid-afternoon, but a nice breeze made it a wonderful day to be outdoors.



The Carty Unit offers the greatest diversity of habitat on the refuge, with grassy bottomlands, and oak-covered uplands giving way to coniferous woodlands to the north. Above the grassy fields we picked up Violet-green, Cliff, and Barn Swallows with a sprinkling of Purple Martins and Vaux's Swifts. On Carty Lake we saw a few Mallards and around twenty Wood Ducks, and found a Common Yellowthroat in lakeside willows. We did a double-take upon spotting a lone Black Tern on a piling in the lake, an unusual bird for Clark County, apparently, though Georgia remembered someone had reported seeing it here recently. A Bald Eagle swoping low over several lakes scared up a large number of ducks, though the Great Blue Herons and several Great Egrets we saw didn't seem greatly bothered.



In the Oaks we had Western Scrub Jays, Mourning Doves, Northern Flicker, White-breasted Nuthatch, Hutton's Vireo, and as we walked north toward the lowlands and conifers, Steller's Jay, Western Wood-Pewee, Pacific Slope Flycatcher, Orange-crowned Warbler, and heard a Red-breasted Nuthatch twice on the far side of the railroad tracks.



We ate a sandwich about 1 p.m. on the way to the River S Unit, and took the auto tour route, making several stops to check out the marshes. We clapped and laughed for a rail, but instead harvested the attention of an American Bittern. This route offered us good views of male ducks in eclipse plumage, and a distant flock of 18 Dowitchers (presumably Long-billed), two Lesser Yellowlegs, and six Greaters. We stopped to bird in and around the groves of cottonwood and willow en route. There was a noisy and insistent young Cowbird begging food from its harried-looking Pewee foster-parent, we saw Black-capped Chickadees, a lone Brown Creeper, a Red-eyed Vireo, and lots of American Goldfinches working on the roadside thistles. We walked the Kiwa Trail and scared up two Wilson's Snipe, but 5 Least Sandpipers, one hopping about on its one remaining leg, kept feeding near the water. Overhead, Turkey Vultures soared, Red-tailed Hawks kited in the strong breeze, and some 20 Vaux's Swifts made flight look effortless.



We left the refuge at about 4:15 pm, having seen 61 species. It had been a pleasant day that reminded us that this fine birding area isn't too far for a day excursion from Seattle.





Species seen:



Pied-billed Grebe

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

American Bittern

Wood Duck

Green-winged Teal

Mallard

Cinnamon Teal

Northern Shoveler

Turkey Vulture

Osprey

Bald Eagle

Northern Harrier

Red-tailed Hawk

American Kestrel

American Coot

Wilson's Snipe

Long-billed Dowitcher

Greater Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

Least Sandpiper

California Gull

Caspian Tern

Black Tern

Rock Pigeon

Mourning Dove

Vaux's Swift

Belted Kingfisher

Northern Flicker

Western Wood-Pewee

Willow Flycatcher

Pacific-slope Flycatcher

Purple Martin

Violet-green Swallow

Cliff Swallow

Barn Swallow

Cedar Waxwing

American Robin

Black-capped Chickadee

Red-breasted Nuthatch

White-breasted Nuthatch

Brown Creeper

Steller's Jay

Western Scrub-Jay

American Crow

European Starling

Hutton's Vireo

Red-eyed Vireo

Orange-crowned Warbler

Black-throated Gray Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Spotted Towhee

Savannah Sparrow

Song Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

Black-headed Grosbeak

Red-winged Blackbird

Brown-headed Cowbird

House Finch

American Goldfinch

House Sparrow