Greetings All,

Today I met up with my brother Tim and we birded along the Columbia River
near Ridgefield and Woodland in Clark and Cowlitz Counties. Our best birds
by far were a very cooperative PRAIRIE FALCON and a WHITE-WINGED SCOTER west
of Woodland. Both were along the outer dike, I believe it's called Dike
Access Road, just north of Whalen Road (pretty much due west of Woodland).
Seems like either one of these might be county firsts. The Scoter was on
the Columbia River in a large group of a few hundred Greater Scaup. There
were two western type Grebes with this group, one may have been a hybrid
Western-Clarks. It had a very bright yellow-orange bill, but much dark in
the face and a large white lore spot. There was also a Ruddy Duck in the
group and a Common Loon was nearby. Among the many other birds on the
Woodland Bottoms today were a Rough-legged Hawk at the North end, and at
least 14 Great Egrets (scattered, but most were on the SE end).

Good luck and happy holidays,
Bill Shelmerdine
Olympia
mailto:georn1 at hotmail.com

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