Subject: [Tweeters] Ridgefield NWR: Swamp Sparrow ++
Date: Dec 11 21:41:31 2006
From: Bill Clemons - willclemons at yahoo.com


I went up to Ridgefield NWR (~5mi W of I-5 at Exit 14
in Washington; http://www.fws.gov/ridgefieldrefuges/ )
to look for the SWAMP SPARROW. Jim Danzenbaker knows
them and their chip notes. Jim had one SWAMP SPARROW
on Friday Dec 8 and three on Dec 9. Today Jim took a
break and from 11am 'til 12:30 we drove the loop on
the River "S" Unit and Jim taught me how to look for
them. Unfortunately it was mostly pouring rain for
most of that time and we did not find any.

After Jim left, I made a solo loop and spent the next
2+ hours in the Oregon Ash woodland below the Kiwa
Trail parking lot. The steady rain had turned to
intermittent showers and only lightly when it did
rain. Most of the time I spent moving through second
half of the Ash woodland 30 to 50 feet at a time and
hanging out the window of my car pishing a lot at the
low grasses with open patches on the drivers side of
the car. About 2:30 or so I got a response chip note
that I had not heard before and it turned out to be a
SWAMP SPARROW. What a pretty little fellow! There
were at least two birds chipping, but I only got a
good look at one. There were several candidates at a
distance darting from one tall patch of grass to
another, but too fleeting to get any ID. The spot was
about 2/3 through the woodland. Many thanks to Jim
Danzenbaker again for tutoring me today.

Among the 45 species on the day some birds + of note
were:

SANDHILL CRANE: A minimum of 350 moving toward the SE
over Rest Lake between 3p and 4:30p. A few stopped
for a while in the fields S and E of the Lake. These
were separate but nearly continual fly by flocks of
from 15 to 50+ Cranes in a flock. I do not think I
will ever tire of their melodious calls.

HARLAN'S RED-TAILED HAWK: It was seen on the ground,
in flight and perched, all in the vicinity of the
White-tailed Kite's usual hang out perch E of Rest
Lake.

CANVASBACK: At one time I counted 65 of them on Rest
Lake. Reasonable light and always a nice bird to see.

GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE: I think these two (Adult
+ 1st year goose) are the same two I had before.
Today they were with a small flock of about 50 or less
Cackling Geese, about ? mile S of the gate to Bachelor
Island.

RED SHOULDERED HAWK: This first year hawk was in
woodland, around where I was looking for the Swamp
Sparrow. The Hawk was fairly active and I saw it make
a missed dive to the ground from about 30 feet or so.
Another time it flew parallel to the road from about
100 feet in front of my car to about the same distance
to the rear. On this fly by it was barely more than
window high and only about 15-20 feet from me as it
passed. I saw the entire flight and half climbed out
the window to watch it as it receded to the rear,
Sweet View!

MERLIN: Fly over from about 80 yards (closest) at
about 2 T-poles high. Nice.

SHORT EARED OWL: Again I parked at the major turn out
on the E side of the loop. This is a parking spot
sized turnout with two signs in the grass near the
center of the turn out. One sign is the seasonal
wooden sign with a car painted on it and wording that
says stay in your car and the birds will stay in view.
The second sign is a small white metal boundary sign.
I was parked about 20 feet from the metal sign. I
parked at about 4p and saw at least 3 SE Owls in the
air at once. Three different times an Owl landed atop
one or the other of the two signs to my left. Very
Beautiful Views of this Striking Owl! At one point
I watched in bins from about 100 yards as two Owls
converged nearly head on toward each other. At the
last second one rose and one dipped, each remaining
calm as if they were merely just saying good evening
to each other. That pass was Sooo Cool!

COYOTE: Three on the day, with the last being seen
hunting and pouncing about 150 yards in front of me as
I watched for SE Owls. The Coyote came up one rodent
that I saw and watched as it was crunched and munched
and gulped down!

Full List:

Pied-billed Grebe
Great Blue Heron
Greater White-fronted Goose
Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Tundra Swan
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback
Ring-necked Duck
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Gull (Species)
Short-eared Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Flicker
Black-capped Chickadee
Brown Creeper
Marsh Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
American Goldfinch

It was a good day to be rained on,

Bill Clemons
SW of Portland in Mtn Park
Willclemons AT Yahoo.com



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