Subject: [Tweeters] Ridgefield NWR 3/12
Date: Mar 12 23:06:02 2006
From: Mark Miller - snowyowl98683 at msn.com


Hi everyone--

Today 3/12, Mariha Kuechmann, Jack Welch, Marcia Marvin, and I went on the
auto tour at the River 'S' Unit of Ridgefield NWR. Highlights were a pair of
CINNAMON TEAL from the observation blind, and a bird we identified as a dark
morph HARLAN'S RED-TAILED HAWK sitting on a stub of a tree at the last S
turn before the end. The view was mostly of its back, but it jumped out of
the tree once to catch a small rodent, which it brought back to the tree and
tore to bits as we watched. We thought the feet and bill proportions in line
with Red-tail, and although it was quite dark on the front, it showed a
stripe of white on its chest, and a whitish tail with a gray subterminal
band. We didn't get proper views of the underwings, unfortunately. There
were many TREE SWALLOWS over the ponds.

Mark Miller
Pleasanton CA