Today about 10:30am I arrived at Ridgefield NWR (~5mi
W of I-5 at Exit 14 in Washington;
http://www.fws.gov/ridgefieldrefuges ) to see how the
birds were dealing with this cold weather. I owe
thanks to the volunteer Roger Windemuth who gave me an
update on what was out and about and reminded me to
keep an eye peeled for the PRAIRIE FALCON.

The best birds of my day were:

PRAIRIE FALCON: Perched atop a bare tree in the open
just S of the Kiwa Trail parking lot and E of the
Oregon Ash woodland there. It was very cooperative
and I got a good window scope view of it from about 65
yards.

HARLAN'S RED-TAILED HAWK: Today it was hanging around
near the SE side of Rest Lake near where the road
leaves the lake for good. I saw it on the ground,
flying and perched. It was very good about displaying
its dusty white tail.

SNOW GOOSE: This is a juvenile bird and likely is the
same bird that has been reported there for at least a
few weeks. Today it was near the entrance with a
flock of Canadas.

GRATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE: There were only 2 that I
saw, and it was from the same turnout where I waited
for the Short Eared Owl. One was an adult and one was
a juvenile and for the most part they stayed near the
edge of the Canada Goose flock.

SHORT EARED OWL: Late in the in the day I bumped into
Jim Danzenbaker, and the two of us waited for the
SHORT EARED OWL show which began at about 4:30pm. It
is hard so say for sure how many owls we saw, but
there were more than a few twosomes and at least once
I saw three at once. We had great views parked facing
the fields from the last major turnout on the E side
of the Refuge near the end of the loop. Without
intention, the owls would occasionally spook up some
of the geese that were attempting to feed in the
field.


Complete list of birds seen:





Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE
SNOW GOOSE
Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Tundra Swan
Gadwall
EURASIAN WIGEON
American Wigeon
Mallard
CINNAMON TEAL
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Bufflehead
Ruddy Duck
WHITE-TAILED KITE
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
PRAIRIE FALCON
Sandhill Crane
Gull (Species)
Mourning Dove
SHORT-EARED OWL
Western Scrub-Jay
Black-capped Chickadee
Marsh Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Varied Thrush
European Starling
Spotted Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln?s Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow


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



____________________________________________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta.
http://new.mail.yahoo.com