Hello Birders,

This afternoon we ventured down to the River S Unit of the Ridgefield NWR in Clark Co.(in Washington State),where we obtained good,convincing views of a juvenile SNOWY EGRET from several vantage points at Rest Lake. We spent between 3pm-7pm by driving the "loop" drive 4 times hoping for better photos of the bird each time,but the bird never came super close to the road. Upon first impression of the bird something just didn't feel right about the bird being a Little Blue Heron,despite our lack of experience wit the species. The bird foraged most often alone and each time we saw the bird it was most active,as it darted and pranced around for food. This behavior is wrong for a Little Blue Heron,as we have read in several field guides. Little Blue Herons tend to feed much slower,"stealth-like",and methodical similar to a Great Blue Heron. As we watched the bird further in our Leica spotting scope we were able to get views of several distinguishing field marks that would eliminate Little Blue Heron from Snowy Egret. We ran into Mark Miller and Marcia Marvin,who also felt confident that the bird was a Snowy Egret and he described the bird well in his postings,so we will just add a few more details that we observed.

The bird as Mark indicated showed obvious yellow legs(not greenish),as well as on the lores. The bill was rather slender with the lower mandible being more extensively darker on the lower mandible(nearly 1/2 dark and 1/2 pale from tip to base as Mark indicated)with paler areas on the upper mandible. The feet of the bird appeared dark yellow,but they were most often covered in mud. Another factor to consider is that it would also be highly unlikely to have a juvenile Little Blue Heron in Washington since they do not breed here and more likely to have a juvenile Snowy Egret since it is very possible they could breed here or at least nearby. On the 21st and 24th of August,2004 we observed 2 immature Snowy Egrets at Rest Lake and at the time we figured those birds were from a local nestsite. It may be possible that there were a pair of Snowy Egrets undetected that bred somewhere in the nearby area such as near or at a larger Great Blue Heron rookery such as on Sauvie Island,etc but that has not been proven yet.

Anyhow,it was our first juvenile Snowy Egret in Washington and a near bird to see away from the adult bird that was at the Nisqually NWR a short while ago! Rest Lake is now very low and if nothing else good shorebird habitat exists there! The habitat and viewing is almost better than at the Nisqually NWR since you have an even viewing of open mudflats without stubbly areas such as at the Nisqually NWR. Each time we drove around the "loop" we encountered a different variety of birds,so it was most accommodating that lighting was good. On our last drive around we ran into Jim Danzenbaker,who appeared sure the Little Blue Heron was indeed a Snowy Egret since he viewed the bird at a fair distance during his original observation. It is still a nice bird and a few of the local birders we ran into enjoyed seeing it even if it wasn't a Little Blue Heron!

A list of a few additional species we encountered during our visit to the River S Unit of the Ridgefield NWR included the following:

3 Great Egrets
25+ Wood Ducks
10 Green-winged Teal
15 Northern Pintail
30 Cinnamon Teal
1 Ring-necked Duck
2 Osprey
5+ Northern Harriers
1 immature RED-SHOULDERED HAWK(observed in the Oregon Ash "forest" west of the observation blind and noted on only the 1st drive around)
4 Am.Kestrels
4 Greater Yellowlegs
1 Lesser Yellowlegs
50 Western Sandpipers
14 Least Sandpipers
1 Baird's Sandpiper
1 Pectoral Sandpiper
1 Wilson's Snipe
125+ Vaux's Swifts(primarily noted flying along the forested hillside immediately east of the refuge)
2 Purple Martins
1 BANK SWALLOW(observed amongst a fairly large flock of Barn Swallows and at least 2 Violet-green Swallows at Rest Lake)
5 White-breasted Nuthatches
2 Lincoln's Sparrows


Our last good bird of the day was a single WHITE-TAILED KITE observed just east of the city limits of Ridgefield flying towards the River S Unit of the Ridgefield NWR.


In addition of the many dragonflies we observed our dragonfly highlight went to a single OLIVE CLUBTAIL noted along the 1st portion of the loop perched atop a mullen stalk. This species is very local in Clark and Cowlitz Cos. in appropriate habitat along the Columbia River and it's tributaries.


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
Fircrest,WA
godwit513 at msn.com