Hi Tweets,

Part 2 of the quick birding weekend that Larry and I made of my needed trip to Portland yesterday. Today we went with great excitement back to Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, just North of Vancouver, WA, (exit 14). We drove the 'auto tour' only, and skipped walking through Carty Unit. The weather was beautiful! It was a great birding day. After Ridgefield, we stopped briefly at Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge on our way back to the Seattle area. Here is what we saw...

Ridgefield:
-COMMON YELLOWTHROAT
-YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER (these were in abundance at the bird-blind where you can get out of your car and walk)
-TREE SWALLOWS (also abundant - and nesting - in the trees near the bird blind, but also abundant everywhere)
-KINGFISHER (the closest-up view I've ever seen, on a snag out in the marsh/pond just West of the Visitor Center)
-SCRUB JAY
-WOOD DUCK
-OSPREY
-NORTHERN PINTAIL
-DUNLIN
-GREATER YELLOWLEG
-LESSER YELLOWLEG
-HOUSE WREN (nesting)
-GADWALL (male and female)
-GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS
-BROWN CREEPER
-DOWNY WOODPECKER
-SONG SPARROW
-BUFFLEHEAD
-SURF SCOTER
-RING-NECKED DUCK
-SAVANNAH SPARROW
-CINNAMON TEAL (these were numerous throughout the drive)
-GREEN-WINGED TEAL
-AMERICAN KESTREL (Wow, we got to see an apparent mating pair. We saw the female first, at a great distance, and she was a little difficult to ID because her coloring wasn't as obvious and we couldn't see her markings well from our position, but then the male joined her and it was clear that it was a KESTREL pair.)
-RED-TAILED HAWK
-NORTHERN HARRIER
-COYOTE (walking along the edge of the water in the 'hunting field' near the exit. Looked *very* mangy and scruffy.)
-TURTLES (numerous, sunning themselves on rocks and logs in rivers or inlets)
-DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT
-BALD EAGLE
-BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD

The daily reporting board at Ridgefield noted that there is apparently a GREAT HORNED OWL nesting with TWO BABIES in the trees just West of the Visitor Center. Also YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD. We weren't lucky enough to see either of these.

We also saw ~5 GREAT EGRETS wading alongside I-5 Northbound just North of Exit 27 (maybe on "Drays Mound"?).

Nisqually:
-YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER -- all variations, numbers too great to count, easily visible flitting about the trees everywhere
-COMMON YELLOWTHROAT -- numerous, song easily heard, also spotted numerous times
-RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD -- numerous
-SAVANNAH SPARROW
-GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW
-WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW
-WOOD DUCK
-AMERICAN WIDGEON
-NORTHERN FLICKER
-Robin, Starling, Chestnut-Backed Chickadee

Cheers,
~Christy Jobe and Larry Baxter
Kenmore, WA and Camano Island, WA
christyRJ at hotmail.com