Today Debby de Carlo and I birded the River "S" Unit at Ridgefield NWR
(~4mi W of I-5 at Exit 14 in SW Washington;
http://www.fws.gov/ridgefieldrefuges/ ).

Highlights:

ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK: There were 4 today. One on the N side and 3 on the
SE side. One made a few sorties out from one of several boundary or
speed limit signs, and ultimately settled on one sign and it allowed us
to park right next to it. We watched from about 15 feet or less for
several minutes. This has been a Very Good season so far for
ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS at Ridgefield NWR. Maybe not as many (60) as Dick
Ashford had last weekend in the Klamath Basin, but a heck of a lot
closer for us Portland/Vancouver folks.

WESTERN GREBE: I have not checked my field notes, but this is either
the first I have seen on Rest Lake or the first in years. Rest Lake is
generally thought to be too shallow for them, but there it was today,
mostly snoozing in the company of a half dozen Ruddy Ducks. Go Figure!

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

Complete list of 44 species seen / heard:

WESTERN GREBE
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Tundra Swan
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
CANVASBACK
Ring-necked Duck
Bufflehead
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
DARK PHASE RED-TAILED HAWK
ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK
American Kestrel
American Coot
SANDHILL CRANE
Glaucous-winged Gull
Gull (Species)
Mourning Dove
Great Horned Owl
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Bewick's Wren
Winter Wren
Marsh Wren
American Robin
European Starling
Savannah Sparrow
FOX SPARROW
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird




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