Today was a very nice Fathers Day indeed. My son Doug
took me birding on the River "S" Unit at Ridgefield
NWR (~4mi W of I-5 at Exit 14 in SW Washington;
http://www.fws.gov/ridgefieldrefuges/ ). It was
clouded and cool with a couple of short sun breaks and
one significant lunchtime shower. We birded from
about 8:30am until around 4:30pm.

Highlights of our day:

* The previously reported PACIFIC GOLDEN-PLOVER was
still on Schwartz Lake today. We had excellent
binocular and scope views. We saw it at the NE side of
the Lake as well as at the center of the E side. A
wonderful bird in beautiful plumage!

* On Rest Lake we saw: 9 BONAPARTE'S GULLS, one of
which was in breeding plumage; one CANVASBACK drake; 2
REDHEAD drakes; and one EURASIAN WIGEON drake along
with the other usuals. We did Not see the pair of
EARED GREBE but others did, so they are still there.

* We saw a pair of BLUE-WINGED TEAL on the Kiwa
Trail. Sad to say, but we also had an extremely close
(1 foot) look at a Ruddy Duck drake that was lying
dead near the center bridge. It could not have been
dead for long. It looked in near perfect shape and you
could see the miniature "teeth" on the edge of its
upper bill.

* On the Kiwa Trail we were treated, from about 30
feet, to a MARSH WREN taking a 30 second dirt bath in
the middle of the trail.

* About a third through the Oregon Ash woodland S of
the Kiwa Trail parking lot, near the turnout by the
brown steel gate, we watched a female DOWNY WOODPECKER
make five trips to her nest and poke her head in to
feed her young. We never saw the young, but on one
return, after she fed the young, she went in and then
flew out carrying off nest cleanings. While we saw a
male call and fly near the nest once, we only saw the
female feed the young.

* On the E side of Rest Lake near the "3 trees" we
saw a VIRGINIA RAIL walking and eating along the water
control canal. This is a good time to pay attention
to water control canal edges.

* There was a male AMERICAN KESTREL atop the post
with the nest box just S of the Volunteer Booth at the
entrance. We also saw him enter the nest box.

* We bumped into Scott Murray who had minutes before
seen a Pileated Woodpecker on the Kiwa Trail, but Doug
and I could not relocate it.

* We also bumped into Debby de Carlo who minutes
before had seen a male LAZULI BUNTING on the ground,
in the middle of the road just a ways past the
"hunters gate". Doug and I did not see it, but
perhaps it is the same male Jim Danzenbaker and I saw
singing on May 20, 2007 between Long Lake and S
Quigley Lake.

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

Complete list of 69 Species seen / heard:

Pied-billed Grebe (+ babies)
American Bittern (5 seen flying)
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Turkey Vulture
Wood Duck (+ babies)
Gadwall
American Wigeon
EURASIAN WIGEON
Mallard (+ babies)
BLUE-WINGED TEAL
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Pintail
CANVASBACK
REDHEAD
Lesser Scaup
Ruddy Duck
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Virginia Rail (seen & heard)
Sora (heard only)
American Coot (+ babies)
PACIFIC GOLDEN-PLOVER
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs (one seen)
Lesser Yellowlegs (three seen)
BONAPARTE'S GULL (nine seen)
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Vaux's Swift
Rufous Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker (at nest feeding young)
Northern Flicker
Western Wood-Pewee (seen & heard)
Willow Flycatcher (seen & heard)
Pacific-slope Flycatcher (heard only)
Steller's Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Tree Swallow (at nest feeding young)
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Bushtit
Red-breasted Nuthatch (entrance canyon road)
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper (heard only)
Bewick's Wren (heard only)
House Wren (sang, then entered nest)
Marsh Wren
Swainson's Thrush (seen & heard)
American Robin
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing (finishing nest building)
Yellow Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Spotted Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Black-headed Grosbeak (seen & heard)
Red-winged Blackbird
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole (entering/leaving nest)
American Goldfinch



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