This morning Shawneen Finnegan 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/ ). There was a field trip group of about a dozen folks from the AOU conference in Portland at the same time, so we tagged along. They were assisted by Roger Windemuth and Al Larrabee, two RNWR volunteers.

Highlights:

MOWED GRASS/WEEDS: The Dike on the E side of Rest Lake has been well mowed. The entire E side of Rest Lake is now easy to see.

GRAY COCKATIEL (??): Sombody's pet obviously got loose and will likely be away from home for a while or forever. Beautiful solid gray with large white wing patches. If I knew the exact species, I would submit it to the Washington Rare Birds Committee, and put it on my life list. Any thoughts (as to species, not my sanity)? When last seen it was flying N to S over the dike on the E side of Rest Lake.

REDHEAD: On Rest Lake there was an adult with 4 babies.

BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON: Either one adult that moved from the area of the Hunters Gate to the canal across from The Blind, or there were two of them today.

Seen by others in an AOU field trip group, but not by me:
Orange-crowned Warbler

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

Birding:
The best excuse for getting outdoors
And avoiding chores

Complete list of 61 species seen / heard:

Pied-billed Grebe
American Bittern
Great Blue Heron
BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON
Turkey Vulture
Wood Duck
Gadwall
Mallard
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
NORTHERN PINTAIL (1 seen on Rest Lake)
REDHEAD (adult & 4 babies seen on Rest Lake)
Ring-necked Duck (about 20 seen on Rest Lake)
Lesser Scaup (2 seen on Rest Lake)
HOODED MERGANSER (2 seen on Rest Lake)
Ruddy Duck
Osprey
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Sora (2 juveniles seen on Kiwa Trail)
American Coot
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs (at least a dozen on Rest Lake)
Long-billed Dowitcher (at least 2 dozen seen on Rest Lake)
WILSON'S PHALAROPE (2 seen on Rest Lake)
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE (1 seen on Rest Lake from E side)
California Gull (1 seen on Rest Lake)
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-breasted Sapsucker (seen near the R/R tracks)
Downy Woodpecker (seen near the R/R tracks)
HAIRY WOODPECKER (seen on snags on Long Lake)
Northern Flicker
Western Wood-Pewee (seen and heard)
Willow Flycatcher (seen and heard)
Steller's Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
PURPLE MARTIN (1 seen on Kiwa Trail)
Tree Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch (heard in entrance canyon)
White-breasted Nuthatch (family seen on Kiwa Trail)
Bewick's Wren (heard only)
Marsh Wren (seen and heard)
American Robin
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Common Yellowthroat
WILSON'S WARBLER (1 seen on Kiwa Trail)
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Black-headed Grosbeak
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
BULLOCK'S ORIOLE (seen in a few places: R/R, Entrance Station, Kiwa)
PURPLE FINCH (heard & seen)
American Goldfinch