Monday, I birded with Ken Meyer on the River "S" Unit at Ridgefield NWR (~4mi W of I-5 at Exit 14 in SW Washington; http://www.fws.gov/ridgefieldrefuges/ ). Cloudy, but only a tad of precipitation.

Highlights:

NORTHERN SHRIKE: On our second loop, we saw this cute little predator land atop a snag in Long Lake, quite close to the road. We watched it for about 15 minutes as it moved from snag to sign to tree to tree. We saw a couple of unsuccessful attempts to get something in the grass. Ken feels he came away with some fairly decent photos.

HARLAN'S RED-TAILED HAWK: This handsome raptor has been hanging around in "the three trees" on the SE side of Rest Lake just before the road leaves the Lake edge for good. We watched it fly westward across Rest Lake and land in a tree, where it perched about 8-10 feet below an adult Bald Eagle.

ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK: There are at least two individuals there now and both were on the ground today, and seen between the SE corner of Rest Lake and about 100 yards beyond marker post #13.

Will Clemons
SW of Portland
willclemons AT Yahoo dot com

Birding:
The best excuse for getting outdoors
And avoiding chores

Complete list of 41 species seen / heard:

Pied-billed Grebe
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Tundra Swan
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
HARLAN'S RED-TAILED HAWK
ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK
American Kestrel
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Wilson's Snipe
Gull (Species)
Belted Kingfisher
NORTHERN SHRIKE
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Bushtit
Marsh Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
European Starling
Song Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
House Finch