My mom and I got there too late, but the following ICE CAPERS were seen
by Clay Davis between 8 and 9am today on Rest Lake on the River "S"
Unit at Ridgefield NWR
(~4mi W of I-5 at Exit 14 in SW Washington;
http://www.fws.gov/ridgefieldrefuges/ ).

Most of the water on the River "S" Unit was frozen today. Rest Lake
had a narrow but long open water patch running N/S in the south center
of the lake.

This morning, Clay Davis saw 17 BALD EAGLES on the ICE and surrounding
trees. This count excludes Eagles he saw before or after.

ICE CAPERS:
While watching and counting BALD EAGLES, Clay noticed two COYOTES come
out on the ice on the W side of the open water. The COYOTES were
harassing lots of birds and for some reason ignoring small Nutria
nearby. The COYOTES got a lot of birds up and when some of the TUNDRA
SWAN landed and slid on the ice, they Crashed into other SWAN, knocking
them over.

Subsequent to this, Clay observed 7 BALD EAGLES harassing GEESE and
Ducks alike. One BALD EAGLE banked and dove on a CANADA GOOSE, hitting
it about 20 - 30 feet above the ice. The injured GOOSE bounced on the
ice on the E side of the open water. All this commotion caught the
attention of the COYOTES, who immediately ran from the W side ice to
the E side ice and chased off the EAGLES, and claimed the GOOSE for
themselves. Clay said the COYOTES had a brief scuffle among
themselves, before it was decided which COYOTE got to carry the GOOSE
off the ice and into the brush for brunch.

Bill Clemons for Clay Davis of Vancouver, WA



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